Darstaed LNER Thompson coaches
◆ GAUGE ‘O’
◆ MODELS Darstaed/Ellis Clark Trains LNER 63ft Thompson coaches • D24-1-3A BCK Brake Composite • D24-1-6A RTO Restaurant Third Open
◆ PRICE £229.00 each
◆ AVAILABILITY Ellis Clark Trains Tel 01756 701451 Web www.ellisclarktrains.co.uk
Ellis Clark Trains and Darstaed have worked together before, bringing a range of attractive ‘O’ gauge BR Mk 1 coaches to market, back in 2018. Their latest joint project has just come to fruition, in the form of the LNER Thompson 63ft steel-bodied coaching stock, again in RTR ‘O’.
Designed and built in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, when the LNER was in urgent need of new passenger rolling stock, these carriages were a product of their time. The widespread use of timber on pre-war designs could not be perpetuated, owing to the worldwide shortage of wood. The LNER also had an eye on modernisation, with electrification projects taking shape, making steel-bodied coaching stock a more attractive proposition.
To blend with the older stock, however, the new steel-bodied coaches were treated to a scumbled, faux teak paint effect, with the ‘grain’ even being applied in different directions to give the impression of panels.