Modelling the APT in late 1980 ... and also 1984

25kV · July 13, 2023

A reminder of how things were progressing last time - 370001 (on the track, with upper bodies behind) modified into its 1979-1981 test train configuration; 1984 test car 48204 (foreground); and next up for attention, 370004 plus power car 49003 at the back, unmodified.

Turns out that the pantograph dilemma (creating a two-stage Stone-Faiveley "prototype" for Onslaught on a regular Stone-Faiveley frame) from the last post had historical precedent after all: I came across a photo of Lab Coach 6 "Prometheus" slung between two HST power cars carrying just such a pantograph in 1979.

Any excuse for another photo of the Warship - my first attempt at focus stacking (I didn't adjust any of Photoshop's masking efforts, which would have tidied it up a little).

And now, back to the studio.

370004 - The Lost Unit

370004 had an odd history - being probably the most photographed APT, and apparently the first to be taken out of use. When it first emerged from Derby it was a four car trailer rake, comprising the DTS and TBF you'd expect, 48104 and 48604, plus two other trailers, one of which was a buffet car. I have speculated that these are TRSB 48402 and TF 48502 based on vehicle allocations recorded in publications from the time, but so far I don't have photographic evidence that confirms this. Nevertheless, aside from commissioning runs with prototype HST power cars, as far as I can tell, 370004 never ran in this condition with another trailer rake.

When it was paired with four-car 370003 in 1979, it had been reduced to the minimum formation of DTS and TBF (the only yellow-fronted unit to run as such), and the two intermediate trailers were never seen again...

With 003, it could be found primarily on the southern WCML from the end of 1979 through to mid-1980, principally operating driver training and familiarisation runs. The sheer number of photos of the pair in the Stafford area suggest it may have been trying to put down roots. Initially the pair ran with power car 49003 - Hornby's 2020 release with 003 and 004 is pretty accurate - you only need a couple of trailer cars for 003 to create that rake. However by early 1980 the power car had been swapped with what is most likely to be 49001. The pair continued to operate until June 1980, and made a somewhat work-stained appearance in May at the Rainhill 150 celebrations, with 004 leading and 56077 shoving at the back. And thus 004 became the most photographed trailer set! 😉

At the end of June or early July 1980 370004 and 49001 were commandeered to participate in trials of one of the first Brecknell-Willis high speed pantographs. For this, the set was paired with three car test set 370001, while their erstwhile partners disappeared back to Derby for rebuilding and extending to full-length rakes (more about this sometime in the future of this thread - it kinda didn't happen, but also kinda did). The pair ran in this formation until at least the end of 1980, possibly into 1981, but after that both sets returned to Derby. 370001 was reduced to two cars, while 370004 kinda vanished. There is a thumbnail image on the internet of DTS 48104 sporting a black mask cab front, but clearly cannibalised, in the storage lines at Derby around 1984, but there is no photographic record of the set ever running again after the pantograph tests.

So we're heading back to pantograph tests with this model. 370001 has been mostly dealt with in previous posts, as far as interior and exterior modifications go, so now it's 370004's turn.

As far as I can tell, 004's interior was not modified in any significant way, which means that interior detailing will be limited to painting the seats a little less red. For the exterior, the same front-end modifications as 001 will be carried out - removal of the rain strip, filing down of the horn grille frame, filling in the recesses in the windscreen corners, and reducing the size of the black window surrounds.

The starting points:

370001 (left) and unmodified 370004 prior to dismantling. As detailed previously, I perhaps foolishly committed to repainting the Hornby red to Rail Red on every single vehicle... You can just about see the difference in these two photos. And ironically that means I have to renumber both 370004 vehicles back to themselves after fixing the stripes! (Curiously 48104 doesn't have OHLE warning flashes, while the former 48103 from the same set does.)

49003 (to become 49001) and 48604, prior to dismantling.

Before and after!

Dismantling offered the chance to compare the raw Hornby interior on 370004 with the test-car setup previously built in 370001:

DTS

TBF

Having committed to the red-stripe repaint, that has been the first task undertaken.

The first step is to remove the existing running numbers - I use T-Cut and a stiff-tipped modelling q-tip thingy - this will remove the numbers without going through the red paint and into the underlying cream, if you want to keep the existing paint job.

