APT POP TRAIN Kit (under design & construction)

[apt-e]

Thank you very much Michael.

 

Hope you enjoy the build.

 

Regards

 

Paul.

 

[apt-e]

The shrink ray has been busy this week.......

 

Rough prototype.

Edited February 6, 2021 by apt-e

[Mr_Tilt]

On 04/02/2021 at 14:19, pwr said:

 

 

Kit I have been looking at various photos of the Hastings vehicle and seeing what modifications were made to the original buffet. 

 

Can you advise if the side layout was modified more than once in its RTC history as I have seen photos of the same side with different window and door layouts?

 

Thanks 

 

Paul R

 

Hello Paul,

 

Not that I can recall, not in my time anyway. Can you give me a link to the pics you mentioned please?

 

You have to ensure you know which side you're looking at as they're radically different.

 

The buffet bit was removed entirely when we first converted it, the last remaining bit was used as the Guard's compartment, and it's still like that now.

 

There wasn't much left of it anyway as much of the interior had been scrapped, and  the SR were using it a paint store at Micheldever Sidings, which was was where Dave Grant and I found it en route to Southampton.

 

The only visible external change we made in my time was to the paint scheme. Originally the red, blue and white stripes went right round the ends of the vehicle, as you can see in that end-on pic above. At that time the names on the side said 'Laboratary 4 Hastings' at one end, with the RTC title and RDB number at the other. 

 

Later on both vehicle ends were painted yellow and the white stripes re-painted vertically down the ends, with the names updated to show the 'Hastings' title in the centre of the vehicle under the VIP windows.

[apt-e]

N GAUGE HSFV1 under construction......

 

Got a few things to fix but cracking on.

 

Ballast packs to do over the weekend.

 

Not sure anyone is interested in this, but good to design and put in the portfolio.  

 

Edited February 5, 2021 by apt-e

[Shiney Sheff]

Was this wagon part of the PoP train formation or was it on another train, also would there be one or more in a rake and what others would be with it, plus which loco would be used.

 

Bob

[apt-e]

Hi Bob,

Read this .......

 

The National Railway Museum has announced that the nationally significant High-Speed Freight Vehicle 1 (HSFV1) has been donated to Locomotion in Shildon, by the APT-E-Support Group. The HSFV1 made international high-speed travel and freight carrying possible and represents a historic and ground-breaking landmark for rail travel.

It was developed by the Railway Technical Centre in Derby in the late 1960s under Professor Alan Wickens. The outcome of this was the development of new trains to run consistently at high speed across the existing network.

The vehicle was purchased in 2010 by The APT – E Support Group and displayed in Coventry’s Electric Railway Museum, but follows to its recent closure, a new home was needed and with the help of Shane Wilton and Graeme Gleaves from the Electric Railway Museum, the move became possible.

Senior Curator of Rail Transport & Technology at Locomotion, Anthony Coulls, said: “We thank the APT-E Support Group for their kind donation of this seminal vehicle. The research was part of the development of modern rolling stock and we look forward to placing it on display at Locomotion alongside the APT-E, two of the most significant vehicles of late 20th Century railway development.”

 

Kit Spackman and Paul Leadley of the APT-E Support Group, said: “HSFV1 is as important to modern high-speed rail travel worldwide as Stephenson’s Rocket was the development of railway travel originally. It’s very pleasing that at long last it’s been given a proper recognition and a showcase in the Museum’s collection.”

 

Locomotion, which officially became part of the Science Museum Group portfolio in December last year, will also be the new home to the British Rail class 306 no. 306107, later this year. This electrical multiple unit was introduced in 1949 and used on the electrified suburban lines between Shenfield and London Liverpool Street.

The Class 306 electric multiple unit has previously housed at the East Anglian Railway Museum in Essex, where it has been on loan from the National Railway Museum. The unit will return to Locomotion in Shildon for conservation and for public display.

Locomotion houses over 60 historically and significant locomotives and rail vehicles and will give visitors from the North-East and across the country, access to railway history within the collection.

 

Without HSFV1 we would not have high speed trains like HST and APT and many others around the world.

 

HSFV1 was  tested using most motive power.  I have some clips of it being pulled by a peak with a test coach on the back.   Kit said it was mainly used with Lab 3.

I have photos showing Class 50, 47 and even a Class 33!!!!

 

The new wheels and suspension allowed it to run on the roller rig at 140mph without hunting.

 

Its first run was , according to Serco records 1966....

 

I am sure Mr Tilt will add to this.  We thought it had been scrapped a long time ago,  thankfully Serco offered it to us after being contacted by Kit.

 

Hope this helps

 

Regards

 

Paul

 

 

[Mr_Tilt]

There was, and is, only one HSFV1, probably THE most important railway vehicle of the modern age! 

 

Without it, and Prof. Alan Wickens' ground breaking work on rail wheel profiles and suspensions in the 60s, none of the high speed railways world wide would be doing their thing today, with the possible exception of the JNR's Shin Kansen lines, who follow their own, expensive, way of doing things.

 

BR made Alan's work freely available to any and all who needed it, and 'worn wheel profiles' now proliferate amongst all high speed railways, mostly with their own developments from Alan's original work.

