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Bachmann Midland Pullman


Ian Hargrave

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I was still in school when I was first taken, then permitted to go alone, to the lineside at Horton Bridge Road, West Drayton to watch trains. Seeing a "Blue Pullman" come through was a rare treat. In those days they hadn't yet collided with the custard jug!

 

My recollections over the years are of 8-car sets in all-blue, of 6-car sets singly in blue fye and then paired in reversed livery, and also of 8-car sets in reversed fye. Personally I was no fan of the reversed livery nor of the application of custard to such a fine piece of design work.

 

The images from Bachmann appear to do full justice to the prototype and I look forward to seeing a coloured sample. I have my doubts about giving one a home however.

 

Comments about couplers are appropriate. I run a 5-car class 221 which has the first iteration of bar couplers and is a real PITA to marshall and rail. The Cep units are little better but I find coupling cars 1+2 then 3+4 before coupling the two 2-car portions together is much the easiest method. On the other hand any form of loop coupler, had one been chosen, has the potential to cause problems as soon as a unit is run with the power unit pushing.

 

If one does arrive here in due course it will, as one of our number mentioned above, be run as a 3-car unit first out of respect for my long-serving Tri-ang BP which among other feats ran around a table-top oval of track in real time (i.e. for about 4 hours) on several occasions mimicking the actual South Wales Pullman timetable including "pacing" the final scheduled run of the sets which I was unable to witness.

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Thats beautiful, as long as the decoration is as good as the work so far it'll probably take the crown of best unit on the market! Hornby, this is the standard the Belle has to meet.

 

Just to check, and having looked at the dates, the Midland sets did run on the GWML in Nankin Blue without full yellow ends? My research suggests that they did manage to make it across without the awful yellow ends.

 

As I understand it, when the two Midland six-car sets moved over to the WR they went into hibernation to have the multiple working gear fitted and the ends painted yellow before re-entering revenue earning service on the Bristol road. I can't remember exactly what Kevin Robertson says about this period in his book, but I'm sure that's the gist of it.

 

;)

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As I understand it, when the two Midland six-car sets moved over to the WR they went into hibernation to have the multiple working gear fitted and the ends painted yellow before re-entering revenue earning service on the Bristol road. I can't remember exactly what Kevin Robertson says about this period in his book, but I'm sure that's the gist of it.

 

;)

Apart from them being used as a 'stand-by' instead of the 'Wells Fargo' set (of old Pullman cars which was the official spare for the 8 cars for some years) it should be traceable from public timetables as the service was expanded when the 6 car sets went into traffic if I remember rightly (IF I remember rightly!!)

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Certainly in later years it was possible to see three sets side by side in Paddington. If I remember rightly they were an 8-car on the Swansea "South Wales Pullman" and the 6-car sets on the "Bristol Pullman" although sometimes only one was serviceable.

 

Apart from becoming costly to maintain and non-standard they fell victim quite quickly to the declining use of first class generally and of the perceived elitism (which was felt to be inappropriate in the "modern era" of the 1970s) which was Pullman travel and the required supplementary fares.

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Plus of course the new air conditioned Mk2d onwards stock was appearing on the Bristol and South Wales route, which gave a better ride as some people have commented.

 

Mike - (thread digression ahoy chaps!), your mention of the Wells Fargo set promps a thought that popped into my head as I passed through Dorridge last night.... everytime I pass under the footbridge just to the south of the station I'm reminded of D1040's fatal accident at the same spot in August '63, when it was working the Wells Fargo set vice the BP that day and ran into the back of a goods train being shunted across the mainline - if things had turned out differently it could well have been one of the WR eight car sets that came a cropper instead. D1040 was of course rebuilt and returned to service, but I do wonder how the BP power car would have coped with the collision damage, and whether or not it would have been rebuilt. Did Met-Camm build / keep any spare cabs back at Washwood Heath?

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I was still in school when I was first taken, then permitted to go alone, to the lineside at Horton Bridge Road, West Drayton to watch trains. Seeing a "Blue Pullman" come through was a rare treat. In those days they hadn't yet collided with the custard jug!

