First (Themiclesian railway)

First
1889 F carriage by Great Northern
Interior of image above
Constructed	1859 – 1973
Number built	50 – 60
Capacity	16 – 24
Operator(s)	National Rail
Specifications
Car length	50 – 85 ft
Width	9 ft 6 in – 10 ft 6 in
Height	12 ft 6 in – 14 ft 6 in
Entry	Two steps
Doors	2
Wheel diameter	42 in

First (元, rf ngwan; abbreviated F on most railways) was a common body style on passenger coaches on Themiclesian railways. Towards the very end of the 19th century, they were ecclipsed by the Drawing Room coach (D) in fashionable travel, but were still manufactured and used from time to time, especially on royal and chartered trains.

Nomenclature

By default, F caoches are in the corridor style, whereas one in the compartment style are explicitly specified, since coachs containing only first-class compartments were vanishingly rare. By contrast, a FS or first-second composite was in the compartment style by default.

History

The earliest first-class coaches on Themiclesian railways were compartment coaches, but corridor coaches were introduced in the last quarter of the 19th century enabling passengers to access shared facilities on the train, such as lavatories and dining tables. Lower Coachworks' corridor coaches being popular for long-distance trains in the 1870s, other coachbuilders sought to imitate the feature in their coaches as well, leading to the spread of corridor coaches. Additionally, passengers on corridor coaches did not require long stops for lavatories or meals at stations, increasing average speed of travel; this was especially valuable for express services, and in fact corridor coaches were first found on long-distance, express services for this reason.

See also

• Themiclesia