OO Gauge Bachmann 39-200D BR Mk1 BG Brake Gangway High Security RES

OO Gauge Bachmann 39-200D BR Mk1 BG Brake Gangway High Security RES Rail Express Systems
Brand new model from our new Yorkshire shop
British Railways Mk1 coaches
BR Mark 1 coaching stock was the first standardised designof railway carriages built by British Railways (BR) post-nationalisation in1948, the family of locomotive hauled passenger coaches being constructed from1951 until 1963 to augment and replace the array of ‘Big Four’ and earlier‘pre-grouping’ designs inherited from the LMS, LNER, GWR and SR. Non-passengercarrying Mk1s and multiple units based on the Mk1 concept continued inproduction until 1974. Today, Mk1 coaches are used for charter services on the mainline, by the likes of West Coast Railway Company, or on preserved railways suchas the Severn Valley Railway, West Somerset, North Yorkshire Moors, EastLancashire and Spa Valley lines, to name but a few. Mk1 coaches were built at many BR workshops as well as byoutside contractors including Metro-Cammell, Cravens, and Gloucester RCW.  An extensive range of vehicles was introducedto cover all manner of traffic demands and mixed uses that the railway took inits stride in the 1950s: from buffet counter catering to full restaurantservice, First and Second Class accommodation including composite vehicles withsome of each, guards’ brake vans and luggage/ newspapers/ parcels/ animalspace, sleeping cars, various general merchandise and specialised Post Officevans and niche use vehicles constructed in small numbers such as horseboxes.  These non-passenger vehicles wereshorter in length (usually at 57 feet) than the standard 63 feet of theirpassenger counterparts. The more common types that made up the majority of expressand secondary passenger trains include First and Second Class, Composite, Openand Corridor, Suburban (compartment only), Brake, Buffet, Restaurant, andSleeping cars. The study of prototypical train formations is an entire subject,and Bachmann Branchline provides the range of models to create these trains inmodel form. During their working lives, Mk1 coaches have formed thebackbone of all locomotive-hauled BR services at one time or another, untilreplacement by later Mk2 coaches, or multiple unit stock, in the case of manyof the Mk1 Suburban non-corridor fleet. Many famous named trains such as the Flying Scotsman, Belfast BoatExpress (a late steam turn that lasted into 1968), The Cornishman, Irish Mail,Thames-Clyde Express, Atlantic Coast Express (ACE), The Waverley, theCaledonian, Devonian, Mayflower and Master Cutler all comprised Mk1 coacheswhen newly introduced.  In other casesthey ran within or alongside train formations such as the Yorkshire Pullman,and made up the then numerous sleeper services that covered the length andbreadth of the sixties railway network during the hours of darkness. Loco-hauled Mk1s were in front line service for half acentury, whilst their EMU counterparts and Thumper units lasted until themid-2000s.  As a result, the Mk1 familyhas carried the widest range of liveries of any passenger rated rolling stock,with only private owner wagons presenting a greater variety in UK railwayhistory.  Mk1s have worn BR Carmine andCream, BR Western Region Chocolate and Cream, BR Southern Green, BR Maroon, BRBlue, Blue and Grey, InterCity Executive, InterCity Charter, Network SouthEast, Regional Railways, ScotRail, Sealink, Departmental, BR Exhibitions, RoyalMail, Travelling Post Office, Rail Express Systems, Provincial Trans Pennine,Parcels Red, West Highland Green and Cream, not to say a myriad ofpost-privatisation and heritage colour schemes in preservation.   Many Mk1s also found further use with theengineers and Research Departments, and these departmental uses are alsopresented in the range.