 

My recollections over the years are of 8-car sets in all-blue, of 6-car sets singly in blue fye and then paired in reversed livery, and also of 8-car sets in reversed fye. Personally I was no fan of the reversed livery nor of the application of custard to such a fine piece of design work.

 

The images from Bachmann appear to do full justice to the prototype and I look forward to seeing a coloured sample. I have my doubts about giving one a home however.

 

Comments about couplers are appropriate. I run a 5-car class 221 which has the first iteration of bar couplers and is a real PITA to marshall and rail. The Cep units are little better but I find coupling cars 1+2 then 3+4 before coupling the two 2-car portions together is much the easiest method. On the other hand any form of loop coupler, had one been chosen, has the potential to cause problems as soon as a unit is run with the power unit pushing.

 

If one does arrive here in due course it will, as one of our number mentioned above, be run as a 3-car unit first out of respect for my long-serving Tri-ang BP which among other feats ran around a table-top oval of track in real time (i.e. for about 4 hours) on several occasions mimicking the actual South Wales Pullman timetable including "pacing" the final scheduled run of the sets which I was unable to witness.

1963--had meal aboard W.R, 8-car set on ,I think the 4:55 8-car Blue Pullman between Paddington & Snow Hill. Excellent meal--rough ride.

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Mike - (thread digression ahoy chaps!), your mention of the Wells Fargo set promps a thought that popped into my head as I passed through Dorridge last night.... everytime I pass under the footbridge just to the south of the station I'm reminded of D1040's fatal accident at the same spot in August '63, when it was working the Wells Fargo set vice the BP that day and ran into the back of a goods train being shunted across the mainline - if things had turned out differently it could well have been one of the WR eight car sets that came a cropper instead. D1040 was of course rebuilt and returned to service, but I do wonder how the BP power car would have coped with the collision damage, and whether or not it would have been rebuilt. Did Met-Camm build / keep any spare cabs back at Washwood Heath?

 

Not as far as I know Nidge - I think spare cabs were not so common back then as they have become in the age of one piece mouldings. It was, of course, in my pre-employment days but one oddity I did come across on a visit to Swindon was a cast aluminium half front end for a D600 'Warship and by 'half' I mean divided vertically, not horizontally (and it definitely looked like a casting, not a fabrication).

 

And yes - the main thing that killed the Pullmans commercially was increasing resistance against the supplement - trifling tho' it was - and the fact that they were being overtaken by far higher quality hauled stock which would make the supplement unjustifiable. Add to that the high operating costs plus the maintenance costs of a not too clever engine and the poor ride given by expensive to maintain bogies on the unpowered vehicles and it clearly wasn't going to last as it became outmoded and once major overhauls became necessary. But at least I had a cab ride on one and when they were on song they couldn't arf go :sungum:

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Thanks for that Mike, you jammy chap you!

 

Anyway, I think now would be a good time to pull Mr.Robertson's fine BP tome out of the library and put it in the kitbag for tonigh'ts three hour layover in Stud Farm.... just had a peek at the photos on Bachann's site.... lovely B)

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Plus of course the new air conditioned Mk2d onwards stock was appearing on the Bristol and South Wales route, which gave a better ride as some people have commented.

 

Mike - (thread digression ahoy chaps!), your mention of the Wells Fargo set promps a thought that popped into my head as I passed through Dorridge last night.... everytime I pass under the footbridge just to the south of the station I'm reminded of D1040's fatal accident at the same spot in August '63, when it was working the Wells Fargo set vice the BP that day and ran into the back of a goods train being shunted across the mainline - if things had turned out differently it could well have been one of the WR eight car sets that came a cropper instead. D1040 was of course rebuilt and returned to service, but I do wonder how the BP power car would have coped with the collision damage, and whether or not it would have been rebuilt. Did Met-Camm build / keep any spare cabs back at Washwood Heath?

