Halvarras

Looks like a cross between '0O00' and a 'domino' (and more effective than either of them!) One of these late survivors - 47356 I think - was numbered at both ends but one number was on the cabside and the other on the bodyside! I can't recall which way round (I should have the photo somewhere) and no idea whether this was on one side only (like 47146's D prefix......!!)

That has always been my assumption with the Hymeks. I don't think the demoted D600 Warships were ever likely to get maroon like their 8-wheeled brethren and repainting one of my two Kernow models to see what they'd have looked like is definitely NOT happening! 71 of the 74 Westerns got maroon in the end - those that didn't were D1004/36/37 which went straight from green into blue ('04 the only one of these into blue full yellow). And 32 Warships, between September 1965 and November 1966 (D838 was fully repainted into maroon full yellow in September 1968, for reasons which have never been fully established, but it had entered Swindon already in maroon syp livery).

I've just found this photo of my first Tri-ang Hornby Hymek, purchased when the model first came out in 1967 (8th September to be precise - the instruction leaflet is date-stamped 30th August). It's one of those models that I've long had no use for but would never get rid of for sentimental reasons, so what to do with it? Use it for an UNrealistic what-if, of course! I didn't want to give it a fictitious number (in any case D7101 was already running around on an island with a certain famous tank engine for company......!!) so I chose D7100, the last one, because the 101st Hymek always seemed to me to be the 'odd one out' - why build 101........ of anything?! Spot the Peco track pins! The motor bogie was fitted with Millholme 14mm turned brass wheels when these became available in the 1970s, with Romford 14mm wheels at the trailing end which has additional pick-ups fitted. Back then, even if it had occurred to me that the standard Tri-ang 2mm excess buffer height had now been increased to around 3mm I wouldn't have had much idea what to do about it! The model was brush-painted with Humbrol BR Maroon in the 1990s and it was one of those rare occasions when the paint went on so smoothly you'd think it had been sprayed. It's not spray-varnished, honest. If only all enamel paint was like that........ The number transfers are silver rub-down type from a sheet made by Peakside Products in the late 1970s - I mail-ordered the first sheet direct in February 1979 (not from memory, that's the franked date on the envelope I still store it in!) then found another on sale in a shop (Trents in Swindon, which later became Beatties) a few years later. These two sheets are still working and I used the second one to renumber a Hornby Class 50 just last week, only because the first had no '4s' left on it!

Heljan's guttering above the windscreens is surprisingly poorly defined on D1960, and although this time they have tooled the earlier pantograph wipers, and correctly applied these to D1526 and the Model Rail Class 48s, they appear confused about the timing of the switch from these to single-arm type on the prototype, which occurred during the early 1970s. This makes D1960 and D1969 incorrect - the latter still had pantograph wipers in July 1971 by which time it had lost its D prefixes (its data panels are also missing the blue background). It took me minutes to check this on the 'class47' website so I can't help wondering why Heljan didn't do the same........

Yes, the Mainline coupler despite being a bit chunky went partway to reducing the intrusive appearance of the oversized tension-lock (although shortening the buffers to get stock closer together was an unwelcome throwback to Hornby Dublo) but Airfix went full-on pseudo-Fleischmann, which was a brave move at the time and unfortunately the market wasn't ready to follow their lead. When Airfix was forced to backtrack at least the clip fitting avoided expensive tooling changes and made swapping to their larger couplers easy, but making them that large, when Mainline had paved the way for something smaller, was a missed opportunity. Dapol later showed how it should have been done.........albeit with very poor hooks which required filing to a functional shape 🥴! When I was putting some stock together for exhibition use in the early 1990s I had noted the brake shoes aligned with the wheels and finer buffers of Airfix wagon underframes and embarked on a program of mounting all kinds of wagon bodies from Mainline, Wrenn (unpainted, £1 each!) and Hornby Dublo on these - which allowed the use of the small couplers. Removing the hook from one end also removed the need for them to swivel, which meant they could be rigidly attached to other stock too - HD Presflos / Traffic Services tanker and Wrenn milk tankers required nuts and bolts through the original coupling boss, Mainline BR brake vans and shock wagons they were screwed to plastic mounting blocks. I bought these couplers whenever and wherever I found them, usually on club stands at exhibitions. Uncoupling was by magnetic shunter's pole - except for a few early couplers which I discovered had brass hooks! I also used them on Lima Class 117 DMU conversions (and will shortly use four of my remaining stock on a newly-acquired Class 101). Coaches and parcels stock used Dapol couplings and locos a mix of various solutions, some homemade involving a soldering iron, but always ensuring the single-ended hooks were bent or assembled in a central position. Happy days, and I still have them all, long since rewheeled with Hornby metal wheels when they were £3.50 per pack although they haven't been to any shows lately. Well, for nearly two decades actually.......

