Red Branchline Coaches/Behind the Scenes

Television Series
The Red Coaches are fictional standard gauge coaches.

The coaches made their debut in the second series, seemingly replacing the Old Coaches as well as the Orange Coaches with the start of the third series. As such they have been used constantly since then.

The red coaches are based on LB&SCR 4-wheeled coaches built to a design by Stroudley between the early 1870s and late 80s. Several coaches of this type are preserved on the Bluebell Railway and the Isle of Wight Steam Railway.

The Orange Coaches share the same basis, however, they have different rooftop designs and styled-brake coaches.

Gauge 1 models
The models of the red coaches were sourced from Tenmille Gauge 1 LB&SCR Stroudley coach kits.

Close-up model
A close-up model of a red composite coach was built to be used for scenes where it had to interact with the close-up scale figures. It appeared in the sixth, eleventh, and twelfth series.

CGI models
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. The red coaches were recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios. Their models were "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

Photographs of the red coaches' Gauge 1 models were used for referencing. According to Greg Tiernan, every detail of the original television series models for each character is carefully reproduced in the CGI model. The models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to HiT Entertainment for final input and approval.