LMS Period II Coaching Stock — The Forgotten Transition That Defined the Modern LMS Coach

Historical Background and Introduction

The London, Midland and Scottish Railway came into existence on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act 1921, absorbing eight major constituent companies — including the Midland Railway, the London and North Western Railway, the Caledonian Railway, and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway — across a network of 7,790 route miles, the largest commercial enterprise in the British Empire. It inherited a bewildering variety of coaching stock from those constituents, along with fierce internal rivalries between factions representing former companies.

From grouping, Midland Railway influence dominated carriage design. R.W. Reid, the Carriage and Wagon Superintendent appointed in 1923, was a former MR man who had revolutionised carriage building at Derby by introducing American-style mass production techniques — jigs, templates, and flow-line assembly that reduced construction time from six weeks to six days and raised output to 200 wagons and 10 coaches per week. The coaches Reid standardised — Period I, sometimes called "Fowler" vehicles after Chief Mechanical Engineer Henry Fowler — followed established MR practice. They had wooden-framed and fully-beaded bodies, high waists, twin-window arrangements per bay, external compartment doors on corridor coaches, and a semi-elliptical roof that had replaced the Midland's characteristic clerestory form from 1915 onward. The standard body length was 57 feet, and the underframe was derived from the final Midland Railway steel pattern.

Ernest Lemon succeeded Reid as Carriage and Wagon Superintendent around 1926–27, and it is under Lemon's direction that the transition to Period II began. These vehicles are frequently called "Lemon coaches" in specialist literature, though the Period I/II/III periodisation reflects body design rather than administrative tenure.

The transition to Period II happened gradually, not in a single step. In 1927, the LMS abandoned external compartment doors on new-build corridor coaches, replacing them with larger windows. In 1928, ten palatial carriages for the flagship Royal Scot train introduced a single-window-per-bay design. Then in 1929, six luxury brake firsts appeared with the defining Period II hallmark: a low waist achieved by eliminating the waist panel entirely and deepening the windows downward. This was the formal birth of Period II coaching stock.

The period was short-lived. William Stanier arrived from the Great Western Railway as CME in January 1932, and his forthright views on carriage design — flush steel panels, rounded window corners, ribbed roofs, and sliding ventilators — immediately rendered Period II obsolescent. By 1932–33 the first Period III "Stanier" coaches were under construction, and Period II production effectively ceased. The entire era spans roughly three years, making it the most compressed of the three design periods.

Understanding Period II matters because it was the crucible in which the mature LMS coach aesthetic was formed. Everything that made a Period III Stanier coach visually distinctive — the low waist, single windows, steel-covered body — was first worked out in Period II. Stanier refined and perfected it; Lemon and his draughtsmen invented it.

Design, Construction, and Technical Specifications

Period II coaches retained the same fundamental structural approach as Period I — a steel underframe derived from the final Midland Railway design, with angle-section trussing supporting battery boxes and underframe equipment — but introduced several significant visual and technical improvements that set them apart from their predecessors.

Dimensions

The standard body length remained 57 feet, with an overall length over buffers of approximately 60ft 8in, though certain diagrams used a 60ft body length for corridor composites, brake composites, and specialised vehicles, giving approximately 63ft 8in over buffers. Dining cars and sleeping cars used 68ft bodies on twelve-wheel underframes. Body width was 9ft to 9ft 1½in for corridor stock, and height from rail approximately 12ft 5½in. Tare weights for standard corridor vehicles ranged from 28 to 32 tons depending on type and length.

Bogies

All standard-length coaches rode on four-wheel bogies with a 9ft wheelbase, of single-bolster, riveted construction derived from the final Midland Railway pattern. These changed remarkably little over the LMS's entire existence; welded bogies did not appear until approximately 1936–37 under Stanier. The 68ft twelve-wheel dining and sleeping cars used six-wheel bogies with a 12ft 6in wheelbase, based on LNWR practice inherited at grouping. The standard coach bogie can be identified by its riveted construction, visible from the platform at a heritage railway.

