cromptonnut Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 Ok, quick background: future project of a OO small terminus station with attached Royal Mail depot attached which receives mail trains from "various locations". Something like Southend Victoria (although this would be set in third rail territory) springs to mind. If anyone can help me with the following points or a website that gives more inspiration I'd be grateful MLV I'm contemplating getting an MLV to go with my Bachmann CEP for a forthcoming 4mm project based on a station with attached Royal Mail depot. I know that these units were capable of running "off the juice" (I believe Redhill-Tonbridge was a famous one, almost at the range of the batteries requiring greens all the way and some careful driving) so the yard being unelectrified will work well, but I don't have any information on the actual workings. Would the MLV be attached to a service train (locked out of use, of course), then detatched as appropriate and driven under battery power into the Royal Mail sidings, or would they have run as separate services in most cases? Would MLV's ever have tail loads such as a GUV or a BG? Class 128 Parcels Unit Would these have been seen in the same locations as an MLV? Again, always separate or tagged on to service trains? I have seen these with tail loads. What stock for local hauled services? Finally, what stock. Blue or blue/grey and I can think of BG's and GUVS in mixed formations for parcels/mail services but would any other stock have been in use in mixed formations at that time? ... and what to pull 'em? The 3rd rail stock sets the layout firmly "south of the river" somewhere and thus presumably 33s and 73s would have been used, I'm guessing the occasional visiting 47 too but would any other locos have been seen on cross-regional postal services during that time? Or a case of whatever might have been available wherever the service originated for (on the basis that it would then go back on the return working)? Thanks in advance for any help. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lurker Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 Funnily enough, you mention Tonbridge and that might fit your bill. Mail traffic was sorted at the bay platform next to the down platform. I used travel home on my way home from school in Tonbridge. Kentrail refers (and has a picture of a mail train at the new facilities that were built in the 90's) http://www.kentrail.org.uk/tonbridge_4.htm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cromptonnut Posted March 26, 2013 Author Share Posted March 26, 2013 I'll look into Tonbridge - and I am aware that Redhill station also had a 'Mail Bay' (father in law used to work there) but that's too small for what I had in mind I wasn't necessarily looking to replicate a real location, but would like to use prototypical practices where I can. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 If you're looking at the early part of the 1980s, you could justify using the various ex-SR vans (as modelled by Parkside, Hornby and soon, Bachmann) Pretty certain I've seen shots of an MLV with one or two of these (the Van B, IIRC)as tail traffic. Certainly, the MLVs were designed to run with tail traffic. I can't think of any locations where MLVs and Parcels DMMUs ran together; you might have to create a back story for that. Perhaps a terminus station off the West London Line... It might be worth having a look for anything about 'Bricklayers' Arms'- IIRC, this served as a Parcels Concentration Depot for South London, and had originally been the 'City' terminus for the SER (City workers being more used to long walks in those days). As to locos; by the time you're talking about, you might have 31s from the WR and ER, and possibly 25s from the LMR. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 Early 80s, the MLVs were predominantly attached to EMUs, mostly on boat trains, but also other service trains (some pics in the long MLV thread around here). They also ran solo as some kind of parcels service around that time. I was spotting in Kent from 1976ish up to 1986 and never saw an MLV with tail traffic. They didn't stray too far from the SE division either. The vast majority of parcels/papers/mail trains in Kent around that period were 73-hauled, with the 4-wheel SR CCT/PMV, and BR CCT gradually dying out, plus the usual mix of GUV, BG, SR B, and other oddments. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennyboy Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 128's definitely ran in service trains was well as on their own as there was a picture of one in an 1980s Platform 5 book leading a Class 108 DMU powered Buxton-Manchester service. And if you are modelling the very early 80s then you can also justify running all kinds of pre-Nationalization stock such as Siphons, PMV's etc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cromptonnut Posted December 28, 2014 Author Share Posted December 28, 2014 18 months later and I finally get round to picking up a blue/grey MLV in the Gaugemaster sale.. I've collected two CEPs and a VEP in the meantime but can't run a 12 car formation on my current project but it will fit an 8+1. Chipped - easy enough - now to worry about the parcels terminal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
briantwigley Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 I have plans for something extremely similar - since I work for Royal Mail it's something that has always interested me. I'd be interested to see your progress Ryan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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