By my era most brake vehicles took the form of a BG of some description however there were some other brake coaches to be found.  Most were air conditioned mk2 BFK’s and combining an Airfix BSO and FO together to get one is a common cut and shut project (See example here) I need at least 4 of them so far (2 are for the same train!). However what about the mk2 b’s and c’s

Doing things the hard way

One option is to have a go at improving the lima mk2b.  New window frames would be the biggest improvement and I believe Extreme Etches are working on some. The lima underframe is a bit barren and what is there isn’t all that well represented so I have cut away the battery boxes and replaced them with some from Replica Railways.  They suffer from the same shallow buffer beam and too high buffers as the mk2fs so these have also been addressed too.  Bogies are, again from replica railways but there is some way to go yet on this one. The easy way

All that is, I admit, a bit of a faff but the coach pictured above is one of the oldest models I own – it must be getting on for 35 years old or something so there’s a little bit of sentiment attached to it.  I also plan to do the same with Lima SO’s and FO’s too and have been steadily stock piling them when I see them for a few quid on Ebay.  Besides who doesn’t like a challenge?

There is however a much easier way and its linked to the Air Con BFK project mentioned earlier. You see you end up with spares when you do a BFK.  If you do them in pairs the discarded half of the BSO  can be mated together to make a mk2e (or with a bit more work a mk2f) SO.  The discarded halves of the FO’s are a bit useless though.  So with all these spare ends featuring wrap round doors it makes sense (to me at least) to lop the end off a Bachmann mk2a and replace it with the scrap end to produce either a mk2b or a mk2c.

Theres a bit more work in the C than the B as the roof will need to be changed and a hatch added (Southern Pride do them and the vents).  Some Mk2c’s had the larger toiled window and no vents, some had smaller and vents like a mk2d so there’s a bit more work there too.  Adding the airfix end also makes the coach longer too.  On the underframe the boxes will need to be raised up as I have done with all of my Bachmann Mk2s and there’s a few extra bits and bobs to add but this is a nice and easy way to something a little different.