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Kaolin2FS

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    Northumberland
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    2mmFS, Cornish china clay, Devon china clay and all workings W of Exeter from late 80s to mid-90s; West Highland Line in the same period. May dabble with the southern end of the ECML/Hitchin in the future...

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  1. Sometime around 1990, Mk1 BSK 35469 was converted to an ETH Generator Vehicle for Flying Scotsman Services and ended up in regular use on InterCity Land Cruise services to the Highlands for the next few years, carrying the number '196'. This conversion started off life as Farish Mk1 BSK ref. 374-187 and had the conversion treatment including additional boxes underneath the solebar, Commonwealth bogies to replace the BR1s, removal of the coach end steps, etched grilles to represent the ventilation louvres, curtains in the windows, BR roundels and correct coach numbers on the sides and realignment of roof vents. Just need a few ICC Mk1 FOs to go with it...
  2. The latest installment to the Corridor Brake First (BFK) upgrade family is 17144 in InterCity Executive livery. This one is based on the Farish Mk2F BSO model (374-692). Railtec transfers were used for the First class stripe, First Class door numbers, First Class / No Smoking Logos and bespoke coach numbers. Interior seats have been cut out and a corridor insert added, with an interior rail on the corridor side and curtains added in the compartments from tissue paper. Purists will note that the compartment spacing is not quite wide enough for this variety of Mk2, but given the alternative was a series of cut-and-shuts of the one-piece coach bodyshell, it's something I can live with! 2mmFS wheels to be added following my next order from the 2mm Shop. This model will grace a Paddington-Penzance loco-hauled rake with the previously converted Mk2C BFK getting use on Newquay/Penzance-bound Cross-Country services.
  3. Whilst awaiting the Farish Mk2A TSO in Regional Railways livery (374-712), I converted a Farish NSE BSO (374-682) to Scotrail BFK 17064 using the same process as per my other BFK conversion here. I found that Phoenix No. 179 NSE Dark Blue was a better match to the Farish shade than the Provincial Dark Blue (154) which came out a little more purple in colour (albeit possibly more prototypical). The tiny Railtec First Class and No Smoking transfers were added to the windows to finish off. The window bars on the top third of each window were a close enough colour match to avoid a very time-consuming repaint! This coach will marry up with Scotrail-rebranded TSOs to form a 6-coach rake as used on the Edinburgh/Glasgow-Highland Class 37-hauled services of the early 90s.
  4. No, this isn’t a full repaint! This is a cut-and-shut of two NSE BSK bodies that I had spare from another project (married to a repainted BG underframe and roof) and I decided it would be just as easy to make a BG this way than to fully repaint one. The join isn’t perfect but it’s passable at normal viewing distance. This example represents 92315 with Commonwealth bogies (number transfers from Railtec and fitted with 2mmFS wheels) and will run with the NSE Mk1 corridor rake. The two brake ends from the BSKs before careful filing back and mating: And the finished BG:
  5. Thanks Mike, that’s really helpful, easy to find on YouTube and the sounds are excellent. Graham
  6. Excellent news - NSE livery for me. Has there been a sound demo of the imminently-arriving 320/321 released anywhere? It would be good to get an idea of the sound quality we can expect on the 313/314s before placing an order. Graham
  7. To complete the carriage types needed for the late 80s Thames NSE rake I upgraded a Mk1 BSK and created a Mk2A BSK to run with the Mk2A FK and Mk1 SKs. The Mk1 BSK (35475) had some minor tweaks from the existing Farish 374-193 model. NSE logos were removed and replaced at the right hand end of the passenger windows, a parcels cage added from another Farish BSK and roof vents changed to the later, in-line pattern above the compartments. The orange cantrail stripe was also removed. The position of the NSE logos appears to have been a depot-specific choice initially; Old Oak formations seem to have had the logos applied to the right-hand end of the coaches when repainted from Blue & Grey livery in 1986/7, whereas Euston Downside had theirs on the left and this appears to have been standardised from 1988 onwards. Many formations out of Paddington had a mix in the late 80s. The Mk2A BSK (35500) was a conversion from a BSO. Other than swapping the open half of the interior for a compartment interior, modifications were much the same as the Mk1 with the cage this time coming from a TPM etch. Farish seem to have a been rather inconsistent with their half-brake cages; some batches have the mesh represented whereas on other models it has been omitted completely. As ever, 2mmFS wheels have been swapped in and transfers are from Railtec.
  8. Following on from the FK repaint, the next Farish coaches for attention were the Mk1 TSO (cat 374-016) vehicles which needed to turn into Corridor Seconds in the 18XXX number series (1986-88 condition, following their BR repaint from Blue & Grey livery). Work here included: changing the open interiors for corridor interiors; moving the Network SouthEast logos to the right-hand end of each coach and the coach number to the left-hand end; removing the orange cantrail stripe; removing the end roof access steps and handrails at one end; and replacing all the roof vents to represent the later-build lots from 187XX onwards which had in-line vents. The first 3 are complete and I'm still working on a few more, one of which will be an example from the 186XX series with B4 bogies and earlier roof vents. Next up will be the BSKs.
