The British Railways Mk1 was the designation given to BR’s first standard design of main line coaching stock, and one of its most successful. Built from 1951 until the early 1960s to augment and replace the array of ‘Big Four’ and earlier ‘pre-grouping’ designs inherited from the LMS, LNER, GWR and SR, BR took the best features from several of these types to produce the new steel-bodied design. As a result, the Mk1 was stronger and safer than any of the inherited types that came before it.
Vehicles providing standard accommodation, with first- or second-class seating, or a composite mix of the two, were built in their thousands, along with many specialist types each with their own dedicated purpose. Numerous different catering vehicles were built, offering as little as a counter service right through to a full restaurant dining experience, whilst vehicles which incorporated an area for the Guard were combined with passenger accommodation and varying spaces for the conveyance of luggage, newspapers and parcels. Sleeping cars were also included, along with various general merchandise and specialised Post Office vans – some of which were equipped with apparatus to allow mail to be collected and set down on the move. Such was their success that following withdrawal from BR service, Mk1 coaches have become the mainstay of preservation operations and hundreds of vehicles remain in service today with heritage railways, whilst several still run on the main line in charter formations.
Crowned as Model of the Year when they were first introduced, the Graham Farish Mk1 Coaches continue to provide N scale modellers with a masterpiece in miniature, carrying all the hallmarks of this iconic design. The distinctive profile of the Mk1 coach is captured to a tee and on the roof, the finely moulded ventilators are complemented by separately fitted metal handrails and, where appropriate, toilet filler pipes. On the bodysides each door is complete with hinges, handles and even door bumper details, whilst even the sliding window ventilators are discernible. Footboards are present on the solebars below each door whilst the underframe sports a full complement of equipment, with the truss rod frames modelled in all their glory and flanked by battery boxes, vacuum cylinders, dynamo and, where appropriate, other auxiliary equipment.
The bogies are fitted with metal wheelsets, whilst the standard N scale coupling is attached via a NEM coupling pocket to the close coupling mechanism that is fitted to the carriage floor, which operates in tandem with the bogie. Inside each model is an interior featuring the prototypical layout of tables and chairs, whilst the icing on the cake is the livery application, using authentic colours, logos and fonts to give every model an exquisite appearance.
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