HOW TO
MODEL COLLETT’S SUPER SALOON
Inspired to add some variety to his main line trains, Chris Leigh set about a traditional conversion.
PHOTOGRAPHY: CHRIS LEIGH
I’ve been working on a ‘Masterclass’ looking at the varied rolling stock which formed the typical 1960s passenger train in many areas and suggesting that modellers might wish to add variety by breaking up their matching rakes of Mk 1s with something different, as BR often did.
One of my references is a picture of me, taken at Savernake as an Up express approaches behind a ‘Western’ class diesel-hydraulic. The train is made up of maroon BR Mk 1 coaches, except for the second vehicle, which is a GWR special saloon dating from the 1930s and repainted into chocolate and cream by Swindon works in the mid-1950s.
The special saloons were the Great Western’s equivalent of a Pullman car, with seating bays, tables, and plush furnishing. Introduced in the Collett era for ocean liner express services to Plymouth, by the 1960s they were mainly used for Newbury race trains and for senior regional officers travelling between major centres. Built to the extreme width of the GWR’s generous loading gauge, they were restricted to certain GWR main lines, so modellers who don’t model such routes might wish to stop reading here. On the other hand, if you want to try your hand at a simple brass overlay conversion, read on.