The defining visual changes

The most significant Period II innovation was the low-waisted body with single windows per bay. Period I's twin-window arrangement — two rectangular windows side by side per compartment — gave way to single, larger windows extending much further down the body side, dramatically improving the passenger's view and producing a visually lighter, more modern appearance.

Body construction evolved during Period II's short production life. Early vehicles (1929–30) retained traditional wood panelling with full external beading and raised window-edge mouldings, essentially the same construction technique as Period I but with the new window treatment. Later vehicles (1931–32), notably the large batch of 300 vestibule thirds, adopted steel-clad bodies with simulated external beading rendered in paint rather than raised metal. This was a crucial transitional step toward the completely flush-sided Stanier Period III stock. Non-corridor Period II vehicles featured steel-clad bodies with external wooden window bolections (raised mouldings framing each window aperture), differing from Period I primarily in the absence of the high raised waist panel.

The roof remained the semi-elliptical wood-and-canvas form with rainstrips, carried over directly from Period I. Period II progressively introduced Stones and Dewel glass vane ventilators mounted in the eaves panel above the windows — swivelling glass vanes that passengers could adjust to face or trail the airstream — superseding the droplights used for ventilation in earlier stock. The characteristic Stanier change to overlapping ribbed sheet-metal roofs and sliding ventilators incorporated into the upper window is one of the easiest visual distinctions between Period II and III.

Technical systems

All coaches except kitchen cars were electrically lit using Stone's generator equipment mounted on bogies, charging batteries suspended from the underframe. Steam heating from the locomotive was standard throughout. Gangway connections were the scissors-type British Standard corridor pattern, identical to that used by the GWR — not the Pullman-type gangways adopted by the LNER and SR. Coaches used non-automatic screw couplers and vacuum brakes throughout.

Technical Specifications Table

Specification	Standard Corridor	60ft Corridor	68ft Dining/Sleeping
Body length	57ft	60ft	68ft
Length over buffers	~60ft 8in	~63ft 8in	~72ft
Body width	9ft–9ft 1½in	9ft–9ft 1½in	9ft–9ft 1½in
Height (rail to roof)	~12ft 5½in	~12ft 5½in	~12ft 5½in
Tare weight	28–30 tons	29–32 tons	42–46 tons
Bogie type	4-wheel, 9ft wheelbase, riveted	4-wheel, 9ft wheelbase, riveted	6-wheel, 12ft 6in wheelbase
Underframe	Steel, Midland Railway pattern	Steel, Midland Railway pattern	Steel, LNWR/LMS composite
Roof form	Semi-elliptical, wood and canvas	Semi-elliptical, wood and canvas	Semi-elliptical, wood and canvas
Ventilation	Glass vane (Stones/Dewel)	Glass vane (Stones/Dewel)	Glass vane (Stones/Dewel)
Heating	Steam from locomotive	Steam from locomotive	Steam from locomotive
Lighting	Electric (Stone's generator)	Electric (Stone's generator)	Electric (Stone's generator)
Gangway	British Standard scissors type	British Standard scissors type	British Standard scissors type
Brakes	Vacuum	Vacuum	Vacuum
Coupling	Non-automatic screw	Non-automatic screw	Non-automatic screw

Design Insight — Spotting the Three Periods: Period I has a high waist with twin windows and external compartment doors on corridor stock. Period II has a low waist with single larger windows, near-square window corners, and beaded or simulated-beaded exterior. Period III has completely flush steel panels, distinctively well-rounded window corners, ribbed roofs, and sliding ventilators. The transition from beaded to flush-sided construction between Period II and III is the most dramatic single change in LMS coach appearance.

Sub-types, Diagrams, and Variants

Period II encompassed corridor, vestibule, non-corridor, dining, sleeping, and special-purpose vehicles across numerous LMS diagram numbers. The LMS used a numerical diagram system (e.g., "Diagram 1782") and separate lot numbers for each production batch. The following summarises the principal known types.

Corridor and vestibule gangwayed stock

Diagram 1717 — 57ft Brake First Corridor (BFK). Six vehicles built in 1929 (Lot 477) as part of the luxury brake first group that established the Period II low-waist design. These provided 2-a-side first-class seating and a generous luggage/brake compartment. Among the first true Period II vehicles.

