Unfortunately due to mostly working earlies, oh and all my rest days as quite frankly I like the money... I haven't been able to devote as much time as I would have liked to this but I have progressed with the aim of getting the first DMSO finished.

The main paintwork has now been completed, the cab front corridor connection has had plating added to the sides (plastic card) and yes the inner ends are now dark brown:

Hoping to get the whole DMSO completed with reassembly, lining and transfers etc within the next few days... I hope!!

Harking back to my earliest days of railway modelling, one of my very first rolling stock repaints I did at least twenty years ago now was a second hand Triang Mk 1 RMB that I did in NSE livery which bizarrely was before I realised there actually were some in these colours.

Now many years later my passengers on the 06:42 to Waterloo are getting hungry so a Bachmann Mk 1 RMB arrived on the workbench and after a bit of research to check a few livery details, more specifically the nature of the red 'buffet' cant rail stripe, I set to work...

The plan was simple, dismantle blue/grey RMB, repaint body sides then place them, the roof, interior and under gubbins onto chassis from a NSE Mk1 TSO from which I also borrowed the glazing to save repainting the window bars.

The TSO came spare as I had used its interior for the TSO in the 4-CEP!!

Unfortunately it would appear that not all Bachmann Mk 1's are the same, the RMB is a latest (no roof ribs) generation and the chassis moulding is subtly different which meant it was a right royal sod to get back together, not helped by the fact that there was extra carvery to get the interior to fit and then discovered that the securing screws and corresponding holes are in different places!!

Anyway after much cursing and swearing I managed to finish it and the 06:42 to Waterloo now has a steady supply of curly bacon sarnies and luke warm Maxpax coffee

Now seriously thinking about buying another 4-CEP and converting the TSO into an unrefurbished buffet car to create a 4-BEP. I must be mad!!