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anyone ever call coach class "third class"

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anyone ever call coach class "third class"

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Old Jun 9, 2009 | 12:30 am
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anyone ever call coach class "third class"

like in the garfield in paradise cartoon.
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Old Jun 9, 2009 | 12:36 am
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On old trains (50 years ago) in the UK some coaches were called third class. Now they tend to have first class or standard class (which used to be second class).
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Old Jun 9, 2009 | 12:38 am
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Thinking about it, I'm sure Indian Railways have a third class, as do trains in south east Asia - Malaysia and Thailand.
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Old Jun 9, 2009 | 12:52 am
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Originally Posted by Mr H
On old trains (50 years ago) in the UK some coaches were called third class.
I took a photo at the National Railway Museum in York of one of those carriages, but the "third" part didn't click until now.

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Old Jun 9, 2009 | 3:00 am
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Third Class was the normal accommodation (and thus did not have a downmarket soubriquet) on the railways in Britain until 1956. In Victorian times there had been three rail travel classes, First Second and Third, but the intermediate one was steadily eliminated, and the furnishings etc in third class brought up to its standard, so for many years there were mostly just two classes, First and Third. The naming was changed in 1956 to First and Second, and then in the 1980s Second became Standard.

The same was true across Europe as well. There were still a very few three-class operations left around in Britain in 1956, boat trains to Dover being their last bastion, which were finally eliminated at the changeover.
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Old Jun 9, 2009 | 6:10 am
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i thought it was called steerage.
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Old Jun 9, 2009 | 7:25 am
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This thread got me thinking back to 1964. I travelled third class from Keren to Asmara Eritrea which was a province of Ethiopia in those days. The seats were wooden benches. Passengers included a few chickens but thank goodness no goats. I believe the rolling stock was brought there by the Italians in the 20s and 30s. I'll have to go see if I can find the old photos!
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Old Jun 9, 2009 | 9:30 am
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That's what my mother told me what class we were flying when I was a child internationally. She told me that business/executive class was called "second class." I never heard such references from anyone else.

Now she refers to the "main cabin" "as cattle class". My dad calls it "chan kwai". (In Thai, chan means "level", aka "class". "Kwai" is a water buffalo. Cattle isn't common in Thailand, but they get the same idea using water buffalos instead of cattle.)

I think "third class" should be resurrected! Enough with "main cabin", "coach class", "tourist class", "world traveler".
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Old Jun 9, 2009 | 9:30 am
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That's what my mother told me what class we were flying when I was a child internationally. She told me that business/executive class was called "second class." I never heard such references from anyone else.

Now she refers to the "main cabin" as "cattle class". My dad calls it "chan kwai". (In Thai, chan means "level", aka "class". "Kwai" is a water buffalo. Cattle isn't common in Thailand, but they get the same idea using water buffalos instead of cattle.)

I think "third class" should be resurrected! Enough with "main cabin", "coach class", "tourist class", "world traveler".
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Old Jun 9, 2009 | 6:23 pm
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Originally Posted by WHBM
Third Class was the normal accommodation (and thus did not have a downmarket soubriquet) on the railways in Britain until 1956. In Victorian times there had been three rail travel classes, First Second and Third, but the intermediate one was steadily eliminated, and the furnishings etc in third class brought up to its standard, so for many years there were mostly just two classes, First and Third. The naming was changed in 1956 to First and Second, and then in the 1980s Second became Standard.
This is in fact the correct story of how standard class came to British Railways. 'Standard' class is the old third class, second was withdrawn.
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Old Jun 10, 2009 | 12:32 am
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In German we like to call it "Holzklasse" literally translates as wooden class.
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Old Jun 10, 2009 | 12:36 am
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Originally Posted by LHR/MEL/Europe FF
This is in fact the correct story of how standard class came to British Railways. 'Standard' class is the old third class, second was withdrawn.
I thought that when I was a child in the 1970s, trains had explicit first and second classes. I thought standard class came along later as a rebranding (when passengers became customers; guards became ticket inspectors; sandwiches became edible; stations became station stops...)
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Old Jun 10, 2009 | 2:51 am
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I heard "back of the bus" this evening and cringed
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Old Jun 10, 2009 | 7:01 am
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My mother calls the very back of the plane "reverse", as in a manual transmission: First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Reverse.
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Old Jun 10, 2009 | 12:07 pm
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Originally Posted by skylady
I heard "back of the bus" this evening and cringed
I've never seen multiple classes on a bus, but in Edinburgh, the back of the bus (especially the back of the top deck) is much sought after by young people.

But I thought we were here to talk about trains. What do people think is the best or worst third class they have seen?
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