Diagram 1719 — 57ft Semi-Open First. Ten or eleven built in 1930 (Lot 488). A fascinating hybrid type providing three enclosed first-class compartments (seating 12) and a three-bay open first-class saloon (seating 18), giving 30 first-class seats in total. One of the most interesting Period II layouts for modellers seeking variety.

Diagram 1720 — 60ft Brake Composite Corridor (BCK). Built under Lots 490 and 550 in 1929–30, with a centrally placed lavatory splitting the first and third sections. The 60ft body gave more interior flexibility.

Diagram 1730 — 57ft Brake Third Corridor (BTK). Built by outside contractors, probably around 1930–31. Compartments measured 6ft 6in — notably spacious by the standards of the day, and a significant passenger comfort improvement over earlier Period I brake thirds.

Diagram 1782 — 60ft Corridor Third (TK). Only ten vehicles were built to this diagram (Lot 551, 1930, Derby), making it one of the rarest Period II types. Seven compartments at 6ft 6in provided 56 third-class seats. These were built specifically for the upgraded Royal Scot service and represent Period II corridor thirds in their purest wood-panelled and fully-beaded form. Vehicle 1501, surviving (in store) at Appleby, is one of these.

Diagram 1791 — 60ft Corridor Composite (CK). Forty-eight vehicles built under Lot 531 in 1931 at Wolverton. Three first-class and four third-class compartments giving 18 first and 32 third-class seats totalling 50 passengers — a workhorse composite type for secondary express services.

Diagram 1795 — 60ft Vestibule First and Third Opens (FO/TO). Built under Lots 519 and 491 respectively in 1929. The open saloon layout with 42 seats in a 2+1 arrangement over seven bays was well suited to dining and excursion use, and first-class vehicles were sometimes downgraded to third class as traffic patterns changed.

Diagram 1807 — 57ft Open Third (TO). The largest single Period II production run, with 300 vehicles built in 1931–32 using steel-clad bodies with simulated beading. These were the vehicles that most directly presaged Period III in construction technique, even though they retained the beaded visual style.

Dining and sleeping cars

Diagram 1718 / Diagram 1810 — 68ft First-Class Kitchen/Dining Car. Twelve-wheel vehicles seating 24 first-class passengers. Built under Lots 478 and 525 in 1929–30 (D1718) and a later variant (D1810) around 1931. The D1810 variants were long-lived, not withdrawn until 1962. Approximately 36 dining cars in total were produced across the Period II era.

Diagram 1811 — 68ft Composite Kitchen/Dining Car. Twelve-wheel vehicles seating 30 passengers in five bays, built under Lot 617 in 1931. Unusually, these carried no class designation figures on the doors — an attempt to create a neutral dining environment crossing first and third-class boundaries.

Diagram 1781 / Diagram 1844 — 68ft Composite Sleeping Car. Twelve-wheel sleeping composites built under Lots 525 and 543 in 1930, principally at Wolverton. Convertible for daytime use, they were a direct successor to LNWR sleeping car practice. Diagram 1844 represented a later rebuild with fixed berths and altered lavatory arrangements, though externally near-identical to D1781.

Non-corridor and suburban stock

Diagram 1734 — 57ft Non-gangwayed Composite. Eleven were fitted for motor train working with push-pull equipment, making them unusual dual-purpose vehicles.

Diagram 1735 — 57ft Non-gangwayed Brake Third. Steel-clad with wooden window bolections. Some were subsequently converted to push-pull driving trailers (Diagram 1790), retaining guards' lookout duckets.

Diagram 1784 — 57ft Non-gangwayed Third. Nine compartments providing 108 third-class seats. Two hundred and thirty-six were built under Lot 523 in 1930 — by far the largest single non-corridor batch — making them the quintessential Period II suburban vehicle.

Non-passenger coaching stock

Diagram 1715 — 50ft All-Steel Full Brake (BG). Three hundred and sixty were built by outside contractors, straddling the Period I/II boundary. These steel-bodied vehicles differed markedly in construction from the wooden/composite passenger stock built alongside them.

