acourtrail

Thank you for the replies. I knew they were not seen near the Yeovil area (roughly the area I intend to set my fictional branch line), but I am glad that they sometimes got into Hampshire and (on Excursions) Dorset. While a "C" would not be historically accurate for a line in the Somerset/ North Dorset area, at least they got fairly near there.

I hope I am not starting a duplicate topic, but I could not find anything on RM Web about where the SECR C Class locomotives operated to. I know that they were SECR designs, and would have obviously run over that railways routes, but, did they venture elsewhere later on in life (Southern Railway and British Railways).

Is there a specific way round that the bogies should go back on or can either bogie go back on either end? The reason I ask is I know of someone who took the bogies off of their Warship to lubricate the gears, and when they put the bogies back on, the loco would not work. They checked to make sure that the bogies were fully home, but the loco still would not work.

The Auto Buffet coach ( W 25189 ) was re-converted into a standard MK1 SK, lasted in service until the early - 1980s and is in preservation. By the mid - 1960s, there were plenty of SKs with no work to do, and, they were being converted into carflats and TPOs. Because W 25189 was not used as fodder for carflat or TPO conversions, it would seem likely that it was given an overhaul around the mid - 1960s. As to what livery it got, I cannot be sure.

I had no idea that a shallow windowed TK had existed until seeing the Bachmann announcements (including a picture of the real thing).

A fairly "lean" year for N scale things, but, that will allow Farish to catch up a bit. No locos I would really like this year, but, I am sure there will be plenty of other takers for the one being offered. The chocolate & cream MK1s and the maroon Hawksworths will be nice to have.

I visited this shop yesterday, and, managed to find a few coaches to fill gaps in my fleet that needed filling. I was amazed to find a brand new Graham Farish Bulleid Open Third in green (I have been looking for one of those for about two years).

Some more batches of MK1 coaches would be nice. Chocolate & Cream SK,CK,BSK,FK and RU. Green BSK,CK and TSO, plus maybe an FO with the yellow stripe this time, a BCK with the "silver" window frames that a Southern Region MK1 BCK should have, and, hopefully when the second batch of RMBs emerge, they will have the red stripe this time. Intercity Charter MK1 BCK and FO. West Highland Line TSO and BCK.

It was most likely either a MK2z or a MK2a. All the MK2b examples were exported or in the Royal Train by then, and, the MK2c examples were on the Intercity cross country services (apart from a few on the Waterloo - Exeter route).

I have used Osborne's a few times in the past. I feel that they could improve on a few things, they could put the prices on everything on display in their shop for a start (I find it annoying to have to ask how much things are). Also, on their website, they could do with only showing what they actually have in stock (a pet hate of mine is looking at something and getting "sorry, out of stock", if shops are going to have websites, they must make sure they have the staff to keep the site up to date).

I have used these coal loads. As Crepello stated, they need packing under them. When I load a wagon, I glue a battery box (taken from scrap MK1 underframes) in each corner, then glue the load into the wagon. I have also used the packs of sheeted goods loads, these are HEAVY, and I have found that the increased weight causes wagons to become uncoupled (the drag pulls the couplings upwards).

Model 374 - 815 the Crimson & Cream open first IS a new tooling (Blue Riband) model. I used to have two, until I decided to thin out my MK1 coaches.

Sorry to ask this question (I am sure it gets asked a lot), but I could not find the answer anywhere on RM web or elsewhere on the internet. Which side of a Warship is the left hand side please? I know most Swindon Warships had an extra grille at cantrail level on one side, and, an access cutout in the skirt between the bogies (same side as the extra cantrail grille). If I can find out which which side is which, I can then deduce which cab is the A end one (assuming that the A end cab is the one on the left when looking at the left hand side of the locomotive). With most classes, it is easy to work out which end is which and by default which side is which. Obviously as a Warship has two engines etc, both ends look the same, and, if looking straight down on the roof everything is basically symetrical.

As far as I know most if not all of the Swindon Warships did work over the Waterloo - Exeter route at least once in their respective lives. The ones I quoted in my previous post were the most usual members to work over the route. I believe the first one to work over the route was D829 to see how a Warship did, it must have been a success because as we now know, Warships became a daily sight until 1971.

One factor which determined which Warships got used, was that to regularly work the Waterloo - Exeter route, they had to carry short circuiting bars (for the "third rail" section between Worting Junction and Waterloo). As only a few Warships would be running over third rail at any one point, it would not have been worth putting short circuiting bars on all of the class, so only some Warships carried them. Obviously moving the short circuiting bars between class members each day would not have been ideal, so, it was better to put the short circuiting bars on a designated group of Warships, and, make sure that whichever class members were selected for the Waterloo - Exeter diagrams were from the designated group. 811, 812, 815, 817, 818, 819, 820, 821, 822, 823 seem (from photos) to have been the most common Warships on the Waterloo - Exeter diagrams. Regarding coach formations, on the 5 December 1969, 1O10 (10.15 Exeter - Waterloo) was formed W13288, W5028, W1948, W34912, W35402, W4133, W15810, W25932 (FK, TSO, RU, BSK, BSK, TSO, CK, SK).

