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Shame they didn't have a photo of the crew bus...The reference to 'gantry' with regard to the Karrier Bantam and Thames Trader had me a bit confused- looking at the photos, I would say that they should have said 'trestle'. If anyone's looking for photos of BR vehicles, I recommend the just-published 'A Pictorial Parade of Southern Region Road Vehicles', by Bruce Murray and Kevin Robertson, available from www.kevinrobertsonbooks.co.uk Though it's dedicatted to BR(S)vehicles, there's still a lot of variety. It would be interesting to see some photos from elsewhere to follow these.

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The FGs are going to be irresistable! The Thames flatbed is practically spot-on one that features in the first ever panoramic shot of Galashiels goods yard that I unearthed last week. blink.gif blink.gif

 

Those and the Castrol tanker are absolute winners for me and will enable me to retire some more off-region, out-of-era vehicles.

 

Well chuffed of suburbia cool.gif

 

EDIT: and yes, I too was this close (screws up face and makes this close gesture with fingers) to doing the crewbus conversion but she ain't made it onto the W/B yet, thank folk.

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Mine has actually got on to my workbench, but it's not finished yet. I think there might be a change of direction, cab-wise. Now where did I put that Corgi Leyland Terrier......?

 

I'm pretty sure that's what this is in this 1980 photo of Spalding BR Crewbus

 

Paul

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Good Grief!.................

Aaargh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!......

Guess who HAS started the FG crewbus conversion?!?!

Well, never mind - mine was always going to be based upon my fathers vehicle which he bought secondhand from (i think) Levesleys near B-o-T, Staffordshire in about 1975 in green livery. Dad then converted it into a camper van and painted it white(!) and every winter for the next 6 or 7 years, we went travelling abroad in it! Mostly to Morrocco but once to Greece and a couple of times to Portugal as well.

The poor old girl, (RPL 148F!) eventually succumbed and languished in the field at the back of dads house (in France!) until the neighbour eventually took the chassis away and turned it into a trailer for his tractor - and is probably still going as such today!

As you can see, i have some history with these vehicles but i'm sure my dads was a Leyland!

No matter, a few of these in railway colours will be joining my fleet!

Thanks for posting, kevblokey.

Cheers,

John E.

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Good Grief!.................

Aaargh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!......

Guess who HAS started the FG crewbus conversion?!?!

Well, never mind - mine was always going to be based upon my fathers vehicle which he bought secondhand from (i think) Levesleys near B-o-T, Staffordshire in about 1975 in green livery. Dad then converted it into a camper van and painted it white(!) and every winter for the next 6 or 7 years, we went travelling abroad in it! Mostly to Morrocco but once to Greece and a couple of times to Portugal as well.

The poor old girl, (RPL 148F!) eventually succumbed and languished in the field at the back of dads house (in France!) until the neighbour eventually took the chassis away and turned it into a trailer for his tractor - and is probably still going as such today!

As you can see, i have some history with these vehicles but i'm sure my dads was a Leyland!

No matter, a few of these in railway colours will be joining my fleet!

Thanks for posting, kevblokey.

Cheers,

John E.

 

I aim to please!

 

Pics will follow of the crewbus as soon as I get them, in the meantime, fingers crossed for a good 'un!

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Yes, it is. The same sort of bodywork was used with the Commer/Dodge Commando chassis. Later versions have a tail-lift and a flatter roof.

 

May I just clarify some of the above possible confusion.

The Base Toys crewbus is a totally different vehicle to the Dodge, Leyland Terrier, Ford Cargo etc. style.

The Austin, Morris, BMC or Leyland FG had an integral body built onto the cab/chassis. Bought by BR from 1966 to 1974. Access was through the cab doors.

The Dodge/Terrier style had a deperate body from the cab and was produced from about 1973 until about 1993.

 

Merfyn.

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Mine has actually got on to my workbench, but it's not finished yet. I think there might be a change of direction, cab-wise. Now where did I put that Corgi Leyland Terrier......?

 

I'm pretty sure that's what this is in this 1980 photo of Spalding BR Crewbus

 

Paul

 

Not read through the replies to this post yet, so apologies if this is a repeat, but in the above-linked pic are a pair of those Dodge parcels vans that used to be ubiquitous - I would be in the market for several of those - the Noddy vans just don't quite cut it for me...

 

EDIT: having read through the intermediate posts I'm delighted that the prototype's timeframe starts in 1966, perfect for '68 in that case!

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See attached, FG crewbus anyone?