Service History and Operating Companies

Period II coaching stock was built to serve the LMS's most prestigious named express trains and entered traffic at a time when inter-company competition for Anglo-Scottish traffic was intense. The West Coast route's rivalry with the LNER's East Coast Main Line shaped the very formation of the trains that Period II coaches worked.

The Royal Scot

The ten Diagram 1782 corridor thirds and the Diagram 1717 brake firsts were built specifically for the upgraded Royal Scot formation of 1930. The service operated between Euston and Glasgow Central, and the standard summer formation totalled 15 coaches weighing 417 tons empty. A typical consist ran: bogie brake, corridor first, open first-class restaurant car, kitchen car, two open third-class cars (one reserved for meal service only), two third-class corridor brakes — with the Edinburgh and Glasgow portions dividing at Symington. Six of the fifteen vehicles were devoted to meal service, reflecting the competitive pressure to match the LNER's on-board catering.

The Thames-Clyde Express and Midland Scot

Period II corridor composites and brake thirds worked the Thames-Clyde Express on the St Pancras–Glasgow St Enoch Midland route via the Settle and Carlisle line. This service used the Midland Main Line rather than the West Coast and carried through coaches for Edinburgh as well as Glasgow. The atmospheric Trans-Pennine and Border crossing scenery made comfort a selling point, and Period II's deeper windows were a genuine passenger benefit.

The Irish Mail

The Irish Mail between Euston and Holyhead, one of the oldest named trains in Britain (established 1848), used Period II corridor stock for its West Coast Main Line working. The service's tight timing — connecting with Holyhead boat sailings for Ireland — demanded reliable, well-maintained stock.

The 1933 North American Tour

In a remarkable episode of corporate promotion, a rake of LMS coaches accompanied Royal Scot locomotive No. 6100 on a tour of North America in 1933, exhibited at Chicago's Century of Progress World's Fair. The formation included corridor brakes, vestibule stock, a kitchen car, corridor firsts, a lounge car, and sleeping cars — all painted in LMS crimson lake and fully fitted out for public inspection. Over two million visitors examined the train, making it one of the most successful railway publicity exercises of the interwar period.

British Railways and withdrawal

All surviving LMS coaching stock passed to British Railways on 1 January 1948. An 'M' prefix and suffix were added to running numbers — so vehicle 1501 became M1501M, denoting London Midland Region allocation — while the BR classification code system used TOPS-style designations: BFK, TK, CK, BTK, BCK, FO, TO, BG, and so on.

Period II coaches were progressively cascaded from premier services to secondary and branch duties as Stanier's Period III stock took over top-link trains from the mid-1930s onward. The bulk of Period I and Period II corridor stock was withdrawn during the 1950s. The Diagram 1718 and 1810 dining cars were among the longest-lived, surviving until 1962. Non-corridor Period II thirds and composites worked suburban services around Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, and Leeds until displaced by diesel multiple units in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Vehicle 1501 (D1782 corridor third) gained an extended life when converted to a Chief Civil Engineer's inspection saloon in 1962, continuing to see occasional use into the preservation era. Some D1735 brake thirds rebuilt as D1790 push-pull trailers survived in rural push-pull workings into the late 1950s.

Withdrawal, Preservation, and Surviving Examples

Period II is the rarest of the three LMS coaching stock design eras in preservation. Approximately five passenger-carrying Period II vehicles survive in the United Kingdom, compared to dozens of Period I and especially Period III coaches across the country's heritage railways and museums. None is currently in operational condition.

Running No.	Type	Diagram	Built	Location	Status
1030	Semi-Open First	D1719	Lot 488, 1930, Derby	Midland Railway Centre, Butterley	Stored, unrestored
1501	Corridor Third	D1782	Lot 551, 1930, Derby	Transport Trust, stored	Stored, static
3820	Corridor Composite	D1791	Lot 531, 1931, Wolverton	Ex-Llangollen Railway	Status uncertain
8820	Open Third	D1807	Lot 648, 1932, Wolverton	Ex-Llangollen Railway	Status uncertain
11406	Non-Corridor Third	D1784	Lot 523, 1930, Derby	Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway (SRPS)	Stored, static

Vehicle 1030 at Butterley is arguably the most significant survivor — one of only 10 or 11 semi-open firsts ever built, representing the Period II luxury first-class experience with its unique compartment-and-saloon hybrid layout. The Midland Railway Centre at Butterley (Ripley, Derbyshire) is well worth a visit regardless, with a substantial collection of Midland and LMS locomotive and rolling stock.

