I fell victim to a whim and purchased the recent Graham Farish 64xx and a couple of trailers. I think I'd like a 'middle' coach as well, but I presume that only specific examples would be acceptable, given the requirement for the mechanical linkage twixt autocoach cab and loco.
Is there a plausible candidate available as a current or recent release?
Apologies if this is a daft question, everything else I own has a TOPS number.
It would normally be another auto coach (because as you say, the linkages). However.. Because 2 coaches in a row tended to make the linkages a bit sloppy, they'd often run top and tail around the loco. i.e. one auto coach either side of the loco, with the driver just using the relevant coach cab for the direction of travel.
Ah, thank you. I was going to run them top and tail, so it looks like I'll need a third if I want a longer train :hmmm:
There were some GWR suburban coaches fitted with through-linkages for working with auto coaches. Off the top of my head, these were the diagram C66 and C75 compartment 3rds. Nothing similar to these vehicles is available RTR unfortunately.
Simply adding more autocoaches is easier and perfectly prototypical to have up to 4 autocoaches with a single loco (maximum of 2 on each end). This photo from Plymouth shows a typical arrangement.
(http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_08_2014/post-7376-0-60128500-1407448668.jpg)
Cool post! :beers: