BR Class 48’s in BR blue

[TravisM]

I see Model Rail with the help of Heljan are doing expression’s of interest regarding the Class 48 and I wondered if any of them were painted in BR Blue before they were converted back to a standard Class 47.  I know only five were built and were painted in two tone green with small yellow warning panels, some later got the all over panels but stayed in green.

 

I might be interested in one but preferably in blue.

[BrushVeteran]

Not as far as I've been able to ascertain Jools, I have pictures of all of them in green with full yellow ends, some at Crewe Works, very near to the dates when they went into works for conversion to 47's so I'm pretty certain no Class 48's made it into blue livery.

[45125]

8 hours ago, BrushVeteran said:

Not as far as I've been able to ascertain Jools, I have pictures of all of them in green with full yellow ends, some at Crewe Works, very near to the dates when they went into works for conversion to 47's so I'm pretty certain no Class 48's made it into blue livery.

As there was quite an extensive rebuild of the roof when converted they would have come out of Crewe in blue.

 

[slilley]

No they were all painted blue on conversion to Class 47 specification.

 

1702 as well as being converted to Class 47 specification was changed from a series-parallel to an all-parallel locomotive as parts were used from the accident damaged 1908 which was being dismantled at Crewe when 1702 was there. BR decided to re-engine the other 48s using Class 47 engines from the existing spares pool.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

I have a photo of 1702 at Chesterfield shortly after its conversion in blue livery, no D.

Back in the days of no internet, mobile phones or inside information I thought it was one hell of a cop, until I realised that it was just an ordinary Brush 4!

 

Mike.

 

 

[Clive Mortimore]

18 hours ago, jools1959 said:

I see Model Rail with the help of Heljan are doing expression’s of interest regarding the Class 48 and I wondered if any of them were painted in BR Blue before they were converted back to a standard Class 47.  I know only five were built and were painted in two tone green with small yellow warning panels, some later got the all over panels but stayed in green.

 

I might be interested in one but preferably in blue.

Better get on a paint mine in green.

 

Sorry but RTR is taking the fun out of researching, planning and modelling.

 

[russ p]

Be  interesting to see if anyone does  sound for them . I know there are some French locos with the same power units but whether the silencing arrangement is similar I don't know 

[jessy1692]

Oh well thats just typical! Just as im collecting bits to finally do a 48 someone nearly announces one! 

Tbh i cant see this one coming off, you really need to know what to look for to spot a 48 and 5 out of 512, all in the same green livery and a service life of just few years  i dont think enough interest/novelty value like GT3, Fell et al which have come to fruition.

Having said that, you just never know, it may get legs and make it but ill still be making my own, like Clive i really enjoy the research and planning and then the build to make something, iv even planned to sound chip it with the French 68000 class sound unit. (I think whoever does the Kestrel sounds have used this too)

Will keep an eye on developments, and as far as i have found all in two tone green until rebuild.

Cheers

James

Edited August 5, 2020 by jessy1692

[Halvarras]

Although Heljan's new Class 47 provides a basis for plugging this gap in the TOPS listing I entirely agree with your '5 out of 512' comment, this smacks of desperation. The vast majority of modellers would have to compare photos to spot the differences, so I don't see the point. At least it's only at the expressions-of-interest stage. Press ahead with your own project James, it'll be more satisfying anyway.

 

I found D1702/3/5 inside Crewe Works during a visit on 3 Nov 69, all in green livery with full yellow ends. No sign of D1908 (D1702's engine donor), so it was a good job I'd seen it the previous year!

 

There is one TOPS class crying out for an updated version (understatement) - the Andrew Barclay Class 06. Perhaps Model Rail and the Class 17/26/27 producer should look at taking that one on instead......

[jessy1692]

40 minutes ago, Neil Phillips said:

Although Heljan's new Class 47 provides a basis for plugging this gap in the TOPS listing I entirely agree with your '5 out of 512' comment, this smacks of desperation. The vast majority of modellers would have to compare photos to spot the differences, so I don't see the point. At least it's only at the expressions-of-interest stage. Press ahead with your own project James, it'll be more satisfying anyway.

