More model ideas

[MJI]

50s

 

Here goes.

 

Best of the type 4 for performance,  sound great ,100mph, i like the looks.

 

Oh and watch them pull a 15 carriage sleeper out of Plymouth into the cutting and under mutley plain.

[The Johnster]

2 hours ago, farren said:

Just wondering what’s your view point on the class 31, as a child I always counted them as a big version of the 24 it’s the cab front with the smaller centre window I suppose. Personally  the 31 has to be a favourite with its brutish looks. I was always pleased to see the 31, a 24 would do at a push. 
 
Have to admit I’m more than happy with the correct state on the model front too, having 3 31s on order, one from Accurascale, tempted with a second blue one depending on expected delivery date. 

 

 

 

The 31s were lovely things to work aboard; rode like a Pullman, roomy warm draughtproof cab despite the gangway doors (which were starting to be sealed up when I worked on the railway) with nice armchairs to sit on, good all round view, good soundproofing, and a good cooker.  But they seemed a lot of engine for not much pull, same weight as a Western and as big as a 47, and they always seemed to be breaking down or running out of fuel when I worked on them, which was mostly bad luck.  A little more powerful than a 25, but the size and weight ate into the difference; feeble.  
 

But they were adaptable, able to take on ETH and airco, better when they were re-engined, and lasted a long time in service.   You’d have to say they were a success by the standards of the 1955 Modernisation Plan locos, not that the bar was particularly high!

[The Johnster]

14 minutes ago, MJI said:

50s

 

Here goes.

 

Best of the type 4 for performance,  sound great ,100mph, i like the looks.

 

Oh and watch them pull a 15 carriage sleeper out of Plymouth into the cutting and under mutley plain.

And probably the worst for reliability because of the electronic complications, a poor clapped out bargain for the WR as replacements for Westerns.  110mph btw, in order to deliver timetable improvements on the WCML when the Weaver Jc.-Motherwell electrification was put back in 1966, but they had to be double-headed and thrashed to deliver it.   
 

They could go a bit, though, I’ll give you that; I once timed one at a sustained 114mph between Cholsey & Moulsford and Tilehurst, fastest I ever went in a mk1…

[atom3624]

5 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

A slight exaggeration there - even in preservation there are lots of areas that have never seen one ................ yes, a nice 'general purpose' locomotive in its place.

Black 5 - only Hornby with several versions - and the old Keyser kit.

S15/N15 - only Hornby, but both are pretty decent models from my experience.

Hall - both Hornby and Bachmann - Hornby's runs nicer, Bachmann's looks nicer (paint finish).

B1   - both Hornby and Bachmann.  Bachmann's is old but looks quite good, Hornby's is newer.

5MT - only Bachmann, and it's quite old.

 

Those are typical GP 4-6-0 'steamies' as I know them.

Al.

[MJI]

8 minutes ago, atom3624 said:

Black 5 - only Hornby with several versions - and the old Keyser kit.

S15/N15 - only Hornby, but both are pretty decent models from my experience.

Hall - both Hornby and Bachmann - Hornby's runs nicer, Bachmann's looks nicer (paint finish).

B1   - both Hornby and Bachmann.  Bachmann's is old but looks quite good, Hornby's is newer.

5MT - only Bachmann, and it's quite old.

 

Those are typical GP 4-6-0 'steamies' as I know them.

Al.

They already do the best locomotive in that class.

 

 

[97406]

10 hours ago, The Johnster said:

An interesting viewpoint, and very much a trainspotters’ one IMHO.  They were common, 509 in service in the 70s, and perhaps looked a bit dull; they were - are - a well proportioned and neat design and not unattractive in the original two-tone green livery, at least when it was clean (again, IMHO).  But they didn’t have the brutal presence of a Deltic or the elan of a Western.

