petee19 Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 The fast moving railbus doesn't seem to be overcrowded, there is someone looking out of the rear window, I think. I take it the WR railbuses had guards on them? And did they issue tickets as well? Been looking at an old video "Britain's lost railways - southern England" which has some footage of the W & M railbuses between Audley End and Saffron Walden on the GE and they don't have any passengers at all in some shots. Yes the Cirencester /Tetbury to Kemble had guards and as far as I can remember they issued tickets from Setright ticket machines,the same type as many bus companies had.The Bristol Omnibus Company who operated in the area certainly used this make of ticket machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 The fast moving railbus doesn't seem to be overcrowded, there is someone looking out of the rear window, I think. I take it the WR railbuses had guards on them? And did they issue tickets as well? Been looking at an old video "Britain's lost railways - southern England" which has some footage of the W & M railbuses between Audley End and Saffron Walden on the GE and they don't have any passengers at all in some shots. They had a driver and a conductor/guard. That's in the sense of a bus conductor. He issued tickets with a Setright machine the same as a bus. There is a perception that the railbuses always ran around empty. They didn't but off-peak services could be pretty thin on passengers. The Cirencester branch boasted 110 passengers in a railbus on market day and part of the problem was that however well Cirencester did, it was worked in a diagram with Tetbury and that dragged it down. In contrast, the two branches from Witham (Maldon and Braintree) were worked independently. Maldon remained railbus worked and closed, Braintree became Cravens 2-car units and is now a half-hourly 8-car EMU. CHRIS LEIGH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Railbus Ticket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted January 11, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 11, 2014 Railbus Ticket Ah, the dreaded Setright machines - not much liked in the railway industry but having the advantage of being extremely cheap to buy and fairly bombproof. But every effort was later (and not much later) made to get rid of them leaving their tickets I would think a comparative rarity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 On the near Chalford flyer (which was an autocoach) they still had the old style bus tickets in a wooden rack thing about a foot long. I have the ticket from that trip, too, but we're getting off the topic here. I've been asked to do a railbus feature for Model Rail, so the Heljan model already has the top off and the passengers have been bought. Anyone got a Tetbury destination that they don't want? Don'y think my computer/printer will go that small. CHRIS LEIGH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petee19 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 On the near Chalford flyer (which was an autocoach) they still had the old style bus tickets in a wooden rack thing about a foot long. I have the ticket from that trip, too, but we're getting off the topic here. I've been asked to do a railbus feature for Model Rail, so the Heljan model already has the top off and the passengers have been bought. Anyone got a Tetbury destination that they don't want? Don'y think my computer/printer will go that small. CHRIS LEIGH I shall look forward to the article Chris,how long have we to wait ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intercity125 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 I shall look forward to the article Chris,how long have we to wait ? Petee19 - Love your avatar pic. Chris - Do you know which issue of Model Rail the feature on railbuses will be in? I'm already a subscriber to MR and I'm looking forward to reading the article. Regards, Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Petee19 - Love your avatar pic. Chris - Do you know which issue of Model Rail the feature on railbuses will be in? I'm already a subscriber to MR and I'm looking forward to reading the article. Regards, Paul I need to sit down and write it - not to mention do the necessary modelling, so I can't see it being imminent, much as I would like to strike while the iron is hot. I have two other modelling jobs/articles ahead of it at present, which I have to finish in time for the March and April issues, I think. So it might be the May issue unless Richard tells me he needs it sooner. Have to be careful what I say in public as I must not reveal too much of our plans too early. CHRIS LEIGH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium brushman47544 Posted January 13, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 13, 2014 Have to be careful what I say in public as I must not reveal too much of our plans too early. CHRIS LEIGH Don't worry Chris, we can keep a secret on here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Looks like I'll be splitting the article - doing the opening up and detailing the interior first, and then the 'prototype' stuff on how they were used, the railbus halts etc an issue or two later. CHRIS LEIGH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petee19 Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Petee19 - Love your avatar pic. Chris - Do you know which issue of Model Rail the feature on railbuses will be in? I'm already a subscriber to MR and