Graham Farish - 372-876 - Passenger, Electric, Class 319 - Thameslink - EMU 319382

Specific Item Information: The British Rail Class 319 is a dual-voltage electric multiple unit train capable of operating on 25kV 50Hz AC from overhead wires or 750V DC from a third rail. They were built by British Rail Engineering Limited's York carriage works for use on north-south cross-London services.

Built in two batches in 1987–88 and 1990 for BR's Network SouthEast sector, the units were primarily used on the then-new Thameslink service operating from Bedford to Brighton and various other destinations south of London. The majority of the fleet remained in use on the Thameslink network after its reshaping and privatisation in 1997, with a few units moving to Southern. Some of the fleet was also used on various other services operating out of London Victoria, including flagship expresses to Brighton.

Since delivery of new Class 700 rolling stock for Thameslink services commenced in 2015, Class 319 units have been redeployed for use in the Northwest of England on newly electrified lines as well as being converted to self-powered trains for use away from the electricity supply.

Road Name History: Thameslink is a 24-hour, 115-station (32 managed) main-line route in the British railway system, running from Bedford, Luton, St Albans City, Peterborough and Cambridge via central London to Sutton, Orpington, Sevenoaks, Rainham, Horsham and Brighton. The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying more than 28,000 passengers in the morning peak. All the services are currently operated by Govia Thameslink Railway.

The Thameslink Programme was a major £5.5 billion scheme to increase capacity on the central London section by accommodating more frequent and longer trains, and providing additional routes and destinations. The new services began operating in 2018. In 2016, new Class 700 trains started operating on the route and replaced the Class 319, Class 377 and Class 387 trains which were withdrawn and transferred elsewhere.From Wikipedia

Brand/Importer Information: Graham Farish is a British brand of N gauge model trains, that belongs to Bachmann Europe.
The company entered the model train business in the early 1950s, focusing on British OO gauge rolling stock, track and accessories.
In the 1970s, it started to produce N gauge models under the GRAFAR label. After the withdrawal of Lima and Minitrix from the UK market in the late 1980s, Graham Farish was the only major supplier of British outline models in N gauge, soon withdrawing from the OO scale market.
In 2001, Graham Farish was purchased by Kader Industries of Hong Kong, and absorbed by its subsidiary Bachmann Industries. Bachmann immediately closed the British manufacturing facility and moved production to China.
Bachmann have since increased the size of the Farish range, by duplicating models introduced to the Bachmann OO range; often, an OO scale Bachmann Branchline model is followed between 6 months to a year later by an N gauge Graham Farish model.

Manufacturer Information: Bachmann, a US company founded in 1835, was purchased by Kader Industries in 1987. Kader formed Bachmann Industries Europe in 1989 with their main UK headquarters in Moat Way, Barwell, Leicestershire, UK (former Palitoy location) and the following year launched the Bachmann Branchline range for the British market with the moulds that had previously been used for the Palitoy Mainline and Replica Railways model railway products. From this starting point Bachmann has developed the range further and now produce a large range of models.
In 2001 Bachmann Branchline bought Graham Farish, an N gauge manufacturer, and since then many of their models have been made available in both gauges.
Bachmann Europe portfolio also comprises other model trains brands such as Liliput.