GWR non-corridor roof vents

[naugytrax]

I've just acquired some of the old Graham Farish generic suburban coaches in OO scale, with the goal of modifying them to look like GWR non-corridor stock of 1937, i.e. Diagram C.75 all-3rd and D.125 brake 3rd. I'm going to file off the little bumps that Farish moulded on to the roofs to suggest ventilators, and put on a single row of shell vents instead. My only reference is Russell's Great Western Coaches Part 2, which has side-view photos of these vehicles only, no top views or drawings, so I'm unsure where to put the line of vents. Should they be at the apex of the roof, or offset to one side like the corridor coaches? On the C.75 the vents appear to be centered, in fact I can't think of a reason why they wouldn't be. Russell says that two of Diagram D.125, nos. 1239 & 1240, were built with offset ventilators for service on a line with very low overbridges, "rather than on top". But he also shows a photo of D.125 no. 1433 in which the vents over the van portion are clearly not in line with the ones over the passenger compartments. Can anyone say for sure where these ventilators were placed, or point me to a top view photo or drawing? Thanks for any info you can provide.

[chrisf]

They were offset to one side except that on some guard's compartments they were offset on alternating sides. This is a gross over-simplification but I can't really illustrate without breaching copyright.

 

Chris

[Adrian Wintle]

Comet Models have their instructions on the website, and do a kit for a C66 or C75 (kit W18), so they have the roof plan - the ventilators are offset slightly. You could also look at the instructions for the D117 (kit W19), which probably had a very similar roof pattern to the D125.

 

Adrian

[chrisf]

Comet Models have their instructions on the website, and do a kit for a C66 or C75 (kit W18), so they have the roof plan - the ventilators are offset slightly. You could also look at the instructions for the D117 (kit W19), which probably had a very similar roof pattern to the D125.

 

Adrian

 

So they do, my apologies for having forgotten!

 

It is perhaps worth pointing out that the C66 and C75 have different bodyside contours and that the windows of the C75 are six inches deeper than those of the C66. I'm not familiar with the Graham Farish coach that the OP is proposing to modify so cannot say which of those designs it resembles more!

 

Chris

[naugytrax]

Thanks, gentlemen. I'll be using the Comet Models roof plan then, most helpful.

 

I was thinking in terms of C.75 rather than C.66 because the C.75's have rain-strips on the roof like the Farish coaches. The Farish windows are 9.5 mm high and 4.5 mm wide (2ft 4.5ins by 1ft 1.5ins). Chris, is that more like the C.75 or the C.66?

[chrisf]

There are drawings of each type on page 309 of Vol 2 of John Lewis's book on auto trailers, to what appears to be 2mm scale. If anyone wants to check them out, note that they are wrongly labelled. A41, which is an auto fitted version of C66, is labelled A42 in the book. Similarly A42, the auto fitted version of C75, is labelled A41.

 

Scaling [or as near as one can scale with the ruler available] from these drawings suggests that the quarterlights on the C66 are 2'6" deep by about 1'4" wide. Those on the C75 are 3'0" deep by about 1'6" wide.. I have not measured the Comet sides because, like one of my other books, the pair I have are in too safe a place for me to locate at the moment!

 

You also need to consider the bodyside profile. As I said before, I'm not familiar with the Farish model but if its profile is anywhere near accurate it will resemble the C75 more closely than the C66 which is as near as maybe vertical above the waist.

 

Chris