 

But some the other classes you mention were also pretty ubiquitous; over 300 37s and nearly 500 Rats if you include the 24s and the 25s as all Rats.  There were 200 40s and nearly 200 Peaks (44/5/6, three classes that looked more or less identical).  Come to that there were well over 200 20s.  Perhaps the outline of the 37s, 40s, and the Peaks, with noses, was more inspiring; by the 70s noses were out of fashion and ‘classic’ or perhaps ‘retro’.  The 40s and 20s made interesting noises, and the 37s growled nicely.   The Rats rattled, failed to pull the skin off the driver’s milk, were spectacularly uninspiring lookers, and utterly horrible to work on; we used to reckon the 56 miles between Cardiff and Gloucester with the 00.35 Peterborough parcels, 4E11, at an attempted 90 mph would shorten your spine by at least an inch.  
 

Which leaves the 50s, and the popularity of these amongst spotters has always baffled me.  A class of 50 long-distance express engines used specifically on the WCML initially and later on specific routes further southwest becomes a very common sight on those routes, and one would have thought they were only really excitement-generators to spotters from outside their area.  They were probably the dullest example of loco styling in their era, like a 47 (not the most inspired looker) but even boxier and plainer, boredom personified.  I hated them for finally killing steam in 1968 and then my beloved Westerns, but in general the spotters went nuts over them.   
 

My opinion of 47s was that they deserved more respect than they ever got from the numbertakers; once they were made to run reliably by derating the engines by 100horses, they were the best all-round mixed traffic general purpose locomotive ever devised for use on Britain’s railways.  The cabs were draughty and the ride was horrible, too soft and rolling, but they could pull anything that was coupled to them, and pull it to time; 95mph passenger, long-distance Motorail (with double fuel tanks), Freightliners, TEAs, block coal trains, MGRs.  They could be dual-braked, fitted with ETH, and they were probably signed for traction knowledge at most depots throughout the country, so they were pretty much operable anywhere at a moment’s notice, a true workhorse, Control’s favourites.  And the horns sounded nice.

 

The irony is that the 47 that I am after is the plain Banger Blue one, plated headcode panels and a square headlight. I only need one though. Or maybe 2..... (stoppit!)

 

A few reminisces:

Rats were so underpowered and ramshackle that they had to be thrashed within an inch of their lives to do anything of merit and that was much of the attraction. One of them still managed a loaded train of PHVs (just). The sheer noise belied their lack of power.

 

40s were overweight and underpowered (not unlike myself), but their stance and the sound was what did it. How anything with a diesel engine could sound like that was a mystery when I was a kid.

 

I like the Logs too, though Banger Blue wasn't particularly flattering on them but Large Logo made them. They sounded a lot more rateable than a 47. Small Sulzers and large English Electrics always sounded the best to these ears.

[The Johnster]

 My all-time favourite diesel was the Hymek, and I was lucky enough to be able to work on them at Canton in the early 70s.  The perfect combination of ride, quiet cab, cosiness, visibility, and they looked superb in the original two-tone green 'Deltic' livery with white window surrounds.  Pocket rockets, they were initially used at Canton to replace Kings on top-link passenger jobs, and managed albeit with savage thrashing, and it is a shame that most enthusiasts never got to see (and hear), as I did, them lifting 900 tons of loaded presflos and vanfits up the slope out of Aberthaw Cement works, Maybach screaming and sanders blasting; awesome! 

 

Just as Beyer-Peacock went under, an order for a further 100 of these locos was in progress, presumably to be the D7101-D7200 series.  These were to be lower geared for a top speed of 70mph and were intended to replace steam in the South Wales Valleys, work eventually done by 37s drafted in when the order collapsed, effectivly the death-blow to Swindon's hydraulic aspirations.  My observations at Aberthaw suggest that they'd have been as capable as the 37s on Valleys work despite the loss of two powered axles, and they were at least a loaded hopper better on paper.  A further 100 would probably have been needed to satisfy the traffic demands in South Wales in 1963, but the coal traffic was diminishing by 1964 and those would almost certainly have been cancelled.  They might even have been better in some situations than the 37s. which cut out readily when overloaded (as did all EE locos except the 08s) and didn't give the driver the option of caning it a bit when he was up against it!  The same weight and about the same size as a 25, but the similarity ends there.  There replacement at Canton with 25s on passenger jobs was ill-advised, but there was nothing else available; their freight work was taken on by 37s.