Masking the stripe is straightforward on all but the DTS, which requires some careful curve-masking (or care with the brush).

A small area of the roof to the rear has not been repainted into rail red on 48104 because this vehicle had the roof section above the diesel alternator set replaced at some point with what appears to be an unpainted panel, which will be detailed later.

After the stripes have been done, running numbers can be applied - this is 370001 following its repaint. 370004 will be done once the front ends have had their paintwork sorted out.

Speaking of ...

As with 48101 further up the thread, the raised elements on 48104 have been removed - here showing a before and after with the nose cone.

And not forgetting the power car. With numbers and nameplate removed, and a rail red stripe added, 49001 takes shape. The two-stage pantograph has also been removed, for the later fitting of the Brecknell-Willis version. Of note for rivet counters like myself, 49001 appears to have been the only power car to run with a BW pantograph while retaining its white cantrail stripe. (Conversely, it's likely that all the others retained their Faiveley design pantographs while running with orange cantrail stripes. But more on this in a future post, most likely.)

Next steps for 370004

Cab front modifications are in need of completion, and the interior seating will be repainted. Then it will be a case of trying to figure out exactly what equipment was mounted on 49001's roof for the testing!

Meanwhile, somewhere in the depths of Derby, in 1974...

I know the title of this thread contains 1980 and 1984 but seriously, who cares? Let's just enjoy.

That stripped TS bodyshell side-project is being stripped even further, losing its window frames in slow steady stages, while paint dries elsewhere.

Until finally it's looking very bare indeed.

And now reunited with its glazing ... which has been sanded down, and soon will no longer be glazing. I hemmed and hawed about how to do this particular model, especially since [whispers] Hornby modelled the APT's windows a little too large, and a little too sharply-radiused, and that affects how all the very subtle proportions of this vehicle will look. In the end, I decided that I only have so many years left, and using the bits supplied would be good enough. 🙂

Next for this: fill in the door and toilet windows completely, carve a few strange grooves, enlarge a couple of underframe grilles, and then attack with some primer and see what happens!

Meanwhile meanwhile...

And since I was masking and painting the stripes on 370004, I thought I'd get a head start doing the same on a couple of other bits and pieces. It's starting to look like those Derby storage lines in 1984 around here.

More on these in a future installment.

Edited July 13, 2023 by 25kV

25kV · July 15, 2023

Pilot Working

A little more work on that blank trailer side project, while I wait for the paint to dry on the the 500 coats of warning yellow apparently needed to conceal the mess I made with a scalpel blade on 370004's nose...

This is, of course, to become the prototype trailer, "Pilot" - the first-built APT-P bodyshell, used initially for structural testing and later for tilt development between the PoP vehicles. Broadly similar to the production APT-P trailers, there are a few differences in detail on the underframe - though not many photos are very clear on these areas. One visible difference is a larger vent than that on the Hornby molding at the right hand end on both sides. With a couple of Class 37 bodyside grilles lying around after the Warship conversion, I decided to attack with a drillbit and file. I think the result is a mm or so deeper than it needed to be, but I'm not too worried about being called out on that.

On the production trailers the bodyside join on the model is mostly hidden by the livery stripes; Pilot has no such option for disguise, so the body has to be reassembled permanently and copiously filled along the seam prior to painting. As I'm modelling Pilot in its original running condition with no windows, there is no need for an interior or internal lights. (By 1982 the two central window openings on both sides, along with the leftmost window on one side, had been opened up and glazed with some kind of perspex, by the looks of things.)

First step was to fill the door and toilet windows, the grooves for the door steps, a couple of grilles in the underframe, and along the bodyside seam. The door openings on Pilot were both sealed up with blanking plates, but the seams were visible, so those grooves were left un-filled.

An initial spray with primer - I'd hoped that the windows would be a little more flush than they were, and debated whether to leave like this.

The blanking plates on each door had some kind of small panel in them. Not sure what this was, whether it opened, or had some other function - photos are not very clear - but a gentle scratch with a razor saw makes a reasonable representation.

After some deliberation, it was decided to add filler around/over the glazing to make a more flush finish. Several iterations eventually resulted in a reasonably smooth finish, but with just enough remaining detail to indicate the location of the window openings.

