Douglas G

I was sad to hear about Martin Bird passing away. Some 25 years ago I visited his house to see his layout, which was up in the loft, and in subsequent years we shared information and sources about Dulverton. As far as I know martin didn't have plans except for a 1930s water supply plan, plus photos and the dimensions from the extant main station building and goods shed. The quality of his buildings really is outstanding and it will be a fitting memorial to see a new layout with them in place.

And another view. 6 different colours, including Humbrol 100 for the seats and 87 for the grey of the floor in the passenger compartments and central vestibule (different from the red or brown seen in photos of preserved A38 coaches).

This is my take on the colours for the interior of an A38 in a Farish N gauge coach, based very much on the colour photo in Great Western Railway Journal No. 73.

I have just got Great Western Railway Journal number 73 for the photo on page 55 of the interior of an A38 coach in 1964. Pete S (K14) is quite right - it looks to be "Sprig & Octopus", as shown here: https://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/cw/moquette/1950s.html I can see how in views from outside it would appear to be a solid reddish brown - the pattern is not that obvious at a distance. Humbrol 100 is the closest colour, I think. Interestingly the floor is a medium grey colour - from preserved A38 coaches I expected it to be an orangey brown.

Thanks. I'm planning to do some photos myself soon of 2mm gauge coach interiors so was interested to know what you are doing.

How do you light your models for your desk top photographs, Grahame?

Also at 9.40 in this film there is an A38 autocoach, where the red-brown of the seats can be clearly seen. This coach was W224W, which retained unlined crimson or possibly faded maroon up to at least 1962.

There is some early 1960s cine film of an A43 coach at 8.30 on this film about the railway at Bampton, and an interior shot of the long saloon at 8.41, which give useful information on the interior colours. The same cine film appears on Classic Western Regions Volume 1 from Branch Line Video, and a video on the Exe Valley Railway available from Tiverton Museum. Unfortunately the seats are facing away but it can be seen they are grey green, and this is more apparent in a close up in the original film not included in this film on YouTube. The lining of the passenger compartments are a very light cream, including the doors on the centre axis, unlike in the A38 coaches , where the doors were dark wood and the vertical surfaces below window level were a chocolate brown. From the photos I have found in books it looks like the colours in the drivers cab of A43 coaches were the same colours as in the A38 coaches, brown below window level and an orangey colour above (very apparent behind the driver in front views). On this basis I am just about to paint a scratchbuilt replacement interior to make an A43 coach from a Farish 2mm model. These pictures on Twitter are also useful for seats and interior in an A43: https://twitter.com/ExeValleyRail/status/758716918966652928/photo/1 https://twitter.com/ExeValleyRail/status/651849570243186688/photo/1

I have just heard back from PayPal finding in my favour and making a refund for my two attempted purchases from Osborns.

Wow, that just looks so real. It is only the vegetation on the left that gives it away as a model. If it was cropped, I would really be hard pushed to tell.

Loving this, especially the river!

We have indeed been here before, but I have been taking a fresh look after seeing the replacement inserts for the different diagrams produced by David BigCheeseplant. I missed the 2015 thread called A38 autocoach interior colours, where I see you provided a very detailed description of W231W. Many thanks for your expert advice. Whatever the actual pattern, the overall colour of the seats is clear for an A38. It is a shame that the preserved examples of these coaches have been modified, and often neglected, so much that there is considerable variation in the fabrics and interior colours, and little original left. I am waiting for a copy of Great Western Journal issue that was recommended with a contemporary photo of the inside of one - it will be interesting to see.

I have just found on eBay this photo from above of A38 autocoach W224W at Chalford: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/gw0233-British-Railway-Engine-1455-at-Chalford-Station-in-1963-photograph-6x4/393024350616?hash=item5b8213a998:g:N6kAAOSwepJXUqtv The bench seat to the left of the centre door does seem to have a pattern that looks the GWR "fan" pattern mentioned in the last post by Pete S K14. At a distance the effect is a sort of pinkish brown. I think Humbrol 70 is the closest but will probably need some light grey adding. Revell 37 might also do and is more of a red colour. For the floor of an A38 I think Humbrol 100 is the closest match, and a chocolate brown, possibly Humbrol 113 or 70, for the lower part of all the partitions up to window height (including in the driver's compartment below the orange slats behind the driver). I need to get painting!

