Hornby Class 423 4-VEP

[Gwiwer]

It is very hard to tell for sure from the images seen so far but, including the shot MR published of their newly-arrived sample, the gangway connection looks to be a little too fat and rounded. A bit like lips with too much collagen. But not an insuperable "fix" for the skilled modeller.

 

I'll wait to hear informed opinions as the Veps arrive before making a decision on purchase.

[Tref67]

Excuse me for going off-topic, but does anyone know the tale behind the spotter on the platform in the afore-mentioned ad for this model? Is it a replacement for the Cuneo mouse? Can we expect him to appear in all Hornby ads? Link to a topic welcomed if it is covered elsewhere, but I haven't been able to find it!

 

Tref.

[smg201]

Kernow are reporting in there weekly newsletter that the Hornby VEP is now not expected until September?!

[Gwiwer]

Six more weeks? Hardly a long wait. The MR sample may well have been air-freighted over for review while the main batch is at sea somewhere. MR and Kernow between them have also noted on FB pages that the motor IS in the passenger saloon as per the earlier renderings. I find that a great shame when the brake could have been used to hide it on the as-built version and to at least hide some of it on the rebuilt ones. Instead it is full view through the windows with no realistic way to conceal a large black lump.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Sounds like a competiton is imminent: who can most skillfully rearrange the mechanism into the brake end vehicle...

[dibber25]

I'm looking for someone with good knowledge of the 4VEP interior. Was the compartment 'wall' of the side corridor in the first class section solid? In other words, did it have windows onto the corridor side? I'm guessing it must have, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to see out that side to see which station you were stopping at.

Or did you have to travel with the compartment door open so you could see out? Or stand in the corridor? I've looked at all the photos I can find but its pretty near impossible to tell from the outside.

CHRIS LEIGH

[eastwestdivide]

Glass windows - there's a video of someone walking along the corridor

Not sure if they had pull-down blinds or not, like other compartment stock.

[Pugsley]

Hmm, it seems that we might have found the first fault with the new VEP then The images of the model shown in the advert seems to show solid areas where the 1st class compartments were, so I guess that the production models are the same.

[Oldddudders]

I'm looking for someone with good knowledge of the 4VEP interior. Was the compartment 'wall' of the side corridor in the first class section solid? In other words, did it have windows onto the corridor side? I'm guessing it must have, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to see out that side to see which station you were stopping at.

Or did you have to travel with the compartment door open so you could see out? Or stand in the corridor? I've looked at all the photos I can find but its pretty near impossible to tell from the outside.

CHRIS LEIGH

The VEP 1st class compartment interior was identical in design to CEP, BEP, CIG and BIG interiors, in that a sliding door had a fixed glazed partition either side. Given their date, I would suspect they originally did have drop-blinds on each of those windows, but can't be sure.

[Oldddudders]

First class passengers, be they in VEPs, HAPs or any other side-corridor unit, took enormous exception to the proles/riff-raff/steerage-class/second-class passengers standing in the corridor. Letters to the Divisional Manager on the subject were legion. Frankly, staring at someone's backside was and is fairly boring, unless she's wearing a short skirt and high heels, in which case it might be bearable for a certain sort of man.

[bbishop]

Just occasionally CEPs, VEPs etc operated a suburban service (often a London bound service just before the evening rush) in which case the hoi polloi could travel in the first class accommodation. My recollection of the VEPs is that the trim was exaxtly the same as the second class but the compartments were wider and they seated three a side. At a later date, one of the first class compartments was redesignated to second class and became four a side.

 

Bill

[surfsup]

Morning Chris, Hope these photos are of use to you – Here is a couple of interior photographs from 3417 / Gordon Pettit. As for the interior curtains in the FC Compartment, from memory, there were curtains on either side of the compartment, covering each of the windows except the doors.

 

If you need any side / exterior / face photographs, ive got a few from 3417, just ask and ill send them over!

 

Rich

 

[Gwiwer]

Going back to the "as-built" condition of the units VEPs were equipped with pull-down roller window blinds on all three of the compartment-side windows which adjoined the side corridor. The one in the sliding door recessed into a housing which projected slightly into the corridor (as it could not project into the compartment since that would have prevented the door being opened) while the other two had housings projecting into the compartment. From memory all blinds were at least originally of a leathercloth or vinyl type material and beige in colour which incorporated the initials BR in an oval logo at intervals.

 

Each first class compartment had a sliding door to the side corridor with the upper panelling in a pale blue melamine-type material and the lower in dark blue Rexine. Doors were hung from runners above the compartment and on the corridor side and were guided by a single brass strip along the floor.

