young37215

Over the last couple of days I pushed on with my SC9000 conversion which by the end of yesterday I had in service albeit for testing purposes only because it is not yet finished. A coat of white paint was applied to the internal buffet area. By the time the white paint had dried I had discovered the pictures showing the blue interior in SC9000! A first coat of blue was then applied, this may need a second coat depending on how it has dried and covered the areas. The 10g piece of lead is also visible, there is another 10g at the opposite end of the coach. I found that I had transfers to do the renumbering and the window in the brake area was painted white to create the unique feature of SC9000. The red stripe and 'Buffet' signs are outstanding intil the new Railtec transfers arrive. A few passengers were added and the screen blocking the window behind the buffet counter was covered over using card glued in place with Glue and Glaze. The bodyshell was refitted and the coach placed in service at the rear of an Oban train. Only then did I realise that the number should be under the first window, not the toilet. Fortunately I have'nt sealed this yet which should allow it to be moved to the correct position.

Some more excellent research material. Whilst looking at the above picture which dates to 1986, I found another BSOT gallery with a few new pictures (and a larger number of duplicates). Of prticular interest to me is that most of the BSOT's are located at the end of their consists which is in line with the carriage working notices. I'll also need tp get the white paint out again for the window on SC9000 which I had not noticed previously. https://www.flickr.com/photos/151135632@N04/galleries/72157713849495897/with/49774164058/

Also getting a run out was a charter from Ayr to Oban with 37114 heading the Sealink stock on its way west just south of Ardlui. Annoyingly the actuating wire that controls the signal in the last picture snapped in half and needs replacing. It had been playing up for a while, at least now I understand why it was playing up!

Pictures of the inside of SC9000 in the early 1990's courtesy of Peak Rail Association. The colours of the coach end are interesting appearing to be laminate with aluminium framing presumably on top of the original wood panelling. The point has been made on the Coaching Stock IO Group that SC9000 was one of 4 conversions from a 1956 build BSO with predominantly wood panelling whereas the other 14 were from a 1963, predominantly laminate panelled build. The fact that SC9000 was converted to BSOT in 1981 and withdrawn in 1987, suggests that the panelling seen in these pictures is probably that of the original conversion. With SC9000 and SC9011 we have pictures of the buffet areas of both 1956 and 1963 built coaches, how close the other coaches were to these I doubt we will ever know unless pictures can be traced but I feel sufficiently comfortable with the information I have to settle for my version of SC9000 as I have converted it. What I have also found is that by 1984 13 of the 18 BSOT conversions were allocated to the SCR to cover the operational needs of the West Highland and Far North lines.

Several choices, personally I only have experience of Megapoints which I use to control around 75 servos on my West Highland layout. There is a thread, the best thing that I like about them is the Youtube videos which have proven to be a really powerful aid to my understanding of how to use the kit. The Vendor has a good reputation for being helpful and I have first hand experience of this. Good luck with your research

It must be the 8th September 1983 today because 37081 is in charge of the down sleeper seen approaching Garelochead. This is the first mandatory train of the working day scheduled to arrive Garelochead at 06.52.

Interesting pictures of the internal layout, it looks like the cut out on the buffet counter has been infilled. I live reasonably close to the Dean Forest railway and intend going to their diesel event in a couple of weeks time. I'll look out for this coach and see if I can get some additional pictures showing different angles. I was sent 3 pictures of the actual SC9000 internal layout from the early 90's which is very similar. I'll ask the chap if I can use them on this thread but they do not look dramatically different to these. Railtec have produced a MK1 BSOT set of transfers (their reference 3025) which I am waiting for to complete my model. https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=11117

