The unusual KCR carriage featuring oval windows was one of the two second hand all-steel carriages bought from the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL) in 1948.
The two carriages were originally CIWL WSPC-class Pullman dining-parlour cars with kitchens (CIWL No. 4062 & 4065), built by Leeds Forge in England in 1926. They were debuted on the French luxury boat train "La Flèche d'Or" (The Golden Arrow) that linked Paris and Calais, where passengers took the ferry to Dover and then transferred to the Southern Railway's "Golden Arrow" express service to London.
In the 1930s, CIWL was operating a luxury train service in China under a agreement with the Chinese National Railway, attaching its carriages to the express trains on the Tientsin-Pukow line and Nanking-Shanghai line. In 1937, as CIWL prepared to expand its service to the "Capital Limited" express train between Shanghai and Nanking, as well as the planned Shanghai-Canton express, the two carriages and several sleeping coaches were shipped from Europe to Shanghai. However, the agreement was disrupted due to the sudden outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The carriages en route to Shanghai were diverted to Hong Kong, and all CIWL carriages operating in China were evacuated to the south by rail for safekeeping. By September 1937, a total of 22 CIWL carriages were stored on the sidetracks of the KCR British Section in Kowloon. They are believed to have remained in Hong Kong during the war period.
After World War II, the Chinese Railways focused on the national relief and rehabilitation efforts. As a result, CIWL didn't resume its business in China. In 1947, when the Canton-Hankow Railway(CHR) proposed using the idle CIWL carriages on the Kowloon-Canton trains to relieve a shortage of rolling stock, CIWL agreed to transfer them to KCR and CHR. The two carriages acquired by KCR the next year were rebuilt into second-class standards with 78 seats, and numbered 205 & 206. They remained in service on the British Section until their retirement in 1965-66.
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List of CIWL carriages arriving in Hong Kong 1937: WL (Wagon-Lits / Sleeping car): 877, 896, 1841, 2033, 2035, 2226, 2249, 2510, 2513, 3015–3017 WR (Wagon-Restaurant / Restaurant car): 2409, 2412–2415, 2418, 2421–2422 WSPC (Wagon-Salon Pullman avec Cuisine / Saloon and Parlour car with Kitchen): 4062, 4065
Thank you for the interesting and comprehensive response.
I wonder why this subject is so little known about. The fact of 22 CIWL train carriages sitting idle in sidings during 1937 must have attracted some attention at a time. Remarkably, despite their outlines making them distinctively different from those of standard KCR carriages they seem to have escaped the attentions of photographers.
I think those elegant carriages must have caught the interest of photographers, but more records are yet to dig up.
As far as I know, there is a photo of a CIWL carriage being unloaded at Kowloon Wharf, likely no. 4062 or 4065, in the collection of the Hong Kong Museum of History. It could be found by searching for reference no. MHP1992.3.90 on the LCSD Museum Collection Searching Portal.
The 22 carriages might also been recorded on a footage of the British Pathé in 1939. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BgegpQkuOM The scene at timestamp 0:04 matched the record in the KCR annual report of 1937, where three sidings were constructed at the cost of CIWL for the accommodation of the 22 cars.
A special carriage introduced by the Canton-Kowloon Railway ( "Chinese section") in about 1935. It was used as a "RESERVED SALOON" on the Canton-Kowloon Railway's express through-train services between Canton and Kowloon.
The referenced media source is missing and needs to be re-embedded.
CKR "Flying Dragon" Reserved Saloon- 1935, by Chinarail
In 1936 the Chinese government were busy finishing the missing sections of a railway which had been started some 30 years-plus earlier. The company had ordered several sets of new "luxury" steel carriages of various types and classes from the Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd., of Smethwick. U.K. In 1936 five 2nd Class coaches had been completed and were reportedly shipped to China, almost certainly through Hong Kong However since the railway's opening was delayed until 1937, they probably languished in the Hong Kong for some weeks ( Report in the Locomotive Magazine Jan 1937)
Canton-Hankow Railway - All-Steel 2nd Class Passenger Carriage - 1936, by Chinarail
On Auguest 25, 1950, the 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders was travelled from Fanling to Kowloon by KCR, and then boarded the cruiser HMS Ceylon to Pusan. Related records can be found at the following websites: http://argylls1945to1971.co.uk/AandSH_Korea1950to51_1.htm
Comments
KCR CIWL passenger carriages
The unusual KCR carriage featuring oval windows was one of the two second hand all-steel carriages bought from the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL) in 1948.
