GWR Suburban Coach Detailing

[steved9999@gmail.com]

I have a number of old Airfix GWR Suburban Coaches which I would like to detail,  Can anyone point me in the direction of any articles written on detailing these coaches particularly on the colours to be used on the interior of these coaches rather than the cream of the standard model.  I am sure someone will have written something over the years these have been available.

 

Many thanks

[The Johnster]

No, though you are right there must’ve been some.  I can do a quick run through of my own working up of an Airfix B set, though, in the hope that it’ll be of some use!  

 

They come apart easily enough; pull the bogies out and put somewhere safe, gently prise the body/roof moulding off the chassis with a small screwdriver, and undo the 4 cross head screws that hold the seating units in place.  I put little bits like this in a lump of Blutac to prevent them making a break for the border/being stolen by space elves from the planet Zarg/sacrificed to the carpet monster. The seating unit will now separate off. 

 

Body first; I didn’t like the prismatic effect of the glazing and removed it to replace with clear plasticard.  The down side of this is that the windows are too deeply inset from the body sides but I prefer mine this way, as I think the lack of the prism effect makes the windows look the correct size.  It also makes it easier to apply the ‘first’ and ‘no smoking’ transfers which are put on the inside of the window when the new glazing is glued in. 

 

I also replaced the shell ventilators with cast whitemetal ones from Comet.  If you can manage it, which I couldn’t, removing the door handles and replacing them with brass ones from Comet is worth the effort.  You carve the old ventilators/handles off, drill suitable size holes to glue the new items into, and, well...

 

Now for the hard part; the guard’s brake compartment window on one side is not there in reality and must be filled in.  Looking at the set from the side, the errant window is the one on the right end of the set.  I used Milliput, sanded down to a flush finish.  This means that the coach must be repainted, but this was essential anyway in my case as mine were BR livery and Airfix’s interpretation of this was a very odd, and completely incorrect, sort of purple.  GW Livery with lining is much harder!

 

Now the seating, a painting job.  Dark grey for the floor lino, red for second class seats, light grey for first class, cream for compartment dividers and internal side and door surfaces.  If you  are going to put any passengers in, now’s the time to do it, and perhaps some old newspapers or magazines strewn on seats.  The internal walls of the brake compartments need painting cream as well.  You can make up a little plasticard guard’s compartment as well but it’s not easily seen from the outside and I didn’t bother. 

 

Chassis is a question of how far you want to go; battery boxes and dynamos in cast whitemetal from Comet, new buffers, and tail lamp brackets were what I did, but the plastic support girders can be replaced with brass as well.  Correct size buffers make a big difference, and if I was doing it now I’d replace the bogies with the very good Hornby, or Stafford Works/Shapeways 3D printed, examples, both of which accept NEM couplers.  

 

Then it’s a matter of repainting the outside of the bodyshell, applying transfers, varnishing, and reassembling, congratulating yourself for having the foresight to keep the screws safe, and putting you B set back into service.  I replaced mine with Hornby Collett suburbans as soon as they came out in BR crimson, and have converted them to an ersatz all 3rd in unlined 1956 maroon, but that’s another story!

 

[steved9999@gmail.com]

Thanks for your suggestions, are you sure about the grey for first class i would have expected blue!  Anyone got colour photos of the interior of first and third class compartments for GWR coaches?

 

Anyone tried the shawplan glazing?

 

[Steamport Southport]

GWR First Class compartment of the era. From Wiki by Geoff Sheppard

 

GWR coach E164 BCK 7377 first class compartment

 

 

If you look here there are a few pictures of First and Third compartments.

 

http://www.gw-svr-a.org.uk/6045-restoration.html

 

 

Jason

[Miss Prism]

I'm conscious of the need to do a page, or at least something, on coach interiors on gwr.org because the subject gets raised on a regular basis.

 

(This message only here so that I can find this thread again in the future.)

 

[The Johnster]

We'd be most grateful, ma'am, or at least I would, especially as regards non-gangwayed stock and auto trailers!

[Steamport Southport]

There's an interesting page of seat fabrics (moquette) on the Bluebell site. Mostly SR and pre grouping. But some BR.

 

By and large they seem to be mostly all using similar colours for the classes. Blueish First and reddish/pink Third.

 

http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/cw/moquette/index.html

 

 

 

Jason

[Il Grifone]

Later on in the BR period I would have expected the standard blue for first class and maroon for second, but before that the GWR colours, though probably rather/extremely grubby.  I was too young to remember the colours at the time (vague memories of dark red) and first class would have remained a mystery. There should be a leather strap to lower the door light but I do remember these were often missing. Allegedly they made good/cheap razor strops, but again I was too young.... (I missed my stop at Clifton Down once because of this. I didn't have enough strength in my hand* to open the slam door lock and couldn't open the window because the strap was missing.... The tale does go on, but I'll cut it short for once!)

 

*Childproof locks aren't a new invention!

 

Colour photos of the GWR interiors are extremely unlikely. Monochrome film was expensive enough (6d (60p) for an 'enprint'. I forget how much for the film and processing), but I  remember being excited around 1970 to find that colour slides worked out at about 1/- each. Colour film was also extremely slow at the time, ASA10 or less and flashbulbs were also expensive.

[The Johnster]

I suspect that nearly all GW non-gangwayed stock was withdrawn with the filthy remains of the original upholstery, but I do recall BR moquette in Stanier and Bulleid stock, and Bulleid emus.  The droplight straps can easily be modelled in the form of dark brown or black strips; of course, if you're building Comet coach kits with open and part open droplights the length has to be adjusted...