 

I never understood the WR's reluctance to use 37s on passenger work; they did eventually but that was well into the 80s with eth stock.  The ER, NER, and ScR used them very effectively in this way and found them satisfactory, but the WR mindset was that they were freight engines, perhaps because the initial allocations were specifcally for Valleys work to replace steam.  I liked the 37s, and the experience of riding on them double-heading the 1,600ton trailing Waterston-Albion bogie tanks up Stormy or Llanvihangel was a privilege, to be savoured window open and head hanging out listening to the NOYZE!!!  Then there were the triple-headed Port Talbot-Llanwern iron ore tipplers, 27 of them @ 100tons a go + 315tons of locos, 9mph blowing 3 holes in the sky at the summit of Stormy Down from a standing start at Margam Moors.  You could sit in the beer garden of the Angel in Mawdlam village overlooking Water Street Jc. on a summer evening and savour it, the heaviest freight train in the country at the time and the heaviest diesel-hauled working in Europe, and against that steelworks & mountain backdrop they looked perfect.  Steelworks pollution makes for excellent sunsets...

Edited April 28 by The Johnster

[43078shildoncountydurham]

What about the Perch long welded rail wagon from the mid 80’s onwards.

 

A couple of named Thornaby blue 37’s..

 

Take care

 

Craig

[Dunsignalling]

3 hours ago, atom3624 said:

Black 5 - only Hornby with several versions - and the old Keyser kit.

S15/N15 - only Hornby, but both are pretty decent models from my experience.

Hall - both Hornby and Bachmann - Hornby's runs nicer, Bachmann's looks nicer (paint finish).

B1   - both Hornby and Bachmann.  Bachmann's is old but looks quite good, Hornby's is newer.

5MT - only Bachmann, and it's quite old.

 

Those are typical GP 4-6-0 'steamies' as I know them.

Al.

 

3 hours ago, MJI said:

They already do the best locomotive in that class.

 

 

 

Hornby? Topical, too  the 68xx.

 

Edited April 28 by Dunsignalling

[Craig1989]

Speaking to the guys today at the nec they said apparently they got an announcement end of may and it’s a big one. If you like the 66s it’s in the same era as them so make of that what you will 

 

cheers Craig 

[TrainsRule88]

16 minutes ago, Craig1989 said:

Speaking to the guys today at the nec they said apparently they got an announcement end of may and it’s a big one. If you like the 66s it’s in the same era as them so make of that what you will 

 

cheers Craig 

A new super detailed Class 67 perhaps?

[Wickham Green too]

Electrostar ? .... big in size and numbers compared to a 66 !

[97406]

6 hours ago, The Johnster said:

 My all-time favourite diesel was the Hymek, and I was lucky enough to be able to work on them at Canton in the early 70s.  The perfect combination of ride, quiet cab, cosiness, visibility, and they looked superb in the original two-tone green 'Deltic' livery with white window surrounds.  Pocket rockets, they were initially used at Canton to replace Kings on top-link passenger jobs, and managed albeit with savage thrashing, and it is a shame that most enthusiasts never got to see (and hear), as I did, them lifting 900 tons of loaded presflos and vanfits up the slope out of Aberthaw Cement works, Maybach screaming and sanders blasting; awesome! 

 

Just as Beyer-Peacock went under, an order for a further 100 of these locos was in progress, presumably to be the D7101-D7200 series.  These were to be lower geared for a top speed of 70mph and were intended to replace steam in the South Wales Valleys, work eventually done by 37s drafted in when the order collapsed, effectivly the death-blow to Swindon's hydraulic aspirations.  My observations at Aberthaw suggest that they'd have been as capable as the 37s on Valleys work despite the loss of two powered axles, and they were at least a loaded hopper better on paper.  A further 100 would probably have been needed to satisfy the traffic demands in South Wales in 1963, but the coal traffic was diminishing by 1964 and those would almost certainly have been cancelled.  They might even have been better in some situations than the 37s. which cut out readily when overloaded (as did all EE locos except the 08s) and didn't give the driver the option of caning it a bit when he was up against it!  The same weight and about the same size as a 25, but the similarity ends there.  There replacement at Canton with 25s on passenger jobs was ill-advised, but there was nothing else available; their freight work was taken on by 37s.

