Bedford TKs in 4mm scale?

[creweboy]

Currently both EFE and Oxford make the TK, what is the difference between the two.

 

Also they seem to come on a number of different wheelbases, would anyone have an idea of available sizes etc?

[Merfyn Jones]

Currently both EFE and Oxford make the TK, what is the difference between the two.

 

Also they seem to come on a number of different wheelbases, would anyone have an idea of available sizes etc?

 

The Oxford is a lot cheaper than the EFE. The EFE cab is a little wider. Wheelbase on the Oxford needs shortening on most of their models. EFE does 4 different wheelbases, their attic is too long.

We had a discussion some time back on the Railway Motors thread, you may find it with searching.

Merf.

[creweboy]

The Oxford is a lot cheaper than the EFE. The EFE cab is a little wider. Wheelbase on the Oxford needs shortening on most of their models. EFE does 4 different wheelbases, their attic is too long.

We had a discussion some time back on the Railway Motors thread, you may find it with searching.

Merf.

Merf,

Thanks for the guidance, will search it out, what may interest you though, is that its you photo of a Crosville Beford TK open lorry at Crewe that is my inspiration!!!

 

Any idea of the best TK in 4mm as a starter to make CMS 54A, going to scratchbuild the open body, so just chassis info? 

Mike

[PhilJ W]

Merf,

Thanks for the guidance, will search it out, what may interest you though, is that its you photo of a Crosville Beford TK open lorry at Crewe that is my inspiration!!!

 

Any idea of the best TK in 4mm as a starter to make CMS 54A, going to scratchbuild the open body, so just chassis info? 

Mike

If you have a photograph or can identify the exact model would be a help. For chassis details see if you can find a spec sheet, that will give such details as wheelbase etc. A spec sheet for the TK should be quite easy to find.

[Merfyn Jones]

If you have a photograph or can identify the exact model would be a help. For chassis details see if you can find a spec sheet, that will give such details as wheelbase etc. A spec sheet for the TK should be quite easy to find.

 

I have the specs. for the TK range.

Crosville 54A was a Bedford KEL with a wheelbase of 151" and 17" wheels.  I would go for an Oxford model, shorten the wheelbase and fit smaller wheels.

Merf.

[mikeharvey22]

I used to drive one for Seaspeed back in the 1970s. Battered BR blue.

 

Mike

[Merfyn Jones]

 

I have the specs. for the TK range.

Crosville 54A was a Bedford KEL with a wheelbase of 151" and 17" wheels.  I would go for an Oxford model, shorten the wheelbase and fit smaller wheels.

Merf.

 

Found another spec sheet before bed last night. The KELD was also available as a 16' wheelbase for dropside bodies. Looking at the photo again it is possibly one of these, but maybe not. What do you think.

A check of the Oxford model has 15' w.b. and the EFE (most common) a 14'6" w.b..  The Oxford wheels are smaller and you may find they look right.

 

[Merfyn Jones]

I used to drive one for Seaspeed back in the 1970s. Battered BR blue.

 

Mike

 

Love to see a picture Mike, I had never heard or seen of one in that livery.

Merf.

[PhilJ W]

Even the Oxford wheels are too big. The best wheels would be from the Roco HO scale American army 2.5 ton truck, both the right size and pattern.

[mikeharvey22]

Love to see a picture Mike, I had never heard or seen of one in that livery.

Merf.

Sorry Merf, never seen a photo of one. But I keep looking. The vehicle was exactly the same as the Crosville one with the small wheels. Officially it was allocated to the Engineering Dept.. who used it for collecting small parts and skirt sections for the hovercraft from various local stores around Dover. At peak periods it was used by the Traffic Dept. shuttling passengers' luggage between Dover Priory station and the Hoverport which in the late 1960s and early 1970s was inside the Eastern Docks. So I always look at photos of Dover Priory Station showing the East Kent coaches on the shuttle service for Seaspeed. These were in Seaspeed blue and white, and came in two types - Dennis UF coaches with Duple Ambassador bodies (HJG reg nos) and AEC Reliances with Park Royal bodies (TFN reg nos). One day I'll find the TK in the background.

 

As I said above the TK was in all over BR Corporate blue, and it had double arrows on the cab doors. A typical load would be a large pile of suitcases and rucksacks with two baggage handlers riding on top of the pile! And often 3 in the cab.

 

Mike

[creweboy]

Thanks to all of you for such a good response, Merf, special thanks for the inspiration!! would there be any chance of posting to flickr any other Crosville vans or other commercial vehicles of the same period?

Mike

[Merfyn Jones]

Thanks to all of you for such a good response, Merf, special thanks for the inspiration!! would there be any chance of posting to flickr any other Crosville vans or other commercial vehicles of the same period?

Mike

 

There are hundreds of photos I want to put on flickr, and there are other Crosville service vehicles amongst them, some day as time allows.

