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Converted railway coaches used for holidays

Camping coaches were holiday accommodation offered by many railway companies in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland from the 1930s. The coaches were old passenger vehicles no longer suitable for use in trains, which were converted to provide sleeping and living space at static locations. The charges for the use of these coaches were designed to encourage groups of people to travel by train to the stations where they were situated; they were also encouraged to make use of the railway to travel around the area during their holiday.

Camping coaches were first introduced by the London and North Eastern Railway in 1933, when they positioned ten coaches in picturesque places around their network. The following year, two other railway companies followed suit: the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, with what it originally called "caravans", and the Great Western Railway which called them "camp coaches". In 1935 they were introduced on the Southern Railway. At the outset of the 1935 season there were 215 coaches at 162 sites through Great Britain. They proved popular and their numbers were steadily increased so that 1939 there were 439 coaches in use, more than half of which were situated on the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. During World War II the coaches were generally unavailable to the public after 1940 as they were used by various authorities as emergency accommodation. By the end of the war most of the coaches needed refurbishment before they could be put back into public use; only the Southern Railway made this effort. After the railways were nationalised a second generation of camping coaches were introduced from 1952 by British Railways, these vehicles were generally more up to date, spacious and better equipped. In the early 1960s the stock was enhanced by the conversion of some redundant Pullman coaches, the service peaked at 223 vehicles in 1962. The Beeching cuts brought an end to the service with a lot of smaller lines, where the coaches were often located, closing and coaches being scrapped. The last coaches available for public use were withdrawn at the end of the 1971 season. Some camping coaches were conversions of vehicles that were no longer fit for operation and these remained static, in some instances "grounded" with running gear removed or on sections of track that were not connected to an operational line. Others retained the ability to be relocated to address operational requirements, which was possible because of the simplicity of the camping style accommodation and because the running gear could be adequately maintained. Rail vehicles used for accommodation purposes today are generally not maintained in this way and are no longer compliant with current rail technical and safety standards. They may be adapted to a stationary configuration with e. g. mains water, electricity and sewage connections to meet modern comfort expectations and such modification renders them unfit for movement by rail.

The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) first introduced camping coaches in 1933 and they converted 119 vehicles between then and 1938.

The vehicles selected for conversion were varied but there were several common characteristics. They were mostly five compartment, six wheel coaches of 1880s and 1890s vintage. Most of the fittings were stripped out of three of the compartments including the partitions between them to make a living room and kitchen area. The remaining two compartments remained for use as bedrooms, these had the seat backs removed, providing four berths, and were fitted with two upper berths in one of the compartments, providing an additional two berths for a total of six berths. The first batch of 35 conversions for use in 1933 and 1934 lacked any means of interior access from the living room to the bedrooms, subsequent conversions were provided with an inside corridor and the early vehicles retrospectively modified in 1936. Space was found for the corridor by constructing the ends of the beds with a hinge, which could be turned back to permit passage through the doorway. Four other conversions were made, all to bogie equipped stock, 3 were converted into 8 berth camping coaches for use along the Norfolk coast and one became the Touring Camping Coach. There were no mains services provided and campers were expected to use the station facilities for toilets and water. Paraffin was initially used for both cooking and lighting. Campers were expected to be self sufficient during their stay. The coaches proved immediately popular, 1,773 enquiries within a month and all ten coaches continuously occupied through July, August and September.

The LNER introduced a Touring Camping Coach in 1935, this service enabled campers to undertake a 276 mile (444 km) week long tour of the Yorkshire Dales from York. The coach was moved from place to place in the evenings by attaching it to scheduled passenger services, initially the coach visited , , , and , the route was later simplified and only went to Pateley Bridge, Aysgarth and Glaisdale. The vehicle was a conversion of a bogie carriage from 1905 and had a living/dining room with kitchenette and six one person sleeping compartments, a toilet and a seventh compartment could be used as a bathroom, store or an extra sleeping compartment utilising a collapsible camp bed. As with the static camping coaches campers were expected to provide their own provisions. The whole coach had to be booked for the week with a minimum of 6 campers, the cost was £2 per person out of season and £2.10s during July, August and September. Out of season it was possible to hire the touring coach with different itineraries.

The LNER converted some station buildings for use as Camping Apartments, they were similar in idea to the camping coaches and were a way of utilising the buildings at stations were passenger services had been withdrawn. Initially, in 1935, nine apartments
were made available at , (unusually this station still had a passenger service), , , , , , and The apartments were mainly for six people but some were able to offer accommodation to smaller parties.

Camping coaches were used during coronation week in 1937 when fifty two vehicles were moved to the London area to provide accommodation for parties wishing to witness the coronation. The coaches were located at , , , , , , , , Epping, , and The rental conditions were very similar, six return tickets (on the LNER of course) from home to London, and an increased rental charge of £10 for the coach. efn|£10 would be approximately £635 in 2018
Early in 1968 the camping coaches were withdrawn.

In 1959 the CIÉ located the first batch of six camping coaches (HC1 HC6) at three sites: Dungarvan, Killarney and Carrick on Shannon. Apparently the season was successful and two more coaches were converted for the 1960 season, for Tramore (HC7 HC8). The two at Carrick on Shannon were transferred to Galway.

The Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) in Northern Ireland also had two camping coaches in operation in Ballycastle in the 1960s.

Prior to nationalisation each of the railway companies produced their own posters, leaflets and guides, examples of which are above. After the reintroduction of camping coaches in 1952 British Railways (BR) advertised them in a variety of ways, taking advertising space in public timetables and in the annual BR "Holiday Guide" ("Holiday Haunts" from 1958). Eye catching posters were produced and displayed at stations. A national pamphlet was produced each year from the mid 1950s until 1966 by which time the service was only available on the London Midland and Scottish regions, who then made do with simple fly sheets. A final publicity effort was made by the sole remaining provider, the London Midland Region, in 1970.

A number of camping coaches made it into preservation, two of which at the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway are still available for hire as camping coaches (although in 2020 they were undergoing refurbishment). Former BR camping coaches were used by several preserved railways to house their volunteers, including the Llangollen Railway, the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, the South Devon Railway, the Bodmin and Wenford Railway and the Severn Valley Railway.