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Bachmann Midland Pullman


Ian Hargrave

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They did sometimes wander off the beaten track for railtours and specials. Plymouth and Hull both saw them as one-offs.

 

I think they had to use a Dapol 'Western' to pilot the BP when it went to Plymouth, something about it not being trusted over the Devon Banks.....

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I think they had to use a Dapol 'Western' to pilot the BP when it went to Plymouth, something about it not being trusted over the Devon Banks.....

 

I can justify one on my Brent layout then Tim ? :no:

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By the cringe that does look mighty good... but the 'all yellow' end does look odd, too much yellow where it ought not to be. Nowt that can't be sorted out though, one way or another ;)

 

The standard of finish on it looks superb, and I like the fact that the underslung gear beteen the bogies on the power car has been done in the correct colours.

 

I've said it before but I'l l say it again - a 'Westernised' version of this six-car beauty would be a doddle if the right multi-working gubbins could be found or made. Where do I sign...?

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Not sure about when the website one went up but there was a fully painted model on display at Railfest - going into production next week I overheard there.

 

post-6918-0-63443500-1338902161_thumb.jpg

I think one unit (possibly only one end) had the all-over yellow treatment as an experiment. However, they never ran in regular service like that. When the 6-car sets ceased running on the Midland Pullman in April 1966, they still had blue ends. By the time they re-entered regular service on the Bristol Pullman in 1967, they had been fitted with MU jumpers and were in the livery style shown in the Worcester photo. The 6-car sets retained that style until early 1970, when they went into the reversed grey/blue. However, from October 1971, the 6-car sets were split up and mixed with 8-car sets.

 

Bachmann really need to do a bit more research on the liveries and end styles.

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I've said it before but I'l l say it again - a 'Westernised' version of this six-car beauty would be a doddle if the right multi-working gubbins could be found or made. Where do I sign...?

I spoke to Dennis Lovett today at Railfest the good news is that he said that the westernised version of the 6-car Pullman is a definite possibility if the initial ones sell well enough. The bad news is that there are no plans for the 8-car units as it would require too many new body toolings.

 

Bachmann really need to do a bit more research on the liveries and end styles.

Or just pick up Kevin Robertson's book. It is all in there along with photos.

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I think they had to use a Dapol 'Western' to pilot the BP when it went to Plymouth, something about it not being trusted over the Devon Banks.....

 

Trying to read some scribbles I made on this before but the outward working was on 24/12/70 Kensington Olympia to Plymouth with D1655 giving it a hand over the banks. The loco wasnt on the front when it passed the Sea Wall so I presume it was tied on the front at Newton Abbot. Set was 60092, 60732, 60742, 60743, 60733 and 60093. Returned 28/12/70 wih D1032 helping out.

 

Pix

 

 

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Have to say that the model is definitely a thing of great beauty. Those centre cars are looking so good and the unit is certainly on a par with Hornby's excellent 5-BEL.

I have to say I'm still dissapointed to hear that they are still unlikely to do the Western 8-car version especially seeing how good this is. It seems a little half-hearted to only do the Midland one. I realise that they would have to manufacture extra tooling etc and that an 8 car unit is a significant investment but they wouldn't have to make the whole 8 cars from scratch again. Oh well I can only dream they change their minds.....

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At the risk of repeating the shot of ed farms heres a couple from the other end lol. the glass cab and display lights ddnt help getting good shots, and the overall yellow end is just - so wrong, but as a model it looks gradely as they say round here.

 

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post-6679-0-45101600-1338967050_thumb.jpg

 

post-6679-0-48087500-1338967160_thumb.jpg

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Such a fine-looking model does not deserve to have its nose dunked in custard - prototypical or not. Is this version going to sell very well? If I were Bachmann, I'd put this one out first, as the "must have" novelty brigade might lap it up.

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It does seem bizarre that only a few years ago you wouldn't expect to see such a display in a cabinet, the electrics or the BP.

 

One did get yellow doors didn't it? (Not having the books to hand) The yellow roof does look odd though.

 

I do hope this one sells enough for them to reconsider the two other coaches for the WR one in the future (and possibly slides for the power cars), maybe by subscription if they need to.

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I do hope this one sells enough for them to reconsider the two other coaches for the WR one in the future (and possibly slides for the power cars), maybe by subscription if they need to.

 

But is it just two more coaches? I thought the WR sets had different specification coaches to the MR ones and that it wasn't as simple as tooling one or two more coaches. I'm sure someone in the know will put us right.