Vehicle 1501 is equally significant, from a batch of just ten corridor thirds built specifically for the Royal Scot — the most important train in the LMS timetable. With its 6ft 6in compartments and period beaded exterior, it represents Period II at its most considered and purposeful.

The two former Llangollen Railway vehicles (3820 and 8820) have an uncertain future following the financial difficulties that affected that railway in recent years. Readers with a specific interest in these vehicles are encouraged to check the latest published fleet lists from the LMS Carriage Association (LMSCA), which maintains the most reliable current information on LMS coach preservation status.

Vehicle 11406 at Bo'ness represents the non-corridor suburban type built in the largest numbers, and the Scottish Railway Preservation Society's museum at Bo'ness (Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway, Bo'ness, Falkirk) holds a significant collection of Scottish and LMS-associated items well worth the journey.

No Period II vehicles are held in the National Railway Museum's National Collection at York or Shildon, which is a notable gap given the type's historical importance to LMS corporate identity.

Modelling Significance and Scale Replications

The most striking fact for model railway enthusiasts is that no mainstream ready-to-run model specifically representing LMS Period II coaching stock exists in any scale. This "Period II gap" means the distinctive low-waisted, fully-beaded, single-window, Stones-ventilatored coaches cannot be purchased off the shelf from Hornby, Bachmann, Dapol, or any other mainstream manufacturer. The commercially available LMS coach models overwhelmingly represent Period III Stanier stock or inherited pre-grouping vehicles.

What is currently available in OO gauge (Period III, not Period II)

Hornby produces the most comprehensive range of LMS Stanier (Period III) corridor coaches in OO gauge. Key catalogue numbers include R4231 (Corridor Third in LMS crimson), R4232 (Corridor Brake Third), R4233 (Full Brake), R4130 (Stanier Composite in LMS maroon), and R4129 (Stanier Brake Third). BR-liveried equivalents run R4234–R4237. Prices typically range from £30 to £50 new. Modellers note the glazing can exhibit a slight distorting effect, and the gold lining varies between print runs, but the models are considered broadly accurate for Period III.

Bachmann Branchline offers LMS Porthole coaches (the final evolution of LMS design, post-1947) in both BR crimson and cream and BR maroon liveries at approximately £45–£75. More recently, Bachmann has produced excellent LNWR 50ft Arc Roof coaches (catalogue 39-860 through 39-893 series) in LNWR livery, LMS Crimson Lake, and M&GN liveries at around £85 each — these represent the inherited pre-grouping stock that ran alongside early LMS-built vehicles.

Dapol offers Stanier corridor and non-corridor coaches as both ready-to-run (4P-010 series) and plastic kits (C099–C104 series), the latter giving budget-conscious modellers a route to LMS-liveried stock.

The kit-builder's path to Period II

For modellers determined to model Period II accurately, the principal option is Comet Models, whose products are stocked and distributed by Wizard Models Ltd (wizardmodels.ltd). Comet produces etched brass coach sides and complete kits for specific Period II diagrams:

• M24S / M24K — Period II Diagrams 1781/1844, 68ft Sleeper Composite sides and kit (M24K complete kit approximately £54.90; M24S sides only approximately £10.50)
• M25S / M25K — Period II Diagram 1735, Non-gangwayed Brake Third sides and kit (M25K approximately £46.50; M25S sides approximately £10.50)
• M26S / M26K — Period II Diagram 1734, 57ft Non-gangwayed Composite sides and kit
• M28S — Period II Diagram 1784, 57ft Non-gangwayed Third sides
• M96S / M96K — Period II Diagram 1782, 60ft Corridor Third sides and kit (the Royal Scot coach; M96K approximately £54.90)
• M23S / M23K — Period II Diagram 1730, 57ft Corridor Brake Third sides and kit

These are etched brass kits requiring soldering skills, appropriate underframes (Comet also supplies these), Romford or similar wheels, and body weight. Wizard Models supplies all necessary ancillary components including BM2 riveted 9ft wheelbase LMS bogies — the correct Period I and II type before the welded bogie was introduced. Comet kits incorporate the correct tumblehome (the gentle inward curve of the body sides below the waistline), which is easy to miss when scratch-building but essential for a true LMS appearance.