Looks like there will be a few items I might buy (all being well). None of the train sets or train packs for this year interest me. Not many steamers this year, but, maybe I might like a C. I will wait and see how dear they are when they come out (prices will only go up, but instead of complaining, I will just think more about what I really want before buying), and if they are not too bad, I might get one. As far as I know, they never ran in the South West, but they are Southern Region, so I could always pretend that some Cs were reallocated. No diesels or units this year. No wagons either, but I already have plenty, so I am not complaining. Coaches, mixed feelings. The green Bulleids and maroon Stanier BG might be nice. Those Sealink MK1s are tempting, but, trying to justify some of them will be hard! Sadly no chocolate & cream MK1s (trying to find a second SK has been fruitless, but one will turn up somewhere).

That BSO was W9276. It was I believe the only BSO to carry Chocolate & Cream, later became the first BSO(T) conversion, and, is now preserved at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. Other BSOs have been painted Chocolate & Cream in preservation, but, 9276 is the only one where it is historically accurate.

Regarding dining cars (the ones with just seating), several types saw use depending on region and time period. RFOs 1 - 10 and RSOs 1001 - 1013 were built in 1951 to run in the Festival of Britain MK1 sets. There were more RSOs because some were for twin sets. The sets usually ran as triples RFO - RK - RSO (these were found on all bar the Scottish Region) or twins RF - RSO (Western Region only, and , the RFs were the early ones with anthracite stoves). The only genuine dining cars built after that were RSOs SC 1014 - 1017 and RUOs E 1018 - 1057, otherwise SOs/TSOs or FOs with fixed seating were used for dining. The 48 seat MK1 SO (2+1 seating) was built new for the Midland Region only as were over half of the FOs, and, given that the Midland got no more dining cars but did get a lot of later RKs and RKBs, the FOs and SOs would have seen use as dining cars (bear in mind that if the train had FO - RKB - SO for catering, if the return working did not require full meal service, the RKB could be used for just a buffet service, and the FO and SO used as normal seating). On the Western Region the normal MK1 catering sets used in most of their named trains circa 1960 were RU - TSO. By the late 60s RB - FO pairs had began to take over with the 1951 RFOs and RSOs sometimes filling in for the FO (the 1951 RFs and early RKs had all gone by then due to their anthracite stoves).

In terms of locos, more Warships & N class moguls would be nice. I would like to see some more coaches done. Another batch of MK2a coaches in Network Southeast (including the FK & BFK this time), another batch of Bulleids in green would be nice (and maybe the shallow ventilator CK, BTSO & BCK (both the loose & the two car set versions) could be added to the range), another run of Chocolate & Cream MK1 SKs, and, more MK1s in Southern Region Green (and maybe this time, the BCK could have the silver window frames like it is meant to).

A gentleman at my church's group has bought the Dapol Schools class, and has had problems. He tested it on second radius carves, and it would not go round properly. Also, when he looked underneath, he found what sounded like bent gearing. He sent the loco back to where he bought it, and they sent another, that had the same problem. The track has been checked, and yes it is all fine (and it is 100% second radius), so it does sound like there could be a problem with the locomotive design, other Dapol locomotives he has had, have had problems. He had to send back two Britannia pacifics because their undersides kept hitting points and crossings.

Big P, the Intercity BCKs are out and about. If you are looking for one, I saw some at Osbornes, Bideford yesterday and at Cheltenham Model Centre had at least one when I was there less than a month ago. Both of these shops have websites and their stock can be bought online. I have had trouble with the close couplings on some of my MK1s, usually they are stiff, and will not spring back when the trains come out of curves, causing derailments. Often this is because there are slight flaws in the cutouts in the underframe, or lumps underneath the interior mouldings. When ever I "refurbish" (paint the interior, change bogies as required, any other modifications) one of my coaches, I always test the finished vehicle inside a train in all four possible directions on a continuous run of track (Let us say for arguments sake I am testing a MK1 TSO. I put the coach on the track toilet end facing left, run it both clockwise and anti clockwise for approx 15 minutes each time, rotate the coach so so the toilet end is now facing right and repeat the clockwise/ anti clockwise procedure). If I find any problems, I can address them as I go, and then repeat the testing until the coach runs properly.

By swapping bogies between coaches in my fleet I managed to partly solve the problem of coaches having the wrong bogies. Some still have the wrong type, but as I am thinking of having a cull, any outgoing coaches with CW or B4 bogies will be disposed of with BR1 bogies.