The London & North Western Railway (LNWR) was known as the Premier Line and now, for the first time, premier models of some of the LNWR’s most successful coaches are available in OO Scale as part of the Bachmann Branchline range.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century the corridor revolution was in full swing and the LNWR, as the largest railway company in Britain at the time, began building corridor coaches en masse. The first 50ft Arc Roof coaches arrived before the turn of the century and were some of the company’s most successful – the Diagram 268 Corridor Third becoming the most numerous of any corridor vehicle to be outshopped by the LNWR’s Wolverton Carriage Works during the pre-Grouping era. The coaches built by Wolverton were used by both the LNWR and as West Coast Joint Stock (WCJS) – stock operated jointly by the LNWR and the Caledonian Railway between London and Edinburgh & Glasgow – and those built for the LNWR were generally 8ft wide. These included the Diagram 138 Corridor Tri-Composite, the D.316 Corridor Brake Composite, and the aforementioned D.268 Corridor Third, all of which form part of the Bachmann Branchline range. The Full Brakes built to Diagram 377 however were 8ft 6in wide and indeed, the Branchline models of the D.377 are a scale 6 inches wider than their passenger carrying counterparts.
Employed initially on primary express services and even used on excursions ‘off territory’ as far away as the Kent coast, Penzance and Scotland, the Arc Roof stock was later cascaded as new stock was introduced, before passing into LMS-ownership following the Grouping in 1923. Later still, the LMS transferred some Arc Roof coaches to the Midland & Great Northern which it operated in conjunction with the LNER. Those vehicles given to the M&GN would be the last to remain in service, with examples seeing use up until 1953.
The Bachmann Branchline OO Scale models have been developed through meticulous research which has drawn upon the expertise of the London & North Western Railway Society and the M&GN Circle, to whom we offer our sincere thanks. With a comprehensive tooling suite, each of the four vehicle types can be modelled in various configurations depicting coaches at various points during their working lives.
With a single model comprising more than 175 individual components (depending on the specific variant and configuration), each coach is truly a work of art. The precision moulded bodyshells are adorned with separate ventilators above each window and door, separate turtle ventilators on the roof and emergency brake gear. Door handles are brass etchings which are added individually, along with the ornate grab handles which are formed from metal wire. Inside the passenger vehicles, brass handrails are fitted to the glazing to depict the handrails fitted along the corridor side windows. Further metal components come in the form of etched lamp irons and turned brass buffers, whilst on the roof turned brass toilet fillers are fitted, along with turned brass gas light fittings on models depicting gas-lit coaches. A novel feature of the Full Brake is the set of four sky light windows, fitted to the roof of the prototypes and replicated in 4mm scale with eye catching results.
The LNWR’s deep frame bogies are modelled with separately fitted brake and suspension components and are fitted with metal wheelsets, depicting either LNWR pattern wheels complete with their wooden centres or later all-metal wheels. The wheelsets run in metal bearings, incorporating electrical connections to aid those who may wish to fit additional features to their models.
Between the bogies, the underframe detailing includes finely detailed truss rods along with brake components which can be configured to depict coaches fitted with either Westinghouse or vacuum brakes. Large gas cylinders are fitted to gas-lit vehicles, and these are substituted for battery boxes on coaches that were upgraded to electric lighting. Standard OO scale tension lock couplings are fitted at either end, attached via NEM coupling pockets to the chassis-mounted close coupling mechanisms. The detailing continues inside the model, with seating and compartment partitions replicated, including compartment doors with hinge and handle detailing – even the toilet and hand basin are reproduced in the toilet compartments.
This high level of detail provides the perfect canvas for the livery application which truly has to be seen to be believed. Employing authentic colours, fonts and typefaces, the decoration of each model has been painstakingly researched and extends to things like window stickers and the ornate etchings on the toilet windows of the LNWR-liveried models, with specialist printing techniques employed to replicate lining, lettering numbers and logos in miniature, yet still in full clarity.
MODEL FEATURES:
- Bachmann Branchline OO Scale
- Era 2
- Pristine LNWR Dark Claret & White livery
- Running No. 2374
- Bogie Footboards
- LNWR-pattern Wheels with Wooden Centres
- Chassis Footboards
- Gas Lighting – with Roof-mounted Gas Lights and Gas Pipes
- Gas Cylinders
- Vacuum Brakes
- One-Piece Lavatory Windows
- Accessory Pack
- NEM Coupling Pockets
- Close Coupling Mechanism
- Length 223mm (over couplings)