A couple of minor imperfections to smooth out, but otherwise, almost there. Pilot also had additional angled fairings at the side of the bogie openings - while these are easy to create with plasticard, one minor issue is that the air suspension bags molded on the bogies will swing through this area. As I'm not planning to modify the bogies, a solution is currently being pondered!

Edited July 15, 2023 by 25kV

25kV · August 13, 2023

Summer's here and the time is right ... for painting APTs

... It doesn't matter what you wear ... well it does if you're a rivet counter like me.

And that's as good a place to start as any. 370004 had a couple of unique features up on the roof... First off, it looks like the entire panel above the auxiliary diesel set in the DTS was replaced fairly early on with an unpainted one. It's unclear from photos whether it had any major detail differences to the standard panel, so I've assumed it was just a spare. To that end, the area of the panel was masked off and given a vaguely dirty-metal finish.

While searching out roof-angle photos to accurately judge the extent of the panels, I also noticed that the TBF had a similarly darkened area to the rear, over the van.

This required a little more surgery, as the moulded longitudinal ribs extended into the area of the panel. These were carefully carved off before the area was masked and painted a similar dirty-grey colour. Photos are again not very clear as to the detail of this area, so the remainder of the moulding has been left as-is.

Number reapplication

The former 49003 has now received "Sc 49001" numbers, while the DTS and TBF both regain their Hornby-supplied numbers, which were lost when the red stripes were repainted.

A tiny drop of yellow paint has been added to the two nose handles (and indeed to bits of nearby nose) - a feature only seen on a couple of the units during their operational lives. The nose end numbers have also been reapplied, positioned approximately correctly for the unit's condition in 1980. (370004 had originally had very widely spaced hand-painted numbers, quickly replaced with a tidier arrangement.)

Interiors

A start has been made on painting the seats for 004's TBF and DTS - while I admire those who have created custom transfers of the tartans, and applied individually to every seat, my eyesight isn't that good, so an impression of the right colours through the windows will do for me. 😉

Pantograph Testing

Finally I've made a start on the power car modifications. As mentioned previously, 370004, power car 49001 and test unit 370001 were commandeered in the second half of 1980 to test a prototype BR/Brecknell-Willis High Speed pantograph. I have read that the APT team were somewhat reluctant to participate as they had their own issues to deal with! Nevertheless, 49001 was fitted with the new pantograph, which was painted dark blue, and ran in this form until at least the end of the year.

Thus a spare Hornby BW pantograph was obtained and has received a coat of something-like-the-correct-colour. It will be matted down later, once the aerofoils and pan head are painted.

Next for the power car - creation of rooftop boxes and what I think are two pairs of cameras fore and aft of the pantograph, plus their mounts, once I figure out the best way to do this!

More Pilot Working

And an update on the current side project ...

Additional valance pieces were cut and stuck in the bogie recess corners - this was made easier by a little filing of the underframe to make a more vertical edge.

Then a bit of paint. I only recently noticed that the roof of Pilot was not rail blue but regular dark grey. Even in colour photos, the eye often fills in the grey as blue. I used Executive Dark Grey as a close approximation, and hand painted it, which gave a slightly uneven finish.

The "window" dilemma ... Pilot in 1980 had no windows, but definitely had plated-over window openings that are clearly visible in most photos (some of these were reopened by 1982, but my model represents the earlier appearance). The problem was how to represent the very tenuous weld seams, but not end up with some kind of bold window outline, or risk scoring/damaging the otherwise flush bodywork.

In a moment of madness, I decided that a 0.5mm pencil would be perfect - simply draw them on.

Taking approximate measurements from an unmodified TS body, the locations of the panel edges were marked out with 5mm masking tape, which just happened to be about right for the distance between panels (save the centre which is a little wider). The straight edges were then lightly drawn onto the paintwork, with the corners created by drawing around the radiused corner of a credit card. I'm sure I could have been neater, but it produced a reasonably good effect, and if anyone's looking at it that closely, I'm pretty sure they already know it's actually a model and not a miniaturisation of the real thing. Pencil, of course, can also be erased, which allowed the worst of my slip-ups to be smeared away and re-done.

