Just a quick post to confirm that as advised in my delivery status update post, on 22nd May, the Hornby R4538 Maunsell open second class coach in BR green has now arrived with many retailers although those of you, like me, wanting the SR open third version will have to wait a little longer until September.
Although I do not have one of the BR liveried versions as it outside my usual 1946-1949 time period, I have in the past been fortunate to have had a close look at the pre-production sample, of course we have also seen the modified version as part of the 6xx series Pull Push sets, and it certainly maintains the high standards we have come to enjoy with the other Hornby Maunsell coaches produced to date.
Southern Railway, Fisherton Sarum, Canute Road Quay & Westhill Road
The model railway world and mainly Southern Railway meanderings of Graham 'Muz' Muspratt
Hornby have already sold out of the BR version! All production has gone out to dealers.
Bob
Indeed but a number of retailers are showing stock that has not been allocated to pre-orders, so shop around.
Whilst it’s true we’ve seen these before in the Pull Push sets, presumably these new versions have been made by a different factory, so an interesting test of the skills of the new workforce.
Andrew
It is not necessarily true that these have produced in an alternative factory. Whilst Hornby are making great steps to reducing the dependency on the original factory and widening their supply chain base some models will for the time being still be being produced at the original location.
I’ve already placed an order for this from the Liverpool based company. I’m not going to risk missing out again.
Hi Mark
I don’t blame you. They were showing plenty in stock as of yesterday.
It has arrived and looks very good, although I can’t have it untill my birthday in September. Now I can investigate selling the Kirk open second kit which I’ve not got arround to making.
I have just received my model from Hattons and it is a lovely model. I am modelling the Swanage Railway. I have still not been able to obtain a Maunsell Pull-Push set so I am going to use it with a Maunsell brake composite until the next Pull-Push sets come out or on its own for the preserved railway.
The coach on the Swanage Railway is Maunsell 2nd class open coach 1381. In 1929 the Government abolished 5% passenger duty on condition that the railway company invested the money in new works and this type of coach was one of the results. Before that Southern coaches were of the compartment type. This was a new design with 56 seats in three saloons arranged in bays of two, three and two. Each bay had four seats facing each other. There was a toilet at each end. It was an open saloon which was pioneered in Britain by Pullman and was common in America and Europe. The advantages were that the coaches were stronger and had large picture windows and end doors instead of doors to each compartment.
The coaches were run a loose coaches often next to a kitchen or restaurant car. Some were converted to run as part of pull-push sets in 1959 but most were taken out of traffic with other coaches over 30 years old in the early 1960s.
The coaches were originally painted in sage green livery like Hornby R4357, in the late 1930s they received malachite green livery. After Nationalisation many were repainted crimson and cream before reverting to a darker shade of malachite green in 1956. 1381 re-entered service in Southern malachite green in May 1985 and was later repainted in BR SR green. In 1993 it was used with M7 30053 and Maunsell brake composite coach 6699 for a photographic charter train to recreate a typical Swanage pull-push train as set 619 of the early 1960s.I have not seen the coach recently but the long term plan is to use it as part of a representation of a Maunsell pull-push set.
Information obtained from Swanage Railway Stockbook 2000 compiled by myself and George Moon who wrote the text about this coach with some changes made by myself. The book is out of print but can be obtained at a reasonable price from Amazon or Ebay.
Mine arrived this morning; very nice. It checks out well with the drawing in Mike Kings Southern Coaches; nice features are the wire pipes to the roof tanks. Running number is 1314 and set number 104 appears on one end, it ran with a Maunsell high window BCK as a 2 set. The green is a close match to previous Hornby Maunsell coaches.
Hi Bob
It was a loose coach up until November 1959 when it did indeed run in set 104 with Maunsell diag. 2401 brake compo No. 6589. Hornby have made diag. 2401 though not yet with the appropriate running No. for set 104.
Set 104 was disbanded in June 1962 and 1314 reverted to lose stock. It was withdrawn in November 1962.
Although Hornby have chosen to add the set number on the end there is some discussion if this was actually applied to the ends of SO in all the 10 or so BCK / SO sets formed in 1959.
Hornby have reproduced the BR SR coach green colour very well and have matched the shade with their previous coaches. It is interesting that S1314S was put in a set at about the same time as other open seconds were converted as part of Maunsell pull-push sets.
The open seconds replaced ex SECR diag 52 non corridor seconds in the 2 coach W sets 100-110