A little tidying up combines with a first coat of paint and the finish line begins to loom for SC9000. I have not decided on what colour to paint the buffet area, there are only a few pictures and these all show a very light creamy/white colour. I have asked the question on the BR Coaching Stock IO group in an effort to find more pictures but in the absence of better information I am tempted to simply paint the vestibule end wall white to match the plasticard and see how it looks. I have also added 10g of lead at each end of the coach to bring the overall weight of the BSOT in line with Bachmann Mk1's. Compromises made in the conversion so far: Seating bays are not fully reduced to floor level to protect the intergity of the interior mold There is no window in the vestibule door The counter top is not rebated/cut out and is at a 90 degree angle to the end of the coach The door to the storage area is not modelled The single seat in the second bay of seats has been left as a twin seat None of these seem major and with the bodyshell back in place they are virtually impossible to see and that is before the buffet counter side window gets obscured. Absent pictures to determine the specific layout of each BSOT I do'nt feel the need to do more than this. I am waiting on transfers to complete the model. I would like a set of Hornby Commonwealth bogies for 1 of the BSOT's, I currently have 3 BSO's but these seem difficult to source. I dont believe that Hornby include them in their spares items and the obvious retailers like Peter's Spares do not stock them. Ebay currently has a set of BR1's up for sale but no Commonwealths. I'll keep my eyes open and hope that a set turn up along the way.

In and amongst the ongoing BSO to BSOT conversion work I have plenty of time for running. An early morning breakdown train heading to Oban headed by ex-works 27041 is seen departing Ardlui on its way to the coast. The 3rd picture reminds me that I need to tweak the scenic material to betther obscure the base of the semaphore.

Another example of the plans being ignored by the workmen undertaking the fit out I wonder? I moved further forward today and created the partitions to divide the buffet area from the seated ares and the buffet counter from 1mm plasticard. It was all rather fiddly but seems to look OK, I have left the remains of the seating in place because I am concerned that removing it will compromise the structure of the interior. Once the glue has set I will do a little more sanding and consider which areas to paint. I say 'consider' because once the coach body is on, it is challenging to see what is inside. I e-mailed Steve at Railtec asking him about a revised set of transfers focused on Mk1 BSOT's, Railtec 3015 does not have any SC90xx numbers for example. I'll report back once I have a response. Partitions fabricated Counter top and base Partitions and counter glued in place

We are now into late summer, I cannot find anything by way of an update or anticipated delivery date either on Rapido's website or RMWeb. Can we have a progress report please?

Good point, I had not thought about a full replacement. This would also resolve the second seating bay issue where the first seat on the side opposite the buffet counter is reduced to a single seat. I am choosing to ignore this point!. Does someone want to pick up the job of contacting DC Resin Replicas? Apart from the cutting out of the first seating bays, the only pieces to add in are the buffet counter and the partition walls. As Keefer says, the work done varied almost coach by coach where absent pictures of the 'as completed' internal arrangements, it is guess work on the layout that one chooses. To put this in context, I refitted the coach last night to test that it went back together which gave me the opportunity to view the internal layout. Baring in mind that I have not yet covered over the window on the buffet counter side, it was still difficult to see much inside the coach. I will settle for a simple buffet counter to finish my first conversion.

A little progress. I started to update the interior of the BSO along the lines described SC55015 using slightly different techniques. Step 1 comprised seperating the first and second rows of seating bays using a small razor saw. The first cut was made vertically between the first and second bays to seperate them. Step 2 was to cut horizontally along the outsides of the interior a little above floor height. Using a combination of a craft knife, files and a little friction, I managed to extract the seating bays in small pieces. I then filed down as much of the residue as I felt comfortable with so as not to compromise the structural integrity of the interior. Step 3 was to create additional floor using 1mm plasticard cut to shape and glued in place. The glue needs to harden before I decide on how much lower to file the coach interior where, as suggested by SC55015, I will look at building the counter support on top of the remains of the seat bay which, once painted, I doubt will be visible. The coach floor is 1.5 mm thick. I used 1mm plasticard to create the additional flooring and glued it using Deluxe Material Rocket glue. The internal dividing partitions further down the coach are 9.5mm wide. There are two of these, one either side of the walkway which I intend fabricating for the buffet area from plasticard I have 3 BSO's that I plan to convert and the thought of a 3D printed counter insert appeals. However I question how practical these might be given all the cutting and filing that is necessary to create the space required so I'll reserve final judgement until I have completed the first coach. Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

Interesting work so far on the seat bay removals, I feel more confident in starting to butcher my coach interior as a result. Having looked at my BSO again it is fairly clear that the central clip was glued in place which explains why I struggled to release the body. In summary for future reference there are 6 clips to release the bodyshell from the chassis. Judging by the diagrams in Parkin, I reckon that an additional partition between the buffet area and the residual seating was standard on both sides of the coach. Whether pictures of other BSOT's from the 1980's can be found to verify this must be questionable but on the basis that I think adding in the partitions will strengthen the the coach, I am minded to add them to my first attempt. The Railtec transfer sheet 3015 looks an excellent starting point but because it covers Mk1 and Mk2 BSOT/TSOT's, it does not have the coach numbers that I want. I will contact Steve at Railtec and see if he wil create an an hoc Mk1 set of transfers.

