Grampus

From a quick scan back through an old Combined Volume, I logged D1001/1028/1056/1058/1065 that day. 1015 was there in the old wheeldrop building(?) looking somewhat scruffy in undercoat: and I cabbed D1041 for good measure. For what it's worth, just found a note in the front of said Combined Volume which said, 'Ending Swindon Trip, 19 May, 1979'. :-)

Only saw Westerns on the scrap line on my first visit to Swindon (the works open day in 1979, if I recall correctly); and then only from a distance. I remember there was a list of those present on a piece of paper, pinned to the fence. The public were not allowed into the storage/scrapping area on that occasion. A very good day out: I remember climbing up into the cab of a freshly painted 03382, the first one of the type I had seen; and our school society set up basecamp for the day in a refurbished DMU (117, I think?) that was on display. Sadly, no camera that day. Best wishes, Paul

Well done: very well deserved. WW is always one of my 'must see' items whenever I am on here - it never disappoints! Best wishes, Paul

Small world, isn't it? I was there 1984-87 at the Coldharbour Lane site. Had a great time, met my future wife and actually managed to get a degree - nobody more surprised than me! Still have fond memories of the place, though it looks a bit different round there now: in my first year I walked across open fields to get from Parkway to the Poly. A bit trickier to do nowadays, I suspect. Best wishes, Paul

I seem to recall that you are right re the 46s. There were some 45s as well, though: 45027 in my first picture; and then the unidentified split-box example in the the sixth picture (though I am trying to work out whether that is in fact another image of 45027 - which, I believe, was a split-box example? - difficult to tell though). These days I am rather more careful to keep my notebooks somewhere safe! Best wishes, Paul

I particularly liked your picture of the King on the end of BTM: brought back happy memories of Bristol - I was a student at Bristol Poly by then. I remember it well, both in one piece and latterly, sat around in pieces, pending restoration. It looks rather better these days. Best wishes, Paul

I had similar thoughts. Doubtless somebody will know.

Evening all, having come across these - somewhat sad - images again recently whilst leafing through old photo albums, I thought I would post them on here. All were taken on a, blisteringly cold, school railway society trip to Swindon Works, on or about 3rd January, 1983. The trip was arranged specifically to enable us to see the large number of locos then stored there, pending scrapping (or for a lucky few, a return to service). Unfortunately my notebooks are long gone, so captions are limited. I am curious as to why so many of the 40s and Peaks had lost their centre windscreen panels? I have also included these class 25 shots previously seen on the current '25' thread for completeness. Finally, to cheer everybody up again, a couple of snaps of D818 Glory and D1015 Western Champion arrayed around the turntable, taken on the same day, albeit bittersweet in that Glory was soon to follow the 40s and Peaks into the great beyond. Interesting times. Best wishes, Paul

A couple of 'end of life' shots taken at Swindon Works in early Jan 83 on a school railway society trip to see the large numbers of locos stored there at that time. Sadly the colours of the images have faded somewhat over time - both locos were very definitely in blue! Unfortunately these are merely scans of my old prints - if I come across the negatives I will re-scan and try again. I confess to having mixed feelings about posting such images, but they were as much a part of the locos' existence as an ex-works' shot, so I hope they may be of interest. Best wishes, Paul

Evening all, first, a couple of shots of 33112 taken at Salisbury during May 1988 (I am unable to narrow down the date reliably any tighter than that, I'm afraid), followed by what appears to be '048 on a Portsmouth-Bristol/Cardiff at Skew Bridge, west of Salisbury taken at approximately the same date. Happy to be corrected: I could not clean up the image any further to make sure. Going slightly OT for a moment if you will indulge me, how about this for a birthday cake, presented to me by my family yesterday? The detail (made of icing) is just amazing! What a wonderful present. The cake tasts good too, though I cannot bring myself to cut the loco: thankfully the tunnel and earthworks are quite substantial! Best wishes, Paul

Must have fallen off a Cardiff-Crewe at the top end of the route for a few days?!

Ha ha! Thank you Jim. You are, of course, correct. I was indeed married in 1992!!! (should have read my own captions properly - perils of posting first thing in the morning. ) Details in original post now corrected as of Saturday 5 Jan.