I bought a pair of large MTK 4mm transfer sheets in the 1970s, one for wagons and one for coaches, and put them to good use when there wasn't much else available - the coach sheet included 'ENPARTS' lettering and I've always intended to stick them on something. I finally got around to it last year, but instead of using an RTR vehicle straight out of a box (and all sorts were employed on ENPARTS traffic) I adopted the 'why keep it simple when with a little bit of effort you can make it complicated' philosophy! Also I wanted a small vehicle...... I was aware of a couple of former GWR 'Fruit C' vans in ENPARTS use, DW150355/6. The 'Fruit C' was basically two/thirds, or a 2-door version, of a 'Fruit D'. I had a Dapol 'Fruit MEX' van on the 11' chassis and a damaged HD 'Fruit D' body to hand, so I measured these to check whether the body shortened by one door and neighbouring X-framed panel would fit on the 11' chassis. It did - exactly! Game on then - a Dapol 11' chassis and unpainted 'Fruit D' body were duly added to an order to Hattons (sigh), total cost £8.31! However I was already aware that an accurate model of DW150356 (the only one of the pair which seems to have been photographed, and is now at GWS Didcot) was going to be unlikely, because this vehicle was mounted on a 12' underframe, and had diagonal bracing on the side end panels and a vertical central brace, both missing on the 'Fruit D' which also had ventilation louvres cut into the planking. Also '356 had Churchward brake gear....... When the parts arrived I quickly realised that this was going to have to be a freelance might-have-been 2-door version of the 'Fruit D', with lever brake gear. One up-side of this was that only one footstep was required below each door instead of two. So the body was shortened as described, and so too the roof, conveniently separate on the Dapol model unlike the one-piece Hornby Dublo version - removing a section to retain the roof end strapping and end fit to the body was a better solution than simply cutting the roof to the required length - the join can be seen in the photo, but it's not obvious to the naked eye. I had hoped that the MTK 'ENPARTS' transfers would fit between the doors in one piece, but no way - too spaced out! I had to separate the letters and apply them individually. These transfers are commendably thin but at this age are rather fragile, so I was glad to get them on (initially they go a little 'milky' but dry clear). Also no way was a number as long as 'DW15035x' going to fit onto the end panels unless I used eye-wateringly small transfers, so I scoured my old transfer sheets and found 'DW' and '1400' which did just fit and AFAICT was never used on a real vehicle. Freelance status confirmed!

And I was concerned about running Bachmann Class 42 & 43 Warships together! The earlier buffer height comparison suggests Heljan is correct, but if it's riding a little too low (and the bogie clearance does look rather tight) jacking it up a bit would undo this. The whole scenario beats me....... .......me too, I still have three, so perhaps we should be doing a comparison of both of these against the Lima model to see who's right 😉! (I'm already plotting my escape route......🤭!) Personally I reckon you'd be OK if you run all Bachmann OR all Heljan 47s on your layout, but if mixed don't let them linger next each other and give them their own stabling sidings on different sides of the depot!

The Class47.co.uk website includes photos of 47256 in two-tone green with 'domino' panel and in plain green, thanks to the prolific Brian Daniels! Images on this site are copyright so here's a link to the loco's photo gallery - the captions explain why '256 received the repaint and where, but it didn't last long as it was clearly well overdue a works overhaul. It's a pity the weather was a bit dull and the loco rather dirty as it hides the shade of green which I believe had a rather fresh-grassy look to it: http://www.class47.co.uk/c47_photos_1.php?index=0&jndex=2&kndex=56&s_loco=47256 Chances are that the photo galleries for one or two of the higher-numbered Class 47/3s which survived into 1976/7 will also have photos of 'domino' ttg locos......

Found it! Flickr pic dated 1st September 1979......

Yes, I'm certain there were a few isolated examples of Classes 20 & 47. 20158 comes to mind (may not be this one but I've definitely seen a photo of one) and I noted 47256 in green with domino panels at Gateshead on 8th May 1977 (in two-tone green as this was some months before its short-lived single-tone repaint).