Just found another (now locked thread) with similar stories - again I didn't find it in my original search as its title says "osbornsmodels". What concerns me is that while these reports date back over two or more years, Osborn's have still been allowed to post on RMWeb about their 3d printed and laser cut products. I know Maurice Osborn is the former proprietor and his son apparently now runs the shop, but nevertheless their products are being promoted here (with links to the shop website), and this will lead to people ordering from the shop. It is a shame, as the lorries and vans they are producing are really good.

I'm in a similar position - I put in two orders in mid-November for coaches that are sold out elsewhere but showing as in stock on Osborn's website. All I have I heard since was the immediate automated order acknowledgement emails. Nothing has come and emails asking what is happening have not been answered. On their website they say they cannot answer the phone at present as the shop is closed, so emailing is the only way to contact them. So I have had to raise two queries/disputes through Paypal last week. If I don't hear back soon, I will request a refund via PayPal. Maybe they have personal issues happening, but in that case they should switch off their website ordering facility until they can provide a basic service to customers. However, reading this thread, there is a pattern dating back several years of them ignoring orders for something they clearly don't have in stock and then leaving it to the customer to get a refund through Paypal. So it is not just something caused by covid. BTW, I missed this thread when searching the forum before purchasing as Osborn's is spelled wrong in the title. I wish I'd seen it...

Ah, thanks for that. I always thought it was the other way round. I'm so used to non-smoking being the default this days, not the other way round!

I've found a couple of useful pictures of A38 interiors online: W228W https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GWR_coach_A38_228.JPG W225W http://www.auto169.co.uk/images/index.2.jpg This comes from this page: http://www.auto169.co.uk/ I think in the first picture, of W228W, the seats nearest the camera have the original fabric, while the red fabric on the seats further away is a replacement.

Thanks for that information - I've just ordered a copy.

Couldn't resist mentioning one more of Thrush on page 26 of "Western Steam in Devon and Cornwall" by Michael Welch. The seats look almost grey in that picture with just a slight greenish tinge. Rather than grey as seen in A38 coaches, the curtains do seem to have a slight yellow tinge to them, but its hard to tell.

Final one...Page 23 of "Western Steam in Devon and Cornwall" by Michael Welch. W244W, another A43 coach, at Exeter St Davids in 1963. The bus type seats are clearly visible, in the same greyish blue-grey colour as W237W mentioned earlier, with the edges in a darker shiny material and the centre of each seat in a slightly lighter mottled or patterned fabric. The seat colour is the same in the smoking compartment (with red triangles in the windows) as the non-smoking compartment nearer the camera.

Still looking for photos... On page 24 of "West Country Branch Lines; A Colour Portfolio" by Peter Gray, there is another photo from the hill above Thorverton. It shows two two-coach autotrains passing. One train includes "Thrush", and the grey-greeny-blue seats with high backs can just be made out. In the other train, nearer the camera, is a coach with slightly lower back coach type seats that look to be a similar colour, at least at this distance with the effects of the atmosphere perhaps adding more blue. This must be an A43.

And also on page 37 of the same book a much closer view of W237W, an A43 coach, at Monmouth Troy in 1958, still in plain crimson livery. This is again taken from above and the greyish blue-green colour of the coach type seats is very clear. Humbrol Matt 31 looks a very close match for how it looks at that distance, with the edge cushions a slightly darker colour. The same photo of W237W by Trevor Owen also appears on page 72 of "Western Steam in Colour: Branch Lines", compiled by Chris Leigh of this parish.

Resurrecting the discussion about the colour of the seats in these coaches, I have been looking through all my books and photographs to try to get a clear what the seat colours were, to repaint the interiors of my Farish N gauge examples. In Western Steam in Colour 2 by Hugh Ballantyne there is a photo on page 13 taken from the hill above Thorverton Station on the Exe Valley line in 1963 that shows what I believe is an A38 coach and behind it an A43 coach. The coach nearest the camera is clearly an A38, with the grey curtains, and the seats look a reddish brown as I have suggested earlier in this thread on the basis of other photographs. I am convinced the blue seats in the Bachmann and Farish A38 models are wrong. The coach behind has bus type seats and no curtains. I think it must be an A43 as it has no name on the side, meaning it can't be Thrush (which moved to the exe valley Line in 1962). The seats definitely appear a greyish blue-green colour, at least at that distance, confirming some interior views on cine film of the Exe valley Line and some comments from others above that the seats were a greenish colour. I think the red coach type seats mentioned earlier must have been in Wren, or maybe some A43 coaches got red?

I always find your posting very interesting and informative, Grahame!