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Another attempt at removing the glazing failed, the glue holding it in place being more resilient than the plastic as a test in the guards van area (out of view) revealed. Since the glazing cannot be removed, it can't be sprayed white (I don't want to brush paint it in situ), thus rendering a 131 conversion impractical on this particular vehicle.

 

So I will take the simpler route on this occasion and do it as a class 122 instead, specifically as SC55007 which went to Hamilton in the late 60s (and moved subsequently as one of the first DMUs to be allocated to Eastfield) for use on local Glasgow services as per the notes here:

https://railcar.co.uk/type/class-122/operations

 

So its "ooorff with his head (code box)"!

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  • Signaller69 changed the title to Signaller69's projects: ScR class 122 DMU

The exhausts and cab end glazing I did manage to remove, without issue thankfully. This will need the printed destination blinds removing via polishing (along with the current bodyside numbers & insignia which are located incorrectly for SC55007). 

 

The headcode boxes were carefully sawn away and destination boxes fabricated from plasticard, which were fitted after a small amount of filing and sanding of the hole in the roof. A small amount of Milliput was used to fill the remaining area and this will all be left to harden off overnight.

20211115_231353.jpg.2dccabf16da1fe1c42ad1e9a81df8d82.jpg

 

As I had some Milliput left over, this was used to build the cab roofs further on the next 24, where I hadn't applied quite enough.

 

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When I was researching 131s for my build I found that 55013 was different from 55014 and 55015.

And somewhere between the late 70s and early 80s 55015 was altered to move the additional doors on one side to the end of the body.

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1 hour ago, Waveydavey said:

When I was researching 131s for my build I found that 55013 was different from 55014 and 55015.

And somewhere between the late 70s and early 80s 55015 was altered to move the additional doors on one side to the end of the body.

Yes I saw the photos with the doors moved to the later position on one unit. In my case the 131 will have to wait unfortunately. 

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This build brings back some fond memories, between 1971 and 1974 the Caledonian Main Line was completely closed during the day to allow the extensive engineering works associated with the electrification of the West Coast Main Line to take place. as a result, all daytime passenger trains originating form Glasgow were diverted via Kilmarnock and the Glasgow and South Western Route and the through Perth trains were suspended.  In their place a bizarre service was worked from Perth to Glasgow Central in the morning and back in the afternoon calling at Coatbridge Central in both directions. The route between Coatbridge and Glasgow was either via the then freight only Rutherglen and Coatbridge or via Motherwell and the Hamilton Circle  The service was formed by a three car class 101 Met-Cammell D.M.U. and one of these class 131s.  Whether the parcels traffic was the main reason for running the train or there was a statutory obligation I do not know, as, not surprisingly, it was not well patronized by passengers from the South who probably found it more convenient to cross to Queen Street.  I remember trying to buy a ticket at Glasgow Central to go on this train to Coatbridge Central and found it impossible to convince the clerk that there was even a service available,- and there were certainly no tickets printed.

 

Jim

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On 15/11/2021 at 08:26, Signaller69 said:

The first obstacle on the 131 conversion has been found; the rather nice flush glazing (probably the biggest single improvement over the Lima 117)  is glued into place with copious amounts of very strong adhesive....

20211115_080537.jpg.15e0aa49f8ead6bd6226b6fdb2cef786.jpg

 

Forcibly removing it is almost certain to damage the glazing and/or body shell. My plan involves spraying the outside of the glazing white to simulate the treatment on the real thing, which obviously requires it to be removed, so this is a fairly major setback......

 

I may have to rethink this one.......

ISTR reading somewhere on RMweb, that bunging it in the freezer for a few hours can help with that problem. IIRC it was for a Bachmann 108 - but it might be worth trying?

Edited by leopardml2341
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On 14/11/2021 at 20:15, Signaller69 said:

Edit: one for the coaching stock fans:

whilst looking on the Railcar site, this photo of a standard 122 in Scottish use caught my eye for the Gresley Brake 3rd(?) it is buffered up against; it appears to have the passenger windows boarded over, so presumably in parcels use? Might make a nice unusual vehicle in a late 60s parcels train.....

https://railcar.co.uk/images/108/?id=108

Martyn,

 

That's a weird one. According to my 1974 coaching stock book, the only ex LNER vehicles 'in stock' that fit the photo were 5 wooden bodied Gresley Restaurant / Buffets and a pair of Gresley wooden bodied Post Office Sorting vans, although the notes imply that no ex LNER stock was allocated to the Scottish Region.