Gosh yes, I remember that - 1986? I felt so sorry for the organisers who must have spent so much time and money setting it up. IIRC it was blamed on the tail end lashing from a hurricane or typhoon which had crossed the Atlantic, something which we'd rarely if ever heard of at the time, but have regularly since. On August Bank Holiday Monday 2012 I found myself with a free afternoon so decided to get the airbrush out and spray some models - set it all up and just as I was about to press the button the heavens opened........I was spraying out of a window so I backed into the room a little and pressed on while turning the air nearly as blue as the Bachmann Peak and pair of Class 25s I was working on. The moisture in the air did cause a slight issue, I largely got away with it but I was more than a little hacked off at the additional stress imposed! Not a Bank Holiday but I still vividly recall what happened to the 2007 Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford - on the day before, Friday 20th July, it rained solidly all day - I still remember sitting in my car reading Adrian Curtis's 'In Praise of Warships' booklet and eating my lunch while the rain hammered on the roof! I lived and worked in the area for 34 years and had never seen so much water before or since. Having presumably got most of the aircraft in, doubtless at vast expense, the Fairford weekend had to be cancelled due to the waterlogged airfield and main runway, and it has never been the same since. Green 47152 to extreme weather conditions is quite a thread drift 😃 - over and out!

Funny you should mention that, just last month I landed an absolutely mint Lima ER twin set from Howes for £40, with detailing pack, described as a non-runner - a motor strip-down revealed a carbon brush seized in its guide tube, it took a file to get it to move freely so it must have been a rare manufacturing defect, certainly the model shows no sign of use. This was even a version without roof pods and with lining which aligned correctly with the window bars (unlike the one in your link). It does still have the side heater grilles but the dark green paint disguises these to some extent. To cap it all a couple of weeks or so later the same shop listed the rare matching centre car for £17.50 so after I'd stopped choking on my tea I grabbed that as well - it even came with four sets of bogie steps it doesn't need, but I can always find a use for. The centre car's green paint and cream lining is slightly paler than the two power cars (a common problem when supposedly matching models were not manufactured at the same time) but I'm not complaining! It will receive the detailing pack and a few improvements - end details, larger buffers, closer coupling - and a renumber to a Scottish Region unit to accompany my handful of c1967 ScR diesels. The Class 101 was an impressive effort from Lima - the difference between this and the Class 117 shows how far they came in two decades, but sadly this progress did not include the drive system which barely changed at all. I picked up a limited edition Class 50 50040 'Leviathan' and noticed that it had shiny plated wheels but no traction tyres, so rice pudding skins didn't need to worry - this and the 'Lima Collection' box labelling pretty much summed up Lima's philosophy towards the end I think.......

Maybe so, but I still got damp at the Reading Festival around then. Music festivals must just attract their own weather systems (as many Glastonbury-goers will testify!)

I met my Better Half in Belfast in early 1978, when I mentioned my railway interests (large and small) early on she told me her home was close to Adelaide on the Belfast - Dublin main line. I ended up taking a few photos around there...... Just before this and partly as a result of a trip to Scotland the previous year I had converted a Lima Class 33 into a Class 26 and a Hornby Class 25 to an Inverness Class 24, aware that Hornby had announced the Class 29 to go with them - on a visit to Belfast city centre later that year we popped into a model shop and there was the newly-released Class 29 on sale - I purchased one, expressed my disappointment with it and listed all of the features I would have to change (which as many will know was extensive on this abomination!).......she was astonished that I would hack about a brand new product, but at that point she probably realised I took the hobby seriously! We got married anyway, and although she still has zero interest in railways, if we're both at home she knows where I'll be and what I'll be doing while she's watching TV (right now she's into Korean and Chinese dramas on Netflix, these are very long so I'm getting a lot of modelling done 😜!) My following of events on the real railway dwindled to near zero years ago as the current scene is so far removed from what I fondly remember and continues to shrink, so no more solo disappearing acts on that score........ As others have said I have never smoked or had any interest in football, so this is the hobby my money gets spent on. During the years leading up to retirement I will quietly admit to having some locomotives sent to my work address in order to 'thin out' the home deliveries a bit (as many have owned up to!) but I was in the fortunate position of having to take a small pension which kicked in early so I took the opportunity to 'stock up' on known requirements while I was still earning. I do sometimes wonder, though, what her reaction would be if she could see exactly how much stuff I've accumulated over the past couple of decades - both in the drawers in my modelling room and stored in boxes in the loft (although much of the latter is up for disposal at some point following multiple changes of plan!) However when I remember how little I was paying for these compared to current pricing coupled with an eye for a bargain my conscience is.........well, let's say reasonably clear 😊!

SRMs to this design were also used in Cornwall, on the Truro to Newquay (via Chacewater and Perranporth) branch - the line fully opened in 1905 so these were in use from the start, sometimes with trailers, but I'm not sure how long they lasted on this service.

