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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