Who Remembers . . . .

[Canary42]

. . . . travelling Third Class on the railway (in the UK).

[Buenchico]

Anyone who remembers will have had to have travelled (and been old enough to remember doing so) before 3 June 1956, when 'Third Class' was renamed to 'Second Class' (before later becoming 'Standard Class' on 11 May 1987).

I was only three years old back in June of 1956, so I don't remember it myself.

[eve1974]

What was 3rd class? Standing only? I didn’t live in U.K. at that time

[Jackdaw33]

3rd class was abolished in 1956 so you will have to be some age now to remember the class you were travelling in.

[Canary42]

No, it was reasonably comfortable seating, there were no 2nd class, and 1st class was for the toffs.

[Jackdaw33]

Wooden seats rather than upholstered ones.

[Canary42]

I was using it daily to get to school from 1953 onwards until it disappeared, so remember it well..

[jourdain2]

I suppose I must have, because I know I travelled locally by train on my Mum's shopping trips in the early 1950s and money was tight so a trip to Leeds would have been 3rd class. T.B.H. I can't remember it being any different to 2nd class, which was the usual 'get you there' method.

[Canary42]

Not so Jackdaw, seats were upholstered.

[Sqad]

Of course I remember travelling 3rd class, grandad worked onthe LNER and got 3 "passes" a year......for holiday travel.
I was also a porter on Peterborough North in 1953.
Never travelled any other class except once on the Pulman.

[Jackdaw33]

I'm going back to the turn of the century. The old second class disappeared in 1956 and 3rd class became 2nd.

[Buenchico]

Early 3rd Class carriages only had wooden seats, Jack, but by the time that '3rd' became '2nd' they were generally far more comfortable:
https://citytransport.info/PhotoCD/PCD08_33a.jpg

[andres]

1951. Went to London to the Festival of Britain by train .

[Buenchico]

Carry my bag please, Sqad ;-)
https://ibb.co/84byv2P

[Canary42]

Nice one andres - I too remember the Festival of Britain although I never went there, the Dome of Discovery and the Skylon were big news items at the time. I do have a small collection of FoB items including this Poole Pottery Plate.

https://ibb.co/54kN3tQ

[barry1010]

The old second class disappeared before the 20th century with the exception of GWR that abolished it in 1910. After that there was 1st and 3rd class until 1956

[Sqad]

That's it.....That's it.
Well played Buenchico.

[Barmaid]

I commuted from Peterborough to Kings Cross for years in the early 1990s. It was lovingly known as cattle class since by the time the train reached PB it was standing room only, unless you fancied sitting in Coach B (the smoker) or standing in the buffet.

Coming back after a night on the lash in London, the after midnight trains were called the "divorce trains". There were 2 as I remember, one at 1.40am and one at 3.40am. You were in a fair amount of poo if you got the 1.40, after that it was best just to stay in a hotel. (For a few days!)

[andres]

canary @21.58,^^^ We went to stay with the family whose children had been our evacuees during the war. The Festival of Britain was a wonderful experience.