British Rail coach designations
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 adopted 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 the 1980s, BR renamed Second to Standard. Many of the classifications listed below are no longer used, and some did not survive until the "Standard" designation.
| LNER Code | Description | LMS Code |
| B | Brake | |
| BC | Brake Composite | - |
| BCK | Brake Composite Corridor | CBB |
| BCL | Brake Composite Lavatory | - |
| BCV | BRUTE Carrying Van | - |
| BDMBS | Battery Driving Motor Brake Standard | - |
| BDMSO | Battery Driving Motor Standard Open | - |
| BDTCL | Battery Driving Trailer Composite Lavatory | - |
| BFK | Brake First Corridor | E |
| BFO | Brake First Open | - |
| BG | Brake Gangwayed | CBR |
| BGP | Brake Gangwayed Pigeon van | - |
| BGZ | Brake Gangwayed | CR |
| BPOT | Brake Post Office Stowage Van | - |
| BS | Brake Standard | H |
| BSK | Brake Standard Corridor | CH |
| BSL | Brake Standard Lavatory | LH |
| BSO | Brake Standard Open | VH |
| BSOT | Brake Standard Open Trolley | - |
| BUO | Brake Unclassified Open | - |
| BZ | Brake | R |
| C | Composite | BC |
| CCT | Covered Carriage Truck | - |
| CK | Composite Corridor | CBC |
| CL | Composite Lavatory | LC |
| CO | Composite Open | VC |
| DBSO | Driving Brake Standard Open | - |
| DM | Driving Motor | - |
| DMB | Driving Motor Brake | - |
| DMBC | Driving Motor Brake Composite | - |
| DMBCL | Driving Motor Brake Composite Lavatory | - |
| DMBFL | Driving Motor Brake First Lavatory | - |
| DMBS | Driving Motor Brake Standard | - |
| DMBSK | Driving Motor Brake Standard Corridor | - |
| DMBSL | Driving Motor Brake Standard Lavatory | - |
| DMBSO | Driving Motor Brake Standard Open | - |
| DMC | Driving Motor Composite | - |
| DMCL | Driving Motor Composite Lavatory | - |
| DMLV | Driving Motor Luggage Van | - |
| DMPMV | Driving Motor Parcels & Miscellaneous Van | - |
| DMS | Driving Motor Standard | - |
| DMSK | Driving Motor Standard Corridor | - |
| DMSL | Driving Motor Standard Lavatory | - |
| DMSO | Driving Motor Standard Open | - |
| DPTFO | Driving Pantograph Trailer First Open | - |
| DPTSO | Driving Pantograph Trailer Standard Open | - |
| DTBS | Driving Trailer Brake Standard | - |
| DTBSO | Driving Trailer Brake Standard Open | - |
| DTCL | Driving Trailer Composite Lavatory | - |
| DTCoL | Driving Trailer Composite Semi-Open Lavatory | - |
| DTCOL | Driving Trailer Composite Open Lavatory | - |
| DTS | Driving Trailer Standard | - |
| DTSo | Driving Trailer Standard Semi-Open | - |
| DTSO | Driving Trailer Standard Open | - |
| DTSOL | Driving Trailer Standard Open Lavatory | - |
| DTSOW | Driving Trailer Standard Open Wheelchair | - |
| DVT | Driving Van Trailer | - |
| F | First | L |
| FK | First Corridor | CL |
| FL | First Lavatory | LM |
| FO | First Open | QL |
| FOT | First Open Trolley | - |
| GUV | General Utility Van | - |
| HB | Horse Box | - |
| IFV | Insulated Fish Van | - |
| LFK | Lounge First Corridor | - |
| M | Motor | - |
| MBRSM | Motor Brake Restaurant Standard Modular | - |
| MBS | Motor Brake Standard | - |
| MBSK | Motor Brake Standard Corridor | - |
| MBSO | Motor Brake Standard Open | - |
| MFLRK | Motor First Lavatory Restaurant Kitchen | - |
| MLV | Motor Luggage Van | - |
| MS | Motor Standard | - |
| MSL | Motor Standard Lavatory | - |
| MSLRB | Motor Standard Lavatory Restaurant Buffet | - |
| MSO | Motor Standard Open | - |
| OCT | Open Carriage Truck | - |
| PCP | Pullman Composite Parlour | - |