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A couple of responses from Bachmann to comments made:

 

Bachmann really need to do a bit more research on the liveries and end styles.

 

Our design team have been very thorough researching every element of this project which has been achieved over a lengthy timescale in order to deliver what we believe will be a popular model.

 

Kevin Robertson’s books on the Blue Pullman show the unit with the full yellow ends on page 123.

 

 

I spoke to Dennis Lovett today at Railfest the good news is that he said that the westernised version of the 6-car Pullman is a definite possibility if the initial ones sell well enough. The bad news is that there are no plans for the 8-car units as it would require too many new body toolings.

This is an option as the 6 car units were transferred to the Western Region and were fitted with connecting cables on the cab fronts.

 

The 8 car Western Region units had different power cars etc. Only one vehicle is common to both – so to produce a Western Region train would require exactly the same amount of new work as the version we have just produced. I am sure this has been covered in depth before but just to reiterate there is little in common between the two tyoes of Blue Pullman.

 

The original livery was on show at DEMU last weekend and the version with the full yellow end is currently with me on the Bachmann stand at Railfest, York.

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Interesting shift in the frothing - from "why can't someone do a B*** P******" to "why don't they do the {insert the particular version here}" :no:

 

 

and I really can't justify one - oh wait !

 

wasn't there a Sheffield - St Pancras / Bournemouth service splitting at Derby.....................

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Interesting shift in the frothing - from "why can't someone do a B*** P******" to "why don't they do the {insert the particular version here}" :no:

I think that was bound to happen - years of inaccuracy/inadequacy in polls etc coupled with, in many cases, lack of knowledge about a train many folk shouting for it had never seen, was going to lead to exactly that situation. I think Bachmann have done a very brave thing in taking on the project and the results certainly looks good superb so I hope they enjoy commercial success with it (because I want to see them able to move on to other things in the future). The B*** P*ll*** doesn't float my boat as it happens but I sincerely hope that everyone who made so much noise about wanting one has taken advantage of the time they've had to save up for it and puts their money where their wishes have been.

 

Edit - correct age related typo :blush:

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The doubt as to whether many of the Iwannas actually knew the difference between what the Triang model represented (nothing much) and the prototypes was certainly perceived in ur-RMweb, I remember it getting chewed over.

... still disappointed to hear that they are still unlikely to do the Western 8-car version especially seeing how good this is. .. I realise that they would have to manufacture extra tooling etc and that an 8 car unit is a significant investment but they wouldn't have to make the whole 8 cars from scratch again. Oh well I can only dream they change their minds.....

There is only one shared vehicle type between the Midland (2 unique vehicles, one shared) and Western (3 unique vehicles, one shared) forms. So that's three new vehicle types to research and tool up, essentially the same job as for the Midland version before us which has three vehicle types in it, and then the Western form is a bigger package = higher sale price than the Midland version.

 

If (very big if) the Midland model leaves smoking trails as it brisklly vacates retailer's shelves, and consistently continues to do so over the next several years as successive livery and number variants are produced, then and only then will there be encouragement for giving the Western form a go. As it is, picking the form that ran on both MR and WR was the wise course, no? This way there is something from the Blue Pullman family to run on WR.

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Andy - thanks for posting those responses from Bachmann in post #169 -

 

I've just dug out my Kevin Robertson BP book to check the photo they're referring to and it looks like they could mean page 153 of the supplement, which annoyingly I don't have so as to check. The first book does have a shot of it with an all over yellow end on page 123 though, on a crew training run at Newbury, taken in November 1966, before the fitment of the multiple working gear. From other photos in this book and others published in Model Rail and other mags, it appears the units went back into Swindon to have the MW gear fitted and the yellow ends were modified at the same time, it then emerged ready for use as a 12- car lash up 'Bristol Pullman' in early-ish '67 (a diagram which also included a split at Paddington for seperate midday runs to Oxford and Bristol before reuniting and returning as a 12-car unit back to Bristol).

 

An 8-car WR set would be nice, but I guess we'll just have to be happy with the Midland set just as it is. Can't have everything can we...?

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A couple of responses from Bachmann to comments made:

I'm well aware that the Robertson book and various other sources have photos of a Blue Pullman with all-over yellow ends. However, that is not the point. This was only one of several experiments (at least one other is depicted in the Robertson book) and the six-car sets did not run in regular service in that livery. Anyone who might be thinking of buying that version should be aware of that, and also of the very narrow time frame in which that experimental livery existed.

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