In 1948, the British Railways Board (BRB) took over responsibility for existing contracts with the Pullman Car Company. It purchased the ordinary shares in 1954, but the remaining preference shares were not acquired by the BRB until 1962, from which time the Pullman Car Company was a subsidiary of the board and fully nationalised.

By the late 1950s, the British Transport Commission was unhappy about the great age of the Pullman cars being used on the East Coast services and felt that they should be replaced before the contract with Pullman terminated in 1962. So it was decided to build some new ones and they would be based on the standard Mk1 coach design but with certain modifications to satisfy Pullman shareholders. This included recessed doors, which make the coaches stand out amongst other Mk1 stock.

The models of them, produced by Bachmann, have metal bearings within the bogie face and foil-plated window frames. The table lamps have fibre optic lighting, which light up when power is applied to the track.

The latest release is a first class kitchen car (FK). There were 13 of the kitchen first cars built and all were given bird names. They initially seated 20 passengers but, following refurbishment in 1967-68, it was possible to seat 26. Four of the seats were in the traditional Pullman coupe. There was a kitchen and servery at one end and a toilet at the other.