  9. Just seen this entry, Pete… the 37 looks superb and great choice of running number
  10. For my current project I need a Paddington/Thames Valley commuter rake in late 80s condition so this week’s upgrade is the first of a few coaches to get a NSE rework. These services primarily consisted of Mk1 SKs (later replaced by Mk1 TSOs or strengthened by Mk2 TSOs), a Mk1 BSK or Mk2 BSK/BFK and a Mk2 FK. Fortunately, for NSE’s 30th Anniversary, Farish released TSO, BSK and FK Mk1 coaches, followed by a Train Pack which included Mk1 RMB, Mk2 TSO and Mk2 BSO all in the earlier, lighter blue variant of the livery. The Thames Valley set can therefore be achieved with minor tweaks to existing models, apart from the Mk2 FK which demanded a full repaint from a blue & grey example (donor 374-950). After gently removing the raised white lining and the coach numbers with a cocktail stick, the coach was painted with Phoenix Precision Paints NSE Light Blue and NSE Grey before bodyside lining was applied from Fox Transfers. First Class and No Smoking window signs were then carefully added from the Railtec range, along with the yellow first class cantrail stripe and curtains made of orange tissue paper. Next up: Mk1 NSE SKs. Graham
  11. Given Graham Farish produce a Mk2A BSO it’s not surprising that they haven’t produced another half-brake variant. The BFK is a very useful model though; it was a staple of many loco-hauled services on secondary routes and appeared in a range of liveries during its life. Fortunately converting a coach from BSO to BFK is a fairly straightforward business. I took a second-hand Farish model (cat no. 374-680), applied yellow line transfers to half the length, added ‘1’s to the passenger doors, swapped out the open seats for a corridor insert (from a Mk2 FK I’d used in another project) and swapped out the passenger windows for ones with first class markings on them (from the same FK). The only other alteration, aside from the 2mmFS wheels, was to correct the roof vents. These were carefully filed and sanded back before drilling holes at the correct alignment, adding track pins for vents, and painting. Hopefully it looks convincing; now I only need to decide whether to add ScotRail branding or not! Graham
  12. Here's the first coach to break cover from the Workshop and one that's been worked on in the background for a number of weeks. This started off life as a Farish Mk2A BSO in Blue & Grey livery and it's had a number of mods, including the open interior swapped for a corridor interior, roof vent alterations and water tank added, toilet window amended and vent added, first class/no-smoking signs added (thanks to Railtec for introducing the 2mm-3007 transfers), wheelsets swapped for 2FS and a full repaint. These coaches plied the country in XC rakes in this livery throughout the late 80s before they were displaced to lower-profile workings by the Mk2D air-cons. Most of them had the window bars painted the same Exec Dark Grey as the upper body, but I've found photographic evidence of at least one with silver bars which is not only more visually appealing but also saved me a lot of time.
  13. 50040 gets the rename/renumber treatment to 50005 after previously having its wheels converted to 2mmFS and DCC decoder added. Another set of great custom transfers from Railtec, along with Collingwood 3D plates.
  14. This is a blog about *finishing* rolling stock conversions! The last year has seen an increasing number of locos and coaches in various states of disassembly filling up all available flat surfaces awaiting an upgrade of one sort or another. Sound familiar? As the end of 2021 approaches, it’s definitely time to start finishing some! For those who’ve not yet taken part of the paint finish off one of their £100+ locomotives or £35+ coaches, read on… I’m aiming to finish four conversions/upgrades per month for the next few months, using this blog as a vehicle to keep momentum. All the models are derived from the latest-standard Graham Farish products and converted to 2mm FS by swapping the axles for 2mm drop-in wheels. Varying amounts of work are being undertaken to either individualise them or convert them into the types of rolling stock needed for BR operations in the late 80s/early 90s. Hopefully the results will show it’s not particularly difficult to create something a little bit different or unique that can add up to recreate a prototypical train formation. To start with, something pretty straightforward with some custom transfers that I ordered a while back; conversions of 47535 into 47526 Northumbria and 37407 into 37412 Loch Lomond. The conversions were very straightforward. The original white printed-on numbers and nameplates were carefully scraped off with the end of a cocktail stick. After that, I created a gloss surface to best accept the transfers by masking the surrounding area and using circular motions of a cotton wool bud dipped in a little toothpaste. There is just enough abrasive in the paste to create a shiny surface on the existing paint finish after 2-3 minutes. Once the toothpaste was wiped off, transfers were applied from Railtec Transfers. I’ve no connection with Railtec other than being a very happy repeat customer, because their transfers are high-quality and simple to use. The detail in the transfers even goes down to the correct spacing of the numbers for a particular locomotive and the location of rivets on the 3D printed nameplates; they really are so much simpler to use than etches. Both engines still require a couple of light coats of varnish to seal. I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I’ll point it out first before someone else does - 47526’s BR Large Logo should be at the No.1 end, but given that the factory finish had it at the No.2 end and I didn’t want the hassle of a repaint, I’m going to live with it for now… I’m also undecided whether or not to lower 37412 by a mm or so, but I’m treating them both as ‘finished’ enough for the purposes of this blog!
  15. Near enough, Steven; three thinned coats of Exec Light Grey were brush painted over the top after having removed the lettering and coach numbers, then any slight overpaint onto the red lining was carefully scraped off with a cocktail stick. Transfers then applied directly onto the finish which seemed to work well without a gloss coat first. Currently repainting a few Mk1 FO/RBR to go into a short Land Cruise rake with the sleepers - and therefore expecting Farish to announce an ICC FO in their next quarterly update…
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