As part of my growing O gauge fleet, I needed some mark 1 passenger coaches. But which do I buy? Some of the first mk1 ready to run coaches were made by Heljan. I wasnt convinced these looked the part, despite there being a good range of different types available. Soon, there were mk1's available from Darstaed. These looked, to my eyes anyway, a big improvement on the Heljan offering, whilst also offering a decent range of vehicles. Last up, Dapol announced they too were going to produce a range of coaches.
Fast forward to March 2020 and the O gauge show in Kettering.
Finally, I was able to view all 3 makes of coach. I had pretty much decided that Heljans offerings weren't for me and was very nearly purchasing a fleet of Darstaed offerings, when I got to see the pre-production Dapol coaches.
These became my first choice. Dapol's first batches were to be early examples, without the additional window framings. Further batches would have this addition, which was more in keeping with the coaches in my time frame - could I wait for these releases? - Of course not!
Soon enough, I placed an order with East Somerset Models at Cranmore. I didnt imagine needing many, so started with an order for 1 of each SK, BSK and CK.
The SK and BSK are reviewed here, the CK not yet released. My examples are in Blue and Grey and unnumbered. They are dcc fitted.
I have ordered number sets for the vehicles from RailTec transfers.
I hope this brief look at these vehicles will be useful to you. If you have any questions about something I havent covered, please leave you question in the comments and I will do my best to answer.
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