
Oxford Rail MK3a Coaches – Scotrail

A new player to the model railway ready to run market is Oxford Rail. Oxford has been producing diecast model road vehicles & aircraft models for many many years. With their popular range of 1:76 models of cars, trucks & buses amongst others, which complement model railways, it was only natural they would move into producing locomotives, coaches & wagons.
Modellers have been requesting an up todate model of BR’s mk3a coach. for many years to replace the elderly Lima & Jouef models. Oxford Rail released the MK3a coach last year in the following liveries: Inter City Blue & Grey livery, Intercity Swallow livery. This has been followed with the BR Scotrail livery version being released this week (Mid Jan 2019). The next livers to be released shortly is the Stobart Pullman livery which demand is expected to be high, & the Virgin Trains livery.
For this article, we’ll take a look at the Scotrail livery version. Three model releases in Scotrail livery have been released, these being the TSO (Trailer Second Open), FO (First Open), CO (Composite Open). The composite open is half first class & half second class seating, with each class of the seating in the correct colour.
The model features a high standard of details & printed details, flush glazing complete with the silver window frames. The windows also include the no smoking window stickers, & on the toilet compartment windows, the lower half includes the route map which is a nice touch. Unlike the Swallow livery release which was criticised for not having the silver window surrounds, it’s nice to see them on the Scotrail version.
One area where the Swallow livery version has been criticised on is the lower grey band being the to light in colour. It was hoped that Oxford Rail would amend this on the Scotrail version, sadly they’ve not amended this thus leaving the lower grey area looking too cold in colour. It should be a warm beige looking grey colour.
The model features separate handrails as per the real thing, such as on the roof access panels. The bufferbeam features various details such as pipework, ETH sockets & plugs. Other separate details include the small hanging end steps, under chassis details, ribbed roof details, finely moulded bogies. The wheels are fine scale profile & feature the inlaid brake discs with bolt details. The gangways feature the half rubbing plates as well the folding/sliding end door with two glazed portals.
The model has NEM coupling pockets with removable small tension lock couplings. When coupled together with other Oxford Rail MK3a coaches, the gap between them is noticeably on the large side. This, however, can be got round by swapping the couplings for the Roco type which Hornby sell in accessory packs, Kadee couplings, or NEM type coupling bar (we’ll look at this in another article).
The NEM coupling pocket is on a swinging cam to allow the couplings to move when running around curves & point work. As many modellers have bought these Scotrail coaches to run with Bachmann’s DBSO coach. So as per the real thing, when running with the DBSO leading & the loco pushing, the coupling NEM sockets can sometimes push downwards towards the track. This can lead to the odd derailment. To get around this if you use a coupling bar it should prevent the coupling sockets from pushing downwards when the train is being propelled. Again well look at this in another article.
Overall it’s a very good model & well worth adding to your fleet, the only negative points being wrong lower grey colour & the wide gap between the coaches when coupled let it down slightly.
Key Features:
- Small type tension lock couplers
- Extreme High level of detailing
- Detachable couplings
- NEM sockets
- Roller bearings on the axles
- Various liveries, EWS, VTG, Freightliner, Greenergy
- Fine Scale profile wheelsets
- Detail extra buffer beam pipework for fitting by the modeller
- Extra Decal sheet included
- Single & triple wagon packs
- Era: 2001 – current
- OO / 1:76 scale
Manufacturers Part Nos. Range from OR763CO001 to OR763TO005
List of model numbers for Scotrail version:
- OR763FO005
- OR763TO005
- OR763CO001
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Review
90%
Summary A superb modern image release with great details & attention to detail. Livery colour error on the lower grey area & wide gap between coach ends when coupled let it down slightly. Scotrail version proving to be very popular with some shops selling out already.
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