Weaselfish

Good evening. I recently bought a photo of 7828 Odney Manor at Birmingham Snow Hill from the RS Carpenter collection. The picture is undated beyond 'c. 1957'. In the background, in the Wolverhampton and Stourbridge line bay, 2 passenger vehicles are partly visible, one of which has the number W50101. Was this a DMU or a coach? I have no coach or DMU reference books and an online search has drawn a blank. Thanks to anyone with any information on the point.

Am I hallucinating? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Very-rare-MTK-BR-ex-GWR-rebuilt-Twin-Railcar-No-33-Buffet-No-38-Kit/323578094945?hash=item4b56c1e561:g:7BEAAOSwQXlcAvqh:rk:48:pf:0

If you mean the 3150s, yes they were 2-6-2s. The 31xxs were rebuilds of 3150s with high pressure boilers and 5'3" wheels instead of 5'8".

"All my moguls are K's and I a very happy with them, especially as I have inclines to consider. They are useful for other projects. I was given another once recently. As I do not need another mogul, I am in the process of retro converting back to a 3150 prairie tank, using spare castings from a K's 42XX for the tanks and bunker." COACH BOGIE: Just seen this. Sounds like a good way of getting a model of a useful prototype. Do you think a K's/Cotswold 42/72xx could be used with a Wills 41/51/61xx to produce a 1939 31xx?

That's a lovely job.What did you do and how did you do it please? I've seen your 94xx, 97xx condensing pannier and twin car GWR unit adaptations and they've all been impressive.

Sorry, just found this thread. They are definitely appropriate for a wharf layout, even in the middle of the country. Worcester had several examples and they would have been used on the truncated Butts branch down to the Severn waterfront up to its closure in 1957. They were also used profusely on the Vinegar branch which had a canal interchange too - see map at this link: http://www.miac.org.uk/vinegarmap.html They were also definitely used around Gloucester docks, although the only online photos at the location I found in a cursory search were of one of the spark arrester fitted locos. Gloucester and Lydney had quite a few 16xxs for working the Forest of Dean lines.

There was quite a lot of GWR stuff. The County, Dean Single and Great Bear are mentioned above. There was also a Grange, a Star (designed to fit the original Airfix tender-drive Castle chassis) and 850 pannier and saddle tanks. I've got the latter 4 and given the age of the kits they still look ok.The 850s are particularly good and have etched chassis which still run very nicely. At the risk of sounding nosey, which ones have you been offered?

Hmm. Bidder identity protected too so you can't tell how many people are actually bidding.

Thanks for the links Rob - it's really impressive work.

This is really impressive. It's a very striking model. Are you going to post about how you modified the Dublo N2s too?

I think you'd be safe in painting your late GWR/early BR vans in brown without the red ends. I just can't envisage the bright red surviving wartime conditions. This photo of the Tyseley engineer's train isn't the best quality and the lighting is harsh, but the van ends are very dark. http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrhj100a.htm They look like the former CSP Agenoria kits. I'd like to get the kit myself. The current owners of CSP tell me that it's been passed to David Geen, but I've had no luck contacting him so far.

Hello all. I found an online supplier who produces a small range of 4mm 3D printed detailing parts for some of the minor variations in the Earl Class. I've never seen the large pattern top feed produced before. They're specifically designed for the Bachmann model but I don't see why they couldn't be used on the Nu-Cast version or the Duke class. I've ordered a top feed with a view to producing 9084 Mercury. Link for the supplier is below if anyone is interested. I'd never heard of this company before last night and have no connection with them: https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product-category/detailing-components/locomotive-detailing/gwr/

No problem at all. I've got an old Dapol County myself, so I'll certainly be interested to read more on your project. Also, Silver Sidelines of this forum has done some work on Counties which may be of interest: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/880/entry-15566-silk-purse-%E2%80%93-airfix-tender-drive-county/

247 Developments do some too: http://247developments.co.uk/loco_detailing.html

How about these? https://www.phoenix-paints.co.uk/products/jew95

Horsetan is right. Proscale did a Saint and so did Falcon Brassworks. Similarly, I've never seen examples of either model.

Did warflats and warwells ever run in mixed rakes in the later part of world war 2 and the post-war period? The 7th Armoured Division operated mixed units of Cromwells and Sherman Fireflies and I was wondering how they were moved by rail before D-Day. I haven't been able to find any photos of mixed rakes online or in my own reference books.

On 11 October 1947 2906 Lady of Lynn from Canton certainly worked to Birmingham on a passenger train. As I type I am looking at a photo of her at Snow Hill. The details given on the back of the photo state that 2906 had worked up from Cardiff that day via Hereford. The photo is copyrighted so I can't post it, but it's negative CE7/11 from the PJ Garland collection, currently distributed by Roger Carpenter photographs.

Stars indeed. Not enough beer. Making up for it now.

GWRROB: Thank you - that's a great photo. The Stars really were handsome machines.

FATADDER: I think you may possibly be in luck, although as ever with GWR livery in this period a definitive answer is elusive. The GWRJ no. 7 article states that 4025 was painted black during a works visit at some point between 13 February and 21 March 1943. With the post-war backlog of repairs and maintenance there's a good chance that 4025 stayed in black until the works visit and repaint shown in your photograph. You'd need to check the locomotive record to see if there were any other overhauls between '43 and '48 but this of course does not mean that the engine would have been repainted. There are a couple of complicating factors though. By the end of 1947 the GWR was applying lined green livery to the Kings, Castles and Stars. This was continued by BR except for the blue period for the kings and the various experimental lime green repaints. Accordingly, a repaint in unlined green as late as 1949 seems slightly anomalous. (I suspect the photo you have may be slightly earlier than 1949). Also, the full 'BRITISH RAILWAYS' lettering was used for a short time only in 1948. My guess - and I emphasise that it is a guess- is that to be sporting a combination of unlined green livery and 'BRITISH RAILWAYS' lettering 4025 was shopped at some point in 1948 and someone for some reason took the decision not to apply lining.

Tricky... That's going to be quite a research job with no guarantee of a definitive answer. I would personally take the broad view that the earlier a Star was withdrawn after 1945 the more likely it would be to have retained black livery - if it had been repainted that colour during the war. As an example of the problems you'll face, I've been collecting post-war photos of 4058 Princess Augusta. She isn't on the list of GWR 4-6-0s repainted black in GWRJ no. 7 but it's impossible to tell what livery she was in - in every photo of her from 1945 to withdrawal the locomotive is absolutely filthy. If I was in your position I'd choose a Star that lasted to the point you're modelling and get stuck in.

Thanks Mike. That sounds good. I'll await developments with interest. Mark

Thanks all. I hadn't noticed that there was such a difference at the cab end. It's not mentioned in the RCTS volume or in the Russell book but comparing photos of 5101s and 31xxs does make the difference clear. MIKE: Do you know when the David Geen kit is likely to be on sale and if it will offer the curved drop end variant? Thank you, Mark

Good evening. Has anybody tried using the Wills/South Eastern Finecast GWR County boiler and 61XX kit to produce a 31XX or 3150 2-6-2? There's a nice one here http://www.crphillips-models.co.uk/gwrmodelspage15.html which uses a Nu-Cast City boiler but there's not many of those about now. The revived thread here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/forum/167-gwr-rolling-stock-model-and-prototype/ discusses various boiler swaps and prompted me to ask.