I've recently had a spate of budget-purchases in terms of coaching stock, and a few surprise gifts from the missus in the same vein!

Charlie forgot Valentine's Day this year - not really a crime, she is starting her PGCE and is at the highest of stress levels. However, she found the time to shop around, and while attending Ally Pally on Sunday, bought me the three coaches seen below:

They are a set of three Airfix LMS Suburban coaches, and they have a terrific finish on them - not sure whether it's factory printed or someone extremely good with an airbrush and transfers!

Either way, they are the wrong livery so they will have to go into a suitable British Railways Livery.

I am, however, a little torn on repainting them. Having fitted the correct Hornby metal disc wheels (14.1 sets) to all of the coaches, they run extremely smoothly, and look rather lovely.

Though it must be said, the shade of maroon (crimson lake?) seems too dark.

I am mulling it over as to whether to go for a full repaint, or see if someone has a set of BR liveried examples they'd be willing to swap.

Then we have these sorry examples I found in a charity shop for £0.25 each (!)

They are Triang Thompson coaches, in various states of disrepair. For £0.25 each, I was wondering if I could go the whole hog and restore these three coaches into carmine, in much the same way I've been fiddling around with the Hornby GWR clerestories these last two weeks.

Some are missing buffers, but to be fair I'd have been replacing all of them anyway with the correct pattern buffers.

Any suggestions and comments gratefully received for all of the above!

Until next time - I leave you with this photograph of my Hornby L1 posed with two of the clerestories - hoping to have them all finished by this time next week.