In the UK an observation car has generally been considered to be a vehicle with large picture-type windows and probably similar windows in at least one end, usually marshalled at the rear of a train running through dramatic scenery. In the US and Canada the railroads have also used observation cars but, with their much more generous loading gauge, these have tended to be dome cars with a large ‘bubble’ on the roof through which a lucky few passengers can watch the scenery go by. One of the Canadian trains is operated by VIA RAIL and runs on Canadian National tracks from Vancouver to Toronto and includes a number of these cars. The ‘Rocky Mountaineer’ tourist train, which runs between Vancouver and Jasper or Banff over Canadian Pacific tracks, has a number of double deck vehicles where windows curve up into the roof to assist with viewing the spectacular mountain scenery through which the train runs, as well as open platforms at the ends.
Now this article is not intended to be a complete history of the observation car in Britain but rather a taster to show how a somewhat unconventional idea might have fitted in when it was first proposed in 1958. The earliest observation cars on this side of the Atlantic seem to have originated on the London & North Western Railway which built three in 1912/13, two of which were used in North Wales during the summer, attached to the rear of normal service trains. A small supplementary fee was payable for travel in the vehicle which was third class only, non-vestibuled and non-smoking. Where the third one was used is now a mystery but one of these has actually survived into preservation and can still be found in service on the Bluebell Railway in Sussex.
The NER proposal
Word of this had reached the North Eastern Railway (NER) and on 13th September 1913 a note from Philip Burtt, the company’s Passenger Manager, to Vincent Raven (the Chief Mechanical Engineer) suggested that an observation car should be built to run in the 1914 summer season from Scarborough to Whitby via the coast and back to Scarborough via Pickering. He asked for Raven’s views on the best description for one to seat 50 to 60 and wondered if a Tynemouth type of carriage could be adopted (did he mean adapted?) into a sort of autocar arrangement. On the NER the term autocar could refer to a BTP 0-4-4T sandwiched between two converted clerestory coaches, both fitted with a driving compartment at the outer ends, but it could also refer to one of two petrol-electric vehicles. One of these was restored to operation in 2018 with a new diesel engine. This seems the likelier explanation in this instance.
On 1st October Raven produced some notes, saying such a practice was not common in the UK and the disadvantage was that it could only earn revenue in regular service for three to four months a year. It could, however, be made available to football and theatrical parties for the rest of the year. One wonders how theatrical parties might have found it useful – perhaps for play readings or rehearsals whilst on the move although surely there would be too many external distractions for patrons to concentrate on if used for performances – surely the whole point of an observation car was to be able to watch passing scenery
