This year I'm hoping for one of these: a 2-car electric multiple unit known as a 2-Bil (or, at the very end of its life, a Class 401).
These delightful units were introduced by the Southern Railway in 1935, to work the semi-fast long-distance services on the newly electrified lines south of London. Each carriage was self-contained (there was no through-gangway), but consisted of comfortable seating compartments off a side corridor, with a lavatory at one end.
They were introduced onto London-Eastbourne and London-Portsmouth services, then onto other routes along the coast and around Reading. They remained in service for more than three decades, finally being phased out in 1969.
One is preserved at the National Railway Museum in York, and the almost Arts and Crafts elegance of its brass handles is just part of the quirky attraction of these delightful units:
Actually, what I'd really like from Hornby is one of these -- a North Eastern Railway electric locomotive dating from 1903, one of the loveliest steeplecab electrics ever manufactured (by British Thomson-Houston/Brush, based on a design by General Electric of the US which was used on many different railways):
The Class ES1 is, to my eyes, one of the cutest things ever to run on steel flanged wheels. Alas, I suspect the ES1 is way too specialist an interest for such a savvy company as Hornby although, in the dim and distant past, they did produce a model of a 2Bil (I had a photo of one but can't find it at the moment). So there's always hope.
No comments:
Post a Comment