trevor7598

Unfortunately Bachmann seem to have fixated on the word Porthole ie every coach in the range had to have a porthole. Thus there was no open third in the range, which would have sold by the bucket load. A much better theme would have been ' Post war coaches ' , then replaced the brake first with a post war third open. The Severn Valley Railway even have a couple of prototypes to measure up.

Yes, it was the brake third that gained a dynamo and batteries. this left the centre composite to power itself and the BTL. In addition, when built the 60 ft sets had the lighting wiring laid in trunking on top of the roof , this was later transferred inside. Bachmann are to produce two versions of roof to reflect this change. And have also taken into account the early and later dynamo / battery arrangements.

The odd layout of the roof vents on the coach furthest from the camera give a clue to the rather odd layout of the interior of BTL. Starting from the far end, there are a pair of vents for the guards van, then three compartments with no corridor. Then there is a short corridor allowing more passengers access to the former third class lavatory,than in previous trio sets. there are three vents across the roof in this area, two in the compartments and one in the corridor. Then we come to the two lavatories with a vent each plus water tank filler. The nearest two compartments are former second class, and both have access to the other lavatory, again via a short corridor. In the earlier 54ft sets only the compartments next to the lavatory had access to it.

HI Tony, The coach furthest from the camera is a 60ft Birdcage brake lavatory third ( formerly 2nd/3rd composite brake ). It is of the same type that Bachmann are producing.

A set in green in BR days would be good. The lav third on the Bluebell arrived on that line in green as S 320 S. And at least one of the 2 coach was green when withdrawn. ( there is a photo of it in green on Hornby's engine shed blog )

Something that John Flann mentioned in an earlier post was a comment on the ' chrome ' cab surround. I am not sure where the idea for this piece of over decoration came from, I can only assume that Calbourne had been specially bulled up on the day it was scanned. Any photo of an 02 in normal service would have shown that a ' chrome ' finish was hardly typical. Perhaps any re-run of this model can have this overpowering error deleted. A fine model spoilt.

Ex GW coaches could occasionally turn up on the Havant - Hayling Island branch , borrowed from Fratton no doubt.

A small view of the forthcoming LSW / SR rebuilt coaches. Have lots more images but ' file too big ' keeps repeating when i go to load them. Anyway these coaches look gorgeous, well up to the mark.

The three SR liveried coaches in that fabulous picture, are all of LSWR design. The first is an ' Ironclad ' corridor third, possibly of SR origin, looking at the bogies. The third coach is another ' Ironclad, and the fourth is an earlier panelled vehicle of pre.first world war origin.There is possibly a fourth SR coach towards the rear of the train .

They certainly did get everywhere. One regular service, containing all sorts of GW stock was the Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff train. As an aside, a return trip from Hayling Island to Havant was made in a Hawksworth corridor coach on one occasion. I remember the vertical fluting on the seat backs.

To my eyes I don't think many preserved railways have managed an accurate rendition of ' Blood and Custard '. A few years ago I had a good look at the Severn Valley Railway's version of this livery, because, again to my eyes, it looked right. As none of coaches had been painted recently. slight fading had occurred, and perhaps more importantly the tight bore Foley Park tunnel had probably contributed a light coating of steam age grime / soot. Don't get me wrong, the coaches weren't filthy, but they did convey an authentic 1950s feel. I will leave my Collett coaches pristine, but I can understand the need to dirty them up a bit.

Here is an image ( which I had to crop heavily, for it to upload ! ) of my Collett corridor third. Superb model, superb service.

Ordered my Blood and Custard corridor third, yesterday from Hereford Model Centre and it arrived this morning. Their excellent service deserves a mention.

To those people who are concerned about what formation to run their Collett coaches in I would say this. I have noted that the BR version has landed on our shores. By this time, 1950s, almost anything goes as far as formations are concerned. So mix them up !. Summer holiday trains to the West were a mixture of various EX. GWR types. ( Swindon may have had a standardisation policy with locomotives, but this did not apply to coaches ), some of these trains even contained coaches borrowed from other regions. Even cross country trains were a mixture of types, trains of three or four coaches with none of the same type within the train. So have some fun !. Those of you who are sticklers for tidy coach sets, I have noted some excellent suggestions in this forum PS. I will purchase at least one Collett corridor third to run with my Hornby Hawkesworth's

Ian, Many thanks for your reply. The track and wheels are clean, the O2 wouldn't run as well if these were not. As for haulage capacity, I agree a two coach P&P set is mostly what the prototype of this model would have hauled. But other O2's had a lot more asked of them ( IOW ) for example. I will return the model to Kernow for examination/ repair/ replacement as it did cost quite a lot of money. I all other respects it is a superb model.

