Pullman Class on a Budget

Another one of those weeks where I've been all over the place: at model train fairs, in the pub and outside enjoying the weather.  Unfortunately, this has left me completely unfocused as regards to posting here.  To be fair, we got off to a strong start with the piece about the Hamilton film, but it was all downhill from there.  It isn't that I haven't been watching plenty of movies of dubious quality, it is just that I haven't had the energy to write about any of them so far.  So, as I was at that aforementioned local model train fair, I thought I'd take a quick look at a couple of items I bought there:

This is a pair of Pullman coaches I bought very cheaply - the upper one is a Hornby first class parlour.  The design dates back to the seventies and replaced the old Triang version, which was well under scale length.  Judging by the clip in bogies, this particular model comes from the eighties.  The main flaws with it is that the roof has some kind of sticky, dirty deposit on it which will need to be scrubbed off and it is missing its name transfers.  (Luckily, I have some spare Pullman name transfers).  The lower one is a Hornby Dublo first class kitchen car, dating back to the early sixties.  While it is underscale length-wise, it is closer to scale length than the Triang 'shorties' and doesn't look as out of place when coupled up to the newer, scale length, Hornby coaches.  I'm not entirely sure if the bogies are original, but it does have Triang style couplers rather than the Dublo type, which saves me the trouble of having to change them.  

Arguably, I have too many Pullmans now, but the ones I already owned included a preponderance of first class parlour cars and a single second class brake.  These two coaches, along with a Wrenn (ex-Hornby Dublo) second class parlour I bought a couple of months ago (and which needs a bit of attention, including a repaint of the roof), will allow me to create somewhat more representative formations for the 'Bournemouth Belle', while leaving a couple of first class parlours spare for boat train duty.  Which also means that I can finally get rid of my Triang 'shorty' Pullmans.  These two coaches cost me less than a tenner, an extraordinary bargain, but typical of what you can get at this sort of event if you are prepared to put a bit of work into rectifying minor defects or don't mind non-standard features (like the couplings on the kitchen car) that would send a collector shrieking from the room in anguish.  Remarkably though, a lot of people seem happy to pay way over the odds for second hand model railway equipment on eBay or even higher prices at the big online retailers.  For skinflints like me, these model train fairs are an absolute Godsend.