 

I found D1702/3/5 inside Crewe Works during a visit on 3 Nov 69, all in green livery with full yellow ends. No sign of D1908 (D1702's engine donor), so it was a good job I'd seen it the previous year!

 

There is one TOPS class crying out for an updated version (understatement) - the Andrew Barclay Class 06. Perhaps Model Rail and the Class 17/26/27 producer should look at taking that one on instead......

Cheers Neil, work will be starting shortly once a donor lima 47 body arrives, and the weather cools down! It has been in to do plans for a while thanks to a certain Mr Mortimer. 

Agreed on the 06, i am very surprised its not been done up to modern standards yet, im sure someone will be planning to do it. Sneaking suspicion Hornby might be, dont know why but i think the fact Heljan havnt announced it after the 05 & 07 makes me wonder.

All the best

James

Edited August 6, 2020 by jessy1692
Spelling and general wordery

[adb968008]

I wouldnt mind a cuban, if they are looking for ideas.

 

Ive thought about chopping up a Triang continental, or a couple of Athearn f units to make vents, headlights and side number lights and do one.

Edited August 7, 2020 by adb968008

[jessy1692]

15 hours ago, adb968008 said:

I wouldnt mind a cuban, if they are looking for ideas.

 

Ive thought about chopping up a Triang continental, or a couple of Athearn f units to make vents, headlights and side number lights and do one.

Now that would be an interesting commission, very unique and would stand out and appeal to the more novelty end of the market. Id probably go in for one but now you have me thinking about some old trans cos i have knocking about! 

[TravisM]

16 hours ago, adb968008 said:

I wouldnt mind a cuban, if they are looking for ideas.

 

Ive thought about chopping up a Triang continental, or a couple of Athearn f units to make vents, headlights and side number lights and do one.

 Wasn’t one test run over BR metals?  I seem to remember reading that one ran very late at night from Loughborough to Derby and back.  I also remember there was a lot of subterfuge with the batch due to sanctions against Cuba.

Edited August 7, 2020 by jools1959

[adb968008]

6 minutes ago, jools1959 said:

 Wasn’t one test run over BR metals?  I seem to remember reading that one ran very late at night from Loughborough to Derby and back.  I also remember there was a lot of subterfuge with the batch due to sanctions against Cuba.

They were all test run, shunted by dhp1 too.

Derby to Birmingham to Bristol

heres one with 0Z00 chalked on still in primer

http://www.class47.co.uk/c47_zoom_v3.php?img=0146020321000

 

considering it was supposed to be secret, theres no end of pictures

http://www.class47.co.uk/c47_feature_423.php

 

 

 

 

[TravisM]

1 hour ago, adb968008 said:

They were all test run, shunted by dhp1 too.

Derby to Birmingham to Bristol

heres one with 0Z00 chalked on still in primer

http://www.class47.co.uk/c47_zoom_v3.php?img=0146020321000

 

considering it was supposed to be secret, theres no end of pictures

http://www.class47.co.uk/c47_feature_423.php

I seem to remember that they were painted in BR colours to throw off inquisitive journalists and “spy’s”.

[adb968008]

3 hours ago, jools1959 said:

I seem to remember that they were painted in BR colours to throw off inquisitive journalists and “spy’s”.

Railway enthusiasts make great spies.

They see through the minutest detail.

 

Slight aside, in the 1990’s  I was in Monino AFB (before it became an open museum, it required special written permission to visit). When I arrived, the guard inspected my passport, and that of my russian translator. They had a short dialog, and went in. I was quite the celebrity as at this point very few western europeans visited, and the base was still active. The translator said he inspected his passport as well as mine to check he was a Russian, I asked how did he know for sure. His reply was fake Russian passports from the west were easy to identify, as the staples dont rust. Btw his English was perfect, which is something Ive been told is a giveaway for kgb training, non-spies have dialects... I arrived by train from Hungary and left by plane for San Francisco and had interesting career at the time, so ive no doubts he, during the day, and the girls in the hotel who followed my every move at night, including knowing my room number and speaking english,  had other interests. Still they pandered to my bizarre personal requests, such as viewing various Moscow stations and airfields outside work, rather than just the tourist trail aroused sufficient interest.
The Hotel Intourist was a memory never to forget, I came home without my Bolton Wanderers shirt, it ended in a trade.

its a different world now i’m sure.

still its a detour away from Class 48’s, had I have known Kestrel was still intact at this time, I would have gone after seeing it too, missed opportunity there.

