One Shilling An Hour
Opinions differ in the detail, but the Observation Car on the Coronation express from Kings Cross to Edinburgh was, surprisingly, NOT restricted to First Class or pre-booked passengers. Any class of clientele could pay one shilling an hour (some say sixpence?) to enjoy the view.
There are few pictures of the interior of the rest of the train, but these hand drawn examples give some clue as to the ambience. Firstly we have "normal" seating ...
... then a tantalising glimpse of life in First Class Dining with silver service to all passengers.
Back fhen, long distance rail travel was to an exceptional standard, only available today on privately run luxury excursion trains.
fbb rememers, aged 14, takng dinner with father in a Wagons Lit dinng car on a journey from Paris to Brest. He felt like royalty!
By way of reminder; the two observation cars found their way to the Scottish Region of Britsh Railways for the West Highland line; and were rebuilt to lose their beaver tail ...
... but at least you could observe rearwards! One car is preserved in this later configuration, but, wonderfully, the other car was rebuilt with the original rear end ...
... a tricky job as it was all timber with very complx curves to calculate and build.
The preservation is magnificent with every detail reproduced perfectly including the fabric on the armchairs!
Model Magnificence
As well as four packs with the articulated pairs within ...
... Hornby has produced the Observation Car.
Should you wish to buy one, you might have a problem as the first batch is already sold out at Hornby and at most retailers.
Models are already on offer at a substantial premoium on EBay.
Definitely OUCH!
One advertiser shows the interior in a cutaway picture.
The pattern on the seats is somewhat overscale, but exquisite none the less. It was created using a technique which which involved floating the grey pattern on a bath of fluid then lifting the rack of seats through the floating film. Very clever.
Th "stainless steel" lining and lettering is made of a silver metal foil and glued on. Despite what some reviews say, it is not "painted".
Of course the coach is fitted with lighting that is difficult for an amateur to photograph. Automatic exposure tends to over emphasise the lighting but it does give some idea.
The twin rear lights are also working.
They are red, perhaps a bit too bright for realistic accuracy and certainly too bright for a poor quality camera.
Model railways have certainly changed since Triang "Transcontinental" had an observation coach (with seats) ...
A "stay alive" circuit is provided to ensure the lights do not flicker and remain on for a while, even when the train is stationary; no blackout at red signals!
Model railways have certainly changed since Triang "Transcontinental" had an observation coach (with seats) ...
... and even further developed than Hornby's Devon Belle car which now fetches a huge premium on the pre-owned market.
Both had seating in the fully glazed portion! Wow!
The Coronation train of 1937 to 1939 was, indeed, something special and Hornby's model captures that specialness in spades.
Well done Hornby.
Services Service Special blog : Mon 20 Jan
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