Comet Models also produce Period I and Period III kits across a wide range of diagrams, meaning a patient kit-builder could construct an entire chronological progression of LMS coaching stock from 1923 to 1947.

In O gauge, Darstaed has produced an LMS Period II Full Brake in Crimson Lake — representing one of the very few commercially produced Period II-specific models in any scale at a ready-to-run level. D&S Models and Golden Age Models offer various LMS types in O gauge as limited-production items.

In N gauge, Graham Farish (Bachmann) offers Period III Stanier varieties, but no Period II-specific models exist. The original 1970s Graham Farish suburban bogie stock was loosely based on LMS suburban practice but was heavily simplified.

Modelling Gap — A Niche for the Entrepreneurial Manufacturer: The LMS Period II corridor third (Diagram 1782) and brake third (Diagram 1730) in LMS Crimson Lake represent a genuine gap in the ready-to-run market. Ten corridor thirds served the most prestigious train in Britain; the type is historically significant, visually distinctive, and well documented. A well-detailed OO ready-to-run model would be welcomed enthusiastically by the significant community of LMS-period modellers.

Unique Modelling Tips and Layout Integration

Forming a prototypically correct Period II rake

The first challenge when modelling Period II is that you are almost certainly building from kits. Plan your rake before purchasing materials. A representative 1930–31 Royal Scot formation would include: one bogie full brake (D1715, steel), one corridor first (D1717, beaded), one open first-class dining car (D1718, twelve-wheel), one kitchen car, two open third-class vestibule coaches (D1795), and one or two corridor brake thirds (D1730 or D1782). This seven-to-eight vehicle consist is very achievable in a modest layout space and represents Britain's premier express train of the era.

For a secondary express working — the Thames-Clyde Express or a cross-country service — a five-vehicle corridor formation is entirely prototypical: one brake third (D1730), two corridor composites (D1791), one corridor third (D1782 or later vestibule third D1807), and one brake composite (D1720). Such a consist would be equally at home on the Midland Main Line, the Glasgow and South Western routes, or the Highland main line north of Inverness on seasonal extras.

Livery and lining

Period II coaches in LMS service carried LMS Crimson Lake, the company's standard carriage livery from 1923 to the outbreak of World War II, with gold lining at the waist and window tops on corridor stock. The full lining scheme applied to corridor and dining vehicles was dropped from non-corridor suburban stock. From c.1936, the lining was simplified on some vehicles, and wartime from 1940 saw unlined plain red or even unlined plain bauxite (a brownish shade used for some utility repaints).

Crimson Lake with full gold lining is the authentic early-period livery for Period II corridor coaches and looks superb — and none of the major manufacturers has yet produced it on a Period II body. Painting your Comet kit in this livery is a significant project requiring careful masking and good-quality signwriting or dry-transfer lettering, but the result is uniquely rewarding.

Mixing periods on a prototypical layout

One of the most important and often overlooked modelling facts about LMS coaching stock is that the three design periods ran together in mixed rakes for many years. Period I vehicles were not instantly retired when Period II appeared; they continued working express services well into the 1930s, and non-corridor Period I and II stock was virtually interchangeable. A layout set in 1934 could legitimately show a Period I brake composite at one end of a rake, two Period II corridor composites, a Period II open third, and a Period III Stanier corridor third — all in crimson lake, all running together. This is not a modelling compromise; it is accurate prototype practice.

Dining and sleeping cars were more often formed in matched period sets, however, as their twelve-wheel underframes and specialised interiors kept them in defined train formations rather than being shuffled between services.

