
My problem was what to pull behind it however: no-one makes r-t-r Metropolitan coaches and whilst kits are available, they do tend to be rather expensive. On another site, in a discussion about these, I saw a photo of one with a rake of Graham Farish OO LNER teak suburbans. They are not correct of course, but I felt that they could be 'improved' and at least they'd be the right colour!
I managed to win a set of four of these coaches on eBay for £15.68. At that price they had to be worth working on but it became immediately apparent that their livery would have to change as it was far too light and the graining so obviously over-scale.
Talking to a fellow club member, he advised applying washes of Citadel 'Seraphim Sepia' to darken the finish and reduce the impact of the printed graining. Five coats later, the affect on the original colour was really noticeable. I also removed the original ventilators from the roof and applied more realistic ones, painted the roof, fitted metal wheels and painted the interior. The coach end was detailed and the Farish couplings replaced with closer-fitting ones.
Unfortunately, transfers for Metropolitan coaches are difficult to get and expensive [around £20 a sheet], so they have had to be omitted. Otherwise a cheap and cheerful transformation and when completed a reasonable rake for the Bo-Bo to pull. Not perfect by any means but it passes muster at three feet.
Before and after photos:



]

Citadel 'Seraphim Sepia' costs a shade under a fiver for 24mls. I'll have 60% left at least after four coaches are done. It is water-based and washes off brushes easily. I have seen it used to very good effect on Hornby railroad LNER coaches also.
Tony