It Carries Cars Well

The Tri-ang Hornby BR Cartic Articulated Car Carrier was produced from 1969 until 1973. It was usually supplied with a selection of 12 Minix cars, although only seven are shown above. These  cars were introduced in 1964 and were available until 1972.

The range, obviously, reflected the makes of cars that were available at the time and, compared to today's standards, were a bit basic and toy-like.

There were, I believe, 18 vehicles in total:

1. Ford Anglia
2. Morris 1100
3. Vauxhall Viva
4. Triumph 2000
5. Austin A60
6. Ford Corsair
7. Sunbeam Alpine
8. Hillman Minx
9. Simca 1300
10. Hillman Imp
11. Vauxhall Victor 101
12. Austin 1800
13. Ford Thames Van
14. AEC Strachans Bus
15. Vauxhall Cresta Estate
16. Caravan
17. Rambler Classic
18. Trailer

The cars came in a variety of colours including: black, white, blue, red, dark yellow, pale yellow, dark green, emerald green, lime green, maroon and vermillion. It seems that the rarest colours were black, maroon and lime green.

As for the Car Carrier itself, a label with the Inter-City Logo and the word Motorail was attached to each of the four sides. However, the one in my photograph does not have these although you can probably see where two of the labels should be.

For its day, this was an excellent model that could be attached to the rear of any suitable passenger or sleeper train to recreate the Motorail services that began in the UK in 1955 but which, sadly, ended in September 2005. 

The final Motorail service being that of the Night Riviera from Paddington to Penzance. Fortunately The Night Riviera service does still operate but it no longer transports cars.

The Catalogue Number for the Car Carrier is R.666 and the model is still highly sought after by collectors today.