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Motley crew


Mikkel

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After a tough spell at work it's been great to just run some stock back and forth today - no rules, no schedules, anything goes. Fortunately, GWR trains at the turn of the century lend themselves pretty well to that state of mind. A variety of stock, styles and liveries could be seen mixed together in the same train. Who said Great Western trains were all the same! Here are some examples as seen on Farthing.

 


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Above we see the Westbury stopping train with a motley assembly of stock, as seen on many secondary trains of the period. Four-wheelers, six-wheelers and bogie stock all in the same train.

 

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Three different roof-profiles on view here: Clerestory roof on the non-corridor C10 Third (RTR-bashed Triang), single-arc roof on the six-wheel R2 First (Blacksmith kit) and 3-arc roof on the Siphon (K's kit).

 


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Two siphons of very different height and appearance. On the right is the open-slatted 6-wheeler built from the K's kit. Due to an error in Russell's GWR Coaches Vol. 1 the K's kit is sometimes referred to as an O2.  It is in fact a Dia O1. The GWR used the O1 designation twice, initially for the earliest 4-wheel Siphons, later for this six-wheel design. On the left is a Siphon C (Shirescenes kit) with the later more modern look and higher sides.

 

 

 


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The eaves panels just below the roof also varied in height and added further to the variety of Edwardian GWR trains. The R2 on the right has the early deep panels, while the All Third S9 on the left sports the later more shallow style.

 

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During the 1900s some of the graceful Dean mainline classes began to be allocated to lesser secondary services. Here is 2-4-0 No. 3245 of the 3232 class. This loco (a Finney kit) has recently been brought back to life after a long period of motor failure.

 

 

 

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The Edwardian period saw a number of livery changes on the GWR within a short span of time. The coach on the left carries my simplified version of the 1880-1908 chocolate and cream livery, while on the right is a six-wheel PBV in the lake livery of 1912. A closer look at the latter coach reveals that this a rather unfinished restoration job. I did say 'anything goes' !

 

 

 

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A last shot of a couple of coaches in the bay. It's a funny old hobby we have: Watching some bits of metal and plastic moving back and forth, and getting a kick out of it! But it is so very relaxing.


PS:
According to Wikipedia... "A motley crew is a cliché for a roughly-organized assembly of characters. Motley crews are, by definition, non-uniform and undisciplined as a group. They are characterised by containing characters of conflicting personality [and] varying backgrounds...". Sounds just like my trains. Or is that RMweb I've just described? 

 

 

Edited by Mikkel

  • Like 4

19 Comments


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  • RMweb Gold

Lovely stuff!

 

Good to see you posting again Mikkel - always a pleasure to read your threads.

 

PS. No comment on your PS :lol:

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Good to see you back, Mikkel. I know what you mean about work, it can be such an inconvenience at times :rolleyes: As ever, it's the little details like the mail bags and parcels that make all the difference to your excellent photos, not to mention the Captain Birdseye figure :D That certainly is a motley collection of stock, but so very prototypical for the minor lines. It reminds me I have a Siphon C to finish and have been looking for an O1 for ages with no success. Maybe I'll just have to scratch build one.

 

Nick

 

ps. I'd not noticed the rather good weathered wood effect on the underside of the canopy before. How did you achieve that?

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  • RMweb Gold

Ditto what Nick said.I do like siphons myself.I've always fancied doing one of those siphon c's myself.Are they sraightforward ?Even the Dart Castings platform seat looks superb.Top modelling.

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Ah, but it's the obvious creativity and attention to detail that makes it for you - running the lumps of plastic and metal backwards and forwards is a secondary consideration. Thanks for the photos, they give a lot of us something to aim at.

 

Dennis

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  • RMweb Gold

Thanks all, much appreciated :)

 

Nick, the weathered wood effect is simple dry-bushing, using mainly dark brown with a bit of pale sand thrown in to vary the shade and add depth.

