GN&SR Diag. C1

The Great Northern & Southern Railway Diagram C1 was a group of 11 four-compartment composite passenger coaches built by the GN&SR between 1859 and 1860.

In 1858, a small drop in the sales of second class tickets on services around Wakeley led the GN&SR to adopt an experimental design that combines both the Diag. S2 and the (DIAG T3) into one coach. Officially designated the "Diagram C1", eleven coaches were built to the design beginning in 1859. The coaches were formed of two distinct sections, one half was fully enclosed with partitions seperating the compartments whereas the other was open sided and lacked the partitions; the only common features between the two were the lamp placements, the existance of a roof (a feature which earlier fully third class coaches lacked) and the bench-like seating. The C1s were used on commuter services where a number of higher-class seats needed to be provided but did not warrant more than four second class coaches or any first class coaches.

They were used on the mainline until the late 1870s when they were displaced as the GN&SR began to build or buy large numbers of more modern coaches. The C1s dissapeared relatively quickly due to the small number that had been built, by this time all had been rebuilt to be fully enclosed on all compartments with the second class compartments recieving newer seats that had cheap fabric upholstery. One of these rebuilt coaches was sold to the Minsden & Westport Railway where she ran until withdrawal in the mid-1910s.

The body of №55 survives at the Shipston Valley Light Railway; its body had been recovered from Chaldean in 2003 and was taken to the SVLR where a new chassis was built and restoration work began. She was fully restored and operational by 2008 and now forms part of the vintage train.