One compartment of LBSCR First 7598 has been trimmed in this, since this was all the material we had available as an end of roll. This is not a reproduction, but is from the original 1920s production. There was just enough material to trim this compartment providing there were no arm rests and banjos, so this compartment has been rebuilt to represent the 4-a-side first-class seating of such coaches as used on the Isle of Wight, as compared to the other 5 compartments of this coach which, with 3-a-side seating, represent mainland practice.
It is possible that this moquette is pre-grouping in origin, and we would be interested to know if anyone has evidence of this, and if so, as to which of the three SR constituents it was. We have found fragments of this material in three ex-LBSCR grounded bodies of coaches which were withdrawn from traffic about 1930, and so assumed to have been re-trimmed during the early- to mid-1920s.
However, a photograph (plate 37) in Marsden's first SR EMU book shows a 4LAV first class compartment of 1931/2 trimmed in this moquette, so it is plainly a long-lived and typical Brighton-line pattern. Interestingly, the compartment carpet clearly has the same design as the moquette, with the addition of the SR monogram.
This page is part of the Carriage Technical Pages
Pages about Moquettes: Index - 1920s - 1930s - 1940s - 1950s - 1960s - Pullman
Last update 26 December 2003 by Richard Salmon, with thanks to Trevor Rapley.