NZRedBaron

Hey folks; I picked up a couple of Bachmann-made Peppercorn A2's from Hattons recently, and I've decided that I want one of them to be commonly seen at the head of an express freight (Class C through F).

So I wanted to ask, what wagons would be most appropriate for me to acquire? I'm looking for either plastic/resin kits or Ready-To-Run models; fitted wagons would be preferred as well.

And for the record, currently I have at least two Hornby CCT's, two conflats, and about three or four Bachmann fitted 12T vans and a couple of different brakevans I could use.

35 minutes ago, No Decorum said:

 I know that there were detail differences between the Gresley K1 and K2 apart from the smaller boiler on the K1. I wonder if it would be possible to tool for both.

According to my sole reference I have on the subject (a battered old copy of Brian Haresnape's "Gresley Locomotives: A Pictorial History"), that might not be practical; aside from the boiler as you mentioned, they had multiple other detail differents; not least of which was that they had different wheelbases, and that the K2's were also slightly longer end-over-end than the K1's.

And also, it's worth considering that all 10 of the K1's had been rebuilt into K2/1's by the early 1930's, so that would limit the livery options.

I can see what you mean; though I think I should say that I misspoke just before; I had actually meant that I'd like the K2 alongside the B16; either would be fine to get.

I must beg pardon if this has come up recently, but lately my constant 'repping' for the Raven B16's (the /1 variant in particular) has been eclipsed by a more wide-ranging model idea as a 'would be nice to get at some time' thing.

This being Gresley's GNR Class H3, aka the LNER Class K2's, both ones with and without Scottish cabs; since you could see K2's on anything; from pick-up goods trains on the West Highland Line, to Pullman services on the Great Eastern Main Line, and all points in between, it seemed to me like it'd plug a long-standing gap in ECML steam.

9 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good morning,

 

I imagine most LNER passenger stock post-War would be still in teak or painted brown. The latest Thompson coaches would be in ersatz teak, and the surviving streamlined stock (though no longer running in dedicated sets) would still be in two-tone blue. An interesting mixture.........

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

I figured as much; still I do rather like the idea of the LNER's board of directors and the Carriage and Wagon Superintendent getting together and deciding that a similar image refresh to what was done with their locomotive fleet, was done to the coaching stock- my personal favourite idea is that the steel-bodied Gresley and Thompson coaches ended up getting repainted into the green and cream 'Tourist' livery as part of that image refresh.

Hello Tony; just been wanting to bounce a thought around for something- I've had a notion come to me about what might have happened if the Transport Act of 1947, rather than coming into force on January 1st 1948, had had a delayed commencement similar to the Railways Act of 1921, and thus commenced at the start of 1949, or even 1950.

I bring it up, as I managed to nab a couple of second hand Bachmann models of the first pair of Peppercorn A2's in LNER livery, which dovetailed into remembering an old debate on another forum about possible post-war coach liveries for the LNER.

On another note, I've got my eye on a pair of Peppercorn A2's from Bachmann, and I had a ponder; how popular are the A2's to model compared to the other LNER express engines?

I hope I don't sound confrontational, but..... do American companies even make steam locomotives anymore, for the budget/'just getting into the hobby' end of the market?

I've looked around as many different manufacturers as I could find, and it's just an endless sea of EMD carbodies and 'Geeps', that or modern diesels; and when I specifically look for steam, it seems to be nothing other than 'Wild West' 4-4-0's, USRA switchers, and the UP 'Big Boy', with almost no variety, and all going at 'silly money' prices to boot.

Thanks kindly; I've got an old tender-drive "Black 5" from the 70's/80's that I figure would make for the head of a parcels and general merchandise type train, so having one or two of those GUVs would make sense to me.

Outside of that, I also have a light railway plan where wagons like that feature on both goods workings and a 'boat train'.

So, I have been wondering for a while now; there's been some 1980's era Lima NPCC's on sale up on Hatton's site, marked as being "LMS Period III GUV"s; was that a real thing at all?

So, I'm sure that many here are familiar with Gresley's 4-8-2 heavy express passenger engine proposal, yes?

How might one go bodging one together, do you think?

Incidentally, since the LNER liked to name express engines after racehorses, do you think that winners of the 'Grand National' suit as names for this potential class of 4-8-2's?

It's because I've got a battered hardback copy of Brian Haresnape's "Gresley Locomotives", and in it is mentioned on page 20 and 21 of a proposed 4-8-2 concept for heavy express passenger trains; ever since I read that, I've had this notion of using the RHDR's Sampson and Hercules as visual reference for this proposed design.

Fair enough.

But then in that case, let's say the numbers get fudged enough to fit within, let's say, the LNER composite gauge as a baseline. What might the various engines size out as?

This is an odd question, I realise, but I've been wondering this for years now:

If you scaled up the locomotives of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway from 15in to standard gauge, what would their dimensions be? Would they fit in the standard British loading gauge?

I seem to remember seeing a video series on YT some time this year on something similar to this concept; a tiny sub-shed that served a branch line near Kidderminster; the shed was a single road brick building with a water tower just outside the shed, and a basic platform for coaling on a siding that ran next to the shed; there was also a grounded van body acting as a tools/stores shed.

Very well then, I'll keep this in mind; I have something of a medium/long-term plan to get one of Hornby's LNER liveried Q6s, and change it to be #1294, on the basis of 'I saw the clip of Railway Roundabout that she starred in'.

Hello Tony; I have a bit of a modeller question if I may?

What's your process for changing a locomotive's identity; I've been considering how to do so for some of my goods engines/stock, but I'd thought I'd get some advice from an expert first- particularly on the 'how to avoid ruining the model/fine details' side.

Silly question maybe, but does anyone know what are the parts numbers for the smokebox door? I'm half thinking to get a Q6 and back-dating it to pre-war LNER condition, since there only seems to be BR era models for sale, that I can find.

Mild question, but does anyone have any pictures for pre-Nationalisation parcels trains? I want to try and get a lookie in for what might might be appropriate.

I have to admit, I'm curious about just how far spread these vans went; they mentioned being used by the War Department, and then later by the British Army, up until the 1960's, with some vans also ending up in industrial use- could you perhaps imagine the LMS flogging off some of the early diagrams to private/light railways in the 1920's?

Mine runs between two fictitious towns; Market Trenholme, a market town (naturally), and the small fishing and farming village of Jarlshaven on the north Norfolk coast; it was technically a subsidiary of the Eastern Counties Railway, later the Great Eastern Railway; aside from agriculture and fishing, by the early 1900's a large part of the traffic in the area was manufacturing and boat-building, especially during the Great War, when alongside various war materiel, the harbour facilities at Jarlshaven were expanded by the RN to be the homeport for a flotilla of gunboats, and they also established a small seaplane base.

Sounds like a thread that I could get involved with here; I'm trying to build a backstory for my own light railway, set in East Anglia in the 1930s.

I dunno if anyone mentioned it, but what about for a Transition era layout, a steam engine piloting a failed diesel?

On 08/10/2023 at 21:54, Tony Wright said:

Good morning Terry,

 

Did the LNER ever own a 4-4-0T?

 

Regards,

 

Tony.

Actually, yes they did; they inherited 33 Drummond-designed 4-4-0T's from the North British Railway; the three strong "D50" class and the 30-strong "D51" class.

Neither class was popular due to small coal capacity; the D50's were gone by 1926, and the D51's were withdrawn on a steady basis from the Grouping until the last ones went in 1933.