Purchased and reviewed by Geoffrey Goddin SQL Server
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Dapol	Neil Morrelle
Gledrid Industrial Park	01691 774455
Chirk
Wrexham	Email: neil@dapol.co.uk
LL14 5DG	Web: http://www.dapol.co.uk

These coaches have been awaited for almost three years, having first been announced May 2018 when the Darstaed Mk 1 coaches came to market. Heljan introduced Carmine/Cream, Maroon and Blue/Grey liveried RTR Mk 1 coaches in five versions (BSK, SO, SK, FK & RMB), as long ago as 2010, though Southern and GW liveried versions only appeared in 2015, and then only in BSK and SO versions. Very recently Heljan has announced ‘InterCity’ ‘NSE’ & ‘Regional Railways’ variants, with commonwealth and B4 bogie options. Darstaed from the start offered Carmine/Cream, Maroon, Blue/Grey, Southern, GW and InterCity liveries, with BCK, CK, Restaurant, Kitchen and even Sleeper variants, in addition to the Heljan 5 versions. Also, both offer Mk 1 and commonwealth bogies.

The British Railways Mk 1 carriage has been a feature of the real railway for over 50 years from 1951, and they are still the mainstay of preserved lines, so what does a third RTR Mk 1 coach offer bring to the table?

Firstly dimensions, (from the seminal Keith Parkin book on Mk 1s) the Mk 1 coaches are (a) 63ft 6in. in length, (b) 12ft 5in. in height to top of the roof arc © and have 46ft 6in. bogie centres, and (d) have a 28ft radius side body tumblehome. They originally sat on the BR Mk 1 8ft 6in. wheelbase bogie, with 3ft 6in. wheelsets. In later life some were refitted with ‘commonwealth’ design bogies of same dimensions but greater weight, to cure the notorious hunting Mk 1 bogies were prone to at West Coast electric 90mph-plus speeds. I remember many, at best uncomfortable, at worst terrifying, passenger journeys to Scotland in the 1980s, with the bogie under me arguing with the track on certain stretches! Travelling up country within Scotland it was hard to avoid travelling in a Mk 1. However, they were comfortable at sedate Highland speeds, and came with comfy steam heating in winter. Note the glazing should be flat, requiring recessing within the curved sides.

The new Lionheart coaches are spot on regarding dimensions a-d. Whereas the Heljan Mk 1s get a-c correct, the tumblehome (d) is too flat (see photo below comparing end profiles). Darstaed Mk 1s, get (a) and (d) right, but are noticeably too tall (b), and have bogie centres © a foot too close. When I tried a Darstaed on my 1028mm PECO R2 curves, various lineside objects, cleared by a Heljan, were clouted due to the coach ends sweeping out too far.

All three manufacturers have good representations of the Mk 1 bogie and 3ft 6in. wheelsets. The earliest Darstaed bogies were too wide and had 3ft diameter wheels. These were retrospectively exchanged, (exemplary customer service!) See Gazette May 2018.

Secondly operational features. Coupling together any kind of corridor coach with screw link couplings is always going to try one’s patience, require good baseboard side access and plenty of light. Heljans have very good screw links, even incorporating the correct reverse threaded linkage to lengthen them, just like the prototype! This feature means they can quietly unscrew if they are hanging down, ready to disassemble on some hard-to-reach part of your layout, or even in a tunnel. The good news is you can screw them up tight, maybe with a blob of glue, yet they will still give sufficient length on R2 curves. I have never found extra links necessary: they give over-large gaps in your rake more like those seen on 4mm or 2mm layouts, but ok they are easier to couple. Darstaed fit Kadee couplings, but to accommodate sideways swing on tighter curves, headstock detail is not modelled, so coupling is easy. Magnets in the corridor ends bring them together, but you have to fit a screw link to your rake end(s) if not standardising on Kadees for all of your stock.

The Lionheart coaches are designed to tolerate R2 curves. A Kadee style coupling is mounted below a detailed headstock. This lengthens the gap on curves, using the same mechanism seen on the Dapol ‘B’ sets. The brake end of the BSK instead has a screw link, but this at present means your rake has to be bookended by a couple of BSKs. I would hope that when TSO and CK variants join the SK now available, a small number of one of the non-brake coaches are offered with a screw link at one end to give rake variety. The Lionheart corridor gangways I judge to be more technically sophisticated than the rigid Heljan, or the flex + magnet Darstaed versions. They stay magnetically coupled on my R2 curves, and through a 5ft/6ft PECO point reverse curve section in my station throat, whereas much below a 5ft radius will see Darstaed gangways separate. However there is a great deal of audible clicking going on during curve transitions, luckily mostly drowned out by DCC chuffs and injector noises upfront. Also it is inescapable that sideways forces are being transmitted to the bogies by gangways, and I have had to attend to my imperfect tracklaying levels at the start of one curve where a derailment happened, but this is hardly a fault of the coach. Knowing Richard Webster, I suspect he spent much time getting the technical features necessary to cope with R2 curves just right, as he did with his 45xx and 43xx locos and the ‘B’ set, and the result is remarkably good.

Thirdly, lighting. This is not a feature on Heljan coaches, though you can now buy a £35 Train-Tech battery-operated LED lightbar. Darstaed Mk 1s come with switchable LED lighting plus a taillight on BSKs. Power pick up is via wipers on one bogie. The Lionheart Mk 1s have LEDs with microswitches next to the dynamo, which control the corridors, passenger areas, and guards/luggage area lighting. If you buy the £35 extra DC-fitted chip version, you can convert your rake to an ‘ECS’ working in your platform no-hands! On DCC the LED lighting is bright to modern carriage standards. The Bluebell railway rakes of Mk 1s I guard, do not seem to offer the same ‘easy reading’ light levels. Oddly the BSKs, unlike on the Dapol Collett coaches, do not have a taillight. However the same friction-free split axle pick up via the bogie sides, as on the Colletts and Autocoaches, is offered. As on the Darstaed Mk 1s, interior compartment, guards and luggage area detailing is good; in fact given lighting levels, passengers start to look a necessary accessory!

Lionheart provide an accessory pack of gangway end boards, vacuum pipes, steam pipes and jumper cables.

Finally the Lionheart buffers are correctly oval, metal, strongly sprung and extended to the gangway end, as per the buckeye coupling on the BSK being dropped. When screw-coupled to my Lionheart pannier, 45xx, or 43xx, (other loco classes are available), the buffers compress on entering my R2 curves, the tight coupling has a centering effect on the vehicle ends and I can safely propel my rake of three Mk 1s around my layout. Heljan buffers are too weakly sprung, Darstaed coach ends swing out too far, so neither can match this feat.

That said most of you are not plagued by having to use R2 curves, so what are the issues in choosing your Mk 1 rake? Firstly ,visually Heljan and Lionheart Mk 1s can run together (see photo), but you will have to couple the former to a BSK by screw link. The tumblehome discrepancy is not obvious from a normal layout viewing angle. Darstaed coaches will look noticeably higher than others, therefore best kept alone, but you have a bigger choice of Mk1 vehicle types for your rake; the Kadee heights on Darstaed and Lionheart Mk 1s are not compatible anyway. Lionheart coaches at 850g weigh a little less than 900g Heljans, but seem to run more freely, a Darstaed Mk 1 weighs 1021g and it has pick up wipers.

Lionheart at present only intend to produce BSK, SK, CK and SO, Mk 1 variants, in Carmine/Cream, Green, GW, Maroon and Blue/Grey liveries. For me and my small layout, the detail quality and functionality of the new Lionheart Mk 1s make them my obvious first choice, but you may judge differently. We are fortunate indeed in having choice options.