Bachmann have announced a newly tooled range of LNWR 50' Arc Roof Coaches in OO Gauge!
Read on for more details about this exciting new range! These items are not yet available for pre-order and full details will be announced in the Bachmann Autumn 2024 Railway Announcements on Wednesday 6th November.
The London & North Western Railway (LNWR) was a behemoth of the early railway scene, its network sprawled across England and Wales and connected with Scotland, it built the West Coast Main Line and linked four of England’s largest cities, but surprisingly, authentic models of the elegant coaches that were built by the LNWR have never been produced in model form, until now. Ahead of the Winter 2024 British Railway Announcements, Bachmann Europe has revealed an ambitious project to model the LNWR’s 50ft Arc Roof Coaches in OO Scale as part of its Bachmann Branchline range.
Four vehicle types make up the range, D.138 (Tri-)Composite, D.268 Third, D.316 Brake Composite/Third and D.377 Full Brake – the latter being a scale 6 inches wider than its counterparts, as per the prototype. The extensive tooling suite allows the vehicles to be modelled in any guise throughout their working lives. The real vehicles were constructed with wood panelled bodies which are replicated in miniature with high-fidelity injection mouldings, adorning which are ventilators above each window and door on the bodysides – these are separately fitted, a necessity to allow the full and ornate LNWR livery to be applied in all its glory.
Watch the Launch Video
Pre-Orders Not Open Yet - Awaiting More Info
Product Features
Highly detailed models with separately fitted parts including handrails, handles, gangway connectors, lamp irons, roof furniture and more
Fully detailed and painted interiors including separate brass handrails as well as compartment door, side window, seating and even toilet details
Turned brass buffers
Accurate tooling variations for each vehicle type, with many small detail variations between these as well
Metal wheels running in metal bearings
Electrical connections incorporated for customers who wish to fit additional features to their models
Full underframe detailing including brake systems, truss rods, cylinders, battery boxes and more - where appropriate
NEM tension lock couplings
Prototype Information
The LNWR began building corridor coaches during the 1890s as part of the ‘corridor revolution’. Corridor coaches with interconnecting gangways provided clear benefits over the non-gangway types that went before them, as they allowed passengers and staff to move within and between vehicles whilst in motion. The LNWR’s carriage works, Wolverton, turned out coaches for use 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. Of the general service vehicles built by Wolverton for the LNWR/WCJS, 50ft Arc Roof vehicles made up the majority, with 664 passenger coaches turned out covering six different types.
Three of the most numerous passenger vehicles were Diagram 138 Corridor Tri-Composite, D.268 Corridor Third and D.316 Corridor Brake Composite. Of these, 244 D.268 Corridor Thirds were built, the most of any corridor vehicle to be outshopped by Wolverton during the LNWR era. The two Composite vehicles each afforded Second Class travel when built but were later reclassified and designated Corridor Composite (with first- & third-class seating), and Corridor Brake Third after second class accommodation was abolished. Whilst each vehicle was 50ft in length with a width of 8ft, Full Brakes to Diagram 377 were built to a width of 8ft 6in. All types could be found running on deep frame bogies with an 8ft wheelbase.
Employed initially on primary express services and even used on excursions ‘off territory’ as far away as the Kent coast where they could have been hauled by London, Brighton & South Coast Railway (LBSCR) locomotives from H1 & H2 Atlantics to E4 Tanks. The 50ft vehicles were later replaced by longer and more modern types, relegating many of the Arc Roof coaches to secondary lines and services. This saw them used with all manner of motive power including top link locomotives like the Improved Precedents, right through to tank locomotives like the Webb Coal Tank and even freight machines like the G2s for summer traffic and excursion work.
The original gas lighting, a prominent feature adorning the coach roofs and with the associated gas tanks between the bogies, was progressively removed from 1921 as electric lighting was fitted, those vehicles so modified may have had their gas lights and pipework removed, and their gas tanks replaced with battery boxes. Some coaches also received new braking systems, with their Westinghouse brakes giving way to vacuum brakes.
The majority of the fleet passed into London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) ownership upon Grouping in 1923, joining a wide range of inherited stock. Some were given new lives as ‘Caravan’ coaches whilst in 1936, more than 40 vehicles were transferred to the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GN) that the LMS operated jointly with the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) later that year. Here, they found themselves hauled by an eclectic mix of LNER traction.
Those vehicles given to the M&GN would be the last to remain in service, with examples seeing use up to 1953, by which point they had passed into British Railways ownership but still retained their M&GN livery. At the end of their lives some entered departmental or internal use, extending their years but not escaping their ultimate fate as the entire fleet was scrapped and sadly, none were preserved.