The two carriages were originally CIWL WSPC-class Pullman dining-parlour cars with kitchens (CIWL No. 4062 & 4065), built by Leeds Forge in England in 1926. They were debuted on the French luxury boat train "La Flèche d'Or" (The Golden Arrow) that linked Paris and Calais, where passengers took the ferry to Dover and then transferred to the Southern Railway's "Golden Arrow" express service to London.
In the 1930s, CIWL was operating a luxury train service in China under a agreement with the Chinese National Railway, attaching its carriages to the express trains on the Tientsin-Pukow line and Nanking-Shanghai line. In 1937, as CIWL prepared to expand its service to the "Capital Limited" express train between Shanghai and Nanking, as well as the planned Shanghai-Canton express, the two carriages and several sleeping coaches were shipped from Europe to Shanghai. However, the agreement was disrupted due to the sudden outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The carriages en route to Shanghai were diverted to Hong Kong, and all CIWL carriages operating in China were evacuated to the south by rail for safekeeping. By September 1937, a total of 22 CIWL carriages were stored on the sidetracks of the KCR British Section in Kowloon. They are believed to have remained in Hong Kong during the war period.
After World War II, the Chinese Railways focused on the national relief and rehabilitation efforts. As a result, CIWL didn't resume its business in China. In 1947, when the Canton-Hankow Railway(CHR) proposed using the idle CIWL carriages on the Kowloon-Canton trains to relieve a shortage of rolling stock, CIWL agreed to transfer them to KCR and CHR. The two carriages acquired by KCR the next year were rebuilt into second-class standards with 78 seats, and numbered 205 & 206. They remained in service on the British Section until their retirement in 1965-66.
---
List of CIWL carriages arriving in Hong Kong 1937:
WL (Wagon-Lits / Sleeping car): 877, 896, 1841, 2033, 2035, 2226, 2249, 2510, 2513, 3015–3017
WR (Wagon-Restaurant / Restaurant car): 2409, 2412–2415, 2418, 2421–2422
WSPC (Wagon-Salon Pullman avec Cuisine / Saloon and Parlour car with Kitchen): 4062, 4065
KCR carriages
cwyip911
Thank you for the interesting and comprehensive response.
I wonder why this subject is so little known about. The fact of 22 CIWL train carriages sitting idle in sidings during 1937 must have attracted some attention at a time. Remarkably, despite their outlines making them distinctively different from those of standard KCR carriages they seem to have escaped the attentions of photographers.
Records of CIWL carriages in HK
I think those elegant carriages must have caught the interest of photographers, but more records are yet to dig up.
As far as I know, there is a photo of a CIWL carriage being unloaded at Kowloon Wharf, likely no. 4062 or 4065, in the collection of the Hong Kong Museum of History. It could be found by searching for reference no. MHP1992.3.90 on the LCSD Museum Collection Searching Portal.
The 22 carriages might also been recorded on a footage of the British Pathé in 1939.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BgegpQkuOM
The scene at timestamp 0:04 matched the record in the KCR annual report of 1937, where three sidings were constructed at the cost of CIWL for the accommodation of the 22 cars.
Railway carriages in transit
"KCR Rolling Stock Yard - 1937"
A special carriage introduced by the Canton-Kowloon Railway ( "Chinese section") in about 1935. It was used as a "RESERVED SALOON" on the Canton-Kowloon Railway's express through-train services between Canton and Kowloon.
In 1936 the Chinese government were busy finishing the missing sections of a railway which had been started some 30 years-plus earlier. The company had ordered several sets of new "luxury" steel carriages of various types and classes from the Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd., of Smethwick. U.K. In 1936 five 2nd Class coaches had been completed and were reportedly shipped to China, almost certainly through Hong Kong However since the railway's opening was delayed until 1937, they probably languished in the Hong Kong for some weeks ( Report in the Locomotive Magazine Jan 1937)
The Troops
On Auguest 25, 1950, the 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders was travelled from Fanling to Kowloon by KCR, and then boarded the cruiser HMS Ceylon to Pusan. Related records can be found at the following websites:
http://argylls1945to1971.co.uk/AandSH_Korea1950to51_1.htm
Two photos of the same troop train were found in the collection of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Regimental Museum as well as The Imperial War Museums.