This article is about vehicles called coaches. For other meanings of the word, see coach (disambiguation).

Original meaning and etymology

The original meaning of the term coach was: a horse-drawn vehicle designed for the conveyance of more than one passenger — and of mail — and covered for protection from the elements. The small Hungarian town of Kócs (pronounced approximately "coach") was the place of manufacture, from the 15th century onwards, of an exceptionally well designed example of such a vehicle with durable and comfortable suspension and steering; and from the Hungarian word Kócsi (meaning: from Kócs") the name spread to several other European languages (compare Spanish coche and German Kutsche).

Railway coach

A railway coach — also known, especially in the UK, as a railway carriage — is a a vehicle designed for the conveyance of passengers by rail (the first such vehicles were, in fact, often road coaches mounted on frames equipped with railway wheels). In North America railway coaches are usually known as "railroad cars". A railway coach can be self-propelled such as the Budd Rail Diesel Car (in which case it is known as a railcar), form part of a multiple unit of self-propelled vehicles, or be pulled or pushed by one or more locomotives either singly or together with other such coaches. For more information on railway coaches, see the articles on railroad cars in general or passenger cars for more specifics.

Motor coach

In British English and especially in the UK, the term coach is also used to refer to a large road vehicle for conveying passengers, similar to a bus but usually more comfortable and designed for longer-distance travel or touring.

See also

• carriage
• stagecoach
• passenger car
• dining car
• sleeping car
• double decker