Dapol - 2P-011-101 - Passenger Car, Coach, Gresley, 1st Class - London and North Eastern - 31863

Specific Item Information: Sir Nigel Gresley (1876-1941) was one of the most prominent designers of the steam era of British Railways. Although his locomotive designs are his best known works, Gresley also spent many years as a designer of coaches and carriages for the Great Northern Railway, which later merged to form the LNER. Gresley coaches were stylish and modern and set the standards for British transportation at the time.

Road Name History: The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At that time, it was divided into the new British Railways' Eastern Region, North Eastern Region, and partially the Scottish Region.

The principal constituents of the LNER were: Great Eastern Railway, Great Central Railway, Great Northern Railway, Great North of Scotland Railway, Hull and Barnsley Railway, North British Railway, North Eastern Railway.

The total route mileage was 6,590 miles (10,610 km). The North Eastern Railway had the largest route mileage of 1,757 miles (2,828 km), whilst the Hull and Barnsley Railway was 106.5 miles (171.4 km).

From Wikipedia

Brand/Importer Information: Dapol Ltd is a Welsh model railway manufacturer based in Chirk, Wales. The factory where design and manufacturing take place is just over the border in England. The company is known for its model railway products in N gauge and OO gauge. Dapol's name is a play on its founders David and Pauline Boyle's names. He owned a model concern Highfield Birds & Models. In 1981 he first tried to buy the Airfix and Mainline ranges. The Dapol brand name was first used in a Railway Modeller advert of September 1983. The first Dapol wagons (for OO) were announced to become available on 20 November 1983. From 1 March 1984 ex Airfix railway kits became available.

Dapol manufactures a growing range of N gauge locomotives, coaches and wagons, and is the main competitor of Graham Farish in the British 'ready-to-run' market. Continuous improvement in model specifications has led to the introduction of 40:1 gearing in locomotive drive mechanisms, NEM couplings on all stock, and LED lighting strips for coaching stock (yellow for 'older' coaches, to represent incandescent illumination, and white for more modern coaches and EMUs to represent fluorescent fittings).