West Coast Vibes - Additional Mark 2B Coaches Announced!
Our Mark 2B coaches have caused quite the stir since we announced them in late August of this year, with a comprehensive list of of BR liveries offered on this missing link of Ready-to-Run coaching stock in 00/4mm.
"But, what about us current day modellers?" Well, you have asked, so we have listened, We are now adding two new running numbers to our Mark 2B release programme, with two TSOs in West Coast Railways maroon livery!
Following the mass withdrawal of the Mark 2Bs following the sprinterisation during the 1990s many of these attractive coaches found themselves out of work. There was a slight reprieve just a few years later for a small batch of coaches, as the shadow South Wales & West franchise hired some Mark 2Bs for various diagrams between Birmingham/Manchester, Cardiff/Bristol and Westbury/Weymouth.
These services ran from 1996 to 1999, with the coaches later being picked up again by Wales & Borders for Rhymney-Cardiff-Fishguard services from 2001-2004. Several of these were then transferred to the West Coast Railways railtour fleet and remain main line registered.
Rail tours have become big business on the privitised railway scene, with companies like West Coast Railways operating a series of steam, diesel and electric hauled trains every year across the country with their mixed rakes of Mark 1 and Mark 2 vehicles.
To replicate these interesting trains on the network, and to give current scene modellers an excuse to run heritage diesel, electric and steam traction, we are offering two Mark 2B TSOs in West Coast Railways livery to feature in your rail tour fleet.
Both coaches are perfect excuses to run heritage diesels such as Class 33, 37 and 47s, as well as 57s in West Coast livery, as well as classics such as BR green and BR blue Then there are electrics like 86259 in classic 1960s blue, or indeed a plethora of mainline registered steam locomotives, from Black 5s, Jubilees, Britannias and more from the golden age of steam!
Each Mark 2B coach will be sold separately at a price of £59.95 each and are available to order direct via Accurascale or via your local stockist. A 10% discount is available should you order two or more coaches together direct from Accurascale. Our high specification will once again be apparent throughout this model, including full interior lighting with stay alive function, a wealth of separately applied prototypical details, including etch metal parts, prism free glazing and more.
As you can see with the sample above, tooling is complete, the first pre-production samples have been delivered and the project is well advanced. However, there are corrections being made based on the samples which are now being undertaken by the factory. Overall there is a wealth of detail, crispness and they capture the essence of the Mark 2b very well indeed.
Delivery is slated for Q3 2022. However, with the current global difficulties in production and shipping following the COVID19 pandemic and Suez issues (shipping companies estimating FOUR YEARS until sea traffic returns to normal!) this may extend to Q4 2022. Browse the range and place your pre-orders direct by clicking here.
Specification
Highly-detailed OO Gauge / 1:76.2 Scale Models on 16.5mm track
- Extremely fine exterior rivet detail on roof and coach ends
- Separately-applied etched metal and high-fidelity plastic parts, including handrails, brake/steam heat pipes, ETH cabling and sockets, footsteps, dummy drophead knuckle coupler, and roof vents
- Prism Free Glazing
- Pre-painted/printed Western Region destination boards and holders plus water filler covers provided for customer to install
- Fully-detailed underframe with numerous separate parts, pipe runs and accurate differences between versions
- The most accurate B4 and B5 bogies ever produced, with provision for re-gauging to EM or P4 (British 18.83mm) gauges
- Blackened RP25.110 profile wheel-sets with 14.4mm back-to-back measurements, and 26mm over pinpoints
- Different buffers for retracted and non-retracted positions
- Accurate interiors with characteristic 'winged' headrests, separate metal interior handrails on the brake and corridor vehicles and fully-detailed guard's compartment
- Full lighting package, including magnet 'wand' controlled interior lighting with 'Stay-Alive' capacitor in all coaches and directional lighting with DC or DCC control (Driving Trailer only)
- Minimum Radius 438mm (2nd Radius Set-track)
- Correct height NEM standard coupling sockets with mini tension lock couplers and kinematic close-coupling