GN&SR Diag. F3

The Great Northern & Southern Railway Diagram F3 was a group of 104 first class passenger coaches built by the GN&SR (as well as outside contractors) between 1863 and 1867.

In March 1862, the GN&SR's board of directors convened to discuss the replacement of the coaching stock then in use on the mainline, plans were drawn up by the Carriage & Wagon Department by June of the same year for a new fleet of coaches of First, Second, Third, Composite 1st/2nd, Composite 2nd/3rd, Brake Third, Brake Luggage designs. The first class coaches were designated as the Diagram F3 as they were the third design of first class coaches developed by the GN&SR. They were used on express passenger trains for some 11 years before being transfered to local and branch line services, though they still retained their first class designation.

By 1878, the F3s were beginning to show their age as newer coaches were entering traffic though the number of new third class coaches was limited due to two fires in 1877 and 1881 and a strike starting in 1880 his lead to the GN&SR to convert some of the F3s into Diagram T7s by replacing the seats in the coaches; leading to the capacity per compartment raising from six to ten. While 67 coaches were converted into third class coaches, the remaining 37 remained in use in various other roles until they were scrapped 1891 and 1906, though three coaches sold to the Valentine Collieries Light Railway in 1892 survived until 1920. None have been preserved.