Suitable Loco for a Lined Maroon Autocoach

[MartynA]

Following advice on here I purchased a new Bachmann Autotrailer in Lined Maroon. I was astounded by the fine detail on it, miles apart from the stock I last bought in the 90s! The problem now is that the Hornby 14xx that I was going to buy to put with it is in their Railroad range and, whilst good, will not do the detail of the coach justice. Please can someone suggest a new, unweathered loco with a late BR crest that is the correct type and of similar detail to the coach? Many thanks again for all of your help!

[MartynA]

My research has got to here, Bachmann 32-135b 45xx.  Would this be correct or not? Thanks again for your time!

[DCB]

If you want to run Push Pull with the loco propelling it is 14XX ,64XX , 54XX or one of a few 45/55XX which were auto fitted so watch the number. All these had class members which ran in lined green. The Hornby 14XX model looks a lot better than it runs. we have the bits of about seven and two which run (badly)  The Hattons 14XX is excellent, bit touchy over dips in the track, won't go round 1st radius, not happy on 2nd.  AFAIK no one makes a 54XX, the Bachmann 64XX is brilliant but they were used on the heavier services generally, 2/3/4 coaches.

However at the end of steam, and the Maroon is about 1956? after the withdrawal of 14XX and 45XX had started, then shortage of locos led to non auto engines working auto coaches just like ordinary stock, except they could still collect passengers from ground level halts with their retractable steps.

41/51/61XX in lined green might have hauled them.  If you wanted black then The Gloucester Chalford Auto Trains ran with 94XX on occasion, and the Cheltenham Honeybourne Autos mayt have propelled with 94XX on occasion as there are photos of them in Malvern road bay where they reversed, unless the St James Pilot top and tailed them into St James.   The 94XX were not much cop as shunters so they tended to sit around doing very little for their short miserable lives but they could go and were times at 60 MPH on 8 coach trains so quite capable of timing an auto.

[TomJ]

The push pull fitted locos were (as mentioned) the 14xx, 64xx and 54xx. Some of the 4575 prairies (the ones with the larger sloping tanks) were autofitted in about 1953. Liveries are a bit of a minefield! Earlier could include lined black, later lined green 

 

Some branches however used autocoaches in conventional trains for the retractable steps at halts. I know of the Lambourne and Watlington branches but there may be others. 

[dibber25]

If you use an auto coach with a non-auto fitted loco, you will need to run the loco round at the end of each journey, as you can't propel. The Bachmann auto trailer in lined maroon is late in the careers of these vehicles and, if you want to be really authentic, then you need a lined green 14xx. You could get away with a Bachmann 64XX although they did tend to be used on workings with more than one coach. I'm not aware of Hawksworth auto trailers appearing on the Lambourn branch. There were no rail-level platforms, so no need for auto coach steps, and generally, if the railcar was not available a pannier tank and an ordinary corridor coach were substituted. (CJL)

[jim.snowdon]

Although there will have been a period of several years when black locomotives could have appeared with maroon coaching stock.

 

Jim

[TomJ]

I don’t know enough about coaches to know which autocoaches were which. But there are definitely lots of pictures of autocoaches of some kind being used on the Lambourne Branch. I’m not sure why - like you say there weren’t any rail level halts. 

[Steamport Southport]

Personally if I was going to get anything to go with it, it would be the Bachmann 64XX.

 

Preferably in BR lined green like this one. Unfortunately the problem is finding one.

 

https://www.hattons.co.uk/60879/Bachmann_Branchline_31_637_Class_64xx_0_6_0_Pannier_Tank_6412_in_BR_lined_green_with_late_crest/StockDetail.aspx

 

Black one here for a good price, but early crest.

 

https://www.themodelcentre.com/31-636A/

 

If you want evidence they "look right" with a single auto trailer here it is.

 

 

Photo copyright and more photos here. George Jones or John Rutter, I think.

 

http://www.llangollen-railway.org.uk/sloco6430.html

 

 

There is nothing else available that is good enough or suitable without resorting to kits. Avoid the Hattons/DJM 14xx if possible. It has well documented problems. With the demise of DJM I would think carefully before purchasing something that may not be under warranty.

 

I reckon a 4575 2-6-2T looks too large for just pottering about with an auto trailer. But it's something that you could put in the bracket of "that will do for now".

 

Large Prairies and 94XXs would never have hauled them. 

 

 

 

Jason

[Steamport Southport]

Just searched for 6422.

 

It went for scrap still in BR Black with early crest. Here it is in 1963 awaiting scrapping and also a photo of it with an autotrailer.

 

https://www.rail-online.co.uk/p647340826

 

 

 

Jason

[The Johnster]

A lined maroon autocoach dates to 1958 or later; the maroon livery appeared in 1956 but was initially unlined for non-gangwayed stock, with the lining applied to all passenger stock from 1958, at the same time as the 'ferret and dartboard' totem began to appear on locomotives.  From 1956, the WR used the full passenger lined green livery on auto-fitted locos, i.e. 14xx, 54xx, 64xx, and 4575 classes (and a lot of other locos besides).  There is a sort of progression with these classes in that the 14xx, a replacement for auto fitted Metro and 517 class locos, were considered not powerful enough for work involving more than one trailer, and the 54xx was developed from the 2021 class to cope with this.  Branches in South Wales with steeper gradients were given 64xx with smaller driving wheels, and some members of the 4575 small prairie class were auto fitted in 1953 by BR to cope with heavier loads, again largely in South Wales where a new timetable had been introduced involving more auto working.  Up to 4 trailers could be coupled to a loco, 2 on each end, the limit of 2 being set by the physical limitations of the control linkage; more than 2 trailers from the loco had too much play for effective control.  

 

Such 4-trailer trains with the loco sandwiched between the trailers were common in the Plymouth area, and in South Wales 4575s with 2 trailers behind the bunker and 1 ahead of the smokebox were used.  My own layout, Cwmdimbath, is based loosely on Abergwynfi, and I have seen several photos of rakes of up to 3 auto trailers hauled by 57xx panniers at this station, which of course entailed running around for the return journey to Bridgend.  Apparently Tondu shed was not allocated sufficient auto fitted locos to cover it's work adequately, and this is in the early and mid 50s before withdrawals made auto fitted locos thinner on the ground.

 

For hauling a single trailer with an RTR loco for your period, a lined green 14xx or 64xx is probably the best bet, but a black one with the older 'unicycling lion' totem would not be impossible.  

Edited June 7, 2019 by The Johnster

[Marshall5]

Several of the 14xx survived to the end in unlined black with the early 'cycling lion' crest - the preserved 1466 being one example.

Ray.