Once drawn, the bodysides were sprayed with gloss, and transfers added. The white lining was, once again, a pain in the proverbial, but isn't too bad. Markings on Pilot also varied over the years. By 1982 "Vehicles Group" had been replaced by "Vehicle Mechanics Group" and some additional yellow warning stickers had been added. (All the variations are available on the sheet from Railtec.)

First side done - the other will follow once this side has been given a satin spray. And after that ... weathering! Which should be interesting, as it's another thing I've never done.

Edited August 14, 2023 by 25kV
Removed duplicated photo.

25kV · October 13, 2023

Two Months Later...

Yeah, so I sprayed "Pilot" to lock the transfers in, and the white lining decided to escape and curl up. Beginner's bad luck! That and not being able to figure out how to do the next bit of the Power Car for my 370001/370004 recreation (plus a lot of summer stuff, and then spraining my index finger playing piano violently for a music video) has left this two month void of no progress, plus loss of will to live.

BUT! Finger now recovered, and some inspiration for the Power Car, and off we go again.

Recap...

Where were we? Ah yes. To complete the mid-1980 representation of 370001+370004 I need power car 49001 with its prototype Brecknell Willis High Speed pantograph (see earlier posts). For these pantograph trials, 49001 was fitted with what I assume are cameras fore and aft of the pantograph, together with a couple of electrical boxes on the end of the roof. These additions can be seen in many - but not all - photos of the pair during late 1980.

Here's our starting point. This was originally 49003 from the 2020 5-car set (white cantrail stripe, two-stage Faiveley pantograph, nameplates, etc). The pantograph has been removed and the nameplates t-cut away; the Hornby-red stripe has also been repainted into Rail Red.

As I was scouring photos of 49001's roof area, trying to identify the exact locations for mounting the cameras, I spotted something I'd not noticed before. As can be seen on the Hornby model, there's a kink in the bus-bar, with one insulator mounted on an additional plate, next to a tall bar. This appears to be an isolating switch, presumably to allow the pantograph on the power car to be completely isolated from the power supply coming from the adjacent power car. In reality, the short bit of the bus-bar between the two close-set insulators would swing around and dock at the top of the tall bar to isolate.

However - it appears that this switch is an early modification. In mid 1980, 49001 had not yet been so fitted, and thus the bus-bar runs directly diagonally between the "regular" insulators either side of where the switching insulator was installed.

In the interests of ... accuracy? subtle differences? for the heck of it? losing all the value of the model?, I decided to backdate 49001 to original condition, and thus hacked indelicately until the switch was no more. The bus-bar will be reinstated in due course.

(Fortunately this modification had already been done on the other power cars in service at this time, which will make life easier when I get to those!)

Lights! Cameras! Action!

Onto the gear on the roof. 49001 was fitted with what I'm calling four "cameras", front and back of the pantograph. These were mounted on twin brackets and appeared to be in some sort of cradle, and able to be angled. There isn't a huge amount of detail available from photos, but in 4mm scale, there's not a huge amount of detail possible, so here's my interpretation.

For the stands I took two different sizes of H-section polystryene glued one atop the other, but with a slight angle cut into the top edge to give the cameras a bit of a lean. For the "cameras" some plastic rod was chopped to the rough size needed and glued up. Yes, they're a weird shape.

The purpose of the angle on the stand can be seen once the cameras are stuck on - they will now point up towards the pantograph head when it's raised. On the prototype, these can be seen set to various angles in different photos.

In addition, at the outer end of the roof, flanking the "knuckle" end cameras, were two electrical boxes (I'm guessing - in one photo there's what looks like a warning triangle sticker, so I've assumed electrical gear of some sort). These were mounted on the roof via side brackets, but the boxes themselves were at a slight angle.

With the boxes chopped from more rod, to achieve the mounting angle I made a pair of plastic "steps" to lie the boxes across, then attached the mounting brackets perpendicular to the table.

Then it was a case of "slap some paint on, and stick to the roof". The cameras appear to be a yellowy cream in colour photos - I had a pot of Ribble bus cream lying around, which did the job (and isn't as garish as the photos make out). The electrical boxes are a couple of shades of grey, based on my best guess from the available images.

Boxes and cameras mounted at the outer end...

