Branch line formations with Mk1s

[Liam]

Hi all

 

At Warley last year I bought a Hornby chocolate and cream Mk1 SK (a bargain, £16) which I had in mind to use on my colliery-themed layout as an early morning miners train. But delving into history (and perhaps also common sense) further reveals that the coach would be a BSK/BCK. So would an SK and perhaps also a box van look odd for a miners train, or would it need some sort of brake vehicle?

 

Liam (SVRlad)

[Andy W]

Miners trains used the oldest rolling stock around, especially in the period before pithead baths and locker rooms, when miners travelled in their working clothes and left the seats with a coating of coal dust.

The Chocolate & Cream livery appeared on Mark 1s after 1956 and was intended to be used on major express services. When it ended in the early/mid 1960s the coaches were still very much the front line express stock of the railway and got repainted into either maroon or blue and grey.

Railway rule books in the period when miners trains operated required that every passenger train had at least one brake vehicle. Longer trains would have had one at each end.

While it's your railway and you can do what you want to, miners trains were normally non-corridor stock, and when operated by the railway company/BR would be the oldest still in service. When operated by colliery companies/NCB they were cast-offs bought from the mainline companies.

[Liam]

Hello Andy

 

Thank you for your information regarding miners trains. I suppose we can assume that after forming the main line expresses the Birmingham and West Midlands Division of the WR had some surplus chocolate and cream Mk1s, so the branch lines were treated to some. Time to look for a BSK. . .

 

That's also interesting that after locker rooms came about they could travel in 'civvies' - it'll make life a lot easier not having to cut the legs off about 40 Bachmann miners to get them to sit in the coach!

[DCB]

You really need an old non corridor coach or two or four for miners, irrespective of era.   They were typically old stock some retrofitted with wooden seats as ordinary passengers would not expect to travel on seats deep in coal dust.    The Choc cream SK would have been in front line mainline service, repainted fairly swiftly after 1962 either into maroon or less likely straight into Blue Grey and an early withdrawal as the TSO became the 2nd class MK1 of choice, as they were genuine 64 seat 2 +2 X 16 while SKs seldom held more than 3 abreast for 48.

Gas lit coaches were favoured as speeds were too low to charge the batteries on  electrically lit coaches but miners did not usually commute long distances and many miners trains ran short distances on colliery lines. The shift pattern would influence train times and frequency, but many mines had the colliers houses within easy walking distance.

This illustrates the problem with shows.  Impulse buys.  I bought a S/H Bachmann Bullied brake Comp (3rd maybe?) in maroon and cream  a couple of years ago at Calne for a fantastic price probably because it had Peco couplings.  It has run about 4 times, I just don't have a use for it!   its sort of 48 -58 era and I'm sort of 1960 Still it looks nice, I just need another 6 to make a train. or maybe I could respray it in green.

[great central]

Off at a slight tangent there is a DVD taken from film shot around the time the Nottingham-Worksop service finished in 1964, included in one rake of 3-4 coaches is what I think is a chocolate and cream BSK. Not watched it for quite some time so I would have to check to be sure of the coach type

[keefer]

SKs remained in mostly secondary service into the '80s, albeit in vastly reduced numbers from their heyday.

Most compartment coaches intended for the WR/SR were specified and diagrammed for 4-a-side seating in 2nd class (no armrests were fitted) so the SKs were 64-seat