 

Nuts! my resin coachworks ran at full speed at StAlbans, the FG is quite a suitable demo piece. Now I'm stuck with all this lot, and I need to make some new moulds of something else before Ally Pally, or I'll end up with even more. :angry:

 

Jon

post-336-12641472551393_thumb.jpg

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Nuts! my resin coachworks ran at full speed at StAlbans, the FG is quite a suitable demo piece. Now I'm stuck with all this lot, and I need to make some new moulds of something else before Ally Pally, or I'll end up with even more. :angry:

 

Jon

 

I wouldn't panic too much until we've seen the Base model in the flesh. The current range goes from almost perfect to stuff barely resembling the prototype so your mouldings might still be in demand!

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I have to say Jon, that I agree with the statement about holding on until wee see the BT model in the 'flesh', if it is spot on, then thanks for the effort, if, on the other hand, it turns out to be a dog then I guess your market will remain safe.

 

Just a thought, what are the chances of one of your castings being used for the pre-production shots?

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For Merfyn principally, at the end of this link, Photo 8, is a Trader in 1968 doing what it was designed for...

Galashiels station and goods yard late 1968

Caption reads: 'View looking S showing wagons at station with part of mill in background'

It probably belongs to a private merchant rather than being a British Rail fleet vehicle, but nontheless it's a classic period shot packed with atmosphere.

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For Merfyn principally, at the end of this link, Photo 8, is a Trader in 1968 doing what it was designed for...

Galashiels station and goods yard late 1968

Caption reads: 'View looking S showing wagons at station with part of mill in background'

It probably belongs to a private merchant rather than being a British Rail fleet vehicle, but nontheless it's a classic period shot packed with atmosphere.

It almost looks as though it's got one of the 'Flying Crate' emblems, sometimes seen on containers and trailers- this livery preceded the double-arrow one, but started at about the time BR traffic road vehicles started appearing in yellow.

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  • 1 month later...

It almost looks as though it's got one of the 'Flying Crate' emblems, sometimes seen on containers and trailers- this livery preceded the double-arrow one, but started at about the time BR traffic road vehicles started appearing in yellow.

 

The so called Flying Crate appeared along with the yellow Railfreight livery during 1963 and was replaced by the double arrow during 1966.

The yellow Trader is another possible for Base Toys, all they need is the photo of it along with fleet and registration numbers.

The FG crewbus, I don't think you will be dissapointed.

Merfyn.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Gang,

 

I was at the Toy & Hobby trade fair today and one of the stalls had a pre-pro Base Toys D82 FG Crewbus. Please note this is a pre-pro and as such there are faults both deliberate and accidental, things to note are that the wheelbase is shorter than it should be, but bear in mind that all Base Toys trucks are made to fit a small number of chassis', so the wheelbase is a compromise, additionally, the rubbing strip is not straight, this will be sorted before production, what do you RMWebbers think? The crew area features full seating, the first version will be in Yellow with Green to follow.

 

I personally think it looks the part!

 

Thats all for now.

 

Kev

post-6974-126799886521_thumb.jpg

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]

Hi Gang,

 

I was at the Toy & Hobby trade fair today and one of the stalls had a pre-pro Base Toys D82 FG Crewbus. Please note this is a pre-pro and as such there are faults both deliberate and accidental, things to note are that the wheelbase is shorter than it should be, but bear in mind that all Base Toys trucks are made to fit a small number of chassis', so the wheelbase is a compromise, additionally, the rubbing strip is not straight, this will be sorted before production, what do you RMWebbers think? The crew area features full seating, the first version will be in Yellow with Green to follow.

 

Kev

 

In addition to Kev's notes, the slopeing doors and the incorrect body shape above the windscreen are being corrected.

Not bad at 7 quid. I think the finished job will please most people.

post-1625-12680437288_thumb.jpg

Merfyn.

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]

 

In addition to Kev's notes, the slopeing doors and the incorrect body shape above the windscreen are being corrected.

Not bad at 7 quid. I think the finished job will please most people.

post-1625-12680437288_thumb.jpg

Merfyn.

 

Thanks for that Merv, I was going to say, when you consider the price of retail, you would have to go some to fault it!

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p.s.

I forgot to say . My picture is of one of the later ones with the higher roof. You will see the difference above the side windows. The model is of the earlier lower version, to enable it to be done in either green or yellow.

Merfyn.

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Nice pictures of preproduction casting and also the real thing.

 

How many seats did the FG crew bus have?

 

Best wishes,

 

David

Don't quote me on this but the model had a long bench seat along the rear wall and about three double seats, but that is from memory and mine's crap!

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