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Mail coaches


PAB56

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Hi!

Does anyone know of a compliation of the mail coaches made over the years by Hornby, Hornby Dublo, TriAng, etc? I am trying to assemble a Great Train Robbery consist to run at one of our shows. (I'm a member of the European Train Enthusiasts, Eastern New England chapter here in the States).

I've been lucky enough to acquire a Lima class 40 lok and several mail coaches made by the mfrs mentioned above. (A good friend in England has helped me!) Some of them did not come with the original box, and I'm trying to assign model numbers to the those. When I try a Google search, for example Hornby R412, several different coaches come up. It's a bit confusing.

Thx in advance for your help :)

 

 

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Whilst you wait for a reply, perhaps you would spend a few minutes reviewing the TIPs in the TIP page link below:

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TIP: As a newbie poster on the forum, just be aware that the 'Blue Button with the White Arrow' is not a 'Reply to this post' button. If you want to reply to any of the posts, scroll down and write your reply in the reply text box at the bottom of the page and click the Green 'Reply' button.

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See also – further TIPs on how to get the best user experience from this forum.

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/tips-on-using-the-forum/

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Hello & Welcome to the Hornby Forum

 

Not sure if this helps but Hornby, a few years ago did a Train set called 'Night Mail' - R1144 ...

 

/media/tinymce_upload/f6d366296e1baf4596c66070facf05ca.JPG

 

The Number on the Side of the  Night Mail Carriage is LMS 30247

Is this what your looking for???

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Hello & Welcome to the Hornby Forum

 

Not sure if this helps but Hornby, a few years ago did a Train set called 'Night Mail' - R1144 ...

 

/media/tinymce_upload/f6d366296e1baf4596c66070facf05ca.JPG

 

The Number on the Side of the  Night Mail Carriage is LMS 30247

Is this what your looking for???

Hi JimyJames,

 

Thank you! That helps! I have one of the Night Mail coaches without a box - it's beautiful.

 

Paul

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If you study the film then you will see that the film directors artistic licence was used to bend the facts to entertain the audience.

 

This https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Train_Robbery_(1963) tells the real story, lists the loco and coaches, etc.

 

From memory the loco in the film was a Class 37 and of a variant not in service at the time.

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Stock numberts of mail coaches

 

Hornby Dublo  W807 red 32098 tinplate

Hornby Dublo W807 red 4401 tinplate 

Triang 7" M30224 red R23 plastic 

Triang 7" M30224 blue/grey R402M plastic

all rest plastic

Hornby LMS 30250 red R413

Hornby LMS 30250 red R412

Hornby LMS 30250 red  R461

Hornby M80328  red  R416

Hornby M80328  red R597

Hornby GWR 848 chocolate and cream  R440

Hornby GWR 848 chocolate and cream Night Mail  R4526

 

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Stock numberts of mail coaches

 

Hornby Dublo  3RAIL W807 red 32098 tinplate

Hornby Dublo 2RAIL W807 red 4401 tinplate 

Triang 7" M30224 red R23 plastic Two types of couplings

Triang 7" M30224 blue/grey R402M plastic

all rest plastic

Hornby LMS 30250 red R413

Hornby LMS 30250 red R412

Hornby LMS 30250 red  R461

Hornby M80328  red  R416

Hornby M80328  red R597

Hornby GWR 848 chocolate and cream  R440

Hornby GWR 848 chocolate and cream Night Mail lettering instead of Royal Mail... fictional

R4526

 

 

I've added a few details... 😉

 

The earlier 7inch Tri-ang mail coach is a bit on the short side...

They came as a set with the operating gear. Early sets with special track sections, later sets with clip fit ramps and apparatus.

 

R.23 "Standard" (grey) track. Mk2b (open loop) couplings.

 

R.323 "Series 3" (black sleepers).

Mk2b couplings 1958. From 1959 MK3 (closed loop) Tension Lock couplings.

 

R.402 "Super 4" (brown "scale" sleepers) track.

 

All these sets used basically the same coach, with R.23 on the underside.

 

R.402M "System 6" (code 100 track, black sleepers) track.

 

The same short coach, but in BR blue and grey livery.

 

The other Tri-ang mail coach is the long Transcontinental type, originally R.119 (Set).

 

This was later made in BR blue and grey livery, and is certainly fictional in that livery.

 

The Hornby GWR mail coach is the LMS mail coach in GWR livery.

 

The Hornby LMS mail coach is more to scale size.

 

For some reason, later Hornby models have "NIGHT MAIL" lettering, which is fictional, instead of the correct "ROYAL MAIL" lettering.

 

Possibly you need a licence these days to print Royal Mail?

 

Also, a Royal Mail coach made by Jouef for Playcraft, HO scale.

 

Several types of mail coaches made by Bachmann...

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PAB56, welcome to the Hornby Forum.  😀

 

There is also R9236 Sodor Mail Coach and the Sodor Mail Operating Coaches, from the 2011 released R9682 Percy & The Mail Train Set and from the 2015 re-released R9284 Percy & The Mail Train Set; All of which is from the Hornby Thomas & Friends range.

 

GNR-Gordon-4 (HF)

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It should be noted that pre-Nationalisation mail coaches had British standard gangways BUT offset from centre to make it impossible to connect to ordinary passenger stock. I believe this was a security feature. 

 

The Bachmann mail coaches are based on the BR Mark 1 design which had Pullman type gangways .

Bachmann make three basic types , in real life prior to  to the robbery 1963 these were -

 

TPO Sorting Van POS

W80300 to W80308 allocated Western Region

M80309 to M80314 allocated to London Midland Region

SC80315 to SC80317 allocated to Scottish Region

E80318 allocated to Eastern Region 

 

all except SC80315 to SC80317 and W80306 to W80308 were fitted with lineside exchange aparatrus

 

None of these were in the mail train that was robbed despite what might have been shown in feature films and documentaries.

 

Coach numbers of early BR / GPO red Bachmann models  only Western Region coaches W80300, W80301, W80302,  rest were modelled in blue & grey or post 1985 bright red 

 

TPO Stowage Van POT

W80400 to W80402 allocated to the Western Region fitted with lineside exchange apparatus

Not made by Bachmann in early BR / GPO red.livery.

 

TPO Brake Stowage Van

W80450 to W80455 with guards compartment but without lineside exchange equipment

Not made by Bachmann in early BR / GPO red livery.

 

More coaches put into service after 1963, to replace pre-Nationalisation stock . These coaches were fitted with improved security features identified as necessary following the Great Train Robbery.

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Hello & Welcome to the Hornby Forum

 Not sure if this helps but Hornby, a few years ago did a Train set called 'Night Mail' - R1144 ...

/media/tinymce_upload/f6d366296e1baf4596c66070facf05ca.JPG

 

The Number on the Side of the  Night Mail Carriage is LMS 30247

Is this what your looking for???

Hi JimyJames,

 

Thank you! That helps! I have one of the Night Mail coaches without a box - it's beautiful.

 

Paul

 

 

If you hadn’t used the blue button it wouldn’t repeated the full previous post including images which held up you reply for two days pending approval by site admin. No blue button = instant reply.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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