374-980 Graham Farish BR Mk1 NTA (Ex-POT) Post Office Tender

The British Railways Mk1 was the designation given to BR’s first standard design of main line coaching stock, and one of its most successful. Built from 1951 until the early 1960s to augment and replace the array of ‘Big Four’ and earlier ‘pre-grouping’ designs inherited from the LMS, LNER, GWR and SR, BR took the best features from several of these types to produce the new steel-bodied design. As a result, the Mk1 was stronger and safer than any of the inherited types that came before it.

Vehicles providing standard accommodation, with first- or second-class seating, or a composite mix of the two, were built in their thousands, along with many specialist types each with their own dedicated purpose. Numerous different catering vehicles were built, offering as little as a counter service right through to a full restaurant dining experience, whilst vehicles which incorporated an area for the Guard were combined with passenger accommodation and varying spaces for the conveyance of luggage, newspapers and parcels. Sleeping cars were also included, along with various general merchandise and specialised Post Office vans – some of which were equipped with apparatus to allow mail to be collected and set down on the move. Such was their success that following withdrawal from BR service, Mk1 coaches have become the mainstay of preservation operations and hundreds of vehicles remain in service today with heritage railways, whilst several still run on the main line in charter formations.

There were few vehicles more specialised that the Mk1 Post Office vans, with Travelling Post Office (TPO) formations featuring POS coaches (Post Office Sorting – already modelled by Graham Farish) where mail was sorted on the move, and POTs (Post Office Tenders) where mail was stowed during the journey. Introduced in the 1960s and in operation until the end of the TPOs in 2004, the POT has been a mainstay of TPO formations during the BR period and into Privatisation when they were operated by EWS.

This Graham Farish model of the POT is the latest addition to the brand’s flagship Mk1 coaching stock range. Carrying all the hallmarks of this iconic design, the distinctive profile of the Mk1 coach is captured to a tee from the bodysides to the roof, which incorporates finely moulded ventilators. On the bodysides the handles and grab handles surrounding each door are moulded precisely, whilst the minute grilles adjacent to each of the small bodyside windows are engraved to great effect. At either end, the corridor gangway is complete with lamp irons on either side and within, the corridor door is modelled with its small window which is flush glazed – in the same way all of the windows on the model are. A metal grab handle is added to each end individually, and ETH connections are present on the coach end and bufferbeam. Footboards are included on the solebars below each door whilst the underframe sports a full complement of equipment, with the truss rod frames modelled in all their glory and flanked by battery boxes, vacuum cylinders and other auxiliary equipment.

The bogies are fitted with metal wheelsets, whilst the standard N scale coupling is attached via a NEM coupling pocket to the close coupling mechanism that is fitted to the carriage floor, which operates in tandem with the bogie. The icing on the cake though is the livery application, using authentic colours, logos and fonts to give every model an exquisite appearance.

MODEL FEATURES:

• Graham Farish N Scale
• Era 9
• Pristine Royal Mail (EWS) livery
• Running No. 80424
• B5 Bogies
• Accessory Pack
• NEM Coupling Pockets
• Close Coupling Mechanism
• Length 145mm (over couplings)