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Napkin-list of RTR 00 stock that is broadly accurate?


Lacathedrale
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Hi guys,

 

I'm looking to put together what is shaping up to be an LMS secondary urban terminus layout set in the pre/early war years. Train lengths need to be 4-5 carriages maximum. Some very kind souls in the 7mm forum advised that (paraphrased and maybe misinterpreted):

 

- Six wheel pre-grouping stock would have dissappeared

- Bogie pre-grouping stock would have been on slower secondary/branch services

- Mainline services would be a mixture of wooden and steel carriages, with both high and low waisted windows in all three paint schemes.

 

In addition to that, it seems that roughly speaking:

 

- Non-corridor sets were for outer suburban use and in semi-fixed rakes.

- Most trains (or sections thereof, if splitting) would  consist of a brake third either side of one or two of a composite, third or first.

- Full brake and random parcels vans also on the table.

 

With that in mind I'm looking at putting together two initial trains:

 

BT, TO, BT in suburban coaches

BR, CK, BTK in standard coaches

 

Should I take it for granted that the price being asked for the various coaches online reflects their quality? The new Hornby ones at £40 each seem very steep - but I'm not clear how much work would be required for the Dapol (£8) or Airfix (£13), or Bachmann (£22).

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Forty quid is the new normal for properly detailed stock from Hornby. Current (recently tooled) Bachmann generally starts at over £50 and their "Portholes" are BR rather than LMS anyway.

 

The etches, castings, glazing etc. needed to get the old Dapol or Mainline/Bachmann models up to scratch will push the overall cost to within a whisker of the Hornby prices. 

 

I worked over an Airfix 3-set over a decade ago , and the above, plus metal wheels and close coupling units brought the total cost (then) to just over £100.

 

Bear in mind also that the Airfix/Dapol non-corridors are what was known as Inter-District stock, the Hornby ones are more appropriate for short distance suburban/branch line use.

 

John

Edited by Dunsignalling
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Other than Dapol the only CK available for LMS pre-WW2 would be the Bachmann 57ft panelled one. These were built c1925 and later until BR maroon days. Get either Bachmann or Replica Railways, the latter being regularly available on a well known auction site. Earlier models had plastic wheels and the gangways on Replica ones are prone to breaking up, but can be replaced with Comet ones.

Other alternatives are to use Comet sides on RTR donors.

Edited by TheSignalEngineer
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Other than Dapol the only CK available for LMS pre-WW2 would be the Bachmann 57ft panelled one. These were built c1925 and later until BR maroon days. Get either Bachmann or Replica Railways, the latter being regularly available on a well known auction site. Earlier models had plastic wheels and the gangways on Replica ones are prone to breaking up, but can be replaced with Comet ones.

Other alternatives are to use Comet sides on RTR donors.

 

Of course, it all depends what level of detail/accuracy you are willing to accept. Personally, I find the old Airfix/Dapol coaches perfectly acceptable and very good value in kit form from Dapol.

 

Using them as a basis (with two chassis lengths available) with Comet sides gives a good range of diagrams to model.

 

Going back to OP, nearly all LMS trains were fixed formation with some very complex working arrangements which could see a rake cover a wide part of the network over the course of a week. Where necessary, for busy days, a couple of carriages would be added to the fixed rake for one of the journeys. These extras would often be older stock.

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Bear in mind that the Airfix/Dapol lavatory brake third and lavatory composite represent coaches that were built in rather smaller numbers than many other types - only 25 of each. Of course rule 1 means you can always find a reason to justify a pair on your particular services.

 

There would be plenty of pre-grouping carriages mixed in with LMS standard types, particularly LNWR 57ft and Midland 54ft/57ft elliptical-roofed types built post-Great War - only just starting to push 20 years old and not readily distinguishable from early LMS standard types at first glance.

 

The other point that I find myself repeating again is that in the late 30s/early 40s, very many - I would say the great majority - of LMS carriages would still be fully lined out Midland style; the simplified livery only came in in the mid-30s. Watch Brief Encounter for evidence! 

 

The LMS only really looked like what most people think of as typically LMS in the 1950s...

Edited by Compound2632
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The Airfix/Capol LMS CL and BTL were some of the last non-corridor lavatory coaches built by the LMS in 1930.

 

They had previously done 30 x FL, 154 x CL and 248 x BTL to Period 1 57ft designs between 1926 and 1929. The others were 54ft CLs for for the LT&S, twenty to Period 1 style between 1924 and 1929, six in 1930 to Period 2 style and four to Period 3 style in 1935.  (Source Jenkinson & Essery)

 

From 1930 onwards the LMS used older corridor coaches displaced by new builds for longer distance stopping trains although it was common to see a non-corridor strengthener added to a corridor set at busy times. 

 

 

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  • 7 months later...

I run sets of four 57ft Period 1 corridor coaches on Sumatra Road under Rule 1 of model railways. In BR parlance the set is Brake 2nd-CK-CK-Brake 2nd with the composites coupled 1st Class to 1st Class, plus 42' bogie CCT on outer suburban if it's working into Broad Street during peak hours. Totally fictional but the only option to make up a reasonable sized four car rake with that diagram of vehicle given there were no other variants manufactured.

Edited by Baby Deltic
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