I did'nt go any further yesterday, the work involved chopping the seats out of the plastic mold intimidates me because I am concerned that I will damage the structural integrity of it. I am hoping that there are some pictures available showing how others have gone about this that I can take confidence from. I checked the back back gauge on the BSO bogies and like with my other BSO's, these were very tight and need easing out. Something to watch out for if you have a Hornby BSO. The BSO bogies are BR1's which covers 4 options for BSOT conversion. I have several BSO's and want to model one or more of the Commonwealth bogie fitted ones to increase my choices. It appears that Hornby do not sell their bogies as a separate item and I could not find any on Ebay. Any suggestions? I would do a BR1 swap for Commonwealth if anyone wants an exchange. Whilst wandering through Flickr I did find a number of BSOT pictures on the Far North which seems to validate my view that these were in regular service use. The SCR had 10 BSOT's with 5 WHL coaching stock diagrams and another 5 on the Far North. Assuming 100% availability was never a great basis for operating, presumably there were certain trains that did not have catering; the Kyle line is an obvious one to check. If I get around to it I will look in the carriage workings and public timetables to see if anything springs out. Inverness 1983 Dingwall steam heat era Dingwall 1984

Next up was the removal of the existing coach numbers. As has been noted previously, the Hornby paint is very thin and usually comes away during the number removal process. I started by using HMG thinners to remove the first number, as expected the paint also came away. For the other side I used Tcut, this removed less of the paint although some loss was still evident. The Hornby BR Blue colour is darker than what I consider normal. To cover over the bare areas I mixed a tiny amount of Railmatch enamel Rail Blue with Railmatch Weathered Black and thinned the result by about 50%. A few seconds touching up and the bare area is largely covered. I'll wait to see how this drys but it already looks reasonable and I suspect that the application of new numbers will disguise most the touched up paint area.

Having spent some time thinking about the BSOT conversion I decided to make a start on my new acquisition. Some good news to start, the coach has been lightly weathered and the steps on the coach ends removed just as I like. My first step in the conversion was to seperate the various parts that make up the BSO. Step 1, remove the bogies. These slot into the chassis and lever out quite easily with modest pressure applied using a penknife. The bogies are BR1's which are perfect for my plan to start my BSOT fleet by creating SC9000. Step 2, body seperation from the chassis. The body is a one part affair held in place by 6 clips, one in each of the 4 cormers on the inside of the bodyshell, as can be seen above and 1 located centrally on each side. Be warned, these break very easily and the central clips may be glued in place! Using a knife, ease the body away from the chassis so that slivers of plasticard or similar can be inserted to enable the body to be removed. When all 4 are in place it should come away from the chassis very easily. Step 3, seperate the chassis and coach detail molded plastic. This reveals the area for seat removal, the first seating bays on both sides of the coach. At first glance this could be fiddly because there is quite a lot of mold to cut away and the area includes the hole through which the bogies attach to the chassis. The molded detail will need careful cutting to not compromise the structure. With the coach now in pieces I stopped to consider how I might go about this.