 

Thought you may like to see the attached pictures relating to the accident at Dorridge that I took way back then at the age of 16.

post-7903-0-37998700-1322588661.jpg

post-7903-0-43787600-1322588672.jpg

post-7903-0-07855100-1322588685.jpg

post-7903-0-18218600-1322588698.jpg

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Very interesting photographs Petee19, many thanks for sharing them. If it's ok with you, I'd link to post a link to them on the WR Diesel Hydraulic Loco group.... ;)

 

I was with a group of lads train spotting from the overbridge just south of Acocks Green station that lunchtime and well remember the Western hauled Pullman passing through. Within ten minutes of its passing the rail traffic ceased with the exception of the Tysley breakdown train with crane passing through towards Knowle on the up relief line. Later that afternoon we found out from the local news the details of the fatal accident that had occured

just a few miles away.

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Very interesting photographs Petee19, many thanks for sharing them. If it's ok with you, I'd link to post a link to them on the WR Diesel Hydraulic Loco group.... ;)

 

I have no problem with your request 'Rudg1022'would be more than happy for others to see after so many years.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Hattons say item has sound...

http://www.ehattons....tockDetail.aspx

is this correct? ive pre ordered mine anyway :)

I can only seen "DCC fitted" and "sound prepared" ? Ie fitted with a DCC chip and ready to fit speakers as part of a sound chip.

 

Edit: actually I see what you mean under the 21pin bit "as the item has sound". I think someone at hattons has either got the wrong idea or hasn't conveyed that the 21pin plug would be the same as on other models with sound provision.

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do we know what livery is being done for the original sets kitchen cars? half white along the car or all the way along?

If they do the half-white it will be wrong for the trains in service. At least one set originally had the white only around the passenger windows on the kitchen car but this was altered prior to the trains etering service (but after lots of publicity photos and film had bee taken).

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If you look carefully in the film "Blue Pullman", some of the shots of "The Midland Pullman" show the train with the "half-white" arrangement. However, as Robert rightly says, this was altered before entering service.

 

I can't see Bachmann making that fundamental mistake. Well I hope not!

 

Regards,

Peter

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And yes - the main thing that killed the Pullmans commercially was increasing resistance against the supplement - trifling tho' it was - and the fact that they were being overtaken by far higher quality hauled stock which would make the supplement unjustifiable. Add to that the high operating costs plus the maintenance costs of a not too clever engine and the poor ride given by expensive to maintain bogies on the unpowered vehicles and it clearly wasn't going to last as it became outmoded and once major overhauls became necessary. But at least I had a cab ride on one and when they were on song they couldn't arf go :sungum:

 

At the time, it was suggested that the possibility of an adverse reaction to the forthcoming new HSTs because the public might confuse them with the Blue Pullmans (fare supplement/rough ride) was a major consideration in deciding to get rid of them. There was a suggestion that the six-car sets (always under-uitilsed by the WR, who didn't really want them) could have gone to the Southern for the 'Bournemouth Belle' but the Southern didn't want them, either.

CHRIS LEIGH

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This will be the pinnacle of OO gauge when it's released...

 

OK, it looks promising, but that isn't actually known as yet.

 

...I really hope they do an 8 car WR version ...

 

Just another kitchen and parlour pair to go in the middle suit you sir? Joking aside, the WR version is past halfway to a complete new model as an investment, with 75% of the required body tooling to do for the three car styles unique to the WR version; based on the information that it is the body tooling that requires most of the investment involved in bringing a new model to market. One presumes that much of the running gear would fit under the new bodies for some savings based on using existing tooling, but the price is likely to be higher in real terms, since it remains eight instead of six cars.

 

The Midland Pullman is something of a leap in plastic bodied OO RTR as a one piece purchase at the projected price. For sure Bachmann will be comparing very carefully what the return on that larger investment concentrated into a 'single piece' sale is like, against that same invested sum spread across two, three, four, five items capable of being sold individually at lower prices. This one is going to be a real stress test for the conversion of wish list votes to achieved sales is my feeling.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Im going to get one of these now i think, Holt Model Railways has the cheapest ive seen, £245. I have one of the tri ang versions, i made it a four car set by buying an extra centre car, i think i will be selling it to help fund the Bachmann one, it runs very well for the age of it, although all unboxed and transfers coming off. Wouldn't know how much it would sell for however, anyone got any ideas?

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