NER 49ft Arc Roof Stock
The North Eastern Arc Roof stock may also have formed the Newcastle Link A sets. These four car consists were made up of two 49ft 4-compartment Brake Thirds, one seven compartment Composite with four First Class along with three Third Class compartments and an eight compartment Third Class carriage. This would fit the Diagram 53 Brake Third, either Diagram 55 or Diagram 64 Composites and either Diagram 51 or 52 Third. Newcastle Link A sets were numbers 32 through 38.
Between the Newcastle Link A sets and Newcastle Link B sets, set number 39 was cancelled by 1926 but the date of cancellation is unknown and whether it was previously a Link B set, Link A set, or some other is unknown. In the seven Link A set numbers in 1926, set number 36 was also cancelled by 1926.
Between the combined totals for Link A and Link B sets, twenty-two of the fifty-four Diagram 53 Brake Thirds can be accounted for, with sixteen Third Class carriages of the twenty-seven combined build of Diagrams 51 & 52. Six of the Composites (4-3) from the build of nine Diagram 55s with the Link B sets accounting for five of the twenty Diagram 63 Composites (5-2).
The Newcastle Link A sets were frequent visitors to the Derwent Valley branch to Blackhill, with some trips onwards to Durham via the Lanchester Valley branch. Sunderland, Hebburn (on the South Shields branch), North Wylam and Prudhoe. Set 35 found its way to Wellfield, West Hartlepool and Monkseaton on its daily weekday travels, while set 38 on Saturdays ventured down to Ferryhill. During the course of their day all had at least one strengthening Third attached for at least part of the day while Saturdays mostly saw two attached, often for the whole day. One, set 35, even gained three extra Third Class carriages on Saturdays until 6:41 p.m.
A Newcastle Link A set core consist at Newcastle Central.
Like the Diagram 63, the provision for four First Class compartments in Diagrams 55 may have been well-patronised while on North Tynesdie commuter services up to 1904, but probably somewhat less utilised when cascaded elsewhere. The Composite carriage made up of three First Class and four Third Class was represented in the 49ft Arc Roof type by thirteen Diagram 64s built during 1901/1902, with later elliptical roof 49ft carriages turned out to the same (3-4) configuration (fourteen Diagram 146 Composites (3-4) built in 1907 and six Diagram 160 Composites (3-4) built in 1908).
Several of the carriages built to Diagram 63 and 64 were converted from Composite carriages to Third Class carriages. The numbers are not included in the build figures for Diagram 63 and 64 stated earlier. The conversion appears to have amounted to merely reclassifying the First Class compartments as Third Class and replacing the First Class interior with a Third Class interior. This applied to thirteen former Diagram 63, turned out as Diagram 108 Thirds and three former Diagram 64, turned out as Diagram 109 Thirds. This conversion may have taken place at the works while on the production line. Either that or immediately after building. This meant that there were sixteen Third Class carriages where between four or five compartments in each had the luxury of First Class legroom, which was fourteen and a half inches more than the typical Third Class compartment of other 49ft stock. I can imagine that Third Class passengers would have quickly learned where to find a Diagram 108 or 109 in a consist!