 

Robin, the Shirescenes Siphon C is relatively straightforward and makes for a satisfactory build, I find. Some shortening of the donor (Ratio) roof and chassis is required. I did a write-up on the build here once: http://www.gwr.org.uk/prosiphon.html

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  • RMweb Gold

Thanks all, much appreciated :)

 

Nick, the weathered wood effect is simple dry-bushing, using mainly dark brown with a bit of pale sand thrown in to vary the shade and add depth.

 

Robin, the Shirescenes Siphon C is relatively straightforward and makes for a satisfactory build, I find. Some shortening of the roof and chassis is required. I did a write-up on the build here once: http://www.gwr.org.uk/prosiphon.html

 

Cheers Mikkel.That article takes me back to when I first came across your old site.Very nice and do-able.

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  • RMweb Gold

Cheers John. I find that adding a bit of variety to the stock is one way of sustaining operating interest in micro-layouts. But you already know that of course, master of variety as you are!

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Always good to see pics of the Bay - excellent stuff as usual.

 

Can't help thinking though that your white coach rooves are a bit too pristine, Mikkel, even for your era.

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  • RMweb Gold

I totally agree Miss P. I used to prefer pristine stock, but not any more. The plan is to weather these coaches lightly, including the rooves.

 

Not sure though whether I should go all the way and paint the rooves all over grey, or just a light weathering.

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  • RMweb Gold

I must say Mikkel what a lovely train! Odds and sods, just perfect! All you need now is a Steam Railmotor!

 

Regards,

 

Nick

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Not sure though whether I should go all the way and paint the rooves all over grey, or just a light weathering.

At any one time, there is likely to be a mixture - a few newly-outshopped vehicles with a still-noticeably white roof, but the majority of vehicles in various stages of dark browny-grey. I'm inclined to believe that roof weathering was quite rapid, with perhaps only a few months of use (depending a bit on location etc) before there was a significant layer of darker grime. "Edwardian Enterprise" (WSP) is particularly good I think for a guide, but it's very difficult to assess how often rooves were cleaned before WWI. Having said that, there was an interesting discussion a while back on the gwr-elist concerning wagons, and examination of some aerial shots taken in the 1930s showed a surprisingly higher than expected proportion of wagons that were still light in colour. Whatever the choice of roof 'colour', the coverage tends to be very even - a white roof on which some uneven brown has been streaked looks very unrealistic in my view. In most cases, it's probably not a good idea to have a base white colour at the build stage.

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  • RMweb Gold

Brinkly: Ah yes, a Steam Railmotor would be rather nice to throw in! Perhaps even pulling a goods van or two - I seem to remember seeing a photo of such a scene, although I'm not sure where.

 

Miss P: Many thanks for this, I think I will go for an all-over dark grey then, with a couple of newly painted white rooves just to emphasize the motley-ness (not a word, I think!). I agree about avoiding the "streaked" weathered look on white rooves, I experimented on a van once and it looked awful. The discussion on the e-list sounds interesting btw, will have a look.

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  • RMweb Gold

Thanks Steve! Edwardian is such a great period to model, I find: Great liveries, elegant designs, varied stock and short(ish) trains. I suppose there's a risk of romanticising it all, but as modellers I think we're allowed to be a bit selective at times...

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Has anyone mentioned the amount of soot thrown out from the engine chimney ? My only reference point has been recent preserved locos, which seem to cover their crew with general grime in quick time.  

  • Agree 1
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  • RMweb Gold

Yes, I think that would have been a factor. Since this post was made, we've discussed the photos on Britain from Above in connection to this issue, as they tend to show the mixed shades of roofs nicely (though later than my period).

 

The BfA site seems to be down this evening, but this thread has some examples:

 

 

Edited by Mikkel
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  • RMweb Gold

Don’t forget that greys will appear lighter than they were, due to the photo-emulsions of the time.

  • Interesting/Thought-provoking 1
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