Coach (carriage)

Coaches are horse-drawn carriages which are large, enclosed, four-wheeled, pulled by two or more horses, and controlled by a coachman or postilion (riders). If driven by a coachman, there is a raised seat in front for a coachman called a box, box seat, or coach box. A coach body typically has a door on each side, a forward facing seat, and frequently another seat facing it. Coaches were built for specific purposes which included transporting mail or travelers, privately owned coaches, and elaborate coaches for state occasions.

Coaches were constructed for specific purposes. Below is a list of general types of coaches and their purposes.

Others in the traditional coach family include:

The Barouche and Landau are considered in the coach family because they are built on a coach undercarriage and with the lower body of a coach, though they have falling hoods (folding tops). The chariot is also considered part of the coach family even though it is a shortened version (seats only two). The Omnibus, a long-bodied public vehicle used to transport many passengers in cities, is classified as a wagonette and not as a coach because passengers enter from the rear and seating is arranged lengthwise.

Individual coaches that operated on regular routes were usually given names. The Tally-Ho was a particular yellow-painted coach, but because sometimes a fleet of vehicles operating on the same route were painted with the same name, the term Tally-ho became a common term for any road coach.

The coach was developed in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries, with early examples associated with the Hungarian town of Kocs. By the late 16th century coaches had spread across the continent and were adopted in England, where they became a standard vehicle for aristocratic travel.

Early coaches were suspended on leather straps called thoroughbraces, but from the 17th century onward a variety of steel-spring systems were introduced, improving vehicle stability and passenger comfort. By the 18th century, coaches were widely used for both private and public travel, including long-distance stagecoach services. In the 19th century, the term "coach" was also applied to railway carriages, and later to motorcoaches, reflecting the decline of horse-drawn vehicles with the rise of rail and road transport.

As commercial road-coaching declined in the 19th century, aristocratic drivers adopted the style and techniques of the old mail coach and road coaches for sport, purchasing the decommissioned vehicles and leading to the development of the private drag, a lighter coach built for recreational outings and driven four-in-hand.