 

Ian

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7 hours ago, luckymucklebackit said:

This build brings back some fond memories, between 1971 and 1974 the Caledonian Main Line was completely closed during the day to allow the extensive engineering works associated with the electrification of the West Coast Main Line to take place. as a result, all daytime passenger trains originating form Glasgow were diverted via Kilmarnock and the Glasgow and South Western Route and the through Perth trains were suspended.  In their place a bizarre service was worked from Perth to Glasgow Central in the morning and back in the afternoon calling at Coatbridge Central in both directions. The route between Coatbridge and Glasgow was either via the then freight only Rutherglen and Coatbridge or via Motherwell and the Hamilton Circle  The service was formed by a three car class 101 Met-Cammell D.M.U. and one of these class 131s.  Whether the parcels traffic was the main reason for running the train or there was a statutory obligation I do not know, as, not surprisingly, it was not well patronized by passengers from the South who probably found it more convenient to cross to Queen Street.  I remember trying to buy a ticket at Glasgow Central to go on this train to Coatbridge Central and found it impossible to convince the clerk that there was even a service available,- and there were certainly no tickets printed.

 

Jim

I guess it was aimed only at through passengers from Perth to points south of Glasgow, or vice versa, where the ticket presumably wouldn't specify Glasgow at all, and station staff in the Glasgow area (other than at Central perhaps) would have been none the wiser?

 

7 hours ago, leopardml2341 said:

ISTR reading somewhere on RMweb, that bunging it in the freezer for a few hours can help with that problem. IIRC it was for a Bachmann 108 - but it might be worth trying?

Thanks, will give it a go!

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23 hours ago, ISW said:

Martyn,

 

That's a weird one. According to my 1974 coaching stock book, the only ex LNER vehicles 'in stock' that fit the photo were 5 wooden bodied Gresley Restaurant / Buffets and a pair of Gresley wooden bodied Post Office Sorting vans, although the notes imply that no ex LNER stock was allocated to the Scottish Region.

 

Ian

Perhaps it was in departmental use as a temporary store at the station? 

Certainly several Gresley vehicles ended up in Breakdown Train use etc, but I've not seen any photos of such a vehicle in parcels use or in passenger trains around this time I must admit.

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The cab ends have had the various moulded handrails removed (there were none on the fronts of this 122 in any case, other than the long rainstrip to solebar handrail for the secondmans cab door) and spare 2 character indicators added, before being masked and resprayed. The cab glazing has had the printed destinations polished away and is ready for refitting once the cabs have been varnished. The insignia and unit number have also been removed ready for the new identity to be applied.20211117_150128.jpg.3ca7c3d60b979b65b30c142a35493d37.jpg

 

Next up, the roof will be masked and resprayed.

 

I have since discovered the original Lima class 121 was indeed flush glazed. One wonders if Lima had done another run of 117s prior to their demise, whether these would have been similarly treated? 

 

The joy of conjecture.....:dontknow:

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If Lima had wanted to do another run of the 117 it would have been impossible as the mould was irreverseably altered to make the bubble car. It would have needed a new mould making. But when you look at what they did with this and the 101, a suburban DMU to the same standards would have been a winner. And with a tool to alter the cab front moulding th same body could have been used for the 116,117,118 &125. Plus the driving trailers built to be used with the bubbles. 

 

Looking at the photos on railcar site, these in Scotland with the driving trailers is one of the few times I have seen them used, and they were semi permanently coupled to make power trailer sets I believe.

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13 hours ago, Max Legroom said:

This reminds me of a Monty Wells article in RM back in the early eighties showing the changes required to convert the Lima class 117 to a 122.

Crikey yes, as a teenager they were massively inspirational articles to me, possibly responsible for much of the ensuing butchery over the years!

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6 hours ago, cheesysmith said:

If Lima had wanted to do another run of the 117 it would have been impossible as the mould was irreverseably altered to make the bubble car. It would have needed a new mould making. But when you look at what they did with this and the 101, a suburban DMU to the same standards would have been a winner. And with a tool to alter the cab front moulding th same body could have been used for the 116,117,118 &125. Plus the driving trailers built to be used with the bubbles. 