Underframe details and bogie type

The BM2 riveted bogie (9ft wheelbase, riveted construction) is the correct bogie for Period I and Period II coaches. Wizard Models supplies these in OO gauge as code BM2. If you are building Comet sides, fitting the correct bogie immediately authenticates the model — riveted bogies have a busier, more angular appearance than the later welded BM3 bogie used on Stanier Period III and wartime construction. On a model displayed in a rake, this distinction between the two bogie generations is immediately visible to the knowledgeable eye.

Digital Command Control

Comet kit coaches are not DCC-fitted as standard — there is no directional lighting or interior lighting included. However, fitting coach lighting is straightforward using commercial strips (such as those from DCC Concepts, Gaugemaster, or Train-Tech) powered from a pick-up strip in the vestibule ends, capacitor-smoothed for flicker-free operation. Interior lighting in a Period II dining car with its period lamp shades, table settings, and white tablecloths makes an exceptionally impressive display piece.

Modelling Tip — The Period II Underframe: One detail that distinguishes Period II coaches from Period III in model form is the underframe profile. Period II underframes show the Midland Railway-derived truss rod arrangement with battery boxes centrally placed and clearly visible. Comet underframe components replicate this. If you are using a generic underframe chassis, check that the battery box positions are correct — on Period III coaches they were repositioned as Stanier standardised the underframe design.

Finally

LMS Period II coaching stock occupies a paradoxical place in British railway history. Its production run was the shortest of the three LMS design periods — barely three years — yet it was the most consequential in terms of design innovation. Every visual characteristic that makes a mature LMS coach instantly recognisable: the low waist, the broad single windows, the steel-clad or panelled body, the distinctive eaves ventilators — all of these appeared first on Period II vehicles designed and built at Derby and Wolverton between 1929 and 1932.

The vehicles worked the finest trains the LMS operated: the Royal Scot, the Thames-Clyde Express, the Irish Mail, and the celebrated 1933 North American tour that brought LMS coaching stock before two million American visitors. They served British Railways for a further decade after nationalisation, cascading gracefully from expresses to secondary duties before final withdrawal in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Today, Period II is the rarest LMS coaching stock era in preservation and the least represented in model form — a situation that reflects how quickly it was superseded rather than any diminution of its importance. For the modeller, this rarity is also an opportunity. A carefully constructed rake of Comet Models Period II corridor stock in fully-lined LMS Crimson Lake, hauled by an LMS Royal Scot or Patriot class locomotive, would represent something that few layouts in the country can claim: an accurate portrayal of Britain's biggest railway at the very moment its carriage design finally found its mature voice.

Frequently Asked Questions

When were LMS Period II coaches designed, and who was responsible for them?

Period II coaches emerged between 1929 and 1932 under the supervision of Carriage and Wagon Superintendent Ernest Lemon, working from the Derby Carriage and Wagon Works design office. Lemon had succeeded R.W. Reid around 1926–27 and presided over a gradual evolution away from the high-waisted Midland Railway practice of Period I. The transition began with the removal of external corridor doors in 1927, progressed through the single-window-per-bay experiment for the Royal Scot in 1928, and achieved its defining form — the low-waisted, deepened-window body — in 1929. Fowler remained CME throughout, with Stanier's arrival in 1932 ending Period II production.

How many LMS Period II coaches were built in total?

A precise overall figure requires consultation of David Jenkinson and Bob Essery's definitive three-volume Illustrated History of LMS Standard Coaching Stock (OPC, 1991–2000), which remains the authoritative source on production quantities. From publicly confirmed data, the largest single batch was 300 steel-clad vestibule thirds to Diagram 1807, and 236 non-corridor thirds to Diagram 1784 represent the largest non-corridor batch. Approximately 36 dining cars were built across the era. Period II's short three-year span means overall production was considerably smaller than either Period I or Period III. The LMS Society's publications provide further detail.

Where can I see surviving LMS Period II coaches today?

