A Southern Railway continental style carriage key

[Czesziafan]

This Southern Railway carriage key is of an unusual type, as the bolster is diamond shaped, as opposed to the more usual square configuration. This style of "business end" is identical to contemporary French SNCF keys and is believed to have been designed for use on continental rolling stock that worked over Southern metals, including the SNCF vans and Wagons Lits sleepers on the Night Ferry service as well as non-passenger vehicles using he Dover - Dunkerque train ferries.
Circa 1947