PRESS RELEASE

Blue Pullman takes to the tracks

Bachmann Europe today announced that it is to produce an all new 6 car Midland Pullman diesel unit as part of its highly regarded Branchline OO scale range. Metropolitan Cammell built two of these iconic luxury trains in 1959 for use on the Midland Main line between London St. Pancras and Manchester Central during peak business travel times.

Following completion of the West Coast Main Line electrification scheme the two Midland units moved to the Western Region to complement the similar three Western Region sets which were 8 car units. There were differences between the two types. After carrying the Pullman grey / blue (the reversed corporate blue / grey colour scheme) for a period they were withdrawn from service in May 1973.

The Blue Pullman has been a much-requested model and Bachmann was due to announce this project in March 2011. Graham Hubbard, Bachmann’s Managing Director said today “we are aware of others announcing the possibility of producing this unit. We have been working on it for several months and in order to bring clarity to the situation we have made our plans public ”.

Graham continued “we first looked at this famous train some years ago and at the time we did not consider it viable. However the market has changed considerably over the past two years and we felt the time was right to dust off our plans. We had decided to do so long before the recent announcement from a retailer”.

Each six car unit will comprise 2 x Power cars, 2 x Kitchen Cars (Type 4) and 2 x Parlour Cars (Type 6) and will be sold as a 6 car unit.

The new model will incorporate today’s leading edge technologies and will include the following features:

· Drive System in power car

· New style close coupling concept

· Central coach ceiling and table lamp lighting

· Directional lighting

· Cab lights

· Sound prepared

· Etched fan grilles

· DCC socket

The full six car unit (Catalogue No 31-255) is expected to retail at around £300. It is our intention to look at DCC SOUND options at a future stage.