The development of passenger rolling stock on the RSR showed considerable British influence well before this was the case with locomotives under Karel Belčamin. The six-wheeled coach shown here is typical. Typically for the period, lighting was by Pintsch oilgas. Continuous brakes were by the mid 1880s all but universal, even on stock for secondary services. The compartments were quite generously dimensioned by the standards of the day, although the upholstery of the seats was somewhat skimpy. The steps reaching down almost to the ground were provided with the low platforms still to be found at some branchline stations in mind. The notoriously uncomfortable ride offered by these vehicles was for many years the subject of angry letters to the press and many a bawdy joke in variety theatres up and down the country.  The last of these bone-shakers did not disappear until shortly after the first world war.


Text and image © Norman Clubb 2011