A look at the Hawksworths

[craigwelsh]

I think someone asked if it was still on GWR bogies. The answer is yes, the pressed steel type as per Hornby's model. The curtains were very visible.............Light grey just as per the Hornby coaches. Now I am not saying this colour was correct for when the coaches first entered service, but at least it gives a clue as to where the manufacturer may have got the idea from.

Larry

Tbh Hornby probably said "it has curtains, print 'the curtains' on it".. Its basically the same printing whatever coach they do rather than any attempt at something accurate for the type.

[dibber25]

Part of the reason that the 'custard' is to dark may be because it is actually applied OVER the red and therefore needs to be pretty dense in order to cover the red. Try sanding the end of a Hawksworth and you'll find red under the black, too. Check out the TINY metal grab handles on the ends - the smallest I've seen on a OO model. Pity they've had to come off my slip coach conversion!

CHRIS LEIGH

[The Stationmaster]

Just visited my local model emporium (which is not too heavy on railways as I've mentioned before) and if it is any guide further Hawksworths seem to have arrived on the shelves while we weren't looking (or was it just me ).

 

I came home with the now obligatory maroon BG plus a BCK in maroon and didn't bother (today) with the two additional ones now out in blood & custard.

[robmcg]

I came home with the now obligatory maroon BG plus a BCK in maroon and didn't bother (today) with the two additional ones now out in blood & custard.

 

My blood and custard BCK arrived today and it is superb. I don't mind the curtains, we had similar in some carriages here in NZ and while they were never all exactly the same in each window except for workshops photos the effect to me is fime. It reminds me of the summer evening weekend or holday trains both here and in film I have seen of the Pines rolling through Radstock in c1960. (behind anything from a 7F to a pair of Std 5MTs., Spam Can and 4F, or 9F, 4MTs... )

 

Rob

[BernardTPM]

Did the Mopok Dynamometer Car have the said slogan already applied to the choc/cream printed sides or did one apply a set of transfers ?

Hi Brian,

All the special lettering on the sides was printed on, but there were also waterslide transfers for the special markings on the end, however, they just overprinted on the normal TK/SK sides so the slight alterations made on the prototype weren't done. Also, as with all the Mopok Hawkesworths, the window sliding vents were to the pre-war style.

[Brian Kirby]

Hi Brian,

All the special lettering on the sides was printed on, but there were also waterslide transfers for the special markings on the end, however, they just overprinted on the normal TK/SK sides so the slight alterations made on the prototype weren't done. Also, as with all the Mopok Hawkesworths, the window sliding vents were to the pre-war style.

 

Thanks for that Bernie,

I never built one of the Mopoks, but i remember the kits, they were pretty good for their time, we are talking of nearly 40 years ago now. I should imagine they too were quite a tricky build, you had to join whitemetal ends to a rolled acetate bodyshell, then very carefully glue the printed sides to the acetate and add the cantrails in microstrip. If memory serves, the floor was a strip of wood, the associated A.B.S. BR Suburban kits had a folded tinplate floor instead. The printed sides of all the above gave very good flush glazing !

Cheers, Brian.

[robmcg]

Who says BR didn't run three Hawksworths in a row on expresses?

 

Even managed lower quadrant signal (butchered Hornby) in this shot.

 

Cheers, Rob

 

[robmcg]

For what it's worth, and if the picture in the previous post from loaded OK., the Hornby 'Great Western' and Hawksworths are photographed with a Canon A620 point-and-shoot camera, natural room light plus a 60w tungsten reading lamp, and Paint Shop Professional 6 image enhancement.

 

All in celebration of those of us who used to print photos on bromide paper of trains and 'burn' the sky sufficiently to enhance the steam and/or smoke with bits of card or hands...

 

... and yes, I HAVE seen inside-cylinder locos emitting steam from between the frames like that! <g>

 

Rob

[7013]

How did you add the smoke and steam Rob?

[Brian Kirby]

Love the action shot of 7007 there Rob, especially the hissing steam. It looks like the train is approaching Nether Wallop Jct. in Somerset, circa 1957 i'd say. I've been busy aiming my binoculars at the computer screen, trying to work out what the fourth coach is ?

Cheers, Brian.

[Pennine MC]

 

I never built one of the Mopoks, but i remember the kits, ... If memory serves, the floor was a strip of wood, ...

 

It was, I still have one or two tucked away

 

 

 

[robmcg]

How did you add the smoke and steam Rob?

 

With PSP6 paintbrush tool, which gives almost infintely variable size colour opacity and feathered edges. As far as I know Photoshop would be similar, but I've never tried it. Too mean to pay for it! <g>

 

Rob

[robmcg]

Love the action shot of 7007 there Rob, especially the hissing steam. It looks like the train is approaching Nether Wallop Jct. in Somerset, circa 1957 i'd say. I've been busy aiming my binoculars at the computer screen, trying to work out what the fourth coach is ?

Cheers, Brian.

 

Thanks very much, the picture could very easily represent Somerset c1957, in fact I labelled it 1957 at first, given the mix of blood and custard and maroon, but early crest on a clean loco.. the relevant shed for 7007 was Worcester so it's not inconceivable...?

 

the two carriages visible behind the three Hawksworths (BCK, TK, TK), are maroon BR Mk1s FK M19223 and BCK W21021. I hesitate to speculate on the nature of any carriages behind that! <g> ... the diorama is only 6 feet long, after all.

