Question about corridor carriages in the 1930s.

[pickles4uk]

I'm working on a short story and it takes place on a corridor carriage (think that's the correct term, carriage with separate compartments with a corridor down the side joining them) in 1930s England.
I've been googling some images of old carriages to understand the layout and look, but for my story to work there can't be any windows on the side between the compartment and corridor. I've seen in some images the two windows either side of the door can sometimes have pull down blinds, but it seems like the window of the door is always exposed.
Was it possible to have no windows in the wall or doors much like a sleeper compartment? Or could you sometimes have a blind on the door window?
Any help or even images would be very helpful.

 

[Taunton]

Yes, there were pull-down blinds on all three panes of glass. All sorts of fun could be had in the compartments having done so .

Strictly, they were called by the railway a 'side-corridor' carriage, for apparent reasons. The current normal style of trains, which have been around as individual coaches for quite some time, were initially called 'centre-corridor' carriages, although my grandparents, who like most of their generation disliked them, insisted on calling them 'restaurant cars'. which although a somewhat similar seating arrangement, with no catering provision they were patently not.

I think I may be correct that not every railway provided blinds for all vehicles, particularly third class ones, in the 1930s. Full blinds on all windows is somewhat associated with the WW2 blackout regulations, and carried on afterwards.

 

[swt_passenger]

Travelling in the 60s and 70s in corridor stock it wasn’t at all unusual to join a train and find most of the blinds down, in modern times we‘re quite used to people wanting a table for four to themselves, spreading out their stuff accordingly, but back then there were definitely people who’d go further and try and have a whole compartment to themselves…

 

[AndyW33]

There are also variations between the four mainline railway companies, some had a single sliding door for each compartment on the corridor side, some had a two-part sliding door (one part slid to the left, the other to the right). If this has any significance to the story, let us know which route the train is travelling on, and someone should be able to give more details.
What there wouldn't ever be is blank panels, because in an era before on-train public address systems, passengers had to be able to see the station names on the platform so they got out at the place they wanted.

 

[pickles4uk]

Thank you so much for your replies. You've been very helpful. So glad I don't have to change elements in the story.

 

[PeterC]

Travelling in the 60s and 70s in corridor stock it wasn’t at all unusual to join a train and find most of the blinds down, in modern times we‘re quite used to people wanting a table for four to themselves, spreading out their stuff accordingly, but back then there were definitely people who’d go further and try and have a whole compartment to themselves…

Guilty but not only for myself. Train travel was far more romantic back then.

 

[swt_passenger]

Guilty but not only for myself. Train travel was far more romantic back then.

I hope you listened out for ‘tickets please’…

 

[Taunton]

This series of interior shots of a (1950s) compartment may assist; the penultimate one shows the light grey blind up at the top of the door, which is slid back about three-quarters of the way behind the glazed side partition.

BloodandCustard - Mk1 Corridor Coach SK

 

[dangerousdids2]

Sherlock homes (terror by night) is set mostly on a train in the 1930s/40s with side corridor carriages and centre corridor.

The ghost train (1941) also has some examples.

 

[Gloster]

Sherlock homes (terror by night) is set mostly on a train in the 1930s/40s with side corridor carriages and centre corridor.

The ghost train (1941) also has some examples.

Terror by Night was made in Hollywood by Universal: it cannot be regarded as a source for reliable information. Just look at some of the others in the series, such as The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Most of those made in this country, such as The Ghost Train, had all interior shots done in the studio using a mock up. This would have been based on a real interior, but with no guarantee that changes had not been made for the film crew’s convenience. You really need to move forward to the late 1950s before you start getting films actually shot onboard: many early ones would have been British Transport Films, many of which are available from the British Film Institute’s Player option. It depends on how much research you want to do.