Bulleid coaching stock

Prototype
Operating company/organisation	Southern Railway BR Southern Region BR Scotland Region Bluebell Railway
Years of operation

number from set constructed withdrawn notes 5751 770 1946 1968 1 130 Loose 1950 1968 2 4279 820 1949 1966 3 Notes 1. Sister coach 5768 was preserved at the Bluebell Railway between 1976 and 1993 but is now awaiting restoration. 2. Coach 130 was a corridor third, whereas the model carrying this number is an open third of 1950/51 construction. 3. Preserved at the Bluebell Railway and in service there from 1970 onwards.

Model
Manufacturer	Fleischmann
Model details

cat. no. representing type price (MAR07) * availability 5146 5751 1st+3rd (Corridor composite CK) OnTracks: £26.24 1977 - 2008 5147 130 (in error) 3rd OnTracks: £26.24 1977 - 2008 5148 4279 3rd+baggage (Semi Open Brake Third) OnTracks: £26.24 1977 - 2008 * The price was reduced by Fleischmann to about £13 in 2008 to clear remaining stocks.

Construction	Assembled, plastic with metal parts. Scale length. Interior details. Self-coloured green body shell with black-painted ends. Window glazing is not flush, but the body thickness is commendably thin so a near-realistic impression is given. Hand rails and door levers are picked out in gold paint. Reporting numbers and lining are printed onto the body and glazing as necessary. A large choice of set numbers (see below) is provided on a separate sheet as press-on decals. Provision is made for the official Fleischmann interior lighting set (see below). Livery is British Railways green, the post-1959 colour. The model was first produced in 1977. There were later assembly runs with very minor changes: the bogie pivots were changed from plastic push-fit bushes to metal screws; Fleischmann Profi couplers were fitted as standard; the box inserts were changed to standard items, omitting the instructions for using the set numbers and including instructions for the wrong type of coupler mount.
Set numbers	"The coaches #5146, #5147 and #5148 come with a choice of 'set' numbers. These were normally shown on the first and last coaches of a 'set' as it was Southern practice to run coaches in a permanent 'set' rake." But unfortunately it is not possible to assemble an historic set from the Fleischmann coaches. Coach numbers 5751 and 4279 were never together in a set. They are also from different production batches, so even renumbering them does not provide a solution. Coach 130 was "loose" and never in a set, but was in any case a corridor third, not the open third depicted by the model. You could renumber the latter into the series 1451-1461, which were in set nos. 290-300, or into the series 1462-1506, which were loose. If you are prepared to overlook these discrepencies, the available set configurations are: set nos. Fleischmann coaches notes 770-793 5148+5146+5148 1 795-829 5148+5146+5148 1 830-837 5148+5146+5148 1 838-849 5148+5147+5146+5147+5148 1 850-865 5148+5146+5148 2 1. Liveries: Southern Railway Malachite (green) until 1959; British Railways green from 1959. 2. Livery: British Railways crimson & cream. To see the coach numbers that made up a particular set, search for the "Southern Railway coaching stock register".
End doors	Each coach should come with a push-fit gangway end door, for fitting to the ends of a rake.
Interior lighting	Interior lighting set #6448 (OnTracks: £8.50 APR04) Bulb #9530 The interior lighting set comprises a coach-length printed circuit board, a coach-length clear plastic lighting conduit (which can be snapped shorter to fit the interiors of the different coach types), bulb, reflecting tape, insulating tape, two metal U brackets, two spring-metal pickups to collect current from both sets of wheels, and replacement bogie pivot screws.
Couplings	Fleischmann Coaches #5146, #5147 and #5148 take Fleischmann slot coupling nos. 6516 (Profi), 6520 (hook type) and 6523 (loop type). Kadee "Most Fleischmann cars and locomotives that do not have 'NEM' coupler pockets will use the #39 coupler mounted on the original pin or screw hole." See www.kadee.com.
Decals	Cambridge Custom Transfers - Sheet BL32 BR Southern Region set numbers - Sheet BL34 BR coach window labels (FIRST, NO SMOKING, SECOND, LADIES ONLY)

British 1:87 Scale Modelling