Miss Prism

Alternative version: "It's the volts that thrills, but the amps that kills"

Going Loco has a feature on the somewhat neglected Collett Goods.

Good point, but stepping back from it a bit, the 517s were not high-mileage locos, and whilst there were lots of mods (cabs, bunkers, tanks etc) taking place across the class, most individual locos would not be visiting the works as often as the express locos. It would be interesting to know the average works visit frequency of a typical 517.

Thanks. Unlined green or crimson are the most likely candidates for that 1922 Banbury-Kingham loco. If, as has been suggested earlier, some 517s continued in brown 'until the mid-20s', I would strongly doubt they would have continued to be lined at that late stage, which is why I remain sceptical that brown continued on much past the early to middle part of WWI. Post c 1916/7, lining was not being applied to anything coming out of the works, even the large express locos. I assume the few post-1919 locos in crimson were unlined. Lining didn't come back into fashion until 1922.

The key to modelling a 517 is to choose a number for which there is no known photograph.

I can't recall seeing a pic on an Insixfish in service. Did they move only at night?

NPCCS in brown or crimson is always a smart move.

Have discovered (or rediscovered?) this thread. Excellent.

Is Rapido feeling guilty or envious?

Me too a bit. It would seem logical that crimson 517s would start to appear from 1912, to match the new carriage colour, but apparently that didn't happen, and crimson 517s didn't start to appear until '1919'. There was a bunch of stock in the 1908-12 brown with plenty of time left on the paintwork, so in that sense continuing with brown 517s makes some sense. Here's narrow-tank 1157 on a Banbury-Kingham auto in 1922. The 70' trailer (looks like a diagram U) is probably in crimson lake. The loco, which is known to have appeared previously in brown, shows no signs of the cream back panel in the cab, unless it's just got grubby. So it could be in green, or brown, or crimson. Hmmm! Mechanically, the loco is very typical of an early '20s 517.

Mikkel - do you have a thread url for that? (The 'member activity' search function seems not to be able to access archived threads.)

Could be. Dapol's description of its 1401 is, err,"1401 B.R. Black G W R "

I fink that's wot you might call a Churchward Mogul.

A notgreat pic of 830, with I think an autotrailer (note the large oval buffers), c 1912-14. Location unknown (I don't think it is Bath or Radley). The dome is painted over, but the safety valve bonnet is shiny. The ends of the coupling rods are burnished. No cover for the lubricator pipe. It is lined, but the unknown is the body colour - green or brown. I'm inclined towards the latter, because of the light colour of the inside rear of the cab, or is the sunshine confusing me? (I don't have my RCTS to hand, I really should get round to order the electronic version, does it list the 517 browns and crimsons?)

Looking rather dainty, 534 is on shunting duties at Worcester in 1923. No lining of course, and no insignia. Insignia didn't become fashionable for the 517s until a few years' later. Dome and safety valve cover look like they are painted over.

Here's the real 832, at Addison Road I think. The date is problematic, because the boiler fittings are still polished, but the loco has aquired a riveted smokebox wrapper. I can't detect any lining. I guess 1912-18. (I was sure I had posted this pic previously in another thread, which discussed the date, but I can't find it after a brief look through my attachments.)

Henley, Pembroke Dock, Windsor, Uxbridge.

Yes. Also, Dapol is doing the narrow tanks (i.e. not the later wide tanks, which hang off the side of the footplate).

It's a bit 'ansome, innit?

How long small passenger tanks received indian red wheels and hanging bars is not recorded, but I doubt it extended much beyond 1902, and black may have been used on the outer faces of the frames before that time. It was only the prestigious passenger locos that retained indian red on the outer faces of frames until mid-1906. Everything was changing rapidly as soon as Churchward got into his stride. I strongly doubt any 517 would still have had red frames after the 1912 introduction of crimson lake for passenger stock. Crimson 517s appeared in 1919.

One that has been repainted in crimson lake.

I think that's been said a few times.

There's a couple of Coopercraft W1/5 on ebay at the moment.

Another vote for Zenith. The designer was a Jack Hefford iirc, and shows characteristics of a precursor to the XT60.

http://www.gwr.org.uk/kits4rtrwagons.html#:~:text=GWR diagram W12.-,Body length%2C wheelbase and roof profile (too flat) not correct for W12.,-Cattle wagon (Mex