 

I never understood the WR's reluctance to use 37s on passenger work; they did eventually but that was well into the 80s with eth stock.  The ER, NER, and ScR used them very effectively in this way and found them satisfactory, but the WR mindset was that they were freight engines, perhaps because the initial allocations were specifcally for Valleys work to replace steam.  I liked the 37s, and the experience of riding on them double-heading the 1,600ton trailing Waterston-Albion bogie tanks up Stormy or Llanvihangel was a privilege, to be savoured window open and head hanging out listening to the NOYZE!!!  Then there were the triple-headed Port Talbot-Llanwern iron ore tipplers, 27 of them @ 100tons a go + 315tons of locos, 9mph blowing 3 holes in the sky at the summit of Stormy Down from a standing start at Margam Moors.  You could sit in the beer garden of the Angel in Mawdlam village overlooking Water Street Jc. on a summer evening and savour it, the heaviest freight train in the country at the time and the heaviest diesel-hauled working in Europe, and against that steelworks & mountain backdrop they looked perfect.  Steelworks pollution makes for excellent sunsets...

 

I really miss the regular loud diesels that you could hear rumbling in the distance from miles away. The current crop of over-silenced locomotives just doesn’t do it for me, Class 68s being the exception.

 

For many years my only exposure to a Hymek was a Triang one until I visited the East Lancs Railway where there was D7076 freshly restored in green. It was a lovely site and sound. It is a shame they didn’t last in squadron service.

 

37s weren’t originally all that popular in the North West due to the prevalence of the 40s, but that soon changed after the 40s had all but disappeared and 37s started being shown some love at Crewe works, being refurbished and painted in nice liveries. They have basically the same cab and I’ve spliced Bachmann 37 cabs into a Lima 40 before. There was that sweet spot between 1985 and 1987 when you could still have 25s and 40s alongside the newly-released 37s. 47s also became more interesting with Large Logo, Railfreight and the especially nice Executive and Scotrail liveries, all of which I have in the fleet. The aforementioned Banger Blue 47 with plated headcodes is all I am after to complete the collection.

[NXEA!]

11 hours ago, Craig1989 said:

Speaking to the guys today at the nec they said apparently they got an announcement end of may and it’s a big one. If you like the 66s it’s in the same era as them so make of that what you will 

 

cheers Craig 

I’d almost put money on it being a Turbostar, an obvious gap now that Bachmann are showing no interest in re-tooling their effort. 

[The Johnster]

7 hours ago, 97406 said:

They have basically the same cab

 

To the extent that, one night in 1973, working one of my link jobs, the 03.15 Cardiff (Long Dyke)-Carlisle Kingmoor, 7M49, we were told booking on that there was no loco for us on the shed and that Hereford men had earlier left one on the train at Long Dyke for us, shut down and handbrake on.  Minibus ride out to Long Dyke, driver & 2man climb aboard loco, and I carry on with prepping the train and the van.  Loco is a 40, Canton men don't sign 40s, but as you say the cab is identical inside as well as out to a 37.  But drivers and especially 2men were still sensitive to manning issues in the early 70s in the wake of the 1969 single manning agreement, and if I was to mention this, there was a good chance that Traffic would be told to keep its nose out of Loco Dept, business, diplomacy would be needed...

 

Van & train prepped, and the 40 started up, the familiar engine note must have alerted them, surely.  Train is booked for a 47, but I've checked the load tables and we are within the load and brake force for a 40, so I hand the load slip to the driver, and comment that the loco has a water pickup scoop (a batch of 40s delivered to the LMR for WCML non-stop Euston-Glasgow trains had these).  He looks at me as if I'd just landed in his cab from Mars, then the 2man pipes up 'he's right, there's the gauge to go with it'.  It was at this point that the Loco Dept. realised that it wasn't driving a 37.  'Ferk it', says the driver, 'it's exactly the same as a 37, we'll go with it'.  Fair enough, none of my business, and off we went to Hereford with me enjoying that lovely whistle all the way, without incident.