I was the same until 1973/4 when TOPS numbers arrived - I preferred the old numbers I'd had 7-8 years to get used to! I didn't apply TOPS numbers to a model until 1980 when I decided to sell off my old Tri-ang stock and brought a few 'up to date' - including 5687 to 31304 and E3012 to 81008 I recall - to make them more, um, appealing?! The reason for the change at that time was that we already had the remotored Hornby Hymek and Class 47, joined by the Class 25 in 1977 and '29' in 1978 (Class 22 conversion potential) as well as the Mainline Peak, and new Western and Warship models were promised by Hornby, Lima and Mainline - and this presented the opportunity to recreate the pre-TOPS Cornish spotting days of my yoof, so the future direction of my modelling had been settled. However for one reason and another the 1980s had nearly expired by the time I made a start on it, by which time we had a much better Class 47 as well as etched brass conversion kits, a vast range of detailing parts and more authentic paint colours than Humbrol was turning out (their last batch of BR blue was shocking - and very similar to that used by Dapol on their first Class 22 releases.........!)

Ah, proper modelling! I had no need to go that far but I have panelled over a few bodyside steps/boiler fillers and revolved a few engine exhausts in my time 😃!

Yes for sure, which is why I shoved a pair under my MTK D600 in 1993 (powered at one end only, a plastic roof between the cabs saved a lot of weight).

Note that it is dual-braked but still has the fixed radiator roof grilles at the other end - those built new this way (D1631-65 from Crewe and D1782-1806 from Brush) all seem to have been modified to Serck shutters within that year, presumably before the 1965-6 winter could cause frozen radiators. As a result such photos are uncommon.

Back in the very early 1970s I repainted one of those BR Mark 1-based Tri-ang Hornby "Thompson" coaches into blue/grey livery - looking back I was never entirely sure why I bothered.........until a likely explanation surfaced many years later when I obtained a copy of 'Book of the Warships' and noted a June 1968 photo of D827 'Kelly' on 1M39 08.40 Penzance - Wolverhampton working at Plymouth North Road with an ex-LMS 'Porthole' BSK in blue/grey livery immediately behind the loco (identified in another photo I've seen as M26986M). Back then I paid little attention to coaching stock but must have noticed the round toilet windows on one of these vehicles as it passed through Truro on another inter-regional working (not this one as I'd have been in school........yes, even on a Saturday ☹️) and Mr Thompson's oval toilet windows were more round than rectangular so close enough! I certainly can't think of any other reason.......

My money's on @Phil Bullock - his bank account must have recovered from a full set of Bachmann Class 43 Warships by now...................?! 🤭

This is true of many diesel models, not just this one, but is tricky to do neatly. I used to with Hornby and Lima stuff in the increasingly distant past but ageing eyesight puts me off these days, unless I feel it's really necessary. However one notable success recently was a Hornby ex-Lima Class 33 on which I used a black Sharpie around the windscreens - I found that the slightly raised rims helped the felt tip 'track' around the openings, aided by the rounded corners - 5 minutes, done! Isn't it just? I applied etched nameplates to a Mainline Warship, D823 'Hermes' which I'd laboriously remotored with the remains of a Bachmann Mazak rot victim's running gear, certain I'd covered the printed name - posted some pics of the craziness on here and could just see the silver top edge of this poking out - looked at the model and really can't see it, even wearing reading glasses. Must be that ageing eyesight thing again 🤓!

Interesting and ta muchly, I still have a 'noisy runner' and will investigate this! IIRC during the launch of the Airfix model railway range in 1976/7 it was claimed this model could haul 105 of their Mark 2D coaches. That's how I remember it but I can't help wondering about the veracity of such a claim........ I bought a blue one (which eventually became the above-mentioned 5557) plus a WR 'Toad' brake van at a shop in Bristol, the name of which escapes me now, at around 4pm on Saturday 26th February 1977. How do I recall it so well? I'd just watched the final Western diesel-hydraulic tour pass Bedminster Park behind D1013 + D1023 and felt in need of a little retail therapy 😞!

I bought one of those sets for my then very young son, IIRC from WH Smith for just £10.99 (it went into storage for a while!) The fact that the three Mark 2D aircon coaches were hauled by green D5531 instead of the more appropriate blue 31401 suggested a stock clearance exercise, which was probably necessary at the time. The mains controller supplied was a very simple device with two or three stiffly notched positions either side of centre-off which made it almost unfit for purpose - I let my son use my old H&M Duette instead! Sadly he never got into railways, but instead started identifying car marques from their badges while still in his pushchair and is now a walking automotive encyclopedia! Each to their own I guess!! Here's a green one for sale with 'runs well' in the description (usual caveat), for anyone who's interested: https://howesmodels.co.uk/product/airfix-54101-9-class-31-d5531-br-green-boxed/

Me too. Annoyingly Heljan's last batch of Westerns had their nameplates printed off-centre to the left - I have one to renumber/rename, the new etched plates will cover the printed ones (just) but, thanks to this error, 'WE" and surrounds/backing will need removing on both sides. Grrrr!