The best-documented surviving vehicle for public access is at the Midland Railway Centre, Butterley (near Ripley, Derbyshire), which holds Semi-Open First No. 1030 — one of only 10 or 11 ever built and an extremely rare Period II luxury type. The Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway (Bo'ness, Falkirk) holds Non-Corridor Third No. 11406 in store. The status of two former Llangollen Railway vehicles (Nos. 3820 and 8820) is uncertain following that railway's difficulties; the LMS Carriage Association (LMSCA) maintains the most current fleet data and is the best first point of contact for researchers.

Are there any ready-to-run OO gauge models of LMS Period II coaching stock?

No mainstream ready-to-run OO gauge model specifically representing LMS Period II coaching stock currently exists from any manufacturer. Hornby, Bachmann, and Dapol produce LMS-liveried coaches, but these represent Period III Stanier stock (1932 onward) or inherited pre-grouping types. The only commercially produced Period II-specific models are Comet Models etched brass kits (distributed by Wizard Models Ltd at wizardmodels.ltd), covering several Period II diagrams including the Diagram 1782 Corridor Third, Diagram 1730 Corridor Brake Third, Diagram 1784 Non-gangwayed Third, Diagram 1781 Sleeping Composite, and others. These are premium-grade kits for experienced builders, not beginners.

What scale kits are available for LMS Period II coaches, and are they suitable for beginners?

Comet Models kits (from Wizard Models Ltd) are available in OO gauge (1:76 scale) and represent the most comprehensive Period II kit range. They are etched brass kits requiring soldering skills, a suitable chassis/underframe, wheels, and body weight. They are not recommended for beginners to kit-building. A modeller new to etched brass should build one or two simpler kits first, then attempt a Comet LMS coach. In O gauge (1:43.5), Darstaed has produced the LMS Period II Full Brake as a ready-to-run item. No N gauge Period II-specific models are currently available.

What liveries did LMS Period II coaches carry, and which are available in model form?

Period II coaches carried LMS Crimson Lake with full gold lining from new from 1929, the lining being simplified from approximately 1936. During World War II, plain unlined crimson or bauxite-brown repaints were applied. After nationalisation in 1948, surviving vehicles received BR Crimson and Cream (post-1949) and eventually BR Maroon (post-1957). The challenge for modellers is that fully-lined LMS Crimson Lake is the authentic early livery — and it has never been applied to a ready-to-run Period II body, simply because no such model has been produced. BR Crimson and Cream and BR Maroon are available from Hornby and Bachmann, but on Period III Stanier bodies rather than Period II. Achieving Period II in LMS Crimson Lake currently requires painting a Comet kit from scratch.

How do LMS Period II coaches compare to contemporary coaches from the LNER, GWR, and SR?

Period II was competitive but not quite at the leading edge. The LNER's Gresley coaches were considered the most technically sophisticated, with buckeye automatic couplers and Pullman-type gangways providing safer inter-vehicle connections that the LMS never adopted. LNER coaches were also slightly longer (60ft standard) and wider (9ft 3in) than the LMS norm. The GWR offered the most spacious stock of all, with Collett's coaches reaching 70ft in length and 9ft 6in in width, though the GWR retained external compartment doors on corridor coaches until 1936 — later than the LMS. The SR's Maunsell coaches (59ft, 9ft 3in wide, with buckeye couplers) represented arguably the best-balanced design of the early 1930s. Railway historians generally place the LMS slightly behind the LNER and SR during the Period II era, a deficit that Stanier's Period III stock and the streamlined Coronation Scot coaches would comprehensively correct by the late 1930s.

What named trains did LMS Period II coaches work, and which routes should I model?

The primary services were the Euston–Glasgow/Edinburgh Royal Scot on the West Coast Main Line; the St Pancras–Glasgow Thames-Clyde Express on the Midland Main Line and Settle and Carlisle route; the Euston–Holyhead Irish Mail; and the St Pancras–Edinburgh Midland Scot. For layout modellers, the West Coast Main Line between Euston and Crewe, or the Midland Main Line approaching Leeds or Sheffield, offer the most dramatic settings for Period II expresses. The Settle and Carlisle route is a particularly attractive scenic option that was worked by Period II stock on both express and secondary services throughout the 1930s.