British Rail coach type codes


British Railways coach designations were a series of letter-codes used to identify different types of coaches, both passenger carrying and non-passenger carrying stock. The code was generally painted on the end of the coach but non-gangwayed stock had the code painted on the side. They have been superseded by TOPS design codes.

Background

The London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the London and North Eastern Railway developed systems of identifying railway carriages with alphabetic codes. When British Railways was formed in 1948, it adapted the LNER system.

Basic principles

The codes are made up from a combination of letters, some of which can indicate more than one word; their meaning can only be determined according to their position in the code or the presence of other letters. The letters are:
These letters did not usually apply to passenger-rated but goods carrying vans. Their codes were an acronym of their traditional railway description, e.g. GUV for General Utility Vans.

List of codes used

The following list lists those codes that were used on BR cross-referred to the comparable code used by the LMS, with the exception that the letter S is used where until 1956 the letter T was used. Suffix codes Y or Z are not shown, as these could apply to variants of any or all vehicle types.
In the LNER system, S stood for "Second", a class between First and Third. The original Second was more or less abolished in the 1870s as a result of the Railway Regulation Act 1844, remaining only in limited use for special services, such as those meeting ships. In May 1988 BR reclassified Second to Standard but this did not alter the code.
Multiple unit coaches originally distinguished between open and corridor types by adding the letter O or K at the end, and also distinguished coaches with lavatories by adding the letter L at the end but these fell out of use when corridor stock became less common which enabled the codes to be restricted to no more than four letters.
BR CodeDescriptionLMS Code
BBrake
BCBrake Composite
BCKBrake Composite CorridorCBB
BCLBrake Composite Lavatory
BCVBRUTE Carrying Van
BDBSBattery Driving Trailer Brake Second
BDMSBattery Driving Motor Second
BDTCBattery Driving Trailer Composite
BDTCBattery Driving Trailer Composite
BDTSBattery Driving Trailer Second
BFBBullion Container Flat
BFKBrake First CorridorE
BFOBrake First Open
BGGangwayed Full BrakeCBR
BGPBrake gangwayed pigeon van
BGZBrake gangwayed CR
BPOTBrake Post Office tender
BSBrake SecondH
BSKBrake Second CorridorCH
BSLBrake Second LavatoryLH
BSOBrake Second OpenVH
BSOBrake Second Open Trolley
BTKBrake Third Corridor
BUOBrake Unclassified Open
BYBrake
BZBrake R
CCompositeBC
CCTCovered Carriage Truck
CKCorridor CompositeCBC
CLLavatory CompositeLC
COComposite OpenVC
CTOOpen Carriage Truck
DBSODriving Brake Second Open
DMDriving Motor
DMBDriving Motor Brake
DMBCDriving Motor Brake Composite
DMBFDriving Motor Brake First
DMBSDriving Motor Brake Second
DMBSODriving Motor Brake Second Open
DMCDriving Motor Composite
DMLVDriving Motor Luggage Van
DMSDriving Motor Second
DTBSDriving Trailer Brake Second
DTCDriving Trailer Composite
DTSDriving Trailer Second
DTVDriving Trailer Van
DVTDriving van trailer
FKCorridor FirstCL
FOOpen FirstQL
FOTFirst Open Trolley
GUVGeneral utility van
HBHorse box
IFVInsulated fish van
KBKitchen Buffet
LFKLounge First
MMotor
MBSMotor Brake Second
MFLRKMotor First Lavatory Kitchen
MLVMotor Luggage Van
MPSLMotor Parlour Second Lavatory
MSMotor Second
MSLRKMotor Second Lavatory Kitchen
NPVNewspaper Van
PCPPullman Composite Parlour
PCVPropelling control vehicle or Parcels Van
PFBPullman First Brake
PFKPullman First Kitchen
PFPPullman First Parlour
PMVParcels & Miscellaneous Van or Pantograph Motor Van
POSPost Office sorting vanPOR
POTPost Office stowage vanPPR
PSBPullman Second Brake
PSPPullman Second Parlour
PTSOPantograph Trailer Second Open
PVGPacking Van Gangway -
RBRestaurant Buffet
BRKRestaurant Buffet
RBRRestaurant Buffet Refurbished
RBSRestaurant Unclassed
RCRestaurant CompositeCompo RKC
RCORestaurant Composite OpenVC Dining
REGriddle
RFRestaurant FirstFirst RKC
RFBRestaurant First Buffet
RFMRestaurant First Modular-
RFORestaurant First OpenQL Dining
RKKitchen CarKC
RKBKitchen Buffet BRC
RLBRestaurant Lounge First Buffet-
RMBRestaurant Miniature Buffet
RMBTMicro Buffet
RSRestaurant SecondThird RKC
RSORestaurant Second Open QF Dining
RUUnclassified Restaurant<Common RKC
RUBRestaurant Unclassified
RUKRestaurant Unclassified Kitchen
RUORestaurant Unclassified Open
SSecondF
SCVSpecial Cattle Van
SDSaloon Discothèque
SKCorridor SecondCF
SLBBullion Van
SLCSleeper CompositeCSC
SLCPSleeper Composite with Pantry
SLESleeper Either Class
SLEPSleeper Either Class with Pantry
SLFSleeper FirstSC
SLOOpen Second with Lavatory
SLSCSleeper Support Coach
SLSTPSleeper Second Twin-Berth with PantrySCT
SLOSecond Lavatory Open
SOOpen SecondQF
SOSecond Open
SPVSpecial Parcels Van
TAVTrailer Auxiliary Van
TBCTrailer Brake Composite
TBFTrailer Brake First
TBSTrailer Brake Second
TCTrailer Composite
TCCTrailer Composite Conductor
TCVTiered Car Carrier
TFTrailer First
TFLRKTrailer First Lavatory Kitchen
TGTrailer Griddle
TGSTrailer Guard Second
TOVThird Open Vestibuled
TPFLTrailer Parlour First Lavatory
TRBTrailer Restaurant Buffet Unclassified
TRFBTrailer Restaurant First Buffet
TRFMTrailer Restaurant First Modular
TRSBTrailer Restaurant Second Buffet
TRUBTrailer Restaurant Unclassified Buffet
TRUKTrailer Restaurant Unclassified Kitchen
TSTrailer Second
TSCDTrailer Second Conductor Disabled
TSOTourist Second Open-
TSODTourist Standard Open Disabled
TSOETourist Standard Open End Coach
TSOTourist Second Open Trolley
TUTrailer unclassified
VFVVentilated fruit van