As part of their quarterly British Railway Announcements for Autumn 2023 Bachmann have announced the ex London South Western Railway (LSWR) / Southern railway covered vans to Diagrams 1410, 1406 and 1408 and the ex LSWR / Southern railway 56ft non corridor cross country sets as early formation four coach sets, in 00 gauge. Those of you who watched the announcement video may have seen a familiar or strange face depending on you point of view,  as I developed these models in my role with Kernow Model Rail Centre on behalf of EFE Rail. Also appearing in the Bachmann Branchline range is the Refurbished 3-CEP and 4-TEP.

LSWR / Southern railway covered vans to Diagram 1410, 1406 and 1408

The numerous LSWR 10 ton covered vans were built between 1885 and 1922 to a few different diagrams as the design was developed. Different body styles were combined with either timber or steel chassis with two axle boxes types, Panter or Warner’s, and several different brake systems.
The low roof, sliding door Diagram 1410 covered vans were the most common vehicle with well over 1000 built. Brake gear varied from: single sided double block, ‘Morton Clutch’, the rarer for this diagram ‘Lift Link’ and most commonly what the SR called ‘Freighter’ that had independent brake gear on each side.

Ten covered vans to the Diagram 1410 were built for the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR) they differed from the LSWR versions as they did not have the end vents and only single sided brakes. They later were absorbed into SR stock and had end vents fitted, becoming identical to D1410 vans.
In early 1912 the roof level of covered goods vans was increased in height by 7 inches and 110 vans were built with sliding doors on either timber (D1407) or steel chassis as Diagram 1406. Lift link brake gear was fitted to all covered vans to this diagram.

From late 1912 the sliding door design was superseded by a three-part hinged door design and used on covered wagons built from December 1912 until Grouping. The use of hinged rather than sliding doors allowed an increase in internal body width. Almost 400 were built on both timber (D1409) or steel chassis as Diagram 1408. Lift link brake gear was fitted to all covered vans to this diagram. The Diagram 1408 vans were originally built with roofs that finished flush with the sides, however, the SR modified the roofs to give an overhang at the eves.

Although many were scrapped or entered departmental use before Grouping many passed into SR ownership at grouping with a number, many in departmental use surviving beyond nationalisation.

The KMRC / EFE Rail  tooling suite allows for four body types across the three diagrams, four brake types (single double block, Morton Clutch, Freighter and Lift Link), two steel chassis types (D1410/06 and D1408), two axle box types (Panter and Warner) and three buffer types (tapered, ribbed and fabricated).

The initial six releases by EFE Rail, that will be with retailers such as Kernow Model Rail Centre  in the next two months or so, are as follows:

• E87051 LSWR Diagram 1410 10 Ton covered van LSWR Brown livery – Morton Clutch brake, Panter axle boxes, plain tapered buffers.
• E87052 SR Diagram 1410 10 Ton Covered van SDJR livery – no end vents, single sided brake, Panter axle boxes, plain tapered buffers.

• E87053 SR Diagram 1410 10 Ton Covered van SR Brown Pre 1936 livery – Freighter brakes, Warner axle boxes, plain tapered buffers.
• E87054 SR Diagram 1406 10 Ton Covered van SR Brown Post 1936 livery – Lift Link brake, Panter axle boxes, plain tapered buffers.
• E87055 BR(s) Diagram 1406 10 Ton Covered Van BR Grey livery – Lift Link brake, Panter axle boxes, plain tapered buffers.
• E87056 SR Diagram 1408 10 Ton Covered van SR Brown Pre 1936 livery – Flush roof, Lift Link brake, Panter axle boxes, fabricated buffers, three hole disc wheels.

LSWR / Southern railway 56ft non corridor cross country sets

Following on from the three coach sets announced last November these four coach sets include the Diagram 17, 8 compartment Third and are released in LSWR Salmon and brown and also SR Lined Olive Green liveries.

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 (1^st / 3^rd 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 2^nd / 3^rd 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.  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.

These addition two EFE Rail Releases, that follow on from the three coach book box sets announced last November, are as follows

• E86011 ex LSWR Cross Country Set – 4 coach set 63  – LSWR Salmon Pink and Chocolate
• E86012 Ex LSWR/SR Cross Country Set – 4 Coach set 134 – SR Lined Green

The coach sets are currently at Bachmann and should be with retailers such as Kernow Model Rail Centre  in the next week or so.

Note: All pictures above re courtesy and copyright KMRC.

3-Cep / 4-TEP EMUs – Refurbished

The Bachmann Branchline model has been refurbished with new bodyshells portraying the work undertaken when the real units were refurbished – most notably the fitting of hopper window ventilators and the relocation of the brake compartments from the two driving vehicles to a single trailer vehicle.

The first release to utilise this new tooling depicts Class 411/9 3-CEP No. 1199 in South West Trains livery and this is joined by a Blue & Grey-liveried Class 422/7 4-TEP – a unit formed of three refurbished CEP vehicles and an un-refurbished buffet vehicle from a BEP unit. The TEPs were formed to provide catering capacity whilst 4-BIG units were being refurbished during the 1980s. Both models require a single DCC decoder for use on DCC systems or can be purchased in SOUND FITTED format with a decoder pre-installed.

• 31-420 Class 411/9 3-CEP No. 1199 in South West Trains livery
• 31-420SF Class 411/9 3-CEP No. 1199 in South West Trains livery SOUND FITTED
• 31-424 Class 422/7 4-TEP Blue & Grey-liveried
• 31-424SF Class 422/7 4-TEP Blue & Grey-liveried SOUND FITTED

The full Bachmann BRA Autumn announcements video can be viewed here.