 

I might add that the HST profited from his work too, it wouldn't have been able to manage 125 mph day in, day out, for umpteen years without that. You can't see it on an HST Power Car, but hey have long, softly sprung Flexicoil secondary suspension springs, like a later 86 or 87, but they're hidden inside the body shell, and that sift secondary suspension is part of Alan's work too.

 

Serco were about to scrap HSFV1 because they couldn't find anyone who wanted it, but they can't have looked very hard, because as soon as I wrote to them asking what they were going to do with it, they offered to give it to us, which they did. 

 

It wasn't exactly cheap getting it moved from the RTC to the ERM at Coventry, but it was worth every penny. At that time the NRM weren't interested in it (silly people....) but after a few years of non-stop campaigning from Paul and I, they realised their mistake and it's alongside E-Train, where it should have been from the start.

 

And no, they didn't pay me for getting it out of Derby in the first place.................

[apt-e]

A quick paint job.........

 

Need to add some buffers, somehow!

Edited February 6, 2021 by apt-e

[apt-e]

Testing for size..............

[Shiney Sheff]

Thanks for Paul and Kit

 

I'll have one in N when they are done.

 

Bob

[Wolf27]

22 hours ago, Mr_Tilt said:

Later on both vehicle ends were painted yellow and the white stripes re-painted vertically down the ends, with the names updated to show the 'Hastings' title in the centre of the vehicle under the VIP windows.

Like this?

 

Untitled by Shane Wilton, on Flickr

 

cheers

 

Shane

 

[Mr_Tilt]

Almost EXACTLY like that Shane, yes. 

[Wolf27]

We did a 2019 iteration of the lettering and centralised between the saloon windows. It’s a bit small but it’s only temporary. 
 

cheers

 

Shane

[apt-e]

Looks great Shane,  brilliant job.

[Mr_Tilt]

At least people can tell what it is now, the more publicity the better. 

[Wolf27]

Its named twice on the other side

Untitled by Shane Wilton, on Flickr

 

Untitled by Shane Wilton, on Flickr

 

cheers

 

Shane

[Mr_Tilt]

So good they named it twice.  

[John ks]

Here are some pics from the last day of the Electric Rail Museum that might be relevant to this topic & the last few posts 

Kit You may remember me, we had a chat next to The APT power car (probably the only Aussie there at the time)

Talking to Kit was the highlight  of that visit

 

 

John

[Roddy Angus]

Hi Paul

 

My HSFV1 arrived safely yesterday and it looks really good, almost as good as an injection molded kit.  Hopefully I will get started on it today.

 

Can I just ask, does anyone know what colours HSFV wore when?  I understand that it started out as rail blue but was then painted grey, presumably either rail grey or freight grey, does any one know?  I presume it always had warning yellow buffer beam and buffers but does any one know differently.  What colour was the load?  I've tried to find contemporary colour photos of HSFV1 but unsuccessfully so far.

 

Thanks once again for creating this kit of an unusual subject and I look forward to POP2 and Hastings.

 

Best wishes

Roddy

[apt-e]

HSFV1....

 

The instructions have been corrected, thanks to Mike for pointing this out.

 

Re-download the instructions please before building.

 

http:\\www.apt-e.org\leadleykits\00\HSFV1\instructions.docx

 

Sorry all.

 

Regards

 

Paul

 

 

Edited February 7, 2021 by apt-e

[apt-e]

This was the photo I used mainly to help with the model and colours.

 

Paul.

 

[Mr_Tilt]

10 hours ago, John ks said:

Here are some pics from the last day of the Electric Rail Museum that might be relevant to this topic & the last few posts 

Kit You may remember me, we had a chat next to The APT power car (probably the only Aussie there at the time)

Talking to Kit was the highlight  of that visit

 

 

 

 

John

 

Hello John,

 

I certainly do remember chatting with you that day, you were one of the few people there who actually had any idea about what was going on! I'm pretty sure you were the only Ausssie there, yes, but there was a French couple as well, and they seemed wholly mystified about the whole place. 

 

Goodness knows what I was saying in that pic above, but it looks as if I'm laying down the law about something! 

 

Roddy, re HSFV1 colours, if it was anything like the other vehicles we had the colour was whatever came to hand at the time. That's why the E-Train's blue stripe isn't Rail Blue, it's the one that was easiest to get at the time that was 'close enough'. Only after a vehicle had been in service a while were they given 'official' approval and painted in the Red/Blue scheme. 'Hastings' was an exception to this though, and that and 'Trestrol' were some of the very few that were out-shopped in Red/Blue.

 

IIRC HSFV1 was Rail Grey during the time the E-Train and PoP Train were running, but it was being used as a Track Loading vehicle by then, which is why that socking great girder was welded across its frame. Earlier I recall it was Rail Blue, as were the loading packs, but as with all R&D vehicles it was VERY much 'weathered' and the packs tended be more the 'Rail Rust' colour as time went on. 

[Roddy Angus]

Thanks Paul and Kit.

 

Roddy

[apt-e]

A bit more work today,  ballast size ok now, just needs some detail.

 

Paul

 

Edited February 7, 2021 by apt-e

[apt-e]

Finished.......

 

Ballast packs need another coat.

Edited February 8, 2021 by apt-e