Bachmann TPO

[Martin_R]

Just noticed the Bachmann Royal Mail TPO in BR Maroon Livery [Modelzone limited edition] now listed for pre-order at ??31.99 by Signal Box.

 

Now looked again and all 4 TPO's listed together with the Class 411 4-CEP EMU in BR Early Blue.

[deltic79]

I thought that Modelzone and the Signal Box were one and the same company?

 

If its true then it would explain the cross selling.

 

 

[NeilHB]

Hmm, must admit I'm quite tempting to get one of these. Does anyone know if the model will be fitted with a representation of the net and traductor arms? I'd want to renumber mine to the one currently on the GCR 80301:

http://www.rvp-ltd.org.uk/images/80301withnet1.jpg

My favourite as I passed out as an operator on her this summer at the Mail by Rail Gala - perfect on a summers evening running with the doors open!

[Ed-farms]

I don't think they include the mail pick up gear - maybe future releases will have (as long as these sell well).

[mozzer models]

I don't think they include the mail pick up gear - maybe future releases will have (as long as these sell well).

 

 

if you what to fit a net them 247 developments sell etch brass ones with netting

[NeilHB]

Thanks for the info, bit of a shame they aren't producing the version with mail pick up gear, think I'll give this one a miss and wait for Bachmann to release it themselves in the future hopefully with the mail gear included. I only really wanted it for display anyway.

[G-BOAF]

Thanks for the info, bit of a shame they aren't producing the version with mail pick up gear, think I'll give this one a miss and wait for Bachmann to release it themselves in the future hopefully with the mail gear included. I only really wanted it for display anyway.

 

I think you might be missing the boat. We don't know what the arrangements are with Bachmann regarding the tooling; you might be waiting some time! Even if they've already tooled the TPO for Modelzone, they'd have to make new tooling for the net given they can already do the 1960s livery without a net, are they going to bother, especially since the net only covers a small time span (i.e. pre Blue-Grey)?

 

IMHO a 247-Developments brass apparatus with net (suitably painted) would look far better than a Bachmann own-brand offering. Just look at the Bachman clay hoods and their fabric coverings!

I can't imagine fitting one would be too difficult. Remember the TPO diagram they are making has all the appropriate apertures for the net etc.

[Pennine MC]

are they going to bother, especially since the net only covers a small time span (i.e. pre Blue-Grey)?

 

 

 

The last use of nets was 1971 IIRC, hence blue/grey is applicable to at least some vehicles with nets

 

On the subject of liveries, I understood the BR standards all carried Post Office red rather than maroon?

[craigwelsh]

The last use of nets was 1971 IIRC, hence blue/grey is applicable to at least some vehicles with nets

 

On the subject of liveries, I understood the BR standards all carried Post Office red rather than maroon?

 

 

Blue TPO vehicles with nets although this is a later diagram with less windows I think:

http://www.allanyeo.co.uk/html/tpo_pictures13.html

 

There seems to be a preserved one here in maroon: http://www.tpo.org.uk/preserved/tpo80300.htm but I also thought that in service in the '60s they were all PO red livery. The LMS had maroon painted TPO carriages though I think and Hornby seemed to copy that with their old working vehicle.

 

 

I think Bachmann can use the tooling after a year of exclusive use by Modelzone?

[Gwiwer]

BR "Standard" (i.e. Mk1 -style) TPO vehicles all began life in lined "Travelling Post Office" red livery similar to but lighter than the maroon coaching stock livery of the time. They were all subsequently repainted into blue/grey. Following sectorisation the surviving vans took on the RES-style bright red livery with slight variations in lining and logo over their later years.

 

ModelZone is issuing all four major livery variants.

 

In maroon their posting boxes bore the legend "All items posted here must bear an additional 1d postage"; once in blue grey and with the two-tier postal system that changed to "Items posted here must carry First Class postage". For rail enthusiasts and philatelists alike mail posted on board and franked with the TPO handstamps can be very collectable pieces. Moreso for the Bristol - Penzance as it became the final TPO and therefore the last train upon which mails were sorted in the UK.

 

I'm hoping these vehicles are to Bachmann's normally high standard as the BG stowage vans and suitable locos are here ready and waiting .....

[pedanticmongrel]

I went into Modelzone last week and ordered one of the BR Maroon ones so for those of you in 2 minds I shall put pictures up and a mini review if you are interested as soon as I get my hands on it.

