No.102 North East Nostalgia – Pullman Splendour

The recent appearance in the shops of some Hornby super detail Pullman Cars at half the recommended price had me thinking. When I used to go ‘Train Spotting’ to Darlington I might be lucky and get there in time to see the ‘up’ Tees-Tyne Pullman when it called at Darlington just after 10:00am.


 Queen of Scots and Tees-Tyne Pullman Times 1961/62


However I seem to have clearer memories of the down Queen of Scots creeping in from the south towards five o’clock in the evening. The best of the day would be over and the train of elderly Pullmam cars would be headed by an equally old and probably dowdy A3. I would model the Queen of Scots Pullman.

Queen of Scots c1961


(Hornby Super Detail Pullman Cars fitted with Roco 40270 couplers and hauled (in the shadows) by Hornby A3 Coronach.)



Previously I had used a pair of Hornby Brakes to top and tail my Bachmann Mk1 Pullmans to recreate a Deltic hauled Tees Tyne Pullman.

One I made earlier – Deltic Hauled Pullman


Could I release one of these brake coaches for the Queen of Scots? I had in mind a 1962 colour slide of A4 Sparrow Hawk approaching York on the Tees Tyne Pullman with a maroon Gresley BG fronting some Mk1 Pullman Cars. The picture is from the RW Carroll Collection and I had been directed to it by fellow modeller Alun Hughes (from RMweb). I would recreate a similar train formation.

Tees Tyne Pullman c1962


I purchased my Hornby Gresley BG with much enthusiasm back in 2012. On its own the coach is very splendid. However my attempts at running the Gresley with my existing Bachmann Mk1 and Thompson BGs were disappointing due to the apparent low ride height of the Hornby van. I would revisit the RMweb thread detailing the Gresley BG. It has much to say about the shape and width of the body but I could only find one tiny reference by ‘Coachman’ noting that the ride height was too low and that he had added some packing between the bogies and the coach body. I would experiment.

Bogie and Underframe from Hornby BG


The Hornby Gresley is rather delicate so you might need to have some glue and solvent available to stick any broken bits back together. The body shell is attached to the chassis by four lugs moulded with the glazing. Carefully prising the body from the chassis then allows the bogies to be pushed out. If you plan on reusing the existing bogies and fixings you can only add a limited amount of packing before the bogies seize solid. I was able to add a couple of home made plastic washers with a total thickness approaching 1mm. It is a little bit trial and error. Not only do the bogies need to swing from side to side but there also has to be some up and down movement to accommodate vertical transitions associated with gradients.

Hornby Gresley BSK (left) and BG raised (right)

Even just 1mm of packing seems to make a difference.

Hornby Gresley BG raised (left) and Bachmann Mk1 BG right


And back to the Tees Tyne Pullman.

Bachmann Mk1 Pullman and Hornby Gresley BG (raised)


The Bachmann Mk1 Pullmans have been fitted with Hornby R8220 couplers whilst the Hornby BG is fitted with a Roco 40270 coupler.

Tees Tyne Pullman 1962


I would play trains:





I say ‘play’ because reference to the timetables for the Queen of Scots and Tees Tyne Pullmans would indicate that in normal circumstances the two trains would not have passed each other in the north east but possibly somewhere south of Doncaster.

1961 Train fares to London and the Meal Tariff


How times change, depart Glasgow 11 0 am to arrive Kings X 8 7 pm (nine hours later). I have also added two other pages from the 1961/62 timetable. One page shows train fares from the north east to London (all in shillings) and the other page details the costs of meals and refreshments. In 1961 12/- (60p) for ‘dinner’ sounds brilliant but no doubt would have been regarded as ‘dear’ back in the early 1960s. Perhaps an illustration of how inflation erodes the value of money.

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