[Merfyn Jones]

Sorry Merf, never seen a photo of one. But I keep looking. The vehicle was exactly the same as the Crosville one with the small wheels. Officially it was allocated to the Engineering Dept.. who used it for collecting small parts and skirt sections for the hovercraft from various local stores around Dover. At peak periods it was used by the Traffic Dept. shuttling passengers' luggage between Dover Priory station and the Hoverport which in the late 1960s and early 1970s was inside the Eastern Docks. So I always look at photos of Dover Priory Station showing the East Kent coaches on the shuttle service for Seaspeed. These were in Seaspeed blue and white, and came in two types - Dennis UF coaches with Duple Ambassador bodies (HJG reg nos) and AEC Reliances with Park Royal bodies (TFN reg nos). One day I'll find the TK in the background.

 

As I said above the TK was in all over BR Corporate blue, and it had double arrows on the cab doors. A typical load would be a large pile of suitcases and rucksacks with two baggage handlers riding on top of the pile! And often 3 in the cab.

 

Mike

 

Thanks for the info. Mike.  I had a look on 'flickr' under Seaspeed and found all the buses, including that rather nice Dennis, but no lorry.

I have in my collection a photo of a Bedford TK tipper in what would appear to be engineers green livery, WBY+++G and I thought it was taken in Dover as a Seaspeed poster appears behind it. This is the one that EFE has recently made a model of .

Merf.

[Guest jim s-w]

Even the Oxford wheels are too big. The best wheels would be from the Roco HO scale American army 2.5 ton truck, both the right size and pattern.

 

Are the smaller base toys wheels the right size?

 

Sorry its not a bedford

 

Jim

[37114]

As Jim says, try the smaller base toys wheels as fitted to some of their FG's and D series models they look much more the right size.

[PhilJ W]

Are the smaller base toys wheels the right size? Sorry its not a bedford Jim

They are about the right size but not the right shape. Bedford wheels are more 'domed' than many other manufacturers. Modifications will have to be made to the wheel arches otherwise it will look a bit odd. There might be some other wheels that can be used. The standard size for lorry wheels was 20" (or the metric equivalent) if you want to represent 17" wheels HO scale 20" wheels are virtually the correct size.

[Merfyn Jones]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozaru/6417195349/Sorry Merf, never seen a photo of one. But I keep looking. The vehicle was exactly the same as the Crosville one with the small wheels. Officially it was allocated to the Engineering Dept.. who used it for collecting small parts and skirt sections for the hovercraft from various local stores around Dover. At peak periods it was used by the Traffic Dept. shuttling passengers' luggage between Dover Priory station and the Hoverport which in the late 1960s and early 1970s was inside the Eastern Docks. So I always look at photos of Dover Priory Station showing the East Kent coaches on the shuttle service for Seaspeed. These were in Seaspeed blue and white, and came in two types - Dennis UF coaches with Duple Ambassador bodies (HJG reg nos) and AEC Reliances with Park Royal bodies (TFN reg nos). One day I'll find the TK in the background.

 

As I said above the TK was in all over BR Corporate blue, and it had double arrows on the cab doors. A typical load would be a large pile of suitcases and rucksacks with two baggage handlers riding on top of the pile! And often 3 in the cab.

 

Mike

 

Sorry about going off the subject creweboy, but I feel a model of a TK coming on.

I went on flickr and searched Dover Priory and this pic. came up.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozaru/6417195349/

 

A dropside lorry with a London registration in yellow, so it could well be Southern Region. And parked where the buses loaded for the docks. Could it be the same one, before or after a repaint in blue. Was the blue a local initiative to match th buses ?

Merf.

[mikeharvey22]

Thanks for the info. Mike. I had a look on 'flickr' under Seaspeed and found all the buses, including that rather nice Dennis, but no lorry.

I have in my collection a photo of a Bedford TK tipper in what would appear to be engineers green livery, WBY+++G and I thought it was taken in Dover as a Seaspeed poster appears behind it. This is the one that EFE has recently made a model of .

Merf.

I do not recall a green tipper. BR had a lot of activity at Dover at the time - hovercraft, passenger ships, ro-ro ferries, train ferries, as well as the rail passenger, freight and parcels staple diet. But the Seaspeed posters appeared all over the network. I had a girlfriend who worked as a purserette (only use of the word I have ever known) and her face was featured on a poster advertising the London tp Paris rail-hovercraft- rail service. When I lived in London in 1972 her face was all over the Underground and rail stations. So the tipper may not have been at Dover anyway. At the end of the 1960s there were loads of tippers around Dover with WBY reg number running a shuttle service of coke fom Dover gas Works to Richborough Power Station. They were 6x4 high side tippers on Thames Trader chassis in the colours of Segas. There was Photo of one in Classic vans mag with a Ford 400E van. The Trader can be made from a mix of BaseToys/BT Models bits.

 

Sorry getting high on nostalgia.

 

Regarding the yellow dropside I think that is a different vehicle but possibly on the same duty. The one I drove was delivered in blue in 1970 so was probably an H reg or J reg.

 

The other vehicles I remembered at the hoverport were the BP kerosene bowsers which refuelled the 'craft between flights. These were also TKs but 4x2 and 6x2 and very similar to the one that featured in the Matchbox Toys range as number 25. (Later edit:- these could have been KMs rather than TKs).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Matchbox-regular-wheeled-No-25-Bedford-BP-tanker-MB-/110900783756?clk_rvr_id=448719858896

 

Mike