Resurrecting this old thread given an ongoing discussion regarding the work required to convert a Hornby Mk1 BSO to a BSOT. By way of background to which I sure others can add/correct me, the micro buffet programme of the early 1980's was as a consequence of pressures on the then BR to cut costs. It seems like little has changed in 40 plus years! 18 Mk1 BSO's were converted, as at the time of typing 8 of these still exist in preservation spread far and wide around the country. On their creation 10 Scottish region BSOT's were deployed on the West Highland lines where they replaced the full buffets that were considered uneconomic. I was under the impression that BSOT's were also diagrammed on Far North line but Platform 5 Coaching Stock Book from 1982 lists all 10 as allocated to Glasgow Cowlairs depot. 9000, 9001, 9015, 9016 all fitted with BR1 bogies (as is the Hornby model) 9002, 9003, 9005, 9006, 9007, 9008 all fitted with Commonwealth bogies (Hornby model bogies are easily changed) Whilst there was a formal plan for the BSOT conversion, the practical application of the conversion work was undertaken in a largely uncontrolled fashion resulting in most vehicles being unique. Some information relating to the conversions and pictures can be found in Parkin (p148) and Longworth's more recent book (p83). The work was shared between Sheffield Darnall and Glasgow Cowlairs carriage depots. As has been stated before and more than most for a BSOT, it makes a lot of sense to find a picture or two of your chosen conversion to use as a source of reference. Railtec make a range of useful transfers, notably their 00 gauge references 3025 ' MK1Buffet brandings, strips and numbers' https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=11117 There are a limited number of pictures on Flickr, the following two galleries are the best I have found https://www.flickr.com/photos/190808970@N06/galleries/72157716639194312/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/151135632@N04/galleries/72157685209958073/ If you have any information to add then please do so, I feel sure that there is more detail in the public domain than I have managed to find. Hopefully between RMWeb members we can create a definitive record of the Mk1 BSOT and a gallery of how the Hornby Mk 1 BSO can be converted to represent these iconic Scottish coaches.

Interesting discussions regarding the BSO conversion where going forward I suggest this sits better in the BSOT thread because I think it will make it easier for others to find the information in the future. Hopefully between us we can create an easy to follow guide of the conversion that others might benefit from. I will add some of the information that I have collated in the last few days as a start; perhaps those that have already undertaken a conversion can add some pictures of their work and an outline of what they did. Last of my current crop of pictures shows 7D13 at Garelochead.

There was some discussion regarding BSOT's on page 56 of this thread as @billywhizz notes above, this includes Flickr links to relevant pictures as well as other threads. The Parkin book drawings of the BSOT conversion are helpful and there is a real life example on the GWSR where 9000 still trundles around in largely as converted condition. I have always seen the technical aspects of the job as cutting out the relevant seat bays and inserting a plasticard floor with a counter in their place. The window behind the trolley bay needs blanking off and I don't doubt it will be more challenging than my simple approach but if you have got time on your hands.... A rest from 7D13, 37/20 combo on the up sleeper arriving at Crianlarich instead.

I am looking at the Accurascale website but amd uncertain as to which round buffers are required for the class 37; can anyone clarify please?

It is wet in Bristol meaning golf does not appeal to me today so I spent some time looking at this new video. In addition to this rather fine video, there is another by the same indvidual entitled the Oban Line 1986 and I am hoping for a third one 'The West Highland' at a later date. The Mallaig Extension is an amalgamation of filming that took place over several years. My best guess is between 1984 to 1988 given we see 37/0's, ETHEL's and semaphores as well as 37/4's, RETB and Inter City liveried coaching stock. I particularly like the Royal Scotsman material which shows both the first and second iterations of the train. In addition there are a couple of small detail points worth noting; Towards the end there is a West Highland liveried coach included in the consist to the rear of a Fort William to Mallaig service. The ground signal at Glenfinnan is shown clearly and from several angles around 13 minutes which might be of assistance to @thegreenhowards.

Two slightly off beat points this morning. No 1 is my surprise at the amount of Bullhead rail still evident on the WHL. I had a brief look at a Youtube video filmed in 2022 yesterday which showed amongst other things WHL, Spean Bridge and Tulloch stations where, from what I could see, were all Bullhead. I do'nt pay a lot of attention to this but I am fairly confident in stating that most of the line south of Crianlarich was Flat Bottom by the early 1980's with some continuous welding starting to ocur. I am guessing that because north of Crianlarich the traffic is lighter and the resulting wear lower, less frequent renewal is required. That said I would have thought that 40 years on most of the rail would have been changed out for Flat Bottom by now. No 2 is the Post Bus as identified by 03060 a couple of days ago. The picture is a of a Dodge Post Bus which I would like to model but find the only available model Post Bus is by Oxford Diecast and is a Commer. I did a little more digging and learnt that the Commer brand name was changed to Dodge in the late 1970's and that the old Commer