Category:Hornby No2 Special Pullman Coaches

Hornby No.2/3 Pullman coach, 1928 catalogue image [image info]

Hornby No.2/3 Pullman "composite" coach, 1928 catalogue image [image info]

The No2 Special Pullman Coach (gauge 0), introduced in the late 1920s, was the nicest railway carriage that Hornby ever made.

It came in the classic Pullman brown and cream livery, with a grey roof and gold window framing and detailing, and the physical detail included roof tabs that allowed signs with the name of a railway service to be fitted, just like the real thing. Like the Pullman 1st Class originals, the coaches had female names.

The No2 Specials should not be confused with the standard Hornby No2 Pullman (and certainly not with any of the multitude of Pullman carriages designed or other Hornby series trains) - as far as passenger cars were concerned, these were the flagships of the Hornby range.

Naming and literature

The coaches sometimes appeared in catalogues as "No.2 Special" in their own right, and sometimes as "No.2 / 3", based on the locos in the sets that they were sometimes supplied with.

Although the catalogues frequently showcased large glossy images of the various locomotives, it's difficult to find a correspondingly large high-quality image of a single No.2 Special Pullman carriage.

No.2 Special Pullman Coaches (with brown composite coach luggage section), image cropped from the 1938 Hornby Book of Trains

"No.2" vs. "No.2 Special"

A measure of the niceness of the No.2 Specials is that where the 1931/32 Hornby Book of Trains lists the standard No.2 as costing 11,6, the No.2 Specials cost 15/ or 16/, depending on whether you wanted the passenger-only version or the composite version with a luggage compartment. Where the standard No.2's were described as "Substantially built and distinctive in design", the specials were "splendid", and "perfect in detail and finish". The Specials also came with a range of Pullman carriage names, whereas the "standards" apparently just said "PULLMAN" on the side.

Around the Museum

The Museum's central 1930s layout has a run of seven Hornby No.2 Special Pullmans (bearing blue "VICTORIA AND DOVER" service strips), hauled by a Hornby E420 Southern 900 "Eton" locomotive. This set is sometimes run on the Museum's special Train Running Days, which normally happen twice a year.

For people who want to be able to see these carriages at closer quarters, there's also a pair of No.2 Special Pullmans in the Hornby Wall display (on shelf 2), again, coupled to a Hornby Southern 900 "Eton" loco.