Dingolatic

The original two locos arrived from the Davies & Metcalfe works in grey primer, to be painted at Aberystwyth "in the LB&SCR yellow ochre...with paint sent up...from Brighton Works". This is the livery displayed on the dust cover of the Vale of Rheidol in Detail book. This livery appears much more sober than than the garish 'yellow ochre' livery applied to loco 9 in the 1982. In 1908, number 2 was repainted in a double-lined green livery (the intricately lined livery in the photo above) and loco 1 followed suit in 1910. When the Cambrian Railways took over the running of the line the locos initially retained the intricate livery but nameplates were removed and CAMBRIAN RAILWAYS transfers were added to the cab sides. At some stage, presumably during WW1, the locos were repainted into "shiny black" with CAMBRIAN on the tanks (loco 1) and "plain lead grey" (loco 2). When the GWR assumed control, loco 2 was given GWR numberplates (GWR number 1213) but doesn't appear to have been repainted before being taken to Swindon and scrapped. Loco 1 was renumbered 1212, rebuilt at Swindon and painted into GWR loco green with GREAT WESTERN on the tanks. It was kept as a spare engine, but the three new GWR-built locos were more than capable of doing the work on the line, so 1212 didn't see much use and was scrapped in 1935. The only representation of these two original locos that I'm aware of in 009 is the white-metal Chivers kit.

Earlier in the thread drt7uk asked about possible livery options. I don't know of a website with all the liveries but the book The Vale of Rheidol Railway in Detail, published by the railway, documents the liveries that have been carried: GWR era: Unlined GWR green - GREAT WESTERN on tanks (locos 7, 8, 1213) Unlined GWR green - shirtbutton on tanks (probably 1213 only) Unlined GWR green - GWR on tanks (7 only) Unlettered plain green (7,8 only) BR era: Unlettered plain black (1213 only) Plain black with BR early emblem on tanks (1213 only) Plain green with BR early emblem on tanks (7, 8 only) BR lined passenger green - late emblem, nameplates added (7, 8, 9*) *formerly 1213 BR simplified lined passenger green - late emblem (7, 8, 9) Unlined BR blue (7, 8, 9) Lined BR blue (7, 8 , 9) BR era 'historic' liveries: Plain GWR green, shirtbutton on cab side (8) Yellow ochre (9) Cambrian black, CAMBRIAN on tanks (8) Lined BR green, late emblem on cab side (7) Under Brecon Mountain Railway ownership: Plain green (7) Lined green (fairly similar to the Talyllyn railway 'standard' livery (7) BMR lined red (9) Under current ownership all three locos have reverted to GWR green with GREAT WESTERN on the tanks. 9 has also appeared in plain black with early emblem in recent years (as in PaulRhB's photo on page 6 of this thread) but this isn't documented in the book. Under BR ownership the locos were assigned TOPS numbers - class 98 loco numbers 98007 to 98009 - but these numbers were not carried in service. There have been numerous alterations to the locos over the years, from the removal of the steam heating pipes on the front buffer beams (present on the EP) in 1938, to the additions of name plates and smokebox number plates in the BR era, conversion for some years to oil firing, air brakes replacing vacuum brakes, heightened cabs, reduced cabs, etc., so the producers of these models will have their work cut out to ensure all is accurate. But the EPs look very promising indeed – will these be the most detailed and accurate 009 RTR loco to date? I particularly like the cutaways inside the frames to allow the pony trucks more swing (I modified my Heljan Manning Wardle by thinning the inside of the frames in similar style, using a Dremel with a sanding attachment, and can report that it isn't a procedure for the faint hearted). It will be interesting to see if other manufacturers follow the Model Rail / Revolution lead by producing some VofR rolling stock - Peco or Fourdees perhaps. Here's hoping.

For those who are unsure whether to buy one of these I'll add my thoughts, and I can report that I'm absolutely delighted with my Heljan Yeo. It certainly won't tolerate tight curves - it suffered a derailed front pony truck every time it encountered the curved (18" radius?) point in the corner of my layout, until I realised that the driving wheels were still on the 12" curve leading into the point at the moment the pony lifted, and a 'kink' where point and curve met had tightened the radius. It was the job of a moment to slew the point inwards to eliminate the kink and Yeo has not had a problem since. I am perhaps fortunate that my current layout was designed and built - several years ago now - with the Heljan Manning Wardle in mind, and features a minimum curve radius of 12". Other than the curved 'N' scale point mentioned above, it is laid with Peco 009 'Mainline' 18" points so curves are relatively gentle by 009 standards. However, some of the track is less than perfectly laid - there are a couple of horrifically bumpy joins across baseboards for instance - but Yeo negotiates everything without problem. Like others, I have readjusted the pony centring springs, which don't seem to serve any useful purpose, and I've had to tweak the cowcatchers up very slightly to cope with a rather abrupt change in gradient but as someone who's modelled in 009 for 35+ years, I finally have a British outline loco that really looks the part and runs very smoothly. It was expensive, but I'm over the moon with it and I think worth every penny. Had I the spare cash, I'd be buying another.