And at the inner side:

Yes, they are surprisingly tall on the prototype too.

The scarring on the roof has been painted out with Railmatch Executive Light Grey, which isn't a perfect match for Hornby's APT light grey, but will do in the short term. I will attempt to match it a little more closely in subsequent coats, but hopefully once there's a bit of weathering up here, any major contrasts will be hidden.

General view of the pantograph end with cameras and boxes fitted, and isolation switch removed. I also took the opportunity to blacken the tilt mechanism channels at both ends (these spaces were also the location of traction motor blower vents, I believe). These spaces were painted either black or dark grey on the prototype, and certainly improve the view from above. A couple of edges to tidy up, but getting there.

Next?

Fit a replacement bus-bar in the newly created gap and tidy up the paintwork. I suspect I will shortly have to attempt weathering for the first time. The trailer rakes for 001 and 004 have been fully dismantled again and the windows removed to allow for a bit of spraying and varnishing.

Naturally, 370004 was often filthy (and at this time 370001 was not much better), so it will be an interesting exercise. And hopefully, in due course, the set will form an interesting contrast to the other operational APT in mid-1980, which I'm hoping to get on with in the not-too-distant future.

25kV · December 27, 2023

For various reasons there's been no progress for the last few months, but perhaps early 2024 will see that change. Meantime, Messrs Claus and Krampus popped by and left a handful of side projects for the future - 87002 has appeared from eBayLand, along with a selection of catering vehicles. No, not a luxury dining experience train, but the basis of Test Service Cars 8, 9 and 11, which were part and parcel of APT trailer rake movements away from the wires. Eagle eyed viewers will spot the 4CEP driving cab lurking behind the 87's front end - donor bodies for modifying the centre bays of the two RFO cars. In theory anyway. The RFOs will be rebogied with B4s, and one will donate two Commonwealths to the RBR. Those Gresley bogies are begging to find themselves under a future Class 304...

Must not get too far ahead of oneself!

Now the burning question - do make an accurate model of TSC11 (i.e. faded/filthy blue/grey with smoke damage and broken windows) or give it a fictional RTC red/grey finish to match TSC8 and 9? 🤔

25kV · February 16

Arriving in 1980 at last!

Part 1 of 2

And we're back!

In October I had a decal disaster with "Pilot" which left me feeling a bit subdued on the whole devaluing one's models with paint and varnish thing. That plus a bunch of other real life stuff getting in the way meant that part one of my 1980 APT-P project got sidelined.

However, after helping my dad extend his 009 layout in January, and being inspired to do a Pugbash (see here for details!), the mood returned in earnest.

Up On The Roof...

Last time I had just detailed the roof of power car 49001, fitting cameras and other test equipment to monitor one of the prototype Brecknell-Willis / BR High Speed pantographs. I used one of the Hornby castings to represent this on the model, painted dark blue as per the prototype.

To allow the pantograph to be posed, I decided to do away with the lower control rod, initially disconnecting it and later removing completely.

This didn't help a huge amount, so I took the plunge and removed the control rod's upper lug (formerly located at the arrow), which allowed a much greater movement on the upper arm, and having been lucky with how much I cut off, also provided a bit of friction on the join for posing. Well worth doing if you want an accurate pantograph on your APT and don't have knitting (or can set the pan height below it).

While up on the roof, a replacement section of bus-bar was glued for the diagonal section seen above, replacing the pantograph isolating switch arrangement on the model (49001 didn't have this feature added until 1981). A section of handrail wire from a Hornby 3F body (used in the Pugbash) perfectly matched the existing roof line wire.

Next up was attempting to weather the whole set.

Getting Down and Dirty

The pairing of 370004 and 370001 for this pantograph work was not in BR's development schedule for the APT fleet - 004 had spent the last several months paired with 003 on driver training runs (as well as appearing at Rainhill 150), while 001 had been paired with 002 for over a year doing initial testing and breaking some speed records. 002 and 003 were off back to Derby for extending to full length rakes, and 001 and 004 were supposed to be doing the same. So it's perhaps because of this extra testing period that this pair were sometimes a little neglected in the cleanliness department. Several photos show the pair - and in particular 004 - coated in track grime, and I wanted to try to capture some of this with the weathering. And there's nothing like a six coach train to test one's previously non-existent weathering abilities on.