 

Looking at the photos on railcar site, these in Scotland with the driving trailers is one of the few times I have seen them used, and they were semi permanently coupled to make power trailer sets I believe.

Interesting regarding Lima changing the 117 moulds, from the perspective of the time, such a shame the model was effectively lost from the point they altered the moulds for the 121.

 

The ScR 122's seem also to have been used in some of their infamous hybrid 3 car formations with various other units such as this:

https://railcar.co.uk/images/18762

 

Or with other bubbles & trailers:

https://railcar.co.uk/images/17668

 

From the Railcar photos 55007 seems to have been one which preferred it's own company much of the time, even working a BLS rail tour to Fraserburgh on its own in 1979:

https://railcar.co.uk/images/5499

Edited by Signaller69
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On 18/11/2021 at 19:39, Max Legroom said:

This reminds me of a Monty Wells article in RM back in the early eighties showing the changes required to convert the Lima class 117 to a 122.

 

My first conversion a 117 DMS for my first Lima DMU set

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12 hours ago, luckymucklebackit said:

 

Must be loads of cabless 117s lying on "bits and pieces" boxes as back then many layout at Model Rail Scotland had Hornby class 110s with modified Lima 117 cabs fitted to make a rudimentary class107.

 

Jim

 

Yes indeed Jim.....20210327_151832.jpg.74854e1a5e351ccaddcb8e5f041c53b2.jpg

 

Edit:

Although I should point out that 5 Lima 117 cars donated their chassis to 126 cars, 3 bodies were sold off complete, the other 2 bodies donated their cab ends to the 107 and their roofs to the class 100, leaving just the sides which will be kept to donate doors to a 131 hopefully...

Edited by Signaller69
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The DMU sides you have left. The guards doors will be needed for the 131 conversion. But using the ends and passenger sides they could be cut'n'shut into a 121 driving trailer. 

 

PM me if you want a spare Lima DMU cab. Got two spare chopped off bodies that were going for scrap.

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1 hour ago, cheesysmith said:

The DMU sides you have left. The guards doors will be needed for the 131 conversion. But using the ends and passenger sides they could be cut'n'shut into a 121 driving trailer. 

 

PM me if you want a spare Lima DMU cab. Got two spare chopped off bodies that were going for scrap.

 

Excellent idea.

 

I've been considering a similar build project for a while now (I'd actually intended to keep quiet about it until I get chance to build it - which could be some time, as other projects are ahead of it in the "queue").

 

As I understand it, one major issue with adapting Lima / Hornby tooling for such a build seems to involve checking the length of certain passenger saloon windows behind the driver's cabs. I'm sure there's other stuff.

 

I'll be following this with interest.

 

 

Huw.

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4 hours ago, cheesysmith said:

The DMU sides you have left. The guards doors will be needed for the 131 conversion. But using the ends and passenger sides they could be cut'n'shut into a 121 driving trailer. 

 

PM me if you want a spare Lima DMU cab. Got two spare chopped off bodies that were going for scrap.

Thanks mate, I may do a 122 Driving Trailer at some point if I find another 117 going cheap, plus the planned 131 conversion so will keep your spare cab in mind!:good_mini:

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Sorry, it's all very well Admin putting an apology on top of the page apologising for all the pop up adds, but you CONTROL the page for goodness sake!!!! Anyway I'll stick to Facebook in the meantime, if you want a 2 tier page to push overpriced Chinese made models.

 

Rant over.

 

Later folks.

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12 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

Sorry, it's all very well Admin putting an apology on top of the page apologising for all the pop up adds, but you CONTROL the page for goodness sake!!!! Anyway I'll stick to Facebook in the meantime, if you want a 2 tier page to push overpriced Chinese made models.

 

Rant over.

 

Later folks.

Some weeks ago when the ad thing became very trying I fiddled with the settings in Windows 10 and managed to make them all go away. My RMWeb experience is now 100% ad-free. Trouble is I can't remember what I did, I'm a complete moron when it comes to I.T. But it is possible ! This is something that should maybe be considered - I didn't mind a side-bar with adverts on it, they caused me no pain, but when the ones at the top, middle, and creeping all over the place came along I had to do something about it. Therefore I now see no ads at all. If others do this too then the increased level of ads is actually counter-productive.

 

Nice model by the way. Out of interest I had a Lima 117 when it came out, about 1982, and it definitely wasn't flush glazed back then. 

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