 

Rob

[Mallard60022]

And if anyone knows the closest Halfords match for the GWS coach then please let me know

 

 

GWR Brown 'chocolate' Triumph Maple, Talbot Cafe Noir or Rover Russet Brown.

Any use?

36E

[Brian Kirby]

I've now altered the Hornby curtains another way, by just removing the outside half of each one. It's a clever piece of printing by Hornby, giving the illusion of folds, seems a shame to lose them. Original BCK above for comparison. Looks a bit different.

Cheers, Brian.

 

[St. Simon]

Hi,

 

Personally, when i've looked at them, the curtains don't look obtrusive, but I have to admit, they are bit unrealistic as they were!

 

That improvement has made it much for realistic

 

Simon

[cctransuk]

Those of us who are interested in the Hawksworths that were used to strengthen DMUs, there is a nice photo of one in the November issue of Traction magazine.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[The Stationmaster]

Who says BR didn't run three Hawksworths in a row on expresses?

 

 

Not me Rob, in fact I even found a photo in a book the other day showing three of them (and possibly a 4th) as the leading vehicles in the Down 'Cornish Riviera' on 3 April 1956 - only thing you need to change is the loco

 

BTW I understand the last two of the current releases (R4404/05 I think) are due to appear around the beginning of November, which should then give me enough for more than several trains once mixed with various other stock.

[Brian Kirby]

Thanks to all for the words of encouragement about the curtains.

 

Didn't anyone spot that the one with the yellow stripe now has the bodywork for a Slip coach ? (Or to be more precise a de-fitted ex-Slip coach). I haven't finished it yet, more work to do on the cab ends and i've now chopped out and re-positioned the battery boxes, ready for adding the vacuum reservoirs. It will be numbered as W7376W, which as far as i know, was the only one repainted from chocolate/cream to maroon and was used in the Banbury and Oxford areas in the early 60s.

Cheers, Brian.

[dibber25]

Who says BR didn't run three Hawksworths in a row on expresses? (quote)

 

Not so common by the time they had gone maroon but there are certainly pictures of the complete CRE as blood & custard Hawksworths, apart from the refreshment vehicle(s) which, of course, were earlier stock. Look for Maurice Earley shots around Reading with blue 'Kings' (18000, too) and you'll find rakes with more than three Hawksworths.

CHRIS LEIGH

[robmcg]

I must say the maroon brake composite which arrived here with the 28XX is a really attractive model! RTR models really are incredible these days.

 

Rob

[chrisf]

And as far as I'm aware the Hawksworth stock never carried roofboards - certainly at least some vehicles seen in GW livery in photos haven't got them but have an arrangement similar to that on BR MkIs. And of course the problem with adding boards is that they might suit the locale of their layout for some folk but not suit many others, preferable I would have thought to add them if you want?

 

In the November 2010 issue of Steam Days, which I have just been reading, there is a fine photo on page 677 of a King in full cry at the head of the down Bristolian. The majority of the coaches are Hawksworths in blood and custard and sport carriage boards above the windows and below the gutters, similar as The Stationmaster says to BR Mk 1s. These boards are shorter and shallower than GW boards which were 18 feet long and were carried on the roof. BR boards were 11 feet long. I have this nagging doubt as to whether the boards carried by the Hawksworths were the same as the BR ones or a slightly different size. At this point I invoke Chris's first law of government - things are not the same because they do not have to be!

 

Chris

[JZ]

Who says BR didn't run three Hawksworths in a row on expresses?

 

 

As has been mentioned previously. Page 18 of Diesel-Hydraulics in the West Country has a maroon Western Dragoon hauling a rake of Hawksworths. The front 7 carriages are clearly so and judging by the roofline of the next two vehicles, these are also. Picture taken 27 August 1966.

I am being a little more modest in my rake, just having 5.

[Brian Kirby]

I'm guessing, but THAT picture of the Western pulling the long rake of maroon Hawksworths, is probably where they've rounded up the late survivors into a uniform rake. This would avoid all the bother of using gangway adaptors when coupled to Mk1,LNER or SR stock, although it did still happen.

By the date of the photograph the Collett stock would have mostly disappeared, leaving just Hawksworth and LMS Stanier style stock with British Standard gangways. Also, the Western Region would operate huge numbers of holiday specials during the summer, so this is probably a reserve rake for just that purpose. The rake shown may have been unique or perhaps there were a few like it, although it would not have been typical a few years earlier, when more of a mixture would be seen.

Cheers, Brian.

[Coach bogie]

There were a few Hawksworths still on the system much later than the sixties. The view of the brake third was taken at Westbury in PW use. The pair of blue full brakes were photographed in Newcastle in 1991. I often saw these vans in the 1980's when I lived in Manchester on the late night newspaper train (remember them) from Manchester Victoria.

 

Personally I have two conversions ready to start. The first being the dynanometer car, ex all third 796, another chocolate and cream vehicle that remained so until December 1980 when it became Derby research Test Car 4. Perfect to put behind the Heljan Lion when it arrives. Just to add to the livery debate 796 entered service in 1947 in chocolate and cream with GWR and crest markings.

 

The second is to make the 12 wheel sleeper using ex Bill Bedford/Comet sides and 247 Developments bogies. Winter modelling time is here

 

MW