[Les Bird]

In maroon their posting boxes bore the legend "All items posted here must bear an additional 1d postage";.....

 

A minor point but from memory (admittedly not always a reliable source) I thought it was an extra 1/2d.

[Gwiwer]

A minor point but from memory (admittedly not always a reliable source) I thought it was an extra 1/2d.

 

Very likely correct at one time though 1d was also correct in later pre-decimal years. Prices rise. Times change. The TPO had been around for quite a few years and postage charges rose along with everything else.

[CUTLER2579]

On the old Rm Web site Darren who works at Modelzone in Crawley and is a member of Crawley Model Railway Club did several bits on these vehicles being produce by his Employers.

Regards.

[petee19]

Just wondering if anyone has any idea when the TPO's are due.

 

Pete.

[Andy M]

According to the chaps at the Holborn store, we are looking at May/June earliest. But then what with Volcanic Dustclouds, General Elections etc etc your guess is as good as mine!

 

Andy.

[Ragtag]

This has been touched on in another thread I think - the consensus at my two local Modelzones is 2nd quarter, probably nearer the end of it. They reckon Bachmann will release all 4 together rather than the initial staggered release they had planned.

[Guest 47107]

The staff in Modelzone Basingstoke today said the TPO's are about 2 months away.

[G-BOAF]

The staff in Modelzone Basingstoke today said the TPO's are about 2 months away.

 

Now quoted on the Modelzone website as being June/July, so I guess they'll be in the same container(s) as the other Bachmann releases due at that time. EXPENSIVE summer

 

Of note, the initial tooling shots were posted on RMWeb in Feb '09, which means it will be 16 months between tooling and delivery. Is this some kind of record? We (some of us) moan about length to releases, but at least when prototype models are shown its c.6-8 months to delivery. Not in this case.

[Gwiwer]

16 months between tooling and delivery

 

Not so very uncommon for Bachmann over recent years. Some items get through the system much more quickly than others. The recently-arrived class 42 "Warship"s were something over 18 months from announcement to release and with the tooling already extant - it just required some updating.

 

Let's also not confuse this with the time between announcement of an all-new product and delivery as that can be something up to a couple of years now and is affected by many other variables. Dapol's long-awaited class 22 NBL types for example have been significantly delayed by a problem entirely outside their control.

[dibber25]

TPO vehicles all began life in lined "Travelling Post Office" red livery similar to but lighter than the maroon coaching stock livery of the time. (quote)

 

Not according to any that I saw, or any written info I can find. The HMRS Mk1 coach book says: "Undeniably the livery introduced with these coaches was startling. The solebars and all below were black with Post Office red bodysides and ends." That is certainly how I remember them - bright Post Office red. Sorry, but I've always considered the 'maroon' one on the SVR to be simply wrong. It is far from unknown for preservationists to get colours wrong, I'm afraid. I won't be 'happy' but I will be interested, to be proved wrong.

CHRIS LEIGH

[malcolmy]

SVR - wrong?? Surely not!

 

I have often been confused by the colours of the GWR freight wagons on the SVR. They are painted a very dark shade - particularly in comparison to corresponding models.

 

SVR Mink

[Gwiwer]

So does anyone have a well-lit and respectable quality colour image of a TPO in original livery alongside a Post Office van of the day? Those vans delivered the mails to, and collected them from, the trains. Such a shot should not be too hard to locate. If they match we may have an answer. But my recollection (which is of course as open to being flawed as anyone else's) is that the TPO's were a darker shade though not as dark as coaching stock maroon. They stood out against the maroon parcel vans of the time and were slightly different to the road vans of the then GPO.

 

In another comparison "LT red" is often referred to. Until the early 1970's LT trains wore a much darker shade than their buses meaning there was not one "LT red" but at least two. The TPO vehicles may have been in a similar situation.

[craigwelsh]

Not sure what people think of this slide I have of 70013 passing Lancaster (according to the back). Pity there is no reference coach for colour.

[Gwiwer]

Pity there is no reference coach for colour.

 

There is reference enough in there, perhaps, even allowing for some aging of the colour. The signal arm appears to be a brighter red than the TPO much as you would expect and the bauxite vans in the yard are about right. The TPO approximates to my recollection of them in their early livery and is certainly not "Post Office Red". Neither is it coaching stock maroon.