The Ffestiniog Railway ‘Tin Car’ Coaches from Bachmann Narrow Gauge are the perfect choice for anyone wishing to model this famous Welsh narrow gauge railway in OO9 Scale. Complementing the many locomotives, buildings and accessories from the Ffestiniog Railway (FR) that are already produced by Bachmann, the Tin Cars replicate the coaches that many visitors to the line will have travelled on since their construction in the late-1970s to their withdrawal from use in the mid-2010s, or even more recently in their second lives away from the FR.
These brand new models feature finely-detailed, injection-moulded bodyshells with integral roofs and solebars, all sporting additional details from rivets to door handles and steps; even the coach reservation board clips aside each door have been modelled. With a detailed interior, including toilet compartment details where appropriate, each coach runs on a pair of bogies boasting separate brake blocks and fitted with metal wheels. Standard OO9 couplings are fitted to the bogies by way of a NEM pocket.
The livery application really brings the Tin Car to life, employing authentic Ffestiniog Railway colours, logos and typefaces – extending even to the no smoking signs printed onto each of the large, panoramic windows. On this particular model, these replicate the FR’s unique no smoking signs, in the shape of a Double Fairlie locomotive.
MODEL FEATURES:
- Bachmann Narrow Gauge OO9 Scale
- Era 8
- Vehicle is Preserved
- Pristine Ffestiniog Railway Maroon livery
- Running No. 119
- Profiled Metal Wheels
- NEM Coupling Pockets
- Detailed and Decorated Interior including Toilet Compartment
- Length 146mm (over couplings)
FFESTINIOG RAILWAY ‘TIN CAR’ HISTORY
The Ffestiniog Railway (FR), located in the Slate Landscape of North Wales – a Unesco World Heritage Site - has operated between Porthmadog and Blaenau Ffestiniog for almost 200 years. The world’s oldest Narrow Gauge railway and arguably the most famous too, since 1955 the line has operated purely for enthusiasts and tourists and is today one of the top tourist attractions in Wales.
Whilst the FR has preserved many of the vehicles used in the pre-preservation era, it has also been a prominent builder of new stock and from the late-1970s ‘Tin Car’ coaches were built to provide contemporary rolling stock for passenger trains. Originally known as ‘Domeliners’ owing to their domed roofs, the coaches were built using second hand underframes which originated from the Isle of Man Railway (IoMR), having been constructed for the IoMR between 1909 and 1926 by the Metropolitan Amalgamated Railway Carriage & Wagon Company. Sold for scrap and subsequently purchased by the Ffestiniog Railway, the company built its own coach bodies on top of the frames, creating a total of six passenger vehicles.
The Tin Cars were employed principally on the Ffestiniog Railway, but also saw occasional use on the restored Welsh Highland Railway, however by 2018 all had been withdrawn from service with the company favouring the ‘Barn’ coaches and the more recently built ‘Super Barns’ which are now the mainstay of regular services on both the Ffestiniog Railway and the Welsh Highland Railway.
With the exception of one vehicle, which had its bodywork scrapped in 2005 before its underframe was recycled once again for use under a Barn coach, the Tin Cars remain extant – four have been sold, two each to the Golden Valley Light Railway and the Moseley Railway Trust, and the last, an observation vehicle, has been retained by the FR for Departmental use.
