A little History…
The carflats were initially constructed from the chassis’ and bogies of the 63ft Mk1 Mainline coaches due to the coach interiors and sides being worn and no longer fit for purpose. The idea of the wagon was to offer a long-distance service that allowed British holidaymakers to take their car on holiday with them but they were also used for transporting new vehicles from the factories. 

The first Carflat was built in 1956 and were produced from a number of early coach chassis from a number of different regions along with some BR Mk1 coaches. Their initial use was to carry new cars from the factories and these were all painted in wagon bauxite. By 1964 they had become predominantly Blue. 

When Motorail launched in 1966 the Carflats received their large named sideboards and were fitted out for high speed running, these remained in BR Blue livery until they were withdrawn from service. The Motorail service did not run for most of the winter period and during this time the Motorail wagons could be found hired out to car manufacturers for transportation of new vehicles.  

In 1978 a company called Railease built a large batch of fleet wagons and these were painted bright yellow, but by the early 1990’s, apart from departmental use they were mostly scrapped.

The Darstaed Models
This project is a little different to others, here's whats happening...

These 63ft BR Mk1 Carflats will be constructed from the Darstaed Mk1 Mainline coach chassis and newly tooled bogies, the remaining construction is taking place in-house at Ellis Clark Trains, with a very limited amount being produced.

The carflats will be available in 3 Liveries, including BR Bauxite, BR Blue & BR Blue ‘Motorail’ - all coming supplied with water slide transfers including a choice of running numbers.

Specs & Info...

Release Date: December 2020
Prices: £149 Each or 3+ £140 each

Specifications:
Diecast chassis/underframe
Newly tooled scale Mk1 bogies & wheels
Finely detailed etched brass sides/stanchions, professionally painted in house
Laser cut wood flooring - stained in house
Sprung buffers
Finescale wheels fitted      
Capable of running on Peco 2nd radius curves (40.5") 
BR Blue ‘Motorail’ - provided with Sprung Screwlink couplings
BR Blue/BR Bauxite -  provided with sprung Instanter couplings
Waterslide transfers supplied with a choice of running numbers