sub39h

The DRS coaches look great. The dark livery hides the solebar issue very well. I like your progress on the NR coach too

I contacted Replica about those but they only have windows for the standard Mk1 window sizes. The smaller restaurant types are not in the pack and Replica don't make them

Excellent news about the shoot mate, and well deserved. On the WCML just south of Rugby there is Weedon FC. They have a container with Weedon FC sprayed on it on their grounds. That would make interesting inspiration for a small football club if that was what you were thinking of.

Shawplan had some in the pipeline. I didn't know they'd been released yet tho

Ah sorry I hadn't realised your link on the other thread was SE Finecast. Need to engage brain! Thanks Ray!

Just before I bite the bullet and get some SE flush glazing, has anyone got photos of it fitted please? The attempts above are certainou excellent, but finding a cheap RU is not proving easy and I don't think I have it in me to cut custom ones neatly!

Excellent shop, great amounts of stock - Jim the owner is a great guy and the prices are quite reasonable too.

Did any Mk2Bs or Mk2Cs make it into Regional Railways livery? (I mean Regional Railways rather than Transpenine.)

Wow excellent stuff! I'm an eastern region modeller so these MGR wagons are a fairly essential part of my fleet but I've never much liked the look of them so I went for HEAs instead. Your conversion has really got me wanting a set now though!

http://www.miac.org.uk/worcs1985.html 9th photo down - credited to Pete Wilcox

Any updates please?

That would explain why Hornby released an RFM with the unbranded Virgin Mk3s - I'm guessing they wanted it to represent a TRSB like the blue/grey one does

Thanks again Flood for such a comprehensive answer. I'm modelling 1988ish to 1992ish so my XC rake would be allocated to Laira or NH. Would coaches that had not been resprayed still have had their region prefixes removed? I have seen a picture of an XC set in 1989 which is made up of an Exec DMB, Swallow DMB and all blue/grey coaches (with the exception of one of the TSOs, which is either in Exec or Swallow - can't tell from the photo). There's something about the patchwork livery that appeals to me so I was thinking of modelling something similar. I am acquiring some Hornby blue/grey Mk3s with WR prefixes to add a little variety to my ER stock. However if it doesn't particularly matter then I'll just get whichever coaches I find cheap rather than looking for WR ones. Also what was the typical composition of an XC HST fleet? Did they vary between depots and the destinations they served? Edit: I think it's DMB/TGS/TSO/TSO/TSO/TSO/TRSB/TFO/DMB

Hi again guys I had presumed from the discussion and my research that the TRSBs had ended their days in the Eastern Region in the 80s but I've come across a photo of an East Coast branded TRSB! http://shed83a.smugmug.com/CoachingStock/Mk3-HST/Mk3-TRSB/18325547_nq25H5/1411040129_9jbSMNP Many thanks to the contributor. Is this coach a TRB that has come from the WR after privatisation, or did ER continue using TRSBs after the introduction of the TRFB?

Preferably something suitable for the late 80s and early 90s please!

I went to Edinburgh for the first time on Valentine's Day with the wife. Got a chance to see Waverley in person and it makes me appreciate just how good your layout is. Truly stunning work, well done! Where did you get your flush glazing for your Mk3s please?

Does anyone know why so many of the 3 packs of ER blue/grey Mk3s without lights are appearing on eBay? I got lucky and picked up one for just under £60 delivered but that seller and another one just keep listing one after the other!

When I asked at Warley 2014 I was told that they are basically indefinitely on hold. I was also told they are a lot more likely to be produced than the BBA. 'Tis a shame because I wanted a few of both!

Ipswich is like that too I think

Brilliant keefer, thank you. I'm probably going to follow Jim Smith-Wright's method of filing down the window frames but preserving most of the livery, adding new Shawplan frames and then just respraying the grey band. This way it should be a fairly simple conversion and I'm able to get rid of those moulded door lock lights at the same time. I don't suppose anyone has compared the Shawplan frames vs the Southern Pride ones and could give me some advice on which to go for?

I thought only first class was tinted?

Thanks for everyone's input. This is turning into a really useful and informative thread. Does anyone have a clear shot of the roof of the TRSB? I don't think Hornby's vents are right either! Also does anyone know if the windows were tinted or not on the TRSB? It's difficult to tell from the photos

Funnily enough I was thinking that maybe this would be an XC set. I have made a buffered HST from a Grand Central chassis and cutting the valance off a Swallow power car. It's been renumbered to 43123. I just need to paint the buffer beam red and it'll be finished. When this isn't running with my 91 and Mk3s, it'll be on the XC service because I believe they transferred to XC duties once their days as a surrogate DVT were over?

Thanks again Flood. Before you replied I actually referred to photos of the TRSB and it looks like that's the one with the error. I'm impressed that Hornby (or what is Lima?) went through the effort of making different mouldings for the underframe tho. Shame they couldn't get the bogies right as well.

That's brilliant! Thanks so much again Flood. Looks like the easiest thing to do would be to use this coach as the basis for the TRSB - it's only the counter/kitchen area that's wrong. I could cut this area out and replace it with the same from a TRFB and that looks like it'll get me a true TRSB. Looks like I'll have to find another Hornby 4 window buffet for my RFM then - or just wait until Hornby release one in Swallow which, if Hornby have any sense, can't be too long now given that Bachmann are doing a Class 90. Just out of interest, why were the rakes organised such that the underframes all faced the same way? Was there any reason or did the powers that be have OCD? I've just noticed as well that when I try and do as you suggest in my rake and have all the underframes facing the same way, the seating area on the "TRSB" is facing standard class... one of the chassis must be the wrong way around! (Edit: from referring to the photos you've kindly linked above, it looks like the chassis on the "TRSB" is the wrong way around. Given how much of a pig Lima Mk3s are to take apart I'm not looking forward to sorting that out!)