Looking for protype LNER Teak info

Kent,

I guess you are aiming for this? /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/w00t.gif



A few suggestions, from an old LNER fan.  The coaches in the above (recent) photo are restored by the LNER Coach Association, based on the North York Moors Railway (my 'home' locale.)  Their website is www.lnerca.org/index.htm and I'm sure they will respond to emails; especially if you join. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gif

The distinction between kitchen, restaurant and buffet coaches was due to the nature of the train for which they were intended.  The Flying Scotsman (train - loco came later) runs London - Edinburgh (still - leaves Kings Cross at 10:00am as it always did.)  That's a long trip, so the passengers expected a full meal - hence the first and third classes both had a restaurant car.  On a shorter trip, a buffet car provided adequate facilities.  [Contrast this with the prevailing attitude in Washington towards Amtrak and food service - makes you sick with the stupidity of attitudes towards train travel.]

Grantham, by the way, is only a short hop north of London.  Mallard wouldn't be running London-Grantham, except as an intermediate stop on the way to York, Edinburgh, or somehere similar.

Next - their are two kinds of teak coaches: 'real' teak from the era of Sir Nigel Gresley (Chief Engineer of the LNER) and 'fake' teak - steel coaches painted to match the teak by Gresley's successor, Thompson.  The one you have with a round window is the Thompson kind.  Here's some from eBay UK :



As you can see, Thompson also painted them in other colors.  Also from eBay UK:



Finally, a Beavertail Observation Coach (sorry, that one is O scale!)  However, note that it is NOT teak.  There was a completely styled train called the LNER 'Coronation' that was streamlined to match the locos (like your Mallard, but actually starting with 60014 Silver Link a few years earlier - I think.)



Well, what fun I had on the 'net this morning.  Found you a real 'OO' scale Beavertail observation coach kit, from Cooper-craft's "Mailcoach" range.  www.cooper-craft.co.uk/00carriages.html  It probably arrives looking like this:



Cooper-craft also include a Restaurant/kitchen in their 'Kirk' range, which answers your question about who else makes OO/HO coaches.  [The HO is redundant, as no-one makes HO scale UK coaches these days.]  Bachmann UK makes an extensive range - that red/cream (commonly known as blood-and-custard) coach could be painted 'fake teak'.

LNER 150 is a book about the 150 years of the LNER:

Kent,

Keeping reading my post above - I've edited it several times with more pics.  [Got to get back to work!]

As far as hauling a rake of various colored cars, you really opened up a bag of worms there.

First - what color is your Mallard?  Blue or Green?  Blue was early LNER, dark green is the later BR style.  There's also a light 'apple' green used by the LNER but I don't believe Mallard ever got that, nor was it painted grey to match the Silver Link operation.  Green was post BR 1952.

Nothing wrong with running a Thompson teak coach in with the Gresleys.  It just implies it is early-Thompson era, post-Gresley, i.e. post WWII.  The teak coaches were slowly withdrawn as they got older.  The Thompson coaches got painted BR colors (red/cream) after the nationalisation in 1952, but slowly, as they were overhauled.  You'd see teak and red/cream coaches running together behind a BR green loco for quite a few years.

What you would be most unlikely to see (and I've never seen a photo of) would be a Pullman coach mixed in with a regular train.  They were used exclusively in Pullman all-first-class trains.  While I'm sure that occasionally a regular coach would substitute due to equipment problems, it would be unusual.  Suggest you forget the Pullman!

I would think that Hornby Buffet car would be a sensible addition to your rake.  You would have a typical express passenger train heading for Doncaster or York, not a crack express going to Scotland.