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Available for pre-order are the eagerly anticipated Thompson Mainline coaches, produced by Darstaed and for sale exclusively through ourselves.
'The Elizabethan' Coaches
This coach is one which forms up the famous British Railways Elizabethan Express service, which ran to and from London and Edinburgh in crimson & cream livery, 1953 onwards. Although we offer a full 11 coach set (click HERE to view), we are also offering the coaches for sale individually, so that you can create a shorter rake/representation, or for running in and among other train formations as they often did.
Prices - The Elizabethan coaches with the extended fairings over solebars, pressure ventilated roofs and heavyweight bogies are £229 each.
All coaches are available to pre-order through the website, by email or over the phone with no deposits or upfront payments necessary.
Release Date - We are currently expecting the first of the coaches to be available in Q2/3 of 2020.
Numbering - These coaches will come pre-numbered, This particular coach comes with the running number E1609E
For a full brake down of all the coaches we are producing, click HERE
This specific coach represents LNER diagram 349, with the aforementioned alterations.
Pressure ventilated roofs
Solebars covered by the coach side 'fairings'
'The Elizabethan' removable coach name-boards
New Feature: Removable slot-in coach name boards
Finely detailed brass sides - professionally painted
Brass luggage racks
Fully detailed die-cast under-frame
Super detailed interiors with lights
Compensated die-cast bogies
Super detailed door hinges
Magnetic coupling corridor connectors
Kadee couplings as standard - link couplings available separately
Capable of running on 2nd Radius Curves
Sprung buffers
Brake ends and full brakes with detachable working (plug in) rear light
Sheet of prototypical running numbers for you to apply as you see fit
We have been working very closely with Darstaed for over two years now, and are proud to be the sole and exclusive distributor for all the finescale O gauge we produce together.
Our ethos has always been to create highly detailed, robust models at affordable prices. We believe you should be able to handle, run and continuously remove and replace our coaches from your layout, without anything breaking or becoming defective.
Our coaches, these Thompsons included, represent this and are built on die-cast chassis with highly detailed etched brass sides, professionally painted in the factory (not printed or dyed) and super detailed interiors with installed lighting.
We believe this method of production results in stunning, award winning models that not only look great on a layout or on display, but are built to stand the test of time, and many, many hours (or weeks and months as our Mk1s on the NRM layout receive!) running on a layout.
On all Darstaed products we can offer a professional weathering/numbering service. This is typically priced at £30 per coach for custom weathering and numbering. For more details or to place a pre-order with weathering on top please call the office on click HERE, and follow the instructions. Alternatively, you can call or email to place a pre-order with weathering/numbering.
UK - For orders of single coaches we charge £4.00 for Royal Mail 48 Tracked delivery. For orders of two or more coaches delivery is free.
International - For orders of single coaches we charge £15.00 for Royal Mail International postage. Orders of two or more coaches will have to be shipped with other couriers, and so will be charged at cost
During the war, it was evident for all the big four companies, the LNER included, that new post-war coaching stock would be needed to replace vehicles in need of withdrawal.
It was in 1944 that a memo was passed on to the emergency board of directors, outlining the scale of coaches overdue withdrawal, totalling over 2,500 vehicles.
In 1944 that a 3 year coach building programme (CBP) of 4,600 vehicles was approved, to include both vestibule (mainline) and non-vestibule (suburban) coaches.
However, due to both a lack of materials, and postwar constraints, the CBP was planned to take place between 1946 and 1951 with 3,400 vehicles built by contractors.
With the formation of British Railways in 1948 the stock built by the LNER was adopted into BR general and express services, with many of these coaches still in preservation today.
Liveries
Simulated Teak 1946 - 52/3
The first of Thompson's coaches were completed in 1946 by contractors chosen by the LNER, and as instructed, were painted in the 'Simulated' teak livery, in a bid to retain some of the prestige looking wooden 'Gresley's' which these coaches were due to replace.
The finish divided opinion, and when BR adopted the LNER's coaching stock in 1948, they eventually decided upon using the popular 'Crimson & Cream' livery for their coaching stock. All coaches were eventually repainted into this livery, however it was by no means a priority, and so many remained in the teak livery as late as 1952.
Crimson & Cream 1949 - 1956
The first 'Thompson' coaches appeared in Crimson & Cream in 1949, with a small number never even receiving the teak finish. This livery was used up to 1956 (and possibly slightly later), when BR decided to overhaul all it's coaching stock, repainting most coaching stock into lined maroon. It is very possible however, that many coaches remained in Crimson & Cream livery for quite some time after 1956.
Lined Maroon 1956 onwards
The final livery which all coaches received was lined maroon, which was used up until British Railways began scrapping coaches built by the big 4, having said this many of the full brake coaches survived to be painted in full blue livery. It was also very common to see Thompson coaches mixed in with rakes of Mk1s both in Lined maroon, Crimson & Cream and a combination of the two.
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