Third open (Themiclesian railway)
| Third Open | |
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 Third Open coach of National Rail in 1925 |
Third Open (廷叁, līng-s.rūm) was a type of railway carriage used by various operators on Themiclesian railways. It was introduced en masse by Northwestern Railway in 1878 to provide lavatories to long-distance trains, not possible on conventional third-class compartment coaches.
Layout
All Third Open coaches after the 19th century were characterized by a 3+2 seating layout, with a corridor dividing the carriage lengthwise, asymmetrically. In early coaches, two adjacent rows of seats typically face each other, a feature inherited from compartment coaches; in 1893, reversible seats were introduced by some operators, and by the 1950s they were replaced by revolving seats in National Rail's Series 5 coaches. In comparison, contemporary third-class compartment carriages sat six abreast. Northwestern recuperated the lost seating capacity by extending its coaches from the ordinary 60′ to 75′, which was necessary in part to create space for lavatories.
History
The first set of Third Open coaches were employed in by Northwestern in its express services from Kien-k'ang to Ngrak. This 516-mile journey required 11 hours on a train that called at only two stations, and passengers frequently pulled on the emergency chords for unscheduled stops to relieve themselves. This practice was troublesome but not yet dangerous in contemporary practice, as scheduling was then not very tight. First-class passengers in drawing room cars could access a lavatory, as the coach was not compartmentalized. For this reason, the open-style layout was implemented on coaches all classes intended for long-distance travel on the Northwestern. The company heavily advertised the new convenience and the "unrestricted atmosphere" formerly part of the first-class ticket, which was well-received by travellers.
Adoption of the open plan on third-class varied by the operator and was not complete until the 1910s.