The Open-Topped Carriages

The Open-Topped Carriages are carriages without roofs.

The Fat Controller's Carriage

Sir Topham Hatt's
Open-Topped Carriage

The first Open-Topped Carriage is the oldest railway coach on the Fat Controller's Railway. When the Fat Controller was a young man, Edward always took him aboard this old coach on his birthday. However, the open-topped carriage somehow went missing, but Winston and Thomas found the old carriage in an overgrown siding and took it to the Sodor Steamworks for restoration. Then, once restored, Edward brought it to Knapford as a lovely birthday surprise for the Fat Controller. It is painted turquoise.

It appeared in the sixteenth season episode, Happy Birthday Sir! and again in King of the Railway pulled by Stephen for the celebration of Ulfstead Castle being reopened. A second open-topped carriage was also seen in Percy's Lucky Day, implying that there is more than one standard gauge open-topped carriage on Sodor.

Millie's Carriages

Millie's Open-Topped Carriages

The second Open-Topped Carriage is used by Millie to take people on tours of Ulfstead Castle's grounds. It is painted red and carries Sir Robert Norramby's crest on the side. There is another narrow gauge open-topped carriage which is identical to Sir Topham Hatt's in colour.

It appears in the 2013 special King of the Railway and in two seventeenth season episodes, The Switch and Santa's Little Engine.

Basis

The Open-Topped Carriage is based on a Liverpool & Manchester Railway four-wheeled open-topped carriage from the 1830s. A replica of this carriage is based at the National Railway Museum and is used for demonstration runs behind Stephenson's Rocket.