The unique lines of the Southern Region General Manager’s Inspection Saloon have been recreated in ‘OO’ gauge by Revolution Trains. MIKE WILD takes a closer look at this highly-detailed coach.
Revolution Trains’ eagerly awaited ‘OO’ gauge model of the Southern Region General Manager’s Inspection Saloon is here – and with a choice of colour schemes from 1969 to the present day.
The real vehicle started life as a buffet car in a Hasting Gauge Class 203 6-B Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) which was withdrawn in 1964 and transferred to Stewarts Lane depot in early 1969 for conversion. Works involved adding a driving console based on the Southern’s 1963 EMU design, three-piece windscreens at each end, headcode boxes, lights and standard multiple working cables to operate with Southern Region Class 33 and Class 73 locomotives as well as multiple units.
Above: Revolution Trains has delivered its new ‘OO’ gauge model of the Southern Region’s unique General Manager’s Inspection Saloon.
It entered service in November 1969 and continued in service into the 1990s after which it spent a period in store and was sold to VSOE. It was then bought by Serco in 2003 and refurbished which saw the coach carry a new SR green colour scheme which …
