MattA

The Ilfracombe branch springs to mind regarding the motive power on steep gradients in Southern Region territory - Light Pacifics, Ns, BR 4MT tanks and sometimes GWR moguls too. I've also seen a picture of a GWR 2251 on railtour duty down that branch as well.

That website is a gold mine, and I made plenty of use of it when coming up with my version of the Sidmouth/Budleigh Salterton branch, and my own vision of the 'new' Sidmouth station (similar layout to this, but with a second through platform added on and the goods shed repositioned accordingly). I think that the Disused Stations website is a very useful first port of call for those looking to model a location based on one of many now-closed railways, before diving into the various books available on the matter.

I ordered a new Mogul and it arrived this morning, with two of the buffers floating around in the box. At least the buffers were easy to put back where they should have been - but that ease was probably how they became detached in transit in the first place! Running it in gave me a more positive view of the model. It looks nice and runs very nicely and quietly too, although the gearing is far from perfect. The tender coupling is a joy to use too, much easier than dealing with other models' tenders. Unfortunately, I hooked it up to a train and found that it couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding - the moment it reached a small incline it slipped to a stop. I thought that the Hornby large prairie was a bit gutless, but that made mincemeat of the same hill with the same train! The only model in my fleet that struggles more with such a train is an Andrew Barclay, which is certainly excusable given its small size.

Some interesting ideas there, @KeithMacdonald. Given the amount of development around Littleham as it was swallowed into Exmouth, I imagine that there would be insufficient room left to put a turntable in by the time preservationists got their hands on the site, even with the demolition of one of the platforms. But the areas around the Ottery St Mary and Tipton St John station sites both have room for such a thing (ignoring the industrial estate/tennis courts at their respective locations, that would never have been built if the stations were still extant!). Therefore, my current thinking is to have the OVR sheds/workshops/other such facilities split between those two locations. I definitely have my eyes on mainline charters, albeit terminating at Sidmouth where I'm thinking that a bay platform (probably a remnant of this Sidmouth station originally being terminus) can be used to store ECS, similar to Kingswear.

Here's my little contribution to the world of the imaginary. Here's supposing that the building of Sidmouth station didn't recieve quite so much opposition from the locals, and was built closer to the coastline. My next 'what if' scenario is if the Budleigh Salterton branch had been built as an extension of the Sidmouth branch and not split off at Tipton St. John's. Favourable adjustments to the local topology and a tunnel under Peak Hill, just west of Sidmouth, would have been necessary for this. What was East Budleigh station is now on the other side of the river, serving the two settlements either side of the river. The line then continues into Budleigh Salterton and Exmouth as it did in reality. For the purposes of my own modelling, I'm imagining that the branch was marginally more successful, now that it links Exmouth to the Sidmouth coastline. I suppose that it was transferred to the Western Region in the 1960s and survived as part of the BR network until the early 1970s. As in real life, building developments in Exmouth quickly ate up the branch line route as far as Littleham, but in my imaginary world preservationists managed to take over the line from Littleham to Ottery St. Mary - a total of about 11 1/2 miles. Furthermore, the 3 miles of track to Sidmouth Jct (now Feniton) remains intact and allows the heritage railway to have a main line connection.

Bachmann 32-102K: typically sells for £70-85 on ebay. Now check out this madness: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bachmann-32-102K-Class-08-Diesel-Shunter-08484-Port-Of-Felixstowe-Locomotive/393202860046

You're quite right - I just had a look at the box for my own 49395 and the small emblem is indeed on the box end.

Hornby's many re-runs of Mallard and Flying Scotsman, not to mention their streamlined Duchess of Hamilton and - a few years ago now - Bachmann's 13000 and 49395 would beg to differ?

My hopes exactly!!

It's certainly different but I'm not a fan. Very messy and incohesive. A far way away from the classy 2020 livery.