I'm looking forward to reading the article. Regards, Paul Thanks Paul,just had to use a pic of the model on my layout as my avatar,never ever did I think a RTR model would be made of the AC Railbus,as I said in an earlier post the model has brought back fond memories of seeing these every day on the Cirencester branch many years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Richard has asked me to do the interior detailing and passenger-fitting feature for the March issue. CHRIS LEIGH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 I've been doing the interior detailing - painting and fitting passengers. It's easy, and well worth doing - the icing on what is already a very good cake! CHRIS LEIGH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium brushman47544 Posted January 15, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 15, 2014 Found this pic rummaging around photoaccar.JPG A case of the real thing looking like a model... Very nice all the same. EDIT: Oops... just spotted there's no train crew so it is a model??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Gwinnett Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Found this pic rummaging around photoaccar.JPG Very nice indeed. Have you regauged it? A question for Chris or the others who had the chance to ride these in service, were the crews in typical steam era uniforms or where they more akin to "motormen", smart uniforms and all? My father's family came from Rodmarton and the surrounding area, and some still live in Tetbury to this day. Uncle Fred was a porter, I think at Kemble, although perhaps also elsewhere on the branch. There is a group photo showing someone looking uncannily like him in the Wild Swan book, but it may just be coincidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Gwinnett Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 ... just spotted there's no train crew so it is a model??? They'll be having a spot of lunch in the Troublehouse! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Very nice indeed. Have you regauged it? A question for Chris or the others who had the chance to ride these in service, were the crews in typical steam era uniforms or where they more akin to "motormen", smart uniforms and all? My father's family came from Rodmarton and the surrounding area, and some still live in Tetbury to this day. Uncle Fred was a porter, I think at Kemble, although perhaps also elsewhere on the branch. There is a group photo showing someone looking uncannily like him in the Wild Swan book, but it may just be coincidence. They appear to have been 'motormen' type uniforms but may have been steam era bib'n brace to start with. A shot in Stephen Randolph's Tetbury Branch book, taken of a special run for BBC filming when they were brand new looks to have a steam uniform on but I have a photo of the Conductor/guard in the full uniform with jacket, white shirt and tie. The driver on the Tetbury (whose name, I think was Bryn Lander) had a Jimmy Edwards moustache and was abig guy for a very small cab. In the picture I've got he's in shirt and tie uniform with jacket but without cap. (No pics of drivers with anything on their head). Word of warning - the Heljan model has a nice, proper driver's seat. The real thing was more of a 'padded box' and if you look at pictures, the driver is always sitting very low down - the seats were not adjustable. I've ended up with my driver sitting too high - but its amazing how much a bit of internal paint and some passengers does for the model. CHRIS LEIGH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubbles2 Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 When did the light green (with dark green collar and I think cuffs) motorman jacket come into use? There was a centre spread in Railway Magazine, April 1967,titled Cornish Conclusions and the main picture, by Andrew Muckley, shows W79978 paused at the pagodaed Dunmere Halt with the 13.15 to Bodmin North on September 7,1964. The driver looks to be wearing one of the wide collared motorman jackets, but I may well be wrong, he also has a drivers cap with badge on and is smoking a cigarette. Two small children are fidgeting on the bench seat under the front window while a little girl kneels on the seat staring ahead nose against the window, a gent sits behind them also cigarette in mouth. On the front right lamp iron sits what appears to be a red tail lamp (the picture is not colour) so no need to worry about changing the lamp over when reversing direction, on Cornish byways anyway! The destination blind is half showing half Cirencester Town and half white having not been fully wound on. This picture, or similar picture taken seconds before or after (the children had fidgeted to different positions) has I'm sure been reproduced elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 When they went to Cornwall and/or Yeovil, no one bothered to change the blinds for local ones, so they usually showed old destinations (Tetbury, Cirencester etc) or no destination. Similarly in Scotland, though they could presumably have had the blinds from withdrawn Park Royals that they replaced. The Scots never changed the W prefixes, either. To me, it simply proves that they were a stopgap, intended to be 'used once and thrown away' Certainly the evidence from W79976 suggested that they were never intended to be taken apart for overhaul. The Ayr-Kilmarnock service that they worked was only kept operating because of a delay in a road improvement scheme. As