 

In practice there wasn't much difference between the classes, the extra 37tons of the 40 cancelling out the extra 250hp.  The handbrake worked properly on a 37, though...

 

Edited April 29 by The Johnster

[MJI]

14 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

 

 

Hornby? Topical, too  the 68xx.

 

Accurascale and 37

[atom3624]

14 hours ago, Craig1989 said:

Speaking to the guys today at the nec they said apparently they got an announcement end of may and it’s a big one. If you like the 66s it’s in the same era as them so make of that what you will 

 

cheers Craig 

Same era or same size?  Size could mean ..... THE CLASS 40 !!

 

Al.

[reddragon]

14 hours ago, Craig1989 said:

Speaking to the guys today at the nec they said apparently they got an announcement end of may and it’s a big one. If you like the 66s it’s in the same era as them so make of that what you will 

 

cheers Craig 

Classes 375-377 fit.

[The Johnster]

Might I suggest a range of 1/76 road vehicles, not necessarily die-cast, to a better standard than the traditional Oxford/Classix/Base &c fare we are used to, and possibly in a simple plastic kit form (definitely not cast whitemetal).  What I am looking for is something that could be assembled with doors or windows ajar or open, and the ability to put drivers, passengers, and things on seats inside.  Decent headlamps and tail lights/indicators as opposed to silver or red/yellow paint would be an improvement as well, as would steerable front wheels.  Proper glazed destination panels on buses as well, please.

 

A model 100E Ford Popular is a good thing on a 1950s layout, but one parked outside a Post Office with the door left open while the driver pops inside to buy stamps or fags tells a story and brings a cameo to life, as does a lorry with an open door outside an office or a van with the back doors open while it is being loaded or unloaded.  These could sell well outside the model railway customer base of course.

[97406]

 

I’m currently driving myself mad looking for some PHV hoppers which occasionally get advertised on Ebay for silly prices. I’ll put in another request here before I start to work out the best way to do it mesen! Maybe Mr.Oxford Rail could be persuaded to do a deal.

 

They go well with 37/4s and central headcode 37/5s in Red Stripe, Construction or IC Mainline….

 

 

[Combe Martin]

How about some accurate Milk Tankers Accurascale !  

 

No competition, its not that difficult.  Do two chassis, one the ex GWR/BR version, the other the ex LMS one.

On the ex GWR/BR put 6 tank supports, and put 4 on the ex LMS.   Unigate/United Dairies Cow & Gate used 'half tank straps', Express Dairies used full wrap round straps.  Then tank ladders/'climbing frames/platforms' in different positions.

 

There's plenty of preserved ones to look at, just be careful you don't do a hybrid used in later life for something not milk.  They're easy enough to spot, eg a tank from an ex LMS (4 supports) on a GWR underframe (6 supports), and besides, the current owners usually know whether theirs is original or a 'hotch potch'.

 

And beware of preservation era bogus liveries !

 

And ... there is a much greater Milk Tanker expert on here too.  I'm sure they know who they could consult !

[reddragon]

Bachmann have announced another batch of detailed Mk1 coaches. All great etc, but odd random coaches, in all different liveries & regions makes creating a full set impossible. It would be so helpful if someone (AS that's you) released complete rakes of coaches.

 

To complete your rakes there's Mk1 buffet cars & BGs that are hard to source.

[97406]

8 minutes ago, reddragon said:

Bachmann have announced another batch of detailed Mk1 coaches. All great etc, but odd random coaches, in all different liveries & regions makes creating a full set impossible. It would be so helpful if someone (AS that's you) released complete rakes of coaches.

 

To complete your rakes there's Mk1 buffet cars & BGs that are hard to source.

 

The lack of lighting in the Bachmann coaches is a shame as well, though they have pickups installed.

[Wickham Green too]

2 hours ago, Combe Martin said:

...  Do two chassis, one the ex GWR/BR version, the other the ex LMS one. ...

... and a third one with those whopping great spring dampers the Southern used.

[Combe Martin]

Mmmm ... the only problem with the Southern ones is that compared to the 'big two' there were a 'fraction' of them, and even fewer of the LNER ones.