I'm pretty sure the answer to that will be "no"

Here's a list that might be of interest, then - individual locomotives either with some sort of known effort made to try and preserve them, or could well have survived by other means with a bit more luck. Most of the loco types featured probably aren't too shocking, but there are several J15s and IoW O2s mentioned and I even found an excuse for a Midland 1P! Preserved might have beens.pdf There's also a lot that the list doesn't include... For one thing, the list only features steam locos that are (or will be) available in RTR form. The following are also not in the list, as they would simply be too much for me to include individually: Diesel locomotives Locomotives that survived until near the end of steam in their respective regions. Includes (but not limited to) several Black 5s, 8Fs, Fairburns, BR 4-6-0s, 9Fs, Bulleid Pacifics, USA tanks, K1s, Q6s, J36s and Manors. Locomotives that were withdrawn from the same shed and at about the same time as engines that were sent to Barry - I like to imagine a little change in the paper work could have got them sent to Barry! Includes (but not limited to) several Halls, 2251s, various GWR/LMS/SR moguls, 4Fs, 7Fs, Jintys, more Bulleid Pacifics and more BR Standards. The N7s withdrawn at the point of Stratford shed's closure - Stratford was infamous for resisting sending ex-GER locos to scrap, as demonstrated by the J15s in the above list. Individual Hunslet Austerities - because there's so many of them!! So @Firecrackeryour 4F, Jinty and 4MT 4-6-0 are perfectly justifiable (and justify them you have), but they aren't strictly included in the PDF list for reasons explained above. Much like I've justified 4564 (last of the 4500s to be withdrawn) on my own line.

In case you fancied adding an actual 8750 to the fleet, there are a couple of good candidates; I mention 3612 above as this was taken from Barry to the SVR and dismantled for spare parts for other locos. 3681 and 3758 were set aside for preservation on the proposed Yatton line preservation scheme in 1966. When the Yatton project fell through, the two Panniers were sent for scrap. 9792 survived at NCB Mardy until 1973. In fact I have a pretty extensive list of possible 'could have been preserved' engines on my PC, made as part of my own research into possible locos for my own layout - I must get round to posting that sometime...

Those transfers look good. I like the detail of the wheelchair-accessible coaches too - just right for a preserved line! ..but, and I hate to break this to you, the cab is wrong for 7739! The real 7739 had the original 57xx cab with the round portholes. It makes me tempted to come up with a story as to how it ended up with a 8750-type cab! Maybe spare parts from 3612?

I'm curious as to what other people are suggesting - and I reckon that there's no harm in sharing our thoughts! I've filled out the form and suggested a pre-grouping type that got post-grouping use and survived in industrial use well into the 1960s, and is now represented in preservation. Any guesses?

Unfortunately none of the ex-NSR locos made it into BR ownership, which counts against the chances of any being produced RTR. That said, the 'New L' class has a pretty diverse history - as well as being LMS stock into the 1930s, 5 of the Belpaire-firebox'd ones were sold to Manchester collieries (including the preserved one) and a round-topped firebox example went to the Longmoor Military Railway. Now that I think about it, Rapido do have the suggestion box open for new RTR locos...

I have read a story in another forum that there was an attempt to preserve one of the 'Victory's, but this fell through when a building was demolished on top of the loco at a South Wales colliery. Does anyone have a clue which of the 'Victory's it was? Given their locations I suspect it would be one of the two Aberaman engines - 18 and 19 (formerly IW&D 10 and 15) were scrapped as late as 1969.

After the wonkiness of the large prairie samples shown yesterday, this is rather more promising.

Maybe not quite what you had in mind, but 6147 was painted into BR unlined green at some point - pictured fresh from overhaul in April 1964 6135 and 6141 were also unlined green. Pictured in February and May 1964 respectively: https://plumbloco.smugmug.com/Trains/Old-Oak-Common-MPD/i-27j3NMH https://plumbloco.smugmug.com/Trains/Old-Oak-Common-MPD/i-CGXKkwx 6144 was another unlined green one 6163 was lined green by August 1959: This eBay listing of all things shows 6157 in lined green, apparrently circa 1959: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PHOTO-GWR-61XX-NO-6157-1959-AT-PADDINGTON-LIGHT-ENGINE-/362614681975 ...and that's about all from a quick Google search!

The idea of Hornby adapting their large prairie chassis to other things is all well and good, but the motor could definitely use an improvement on the gutless one that they put in the new prairie.

Pioneering it would be, but hardly the most profitable.

Now that you've pointed it out, it is obvious that Dapol's interpretation of the chimney is spectacularly tall and/or slim in comparison.

Dapol have announced that an update on the Manor will be issued on Monday 8th Feb: https://www.Dapol.co.uk/78xx-Product-Update

I must admit I'm slightly concerned about the running plate. Either I'm subject to optical illusions, or it looks like it doesn't quite align with the bottom of the side tanks (and has a very mild curve near the front). That being said, it's not as blatant as some of Hornby's efforts in the past decade (particularly the 42xx/5205s with curved frames).

That's a seriously wonky smokebox numberplate...