As part of their quarterly British Railway Announcements for Winter 2022 Bachmann have announced the ex London South Western Railway (LSWR) / Southern railway 56ft non corridor cross country sets in 00 gauge.
There were 36 sets formed wholly of 56ft vehicles and these sets were generically called ‘Cross County sets’. They were constructed between 1906 and 1910 being built originally as 4 coach sets. These sets comprised of the following:
- Brake Thirds, four compartment to LSWR Drawing 1446, SR diagram 124, 2 per set
- Composite (1st / 3rd class), seven compartment, to LSWR Drawing 1298, SR Diagram 274
- Third LSWR Drawing 1302, SR Diagram 17, 8 compartment, (The all Thirds were originally introduced as 2nd / 3rd Composites but rebranded to all Thirds with no structural change by the end of 1919)
The set numbers were in the ranges 130-151, 253-263 and 311-314 (sets 311-314 were originally introduced as 6 coach sets but became four coach formations in 1934 (and subsequently 3 coach sets). All sets were reduced to three coaches in the mid to late 1930s by the removal of the 8 compartment Third Diagram 17 coaches which became loose stock. At the same time the number of first class compartments in the Composite, Diagram 274 was reduced from 5 to 3 (not a physical alteration just reclassification and change in class banding on the outside of the compartments)
Despite the longevity of these sets, apart from the reduction from 4 to 3 coaches and the reclassification of some of the composite compartments there was no real physical changes to any of the coaches.
In terms of use, they were seen all over the SW section of the Southern and their duties were pretty well interchangeable with any other 3/4 set. They did not generally run on Brighton or SE section lines, although photographic evidence exists of them running along the south coast to Brighton.
Withdrawal of these sets was completed during 1956/7 Brake Third number LSWR 1520 SR 2975 (ex set 63 / 146) survives and is operational service on the Bluebell Railway http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pics/1520.html and Composite number 5065 (ex set 134) survives on the Kent and East Sussex Railway awaiting restoration.
As was standard LSWR practice not all the coaches had full electrical equipment, i.e dynamo and battery boxes the others being through wired.
The initial EFE Rail Releases, build on the success of the EFE Rail Gate stock (and utilising some shared tooling), in three coach book box sets are as follows
- E86013 ex LSWR Cross Country Set – 3 coach set 253 – SR Malachite SR Malachite
- E86014 Ex LSWR/SR Cross Country Set – 3 Coach set 130 – BR Crimson BR Unlined Crimson
- E86015 Ex LSWR/SR Cross Country Set – 3 Coach set 314 – BR Green BR(s) Green
These coach sets are currently on the high seas and should be with retailers such as Kernow Model Rail Centre in the next few weeks.
Good news indeed. Any likelihood of SR Maunsell Green (lined ideally) or LSWR salmon & brown?
Never say never, they would have to be four coach sets with the Diagram 17 all third included.
Yes, my guess is this is why they’ve come out in the later liveries first, Since the LSWR Diagram 1302 2/3 Composite can be added later to produce LSWR and Olive SR liveried sets.
Looking on B&C – Set 253 itself was, it appears, in Olive (painted 1936) as a 3-car set from 1939 to 1945 (when next repainted, into the livery EFE have it in).
A most welcomed announcement – thank you!
The liveries /formations of these sets is covered on BloodandCustard:
https://www.bloodandcustard.com/SR-CoachingSets-LSWR-CrossCountrySets130-324.html
What about some LSWR livery? I would defo buy some,
Never say never, they would have to be four coach sets with the Diagram 17 all third included.
Another useful opportunity foregone by Hornby,
whose rebuilt ex-LSWR coaches never appeared in green.
That’s due to the majority of them not gaining BR(s) Green before withdrawal (with the except of only a couple loose coaches)
Exactly so, but it would have brought in some useful marginal revenue.
Expensive to produce the coaches, so full exploitation would have made sense.
Very unexpected.
Although according to the link abvove to Blood & Custard; Set 314 in BR(S) Green is a bit niche time wise as the set was withdrawn in August 1957 – the year when I thought the the livery change was introduced. Bit unlike the SR/BR(S) to waste paint.
The link suggests most became 3 sets in 1938 or after hence they wouldn’t have run as such in Olive unless carried over before repaint into Malachite. I wonder how many would have been in Malachite
Would it be disingenuous to suggest that the most useful of the sets offered is the Crimson one which survived until late 56?
Surely a 4 set in Olive would have been popular and the TL as loose in the otjher liveries would be so too. Maybe to keep the price people will actually pay below the £200 mark.
However, I can see many turning a Nelsonian eye to exact dates & colours for such a welcome set of coaches.
Indeed Richard, and these are initial releases….
Sadly whilst copies of the pre-Nationalisation Lancing Words Record Cards survive, those for post-nationalisation are currently missing. Set 314 was probably withdrawn in the Green livery it received in June 1946. However, it would have no doubt received BR-style typeface during varnishing circa 1952. One assumes that EFE are producing it in this form and not the darker BR(S) Green applied by Lancing from July 1956. Hopefully this will become clear in due course.
Found an image on the Bachmann website which suggests it is the early Green with BR typeface. Set 314 probably carried this livery from 1952 to withdrawn in 1957 (it appears many third class 3s were not removed until after middle of 1956). Perhaps somebody has further information thereon?
https://www.bachmann.co.uk/product/category/788/lswr-cross-country-3-coach-pack-br-%28sr%29-green/e86015
To be clear they weren’t used away from the SR, except perhaps passing through Exeter to the Devon branch lines?
Some sets would have been seen on the S&DJR
Several of these vehicles entered departmental use including BTL S2956 to DS3210, S2966 to DS1577 and 2975 to DS119. Hopefully the potential of such a future opportunity has not been missed by EFE – a pack containing all of these three could be really interesting! 🙂
I notice from the images that in the Malachite green pack the brake 3rds are missing the all important ‘3’ from the doors. Is this just a case of an oversight on pre-production samples used to create the product image or will the coaches indeed turn up missing their ‘3’s
Indeed, let’s hope they’ve corrected that oversight.
Oh dear they haven’t corrected this. I’ll have to put some transfers on the brake coach doors, I guess.
No they were onboard the ship when the issue came to light. As you say it’s not too much to put ‘3’ transfers on the brake coach doors.
Hmmm. Perhaps Bachmann should do the work prior to sale. Top prices deserve top quality.
They aren’t too prices just current prices I’m afraid. To be honest the mistake was not actually Bachmann’s…
Maybe I should re-do those on my Composite’s doors too with them higher up the panels? I’m loath to put the ones on the brakes in the lower position, which I don’t think is correct.