No.117 The Mainline Restaurant Buffet – Part Two, Close Coupling
My previousPost looked at some detail improvements to the old Mainline Restaurant Buffet including fitting Finecast Flush Glazing, wire handrails and simply filing the buffer heads. Mainline RB slotted into a rake of BR Mk Is all fitted with Hornby R8220 couplers For me the most important improvement is the fitting of the Bachmann close coupling mechanism. This enables the coach to be unobtrusively slotted into a rake of Bachmann Mk Is – in my case all fitted with Hornby R8220 couplers. Bachmann RU top, Mainline RB bottom My first plan for improving the Mainline Restaurant Buffet was to use a complete Bachmann RU underframe. Comparing the underside of the Bachmann 39-101 derivatives with the Mainline vehicle showed a great deal of similarity. The Mainline truss detail is perhaps heavier but when viewed from the side I don’t think there is much to choose between the two models. Either I would have to remove the corridor ends from the Bachmann underfra...