 

The original first class seating was three-a-side in a charcoal moquette with a checkerboard design of approximately 1cm squares in shades of grey. Armrests were provided which would fold up if required but were invariably lowered to jealously guard the additional seat width offered. Remember the second / standard class was in 3+2 in these units so rather "cosy". Upholstery was less generous than for main line Cig / Big / Cep / Bep / Rep / TC units of much the same age.

[surfsup]

Hmm, it seems that we might have found the first fault with the new VEP then The images of the model shown in the advert seems to show solid areas where the 1st class compartments were, so I guess that the production models are the same.

 

 

Seems so! Here's Hornby's preview video on Youtube...

 

 

Probably just me, but is the face just slightly odd?

 

(All photos taken with permission!) Screenshots from Hornby's You Tube video

 

EDIT - Could it either be the Cab windows or Corridor Connection?

 

[robertcwp]

If you look carefully, you can see through the glass partition to the white antimacassars on the headrests in first class in this view of 7756 at Horsham in 1979. Note also the modified glazing and the orange curtains.

 

[Pugsley]

Probably just me, but is the face just slightly odd?

It's not just you, there's something that doesn't look quite right there, but I can't work out what it is at the moment. Could the profile be a little too rounded?

[birdseyecircus]

A short promo video on youtube here:

 

Paul

[Gwiwer]

From the video clip the set number font appears wrong and slightly out of position, the application of yellow around the gangway end is not quite how I remember them (though that memory has to go back a few years) and again from memory the yellow first class band was the full width of the upper panel not just the narrow strip Hornby show; the second (b/g) image posted above has it right while the first is as preserved in rebuilt form not original. Are there sufficient roof-mounted air vents; they seem too few in number? Nonetheless a quite competent rendering of the unit.

 

As always I'm quite prepared to stand corrected particularly where memory is concerned.

[roythebus]

Looks good but the route number box doesn't look right. I don't remember them with an external frame; this may have been a later mod, but then driving them, I only usually saw the inside of the route number box!

 

Also, not enough dead flies on the front...

[Gwiwer]

Roy - the Veps as delivered in blue syp had all the aluminium brightwork unpainted. Window frames and headcode panel frame - the lot. Those delivered in fye had the headcode frame painted yellow but the window frames were not painted until 7808 was delivered (b/g from new) which had them painted in the grey colour. Subsequently Veps lost the unpainted trim as they went through the paint shop though I believe some retained unpainted window frames (and bars over the door droplights) until the advent of NSE livery.

[robertcwp]

Roy - the Veps as delivered in blue syp had all the aluminium brightwork unpainted. Window frames and headcode panel frame - the lot. Those delivered in fye had the headcode frame painted yellow but the window frames were not painted until 7808 was delivered (b/g from new) which had them painted in the grey colour. Subsequently Veps lost the unpainted trim as they went through the paint shop though I believe some retained unpainted window frames (and bars over the door droplights) until the advent of NSE livery.

7809-15 also came out in blue. Here is 7809.

 

7701-10 had the window frames painted blue, like this.

 

7701-20 had raised metal double arrows. Later units had transfers, and these changed in size during the build. Compare 7809 above with this view of 7734.

[BernardTPM]

the Veps as delivered in blue syp had all the aluminium brightwork unpainted. Window frames and headcode panel frame - the lot.

Actually the first batch, 7701-20, were all over semi-matt blue with the sliding vent and window frames in blue as well, the yellow being confined to the lower half of the door in the gangway. Not sure about 7721-55, but certainly from 7756 the frames left unpainted. The yellow line on the unit 3417 above is definitely wrong as it has the angled ends that came in with NSE livery! The window frames also have inner and outer parts; only the inner one was left unpainted.

[Gwiwer]

7809-15 also came out in blue.

 

Agreed. Only 7808 was delivered new in b/g until the next batch from 7816 commenced delivery. 7808 was officially a trial AIUI but entered traffic at the time when plain blue was giving way to b/g more widely anyway and when the Veps were increasingly regarded as "main line stopping" units as opposed to "outer suburban".

[Electrostar]

From an untrained eye it's looking good. The cab fronts look a little odd but I think that's due to the lack of a headcode. Do we know if Hornby are offering alternative headcodes for customers to fix on the model as Bachmann do with the Cep?

[robertcwp]

Actually the first batch, 7701-20, were all over semi-matt blue with the sliding vent and window frames in blue as well, the yellow being confined to the lower half of the door in the gangway. Not sure about 7721-55, but certainly from 7756 the frames left unpainted. The yellow line on the unit 3417 above is definitely wrong as it has the angled ends that came in with NSE livery! The window frames also have inner and outer parts; only the inner one was left unpainted.

Unpainted aluminium window frames came in from 7711. Here is a new 7712 with them.