Ambulance train coaches preserved

[A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy]

An article appeared in a Cumbrian newspaper recently, to the effect that two Pullman coaches, which had been built in 1917 as ambulance train carriages, and later converted into camping carriages in the 1930s, are to be revamped by the Ravenglass Railway Museum and Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway Trust, with the help of lottery funding for display in the museum, and also to be used as holiday accommodation  The cariages are referred to as "Elmira" and "Maid of Kent". Would they have belonged to a specific ambulance train? Also, would the names "Elmira" and "Maid of Kent" have been from their days as camping coaches rather than from when they were part of an ambulance train? There is also a photograph of an etching on the seating of one of the carriages, which reads "Car no. 137".

 

Edited 1 November , 2020 by A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy
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[sdparker]

If I remember correctly, Rowena was a princess who was known as the Fair Maid of Kent. She was the daughter of either Hengist or Horsa,

the Saxon kings of Kent. In the 1960,s, I worked on a Sealink ferry called Maid of Kent, and the fleet also included Hengist and Horsa.

Don't know Elmira, but I think the coaches were given those names because maybe they operated out of Dover or Folkestone?

Regards

Geoff