Meanings
plural slip coaches
- rail transportA coach at the end of a long-distance train which carries passengers for an intermediate destination and is decoupled or "slipped" and left behind. (In bygone times the decoupling was done on the move; the rest of the train did not stop.)
Friday, September 9, saw the last of the slip coach in Great Britain; the location was Bicester, and the train was the 5.10 p.m. from Paddington to Wolverhampton, which from September 12 began to stop there instead.
1960 October, “Talking of Trains: The last of the slip coach”, in Trains Illustrated, page 5771 more example
Slip-coach workings on the Western Region, the last stronghold of this practice, are now reduced to two daily - at Didcot off the 7.0 a.m. Weston-super-Mare-Paddington; and at Bicester (Saturdays excepted) off the 5.10 p.m. Paddington-Wolverhampton.
1960 February, “Talking of Trains: The vanishing slip-coach”, in Trains Illustrated, page 72Synonyms: slip carriage
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA coach at the end of a long-distance train which carries passengers for an intermediate destination and is decoupled or "slipped" and left behind. (In bygone times the decoupling was done on the move; the rest of the train did not stop.)
More synonyms by meaning
nouna railway car at the end of the train; it can be detached without stopping the train
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Irish cóiste inscoite
- cóiste inscoitecoach at the end of a long-distance train which carries passengers for an intermediate destination
Cite this entry
slip coach. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slip%20coach
“slip coach.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slip%20coach. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “slip coach,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slip%20coach.
Source: slip coach on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.