This highly technical scribble was my rough guide to filth application. Numerous photos of the real formation were studied, and I went for a slightly-exaggerated version of the worst bits of all of them, to give that "workhorse" kind of appearance. (While 004 and 001 got quite filthy at times, it was nothing to some of the exploits of 005 and 006 in later years!)

I don't have an airbrush... So instead I tried a variety of tricks to get a mucky finish. I initially tried a spray can of track dirt colour, but it didn't give enough control to get a good / non-spackled cover, so abandoned for this project. I concluded that an airbrush might be a good idea, but in the meantime, a combination of panel-lining paint, dry brushing, wet-brushing-and-sponging, and brushed thin washes was attempted. The undersides were darkened, mostly to avoid having unexpectedly bright reflections going on under the train.

The upper bodies tended to stay comparatively clean (except for the roofs) so limited dirtying of those areas was carried out.

For an electric train, the APT had a surprising number of diesel engines on board - time for clag-staining.

All APT-P driving vehicles had auxiliary generators behind the cabs, the exhausts from which would leave stains down the yellow ends and along the roof. 48104 in the foreground was often fairly grubby up top. 48101 behind tended to have a little less dirt on the yellow, however 001's TBF vehicle also had a generator to power the test equipment in the set - 48601's roof (at the back) was nearly always smudged with smuts.

A handful of prototypical scratches were added (mostly by actually scratching the paint off) and an attempt was made to add some of the tiny bolt-holes visible on 004's nose at the time with a dressmaker's pin. Holes were made, but they weren't quite as precise as I'd have liked.

With suitable dirt and scratches applied, upper and lower bodies were treated to a variety of varnishes. Initially everything got a coat of semi-gloss from a spray, but following that, the upper body window areas (but not the roof) were sprayed with gloss (these trains were only a year old!), and the lower bodies with matt over the dirt. Subsequent semi-gloss, gloss and matt touches were brushed and dry-brushed over to suit the amount of dirt/paint on show - the gloss isn't perfectly shiny, since it's over a semi-gloss layer, so doesn't result in a "toytown" look. The result is a very non-uniform finish, which seems about right for the state of the set in service.

The power car was dirtied up and varnished as a whole, since there was no need to keep the upper and lower sections separated after the roof detailing. The small rooftop windows were covered with that Humbrol Pink Gloop and peeled off after drying.

Glazing was re-attached to the trailer cars - though if I have a complaint its that it still isn't sitting flush enough. I may go back in there in due course and attempt a firmer fix. Meanwhile, "Pilot" is getting its second set of decals.

While the Glue Dries...

While the glazing was setting, thoughts turned to reassembly. During disassembly I snipped the red and black wires connecting the bogies to the light boards (too much of a hassle to solder in place) with the intention of figuring out some way of reattaching later. First choice was to use JST PH connectors (small enough to fit in the body alongside a massive barrel capacitor), however the crimping process was difficult to impossible with the lengths of wire available and smallness of parts. Nevertheess 1984 test car 48204 (left) was successfully JST-ed back together, after some two and half hours of cursing, but an alternative was needed for the full-length rake. (48207 on the right is a fictional APT-U coach, made from spare bits!)

I found some truly tiny terminal block connectors on Amazon, which are a bit fiddly but did the job. And just about fit in the tight confines of the corridor connections on articulated vehicles.

Another "while the glue/paint/varnish dries" job was to finish the basic interiors for 370004. As far as I can tell, nothing was modified in either vehicle, so the basic colours have been applied (no, I am not doing tartan on all the seats, but kudos to everyone who does!).

After being cast aside for quite some time, the interiors were refitted to the underframes of all the trailer cars. 004 in the foreground, and 001 behind. The differences between 001's test equipment interiors and the bog-standard passenger environment are clear!

And just for fun - the six cars assembled with no bodies for a 6-inch test run. 😉

Almost There!

Both sides of 49001 with its pantograph in place. On the "APT" side, various paint chips have been replicated with spots of "green primer" where the dark grey has fallen off (surprisingly common on the power cars). The two chips on the left were the clue to identifying this power car for this particular rake after cross-referencing various photos!