Edited August 7, 2020 by adb968008

[Clive Mortimore]

Comrades,

 

The Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Cuba Class T975 have the same roof as V engined Brush type 4s, except of course the headlight on the cab, the radiator arrangement and no boiler.  I have a Hornby body waiting to be converted, one day.  It gave its radiators up when I made the unpowered one to go inside Hanging Hill shed building.

[TravisM]

2 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Railway enthusiasts make great spies.

They see through the minutest detail.

 

Slight aside, in the 1990’s  I was in Monino AFB (before it became an open museum, it required special written permission to visit). When I arrived, the guard inspected my passport, and that of my russian translator. They had a short dialog, and went in. I was quite the celebrity as at this point very few western europeans visited, and the base was still active. The translator said he inspected his passport as well as mine to check he was a Russian, I asked how did he know for sure. His reply was fake Russian passports from the west were easy to identify, as the staples dont rust. Btw his English was perfect, which is something Ive been told is a giveaway for kgb training, non-spies have dialects... I arrived by train from Hungary and left by plane for San Francisco and had interesting career at the time, so ive no doubts he, during the day, and the girls in the hotel who followed my every move at night, including knowing my room number and speaking english,  had other interests. Still they pandered to my bizarre personal requests, such as viewing various Moscow stations and airfields outside work, rather than just the tourist trail aroused sufficient interest.
The Hotel Intourist was a memory never to forget, I came home without my Bolton Wanderers shirt, it ended in a trade.

its a different world now i’m sure.

still its a detour away from Class 48’s, had I have known Kestrel was still intact at this time, I would have gone after seeing it too, missed opportunity there.

I stayed at the Cosmos hotel in Moscow and shall we say, it desperately needed a refresh but then it was one of the cheapest (unknown to me).  Apart from knowing zero Russian, I managed to blag my way around taking loads of railway pictures.

 

I only got stopped once, and when they found out I was a medically retired railman, I was given a pass and basically told “go where you like”.

[Enterprisingwestern]

7 hours ago, adb968008 said:

I came home without my Bolton Wanderers shirt

 

Some good came out of the visit then?

 

Mike.

 

 

[keefer]

7 hours ago, jools1959 said:

only got stopped once, and when they found out I was a medically retired railman, I was given a pass and basically told “go where you like

I've just read the first of Alexei Sayle's autobiographies.

His staunchly Communist father was a railwayman and through Union contacts etc. organised family holidays to the Eastern Bloc in the '50/60s.

One year, I think in Czechoslovakia, they arrived to find a 'minder' to take care of them with limousines laid on to take them anywhere, including access to facilities the normal residents could only dream of. They were treated like visiting dignitaries.

Other trips were not quite so eventful, but the fact he was a railwayman was instrumental in making these trips possible at such a time of East/West tension.

[adb968008]

Its still like that today in Poland, just take a railway magazine, it will get you a guided tour of many depots, my tour at Bialystok included my own loco & driver  (an ET22) to drive me around the complex.
All i did was rock up with a camera, magazine and a smile.

 

Edited August 8, 2020 by adb968008

[BrushVeteran]

I'm not quite sure of the location but here is a Cuban 48 on test on BR metals. I purchased this slide with copyright a few years ago from a former Brush employee. From what I can gather quite a number of Brush personnel were involved with the fitting out of these 'Clayton' built locos. 

[Ray M]

That guy in the cab looks like he is wearing a covid mask .

[keefer]

'Avin a brew!

 

['CHARD]

On 08/08/2020 at 15:12, BrushVeteran said:

I'm not quite sure of the location but here is a Cuban 48 on test on BR metals. I purchased this slide with copyright a few years ago from a former Brush employee. From what I can gather quite a number of Brush personnel were involved with the fitting out of these 'Clayton' built locos. 

 

The end/ solebar treatment here has hints of the so-called 'Crewe-cut' version, as applied to several locos towards the end of their front-line careers, in the nineties.