ba14eagle Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 I thought these coaches were already in a thread here, but I suppose it may not have survived the migration of the website. Anyway, this set of coaches represents a loco hauled train of the mid to late 1980's, that operated on the Exeter to London Waterloo line - known as "the mule" to some, due to its slow, start stop nature. This was my favourite era to be an enthusiast and these coaches were very comfortable to ride in and you always seemed to be really motoring, with a class 50 in good order and a determind driver up front. Certainly, between Woking and Basingstoke, speeds in excess of 100mph were a regular occurance. The train formation was normally load 8 or 9, of Mk2 A / B coaches. 5 or 6 Second Opens, 2 Corridor Brake firsts (normally in the centre of the train) and a Second Open with buffet counter - or should that be a buffet trolley space! This vehicle had 2 seating bays removed, next to the toilet, at one end of the coach. A low counter was placed across the one of the bays, and a buffet trolley could be placed behind it. The opposing bay provided a circulating area for customers. The former toilet provided a wash / store room. The vehicles were allocated to Laira Depot, Plymouth. Each of the coaches has been dismantled, before the interior has been painted in the appropriate colours and passengers added. All the coaches have been renumbered to specific vehicles which were in the Laira pool for the route and have been weathered.The rear coach has had a Train-Tech tail-lamp added. I currently use the BFK from my Cardiff - Portsmouth set in this set, as Ive still yet to do the required detailing on the blue / grey BFK I have for this set. TSO's : TSOT : This coach is a cut & shut creation of a Mk2 B vehicle, produced from a number of Bachmann MK2 A's. I purchased it already modified, so can only take credit for applying the red "buffet" stripe and the weathering. BFK : As can be seen in the photos, I have used gloss varnish to represent overfill of the toilet header tanks, along the roof. This was quite common on these vehicles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markgd Posted May 29, 2018 Share Posted May 29, 2018 Very Nice Iain. I remember riding these rakes on the run to London from Gillingham, Dorset. I have already got Ark Royal, my class 50. Need to start collecting the coaches at some stage. Have you had it running on your new layout yet? cheers mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ba14eagle Posted May 29, 2018 Author Share Posted May 29, 2018 Yes Mark - they feature in a couple of my Summer Hampton videos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markgd Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 What are the couplers you have on those coaches? Are they Kaydees? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ba14eagle Posted June 1, 2018 Author Share Posted June 1, 2018 (edited) 11 hours ago, markgd said: What are the couplers you have on those coaches? Are they Kaydees? Mark Most of the couplings seen in the photos are the magnet couplings that I made - there was a thread on the forum that explained how I did it - not sure if its still here, but basically, it was the Bachmann "air pipe" couplers, spliced in the middle of the pipes, with tiny super strength magnets glued to the ends. Found it! They've not worked so well on the current railway due to the gradients, so some have been replaced with Hornby close couplers - think they are part no. R8220. Edited June 1, 2018 by ba14eagle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ba14eagle Posted April 5, 2020 Author Share Posted April 5, 2020 Ive finally got around to detailing the 2nd MK2A BFK for this set. For completeness, here it is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinkie15 Posted August 25, 2021 Share Posted August 25, 2021 Nice weathering, looks a great rake. As a side note, back in the day Lima released the TSOT, got one knocking around in my coach collection somewhere. Think it still remains the only manufacturer released version. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ba14eagle Posted August 26, 2021 Author Share Posted August 26, 2021 With the announcement today by Accurascale that they are producing the Mk2B coaches, the coaching stock sets on the Waterloo - Exeter route will be more easily modelled. There isnt a TSOT amongst the first releases, but who knows, there might be one in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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