The Collett 'Super Saloons'

摘要

The chocolate and cream coaches of the Great Western Railway were as distinctive as the mid-chrome green painted locomotives with their copper and brass adornments that hauled them. The company's coaches were as innovative as the locomotives, ranging from the broad gauge convertibles through to the modern Dean clerestory corridor vehicles, the Churchward 'Dreadnought' and 'Concertina' carriages, the Collett high-waist and 1929 'Cornish Riviera Express' coaches to the handsome Hawksworth post-war corridor stock. The most luxurious coaches, however, were the eight Collett 'Super Saloons', the GWR's answer to the Pullman Company's cars, built in 1931 and 1932.The 'Super Saloons' were the most distinctive, exclusive and luxurious of all the GWR's coaches. Officially called 'Super Saloons', railwaymen often called them 'Pullmans', 'Cunards' or 'Ocean Saloons'. The decision to build them was driven by the commercial importance of the Plymouth boat trains and the company's flirtation with the Pullman Car Company. In the 1920s the number of ocean liners calling at Plymouth Sound doubled to 684 in 1930, when 38,472 passengers disembarked for speedy forward travel to London (Paddington). As it would not be until 1934 when the port facilities at Southampton were modernised, the Plymouth traffic was worth fostering. As most of the passengers tendered off the liners were sailing first class, it was not unexpected that they looked for high-quality carriages for the journey up to London. The largest of the transatlantic ocean liners of the period, the SS lie de France and the SS Normandie, along with Cunard's RMS Aquitania and RMS Majestic, could carry upwards of 2,000 passengers. Even if only a small number opted to disembark at Plymouth the provision of a dedicated train made good commercial sense.