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76TK011  British Rail Bedford TK Personnel Carrier

1:76 Scale

Our 1:76 Bedford TK tooling sees more introductions this month, some of which will be of particular interest to 00 gauge railway enthusiasts of the British Rail era. There is also a tanker, especially for collectors of brewery vehicles.
The Bedford TK was produced by the Vauxhall-owned Bedford company. It was introduced in 1959 and had a variety of uses, including fire engines, military vehicles, flatbed trucks and other specialist utility vehicles. The letter 'T' stood for 'Truck'. It epitomised the perfect lightweight truck and remained so until the end of the 1970s. Available as a rigid truck as well as a tractor unit, it proved very versatile and its longevity speaks for itself, as it is still used in some developing countries even today.
This period Whitbread tanker in the authentic colours of brown and gold, is advertising Mackeson Stout, made under licence by the Whitbread Brewery. The Whitbread story goes back to 1742 when Samuel Whitbread went into partnership with a small London brewer, Thomas Shewell. In 1765 Whitbread bought out Thomas Shewell and by the end of the century, the company had become London's top brewery, producing almost a quarter of a million barrels. Today the Whitbread Empire is huge, having extended as a UK-based hospitality company as well as a brewer.
The word Mackeson conjures up an image of my grandmother in the 1950s, who loved a 'half' of the brew before Sunday lunch. Smacking her lips as she drained the last ounce of froth, she always said she felt better for it! This milk or sweet stout was supposed to be very nutritious, so much so, it was even recommended to nursing mothers at one time. One of the memorable 1950s TV adverts saw actor Bernard Miles enjoying a Mackeson with the words 'It looks good, it tastes good and, by golly, it does you good!'
Three brand new railway-liveried TKs in yellow – of the late 1970s British Rail era -are a natural extension to our existing British Rail vehicles of the period and will look good on any 00 gauge layout of the time. Tooling modifications have enabled us to produce several versions on the same chassis. The first is the 76TK011 Bedford TK British Rail Personnel Carrier, with modified back to incorporate sliding doors (non-opening), front, side and rear windows and seats.76TK012 is a TK Emergency Bridging Unit with semi-open back and a specially modified construction above the tractor unit. This also comes in a closed version – 76TK013. Both feature the red arrow logo on the sides with British Rail in black.