I have the early crest push/pull version of the O2, the running of which vastly improved after many hours of running in. it now runs very sweetly on it's own, but will not pull more than two Hornby Maunsell;s easily. I Wonder if the motors in the O2;s are a bit variable in quality. Reading through this thread some owners seem delighted, but others, like myself, have found their loco's underpowered. I spoke to Kernow at a show in Brighton today, their Guy said I should return the model, which I shall at Alexandra Palace.

As this excellent forum is about all things LNER, BR(E), and GN main line. I have a couple of questions about at return trip I made with my parents back in 1963. We had, and still do have relatives in the Biggleswade area. On this particular trip our train from Kings Cross was an outer suburban set , hauled by a Baby Deltic. The peculiarity of that train was that it terminated at Biggleswade. This was on Saturday. Can anyone tell me more about this service, as it could not have lasted long?. On the above journey we saw no steam at all ,as it was Autumn 1963 this is not surprising. But on the following Monday morning, my Uncle dropped us back at the station long before our return train was due. To my amazement I could see a plume of steam in the distance, looking down the line towards Sandy. This turned out to be 60139 Sea Eagle on a passenger working. When we arrived at Kings Cross, there was the A1 at the bufferstops surrounded by Diesels . This was the last time I ever saw a steam loco. in normal service at Kings Cross. As already stated , this was Autumn 1963, so some months after the ' south of Peterborough steam ban '. My question is was this possibly the last steam working to KX. My guess is we are talking about sometime in September. I bow to superior knowledge.

That' s a thought, the IOW had several Brighton Push-Pull sets, just right for the Bembridge branch. Ventnor West too. But only O2's No's 35 and 36 were PP.fitted, and would have to be early crest only. Other O2's did work with these sets, but had to run round at each terminus. Also alterations were made to the PP sets for Island use. So maybe high risk for the RTR market.

Yes this is true, my point was that a former CL from one of these sets survives on the IOW steam railway. So had Bachmann chosen this type then prototypes were available for scanning/ measuring etc.

I think you mean SECR 54ft stock. On the plus side, if Bachmann had chosen these, all three coach types of the 54ft trio sets survive in preservation, unlike the 60ft variety. On the down side nearly all 50 footers were heavily rebuilt for IOW service. Only the centre composite retaining it's original appearance. As the conversions were carried out in 1947/8/9 and sent to the Island, none ever carried BR liveries on the mainland. One set did remain on the mainland in original condition on the Longmoor Military Railway.

If Kernow are finding that sales of IOW 02's are a bit slow, it is almost certain that a lack of suitable rolling stock is the problem, and nothing to do with a lack of popularity of the Island railways. Several manufacturers are about to ' dip their toes in the water ' as far as pre- grouping coaches go. I would expect sales to be good, as it is virtually uncharted water in RTR. but who knows?. But I do think that if Hornby's LSW rebuilt , and Bachmann's Birdcage coaches are good sellers then there might be a demand for some LBSCR bogie stock. There are now locomotives in RTR that can be used with Brighton stock, both Island and mainland. Quite a few liveries too, from that expensive tooling.

From images and actual samples I have seen of these coaches, Hornby seem to have captured the ' look ' of LSWR bodywork very well indeed. Now that they have got the taste for this type of coach, can we have a 2 NOL please. Put me down for two units!

Back in 2012 Hornby produced merchandise for the London Olympics. One item that appealed to me was the 1948 pack consisting of an ER. N2 and two teak coaches. It was the coaches I was particularly after (grey roofs and BR numbers ). Then I found out the price !, £208.00 ! who did they think they were kidding, this pack did not even contain a circle of track. I later saw many of these packs heavily discounted or split up. More recently we were told of Design Clever (or cheap and nasty if you prefer ). This did their brand much harm within the hobby. It is mainly the above two horrors that have stuck in my mind, and although both examples are now history, how much have they contributed to today's financial position. To be fair Hornby have got back on track with quality, and in some cases price,and have relieved me of over £400.00 recently. I wish them well but please market more carefully. Your customers are not fools !.

From recent information it would seem that the BR(S) green version of the PMV is not among the initial releases. Is this a marketing ploy?. This version is likely to be the biggest seller so by not including it the hope might be that the more impatient among us rush out and buy one of the other liveries, then also buy the BR green version when it appears. This way sales are doubled. I am not saying that the other liveries won't be popular, but i would predict that the green one would sell the best. Only a thought.........

I agree with all you have written above. Ends painted in body colour did start around 1964/5, and all regions were involved. I saw my first 4 COR in blue in late 1966, so the period for coaches/ passenger vans in regional liveries with body colour ends was quite short. Of course these vehicles would have lasted longer in the old livery because of their late paint date. Black ends are more typical for the BR period, and as you say, a pot of black paint is all that's needed.