I was trying to be systematic and focussed, and work on things in good order, but while I was hunting through boxes looking for bits for the 128 the packet of handrail knobs turned up in my DMU projects box...

As noted in my "programme" posting here, my attempt to press on with the long-stalled ex LNER Toad B (an elderly Parkside kit) stalled when I couldn't find the handrail knobs. Suddenly the brake van was back on the agenda. And as I worked steadily through the things I could see a way to do on the 128, the tasks started to seem more and more demanding, like riding into an ever-stiffening headwind. 

In short there came a point when almost all the obvious things had been done on the 128, and almost all the bits in the bag had been sorted out and applied, and my resolve  fell to critical levels , so that it seemed easiest to pause (the polite term for halt) and to tackle the brake van which ought to be an easier, quicker win

So - the awkward long handrails went in , in an afternoon. I chickened out of attempting an accurate single piece H-shaped handrail - presumably soldered - and the long horizontal handrails are separate from the vertical rails by the door. Feeling emboldened , I was contemplating adding the handrails on the end , when I spotted a problem. When I started the kit, in the reign of George VI [not quite], I got one of the sides upside down . And by the time I added the duckets, somewhat later, there was nothing  much I could do about it. So one ducket is almost 1mm higher than the other. This is not a problem as you don't see both sides of the van, and the discrepancy is slight. But the moment you add end handrails - which must align with the horizontal rails on the side, and with each other- the discrepancy would become horribly obvious.

So I've left them off. Otherwise matters have proceeded as envisaged by Messrs Parkside, the painting has been done, weathering has been carried out, a final varnish coat applied to finish, and the current state of play may be seen here:

The steam era engineer's train now has a suitable second brake van - the full formation is visible in the short

It was while I was hunting high and low for some lamps for the Toad B (they eventually turned up in a little plastic box hiding in plain site on my workbench) that I found, in tobacco tins buried in an old plywood scrapbox, the mortal remains of two Airfix wagon kits from my childhood. The BR Brake Van is the easier proposition . I painted the parts quite nicely before assembly - I forget what glue I used, but as it was attempting a paint-to-paint bond the whole thing rapidly reduced itself to a kit of parts again, and was shovelled away in the scrapbox.

Unfortunately I really don't have any use for more brake vans. If I did, then I could sort out the poor battered WD road van; and if I needed a BR brake van I have one nicely finished as an air-piped CAR from Ravenser Mk1 which would only need the couplings changed.

Also in the tins were the bits of an even earlier attempt at an Airfix cattle wagon kit. These are not in such a good state as the brake van kit. But when I dug them all out I found that almost all of it is there. I'm missing one end (I've a nasty feeling I threw it away a few years ago as obviously useless) and the doors. Also one buffer beam. And the stations above the sides have taken some damage. But nearly all the necessary bits are there,

I have absolutely no need of a cattle wagon either. But - I was looking through the Cheona book covering brake vans (so as to check painting details for the Toad B) and that volume also covers cattle wagons. At the end is a photo of two BR cattle wagons converted to tunnel inspection vehicles taken at Rotherham in 1989. The roofs have been removed and the vehicles cut down to about 18" above the top of the sides, and a substantial timber platform built on top, carried on heavy longeditudinal timber beams.

That is firmly within my period. And a tunnel inspection vehicle could run perfectly credibly in the 1980s engineering train

The two wagons in the Cheona book are BR built Southern wagons to dias 1/35? and 1/35?  , not the GW-derived BR standard cattle wagon dia 1/353 done by Airfix- which is demonstrably a final version of the GW MEX. I have only managed to find internet pictures for one cattle wagon to tunnel inspection vehicle conversion to show you what I mean - this is a little different as it is based on a dia 1/353 wagon, but the vehicle has not been cut down and the platform is quite thin  DB893928. The photo was taken at Belper in 1980 and the vehicle belonged to the District Civil Engineer at Nottingham, so it's not that far from Blacklade. By 1982 this vehicle had been acquired for preservation and was at Quainton Road

The damage to upper stantions would make this particular conversion difficult from the parts I have. But a similar vehicle cut down by an extra 2 planks and given the much more substantial platform seen on the two vehicles photographed at Rotherham should be doable and ought to be plausible. A hybrid - possibly, but definitely a possible BR conversion . And I rather suspect it will be quite hard to prove it definitively never happened...