Hornby R4892A Scotrail Mk 2 BSO 9527

Description

Hornby R4892A Scotrail Mk 2 BSO 9527

The Mark 2 family of railway carriages are British Rail’s second design of carriages. They were built by British Rail workshops (from 1969 British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL)) between 1964 and 1975. They were of steel construction.

Mark 2F, 1973-75 had Interior panelling made of plastic, new-style seating (IC70 seats) in most but not all coaches – some TSO had same seats as earlier Mk2s, full air-conditioning with lower bodyside heaters. These features had debuted on the Mark 3 prototypes. Cream folding plastic gangway doors and vestibule ends.

The final Mark 2 carriage was departmental 999550, in 1977. As of 20 July 2009 it is still in service with Network Rail as a Track Recording Coach. The later versions (2D onwards) look somewhat similar to the later Mark 3 design. The Mark 3 is longer (75 feet as opposed to 64 feet 6 inches), has a large skirting between the bogies to conceal the ancillary equipment, and has a ridged roof as opposed to the smooth roof of the Mark 2. The development of the High Speed Train overlapped with that of the final production run, and the Mark 2F “previewed” many features incorporated into the Mark 3, such as new seating, plastic interior panelling, and floor-sensor-operated automatic gangway doors.

Unlike Mark 1 coaches, built by a wide range of manufacturers, both BR workshops and private builders, all production Mark 2 (and Mark 3) coaches were built on a single assembly line at the BR carriage works at Derby.

As of May 2019, Mark 2 coaches are still in use on some services on the UK rail network.

• Abellio ScotRail operate two sets of six Riviera Trains Mark 2s hauled by a Class 68 on peak hour services on the Fife Circle Line.
• Network Rail operate Mark 2s as brake force carriages on its test trains.
• Riviera Trains and West Coast Railways both operate Mark 2s on charters; many of the former’s are still painted in Anglia Railways and Virgin Trains liveries.
• Transport for Wales operates Mark 2s on some of their Valley Lines services.