A few more from the same trip: Funny, I didn't bother to photograph 47677 (to the right of the line-up in the first picture) for some reason. Hope these are of interest. Best wishes, Paul

A few from me taken whilst honeymooning in Scotland in 1992. First, 37403 climbing away from Mallaig: And then a selection of 37s taken at the Kyle the following day plus 37240 at Inverness later in the week: Edited Saturday 5 Jan to correct date and loco identity.

Breath-taking! What a wonderful model - there is absolutely nothing (to my eyes, at least) that gives the game away that this is a model, or jars in the slightest. Thank you for your sharing your pictures. Best wishes, Paul

Afternoon everybody, hope everyone had a nice Christmas? Wondered if you might appreciate a few images of 33056, now arrived on a shed somewhere near Lincoln, that far, far-flung outpost of the Southern (South Western Division, obviously...) Here goes - please excuse the quality of the images: I am well pleased with it, especially the choice of Waterloo-Exeter and Bristol-Pompey headcodes, already fitted. A brief whizz on the rolling road suggests it runs as sweetly as the rest of my Crompton fleet: I am hoping that the holiday season may enable me to put the boards up for a few days and take some proper snaps. A little judicious weathering and some etched plates in due course should finish it off nicely, though I recall that whenever I saw either '056 or indeed '027 they were usually fairly clean (though perhaps that is just my rose-tinted specs!) Enjoy the remaining 10 ten days of Christmas and a happy New Year to all! Paul

Robert, a brief note of thanks for your excellent service, particularly under the circumstances you have described on here recently : goods ordered on line late Sunday night and received first thing this morning. Very much appreciated; thank you again. Wishing you a blessed, peaceful Christmas and best wishes for the future. Paul

Yes, it is. Sorry, my meaning was not as clear as I had hoped. The FV432 is advertised on S&M Models ' website as being to 1/72, which seems a mite curious. Why not 76th, as per the Stalwart? Oh well, the pictures of the kit made up on the website look nice, so I shall order one and report back in due course. Happy modelling, Paul

Simon, The ex-JB Bedford aircraft refueller is also rather nice and makes for an interesting load, though it might be a tad early for you - certainly into the early 90s (the kit includes 1991 Gulf War markings as an option). S&M models are also due to release a plastic kit of an FV432 Shortly, though interestingly the box art indicates that it will be 1/72 rather than 1/76, as per their Alvis Stalwart amphibian (see post #489). Best wishes, Paul

Jason, many thanks. I am definitely more in the 'looks about right' camp, rather than desperate for spot-on accuracy ( - and probably incapable of achieving that level of fidelity in any case, even if I could see it!) In the absence of a viable alternative, I am inclined to give it a bash using the Ratio kit. Plastic sheet and liquid poly on standby! Best wishes, Paul

Oh - that sounds ominous! Is there perhaps a better starting point then? I rejected the Dapol/ex-Wren/ex-HD gunpowder van because of its 'dimensional irregularities'; and whilst I have a rather nice Parkside GP van tucked away, it looks to be a rather later vehicle with square corners, rather than rounded ones - and a shame to butcher it, just to build a grounded body. Alternatively, does the Ratio Iron Mink need a huge amount doing to it? A brief search on here suggested cutting down the sides by 1mm or so and perhaps re-shaping the roof. I must admit, my only experience of said kit is having a built a number of the pre-painted 'blue circle' cement liveried variants when I worked in a Salisbury model shop in the early 1980s: I recall they went together okay and ran quite nicely, but I had no idea as to the dimensional accuracy (or otherwise) of the model. Western wagons are very much a foreign land to me, I'm afraid. Grateful for any advice, please. TVM. Best wishes, Paul

After a little Google-Fu, (other search engines are available...) I see that Shire Scenes do a set of gunpowder van doors for the Ratio Iron Mink ( - I assume these are brass overlays?) I feel a cunning plan coming on. Thanks again for your help, all. Best wishes, Paul

Thank you - much appreciated. Starting from the old Ratio kit sounds like a better ( - cheaper!) option than buying a nice new Parkside gunpowder van, only to discard the chassis. Nice to know that my wagon recce was a bit better than I had thought, too... If I turn up any more pictures of the same van bodies I will post them on here. Best wishes, Paul

Thank you: I knew I had seen that picture somewhere but could not, for the life of me, remember where. In fact that was what sparked my interest. Would make an interesting model, for sure. Best wishes, Paul

And a better image here - apparently a pair of them! Grateful for any advice, please. TVM. Best wishes, Paul