Let's Test Your Dutch! - Accurascale Exclusive Mark 2Cs Announced!
Our Mark 2c coaches have been a very popular addition to our range since we first announced them in February.
Not surprising for a coach that has not been done before in OO Ready to Run format, but the other advantage is that the Mark 2c coaches got some very interesting liveries during their careers with BR, and here we have two of them newly added to our "Accurascale Exclusives" line of special edition models.
Check them out below!
Mk.2c QXA DB 977390
As ‘Sprinterisation’ started to bite from the mid 1980s, the Mk.2c fleet was increasingly sidelined with many examples withdrawn or sold abroad. This proved to be a boon for the departmental businesses which engorged themselves, primarily as brake force runners, and most retained their original livery until they were finally retired several years later. The First Opens, mostly declassified as Second Open coaches by 1984, seemed to be particularly popular and of the 18 built, seven became departmental coaches, while six were sold for use in Ireland/Northern Ireland.
One of the most widely travelled of the BR survivors was DB 977390 (ex-M6410/M3164), which became a QXA brake force runner for the Civil Engineer’s Mobile Track Assessment fleet in early 1987 and usually operated with DB 977339, a former Mk.1 BSK, and either BR High Speed Track Recorder coach DB999550 or the London Underground’s own track recorder vehicle TRC 666. It was one of just two Mk.2c to gain the MTA red stripe embellishment on its standard blue/grey livery. It later moved to Crewe and became part of the depot’s electric locomotive test train, complete with plated bodyside windows. Incredibly it survived the disbanding of this formation and was acquired for preservation, eventually coming under the custodianship of Eastern Rail Services, who kindly allowed Accurascale to survey the almost completely intact BR-period interior of this vehicle as part of the Mk.2 project. It now resides at Great Yarmouth and will eventually be restored to its original external condition.
Mk.2c QPA DB 977787
While most Mk.2c retained their blue/grey livery during their often short departmental service, one of the most colourful and long lasting vehicles was Civil Engineer/InterCity West Coast Staff & Tool Coach DB 977787, renumbered with few obvious external or internal differences from Brake Second Open M9453 in May 1992. One of three BSO to transfer to departmental use and one of just a handful of coaches to be repainted in the grey/yellow ‘Dutch’ livery, it also carried the lettering “InterCity Civil Engineer Preston”. It was initially based at Carnforth for use on the North West section of the WCML, although it was recorded at Doncaster by 1993. It later gained a generator, which involved significant reworking of the brake end gangways and the replacement of several windows with grilles.
After spells at Carlisle Kingmoor, Carnforth and Derby Etches Park it was finally retired in the early 2000s. Stored at Throckmorton Airfield, Worcestershire, and then Dalton Transport & Storage, North Yorkshire, as part of the ill-fated Mk.2 Preservation Group project, the gas axe finally caught up with it during the mass clearout of the remaining vehicles from the latter location. It was cut up at CF Booth, Rotherham, in April 2022, but not before donating parts to help bring several other Eastern Rail Services’s Mk.2s back to service in due course.
Both coaches will feature the same excellent specification of the main range Mark 2c coaches including:
- Highly-detailed OO Gauge / 1:76.2 Scale Models on 16.5mm track
- Extremely fine exterior rivet detail on roof and coach ends
- Separately-applied etched metal and high-fidelity plastic parts, including handrails, brake/steam heat pipes, ETH cabling and sockets, footsteps, dummy drophead knuckle coupler, and roof vents
- Prism Free Glazing
- Pre-painted etched metal water filler covers provided for customer to install
- Fully-detailed underframe with numerous separate parts, pipe runs and accurate differences between versions
- The most accurate B4 bogies ever produced, with provision for re-gauging to EM or P4 (18.83mm) gauges
- Blackened RP25.110 profile wheel-sets with 14.4mm back-to-back measurements, and 26mm over pinpoints
- Different buffers for retracted and non-retracted positions
- Accurate interiors with characteristic 'winged' headrests, separate metal interior handrails on the brake and corridor vehicles and fully-detailed guard's compartment
- Correct height NEM standard coupling sockets with mini tension lock couplers and kinematic close-coupling
- Easy conversion to Kadee-compatiable knuckle couplers
- Full lighting package, including
- magnet 'wand' controlled interior lighting
- 'Stay-Alive' capacitor in all coaches
- Minimum Radius 438mm (2nd Radius Set-track)
- Coach Length: 269mm
These coaches are primed for production and will begin once the Mark 2b production run is complete. They will arrive in stock in Q4 2023 and are the same great price of just £59.95 each and 10% off when you order direct via the Accurascale website.
You can spread the cost using our flexible payment terms over 6 months or less, depending on your requirements when ordering direct via our website. Just click on the basket at checkout and follow the simple steps.
Remember, our Accurascale Exclusives series of models are open to all customers, and do not require the expense and hassle of joining a club to purchase.