soon as that was finished, the rail service was withdrawn and so were the railbuses. CHRIS LEIGH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 How about one of these as a companion kit for the Tackley Halt model - or as a Skaledale/Scenecraft type model? CHRIS LEIGH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted March 6, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 6, 2014 When they went to Cornwall and/or Yeovil, no one bothered to change the blinds for local ones, so they usually showed old destinations (Tetbury, Cirencester etc) or no destination. Similarly in Scotland, though they could presumably have had the blinds from withdrawn Park Royals that they replaced. The Scots never changed the W prefixes, either. To me, it simply proves that they were a stopgap, intended to be 'used once and thrown away' Certainly the evidence from W79976 suggested that they were never intended to be taken apart for overhaul. The Ayr-Kilmarnock service that they worked was only kept operating because of a delay in a road improvement scheme. As soon as that was finished, the rail service was withdrawn and so were the railbuses. CHRIS LEIGH Can you enlighten (!) me as to which headlamps were generally used (esp. when working in the Yeovil area). The full 'Christmas tree' effect that comes as standard (at least for non-DCC users) can't possibly be right and I'd like to disconnect some of them. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Can you enlighten (!) me as to which headlamps were generally used (esp. when working in the Yeovil area). The full 'Christmas tree' effect that comes as standard (at least for non-DCC users) can't possibly be right and I'd like to disconnect some of them. John Based on the pictures I've seen, even on gloomy days, the answer is none of 'em. They certainly weren't visible and, unless you're planning on running sessions in the dark... Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted March 6, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 6, 2014 Can you enlighten (!) me as to which headlamps were generally used (esp. when working in the Yeovil area). John Strangely there seem to have been no specific Instructions for the railbuses. They were certainly required to carry tail lamps as the standard Instructions for diesel cars and dmus stipulated that. The diesel car Instructions only required 'headlights' (sic) to be switched on at night or when passing through tunnels so logically the same would apply to the railbuses - and that would be to exhibit a Class B/Class 2 headlamp code. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 I've checked all my collection of photos and I can find only one picture, taken on a misty day at Church's Hill, which does indeed appear to show ALL the front lights ON. The row of three and the single top one were marker lights, intended to show the train classification. They were fitted to take the separate red glass filters, for use as rear lights, but BR didn't trust electricity so the red lights were not used and a red oil tail lamp was hung on the back. The middle, separate, light with the chrome bezel was a standard Lucas car spotlight and the purpose of this was to make the car more visible at night and in fog, as the approach was very quiet due to only one engine and four wheels. These must have been very necessary at times, when serving the 'bus stop' halts which had no lights of any sort. Remember (particularly in the case of the Tetbury line) these guys were operating well away from 'officialdom' most of the time and could pretty much do as they pleased - witness using the railbus to go to the Troublehouse Inn for lunch - so how and when they used the lights would have been a matter of personal choice. I suspect the main use of the marker lights (they were quite dim anyway) would have been on the ECS run between Kemble and Swindon. CHRIS LEIGH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted March 6, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 6, 2014 I've checked all my collection of photos and I can find only one picture, taken on a misty day at Church's Hill, which does indeed appear to show ALL the front lights ON. The row of three and the single top one were marker lights, intended to show the train classification. They were fitted to take the separate red glass filters, for use as rear lights, but BR didn't trust electricity so the red lights were not used and a red oil tail lamp was hung on the back. The middle, separate, light with the chrome bezel was a standard Lucas car spotlight and the purpose of this was to make the car more visible at night and in fog, as the approach was very quiet due to only one engine and four wheels. These must have been very necessary at times, when serving the 'bus stop' halts which had no lights of any sort. Remember (particularly in the case of the Tetbury line) these guys were operating well away from 'officialdom' most of the time and could pretty much do as they pleased - witness using the railbus to go to the Troublehouse Inn for lunch - so how and when they used the lights would have been a matter of personal choice. I suspect the main use of the marker lights (they were quite dim anyway) would have been on the ECS run between Kemble and Swindon. CHRIS LEIGH Thanks, all. It appears to conform to Rule 1, so I think I'll leave it alone, at least until I can add a switch or I go DCC! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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