As part of its contract to supply electrical equipment during the construction of the line, in 1901 British Thomson-Houston provided 35 sets of traction control equipment to Brush Electrical Engineering Company and Dick, Kerr & Company. The original plan was for 11 seven-car trains (33 motors and 44 trailers) and one shunting locomotive. Initially 26 motorcars and 32 trailer cars were built. They were known as the 'wooden' cars because they were fabricated of teak and mahogany on steel underframes. In 1906 Brush delivered another five motors and 13 trailers. There were of all-steel construction and naturally-enough referred to as 'steel cars'. The GN&CR converted one trailer to a motor car, bringing the fleet to 32 motors and 44 trailers. (The remaining sets of traction control equipment were used as maintenance spares.) Normal operation was six-car formations at peak times, reduced to two-car sets at other times. Cars were long over buffers, wide, and in height. Seats were provided for 58 passengers in the wooden trailers and 64 in the steel ones. Motor cars seated 54 because of a equipment compartment behind the driver's cab. Uniquely in England, coupling between cars was by means of link and pin on the centre-line.