"Martin WY" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 18 Nov 04 02:55:07 GMT, (Charles
Ellson) wrote:

In article
"Troy Steadman" writes:

The first L&SW trains to Kingston-on-Railway (nowadays Surbiton) were
notable for having people riding on top and people riding below.

Were they double-deckers?

Don't some old pictures show passengers on top of the
stage-coaches-on-rails
as used on early railways, not so much "on top" as at the ends.
There were double deck trains in Lonon in the 40s and has been
discussed on here before.
http://www.yellins.co.uk/transporthi...l/ddtrain.html


The Mumbles Railway had double-decked open-topped vehicles, which I rode on
as a small child. However, though this was called a 'railway', it was really
a cross between what the Americans refer to as an 'Interurban' and a
tramway. Almost all the 'main line' was on a reserved track to the side of
the main road to Mumbles. In the 1840s, some of the French companies used
open-topped double deck stock on Paris suburban services, which were
nicknamed 'Imperiales' as they appeared during the Second Empire- some of
them may have even survived until the 1930s in commercial service, whilst
there was a preserved example at the big SNCF exhibition in Paris last year.
As for examples on the UK main line railways, I would have thought the
loading gauge was a little restrictive.
Brian