| PCV | Propelling Control Vehicle | - |
| PFB | Pullman First Brake | - |
| PFK | Pullman First Kitchen | - |
| PFP | Pullman First Parlour | - |
| PMV | Parcels & Miscellaneous Van | - |
| POS | Post Office Sorting Van | POR |
| POT | Post Office Stowage Van | PPR |
| PSB | Pullman Standard Brake | - |
| PSP | Pullman Standard Parlour | - |
| PTSO | Pantograph Trailer Standard Open | - |
| RB | Restaurant Buffet | - |
| RBR | Restaurant Buffet Refurbished | - |
| RC | Restaurant Composite | Compo RKC |
| RCO | Restaurant Composite Open | VC Dining |
| RF | Restaurant First | First RKC |
| RFB | Restaurant First Buffet | - |
| RFM | Restaurant First Modular | - |
| RFO | Restaurant First Open | QL Dining |
| RG | Restaurant Griddle | - |
| RK | Restaurant Kitchen | KC |
| RKB | Restaurant Kitchen Buffet | BRC |
| RLO | Restaurant Lounge Open | - |
| RMB | Restaurant Miniature Buffet | - |
| RS | Restaurant Standard | Third RKC |
| RSO | Restaurant Standard Open | QF Dining |
| RU | Restaurant Unclassified | Common RKC |
| RUB | Restaurant Unclassified Buffet | - |
| RUK | Restaurant Unclassified Kitchen | - |
| RUO | Restaurant Unclassified Open | - |
| S | Standard | F |
| SCV | Special Cattle Van | - |
| SK | Standard Corridor | CF |
| SLC | Sleeper Composite | CSC |
| SLE | Sleeper Either Class | - |
| SLEP | Sleeper Either Class with Pantry | - |
| SLF | Sleeper First | SC |
| SLSTP | Sleeper Standard Twin-Berth with Pantry | SCT |
| SLO | Standard Lavatory Open | - |
| SO | Standard Open | QF |
| SPV | Special Parcels Van | - |
| TBCK | Trailer Brake Composite Corridor | - |
| TBF | Trailer Brake First | - |
| TBFK | Trailer Brake First Corridor | - |
| TBSK | Trailer Brake Standard Corridor | - |
| TBSL | Trailer Brake Standard Lavatory | - |
| TC | Trailer Composite | - |
| TCC | Trailer Catering Composite | - |
| TCK | Trailer Composite Corridor | - |
| TCL | Trailer Composite Lavatory | - |
| TCoL | Trailer Composite Semi-Open Lavatory | - |
| TCOL | Trailer Composite Open Lavatory | - |
| TCV | Tiered Car Van | - |
| TF | Trailer First | - |
| TFD | Trailer First Disabled | - |
| TFK | Trailer First Corridor | - |
| TFKRB | Trailer First Corridor Restaurant Buffet | - |
| TFL | Trailer First Lavatory | - |
| TFLRB | Trailer First Lavatory Restaurant Buffet | - |
| TFLRK | Trailer First Lavatory Restaurant Kitchen | - |
| TFOLH | Trailer First Open Lavatory Handbrake | - |
| TGS | Trailer Guard Standard | - |
| TGFB | Trailer Guard First Buffet | - |
| TRB | Trailer Restaurant Buffet | - |
| TRFB | Trailer Restaurant First Buffet | - |
| TRFM | Trailer Restaurant First Modular | - |
| TRSB | Trailer Restaurant Standard Buffet | - |
| TRUB | Trailer Restaurant Unclassified Buffet | - |
| TRUK | Trailer Restaurant Unclassified Kitchen | - |
| TS | Trailer Standard | - |
| TSD | Trailer Standard Disabled | - |
| TSD | Trailer Standard Disabled | - |
| TSK | Trailer Standard Corridor | - |
| TSL | Trailer Standard Lavatory | - |
| TSLRB | Trailer Standard Lavatory Restaurant Buffet | - |
| TSo | Trailer Standard Semi-Open | - |
| TSO | Tourist Standard Open or Trailer Standard Open | - |
| TSOL | Trailer Standard Open Lavatory | - |
| TSORB | Trailer Standard Open Restaurant Buffet | - |
| TSOT | Tourist Standard Open Trolley | - |
| TU | Trailer Unclassified | - |
| VFV | Ventilated Fruit Van | - |
Note that in modern usage, composite semi-open vehicles are classified Cso - the s signifying that the Standard portion is open.