checkrail

4574 brings the daily Earlsbridge goods off the branch on its way back to Newton Abbot. Meanwhile 5000 'Launceston Castle' approaches with a down Plymouth express, which includes a clerestory composite coach to Dia. E73. They cross paths as the goods train pulls onto the up main line. John C.

What lovely models.

Last three for now of train 'n' vans. The first shot is the only one where I managed to get a bit of van at both ends in the pic, albeit at the price of showing a bit of the layout edge. Mike's @Coach bogie recently posted photo had a nice foreshortened view of a train with vans added on fore and aft. Difficult to do on a layout with almost no straight track. There are a couple of different interpretations of GWR coach brown here. John C.

More of 6305 heading towards Plymouth with E set and sundry vans. I see that the second batch of Dapol moguls has arrived or is imminent. John C.

Beautifully neat top feed removal on both those Kevin.

... and some more. John C.

Looks promising. Will watch this with interest.

Inspired by recent pics shared with us by @Miss Prismand @Coach bogie here are some shots of 6305 on a westbound stopper, formed of an E set with a ragbag of various vans attached. John C.

Snap! Mine is 1100mm too. I use an old swivelling office chair on castors and tend to roll it round the chipboard floor, propelled by my feet, following the trains with my hand held controller. I haven't asked what it sounds like on the floor below.,

It's funny what a difference little things can make. My workbench (aka B & Q table on castors) lives under the fiddle yard, to be deployed when needed. For several years I've pulled it out and plonked a chair in front of it, giving me this view of the fiddle yard whenever I raise my eyes. While installing a new desk lamp last week it occurred to me that were I to pull it out further, and stick the chair behind it, I could instead watch trains go round while I worked, giving me views like this. And now and then I'll pick up the hand-held and select a couple of different trains. Why didn't I think of this years ago? John C.

And now they're off to Earlsbridge. John C.

The Hall having left, 5557 has picked up the Siphon and propels it across the main lines to attach it to the branch train. John C.

Speaking of 6 wheel Siphons here's one destined for the Earlsbridge branch being dropped off at Stoke C. by 5975 Winslow Hall. John C.

Great pic Mike. Thanks. Expect to see more pics on here of trains with sundry vans attached!

Final pic of the C10 shows it acting as a strengthener on a main line stopping train, just so I could place it next to a gangwayed clerestory to compare profiles. (The second coach is a D33, Hornby donor with Worsley Works sides.) This has been an enjoyable little project, resurrecting such an ancient model. I remember the buzz when these Tri-ang clerestories, made to complement their 'Lord of the Isles' loco, were first reviewed in RM back in 1961. Would I be right in thinking it was the first time a panelled coach had been produced using injection moulded plastic? John C.

Well, in addition to strengheners and through coaches I'd say siphons for starters but I guess it could include parcel vans, fish wagons, horse boxes and anything else that might need moving down or up a branch line to or from somewhere in the wider world. Milk tankers? Looking back during the last half hour for some of the pictures that inspired me I found: Bulldog on Taunton - Barnstaple Jct train, 1936. Clerestory compo. + B set + Van Compo through coach (Paddington - Ilfracombe. (Yarwood, 'Window on the Great Western', p41) 45XX at minehead, 1936. Four coach train - B set with strengthener at both ends, one being 'an aging clerestory third'. (Great Western Pictorial No. 2: The Hubback Collection, p59.) 51xx with train in carriage siding at Taunton, 1932, described as 'stock for a local train'. Formation includes 2 x 6-wheel Siphon, B set, plus one other coach, possibly a Collett third. (As above, p78) John C.

These questions have crossed my mind too. I'd love to know. And am I right in saying that GWR men referred to strengthening coaches as 'swingers'?

5557 has run round its train and the signal is 'off' for the return to Earlsbridge. As the train pulls out we see that it's also conveying the daily through coach from Paddington. I've noticed quite a few pics of scenes like this in the photo albums, with a B-set as the core of the train but sundry other vehicles attached fore and aft. John C.

Here are some pics of the new/old clerestory coach in service. It may be January here but at Stoke C it's the start of the holiday season and the Earlsbridge branch train has acquired an old C10 strengthener for the duration. One thing I used to struggle with when doing my earlier Hornby corridor clerestory conversions was the trial and error involved in getting the replacement bogies to rotate without fouling the floor or underframe while maintaining correct buffer height. (Older Hornby coaches were often a little 'tall' to start with.) But Alan Gibson do 12mm dia. Mansell wheels (same dia. as Hornby used) which solves the problem. It immediately loses 1mm from the overall height and gives 1mm of extra sub-frame clearance. (Only just noticed -the down branch starter is off - aargh!) John C.

A quiet time home alone last week while my wife was in Sweden visiting her daughter, so I had more time than usual in the loft, cracking on with the C10 clerestory conversion which is finally ready for service. Here are the 'official' photos. The first shows the best side, which will face the viewer. In retrospect cutting off the coach ends and shortening the sides beyond the outermost windows was probably a step too far. Although it did btring the overall length down to just one foot over prototype it also gave this bodger the opportunity to get sides, ends and roof all a bit out of alignment when put back together. But after painting, and at NVD it's not so noticeable. This end will normally be coupled to the rest of the branch train and retains the Tri-ang representation of the train alarm gear. It also has the plastic buffers from an old Hornby corridor clerestory. The other 'outer' end has beefed up steps and end handrails. Recent discussion on other threads suggest that people have trouble in bending these up from wire in a consistent way. Yeah, I'm in that club too. After a few attempts I think these two are at least quite similar if not identical. You won't be surprised to hear that painting and lining took nearly as long as building the coach. I didn't help myself in this respect by choosing to finish it in the 1928 - 34 livery with class branding on all doors, but I thought it would look nice. Railmatch brown and cream, Lifecolor roof dirt and Revel matt black were used, with the latter overpainted with Lifecolor weathered black. Now it just needs a bit of dry-brushing with frame dirt. Transfers are a mixture of Fox and Railtec. I'd decided early on that slicing off all the door and grab handles and drilling for wire replacements was an accident waiting to happen with potential damage to the panelling. First attempts to paint the moulded ones with a fine brush were messily unsuccessful, but using cocktail sticks instead of brushes gave pleasing results. But the biggest painting challenge was the beading on the compartment side windows. They're actually recesses rather than bolections on the Tri-ang moulding, but all photographic evidence showed that whatever they are they should be painted. It was fun for one side, but you can have enough of a good thing, so I painted the other, less photogenic, side in all-over brown with a shirtbutton and no door brandings. Equally prototypical, just in a different year! And no-one will see it. John C.

It works.

The white metal body looks good. I'm sure you'll get there in the end. I'd love to see a Bird series Bulldog rtr. Instead we keep being offered slightly better versions of locos already available, which I don't really need. I can understand why - these locos lasted in large numbers through BR days and often beyond; the Bulldogs didn't. But it would be nice to see Bachmann do one - after all they've made most of the bits already.

... followed by the semi-skimmed one?

Lovely post war* scene - firmly anchored in its period and therefore totally believable. * of the year of my birth

Nice to see you following that unwritten GWR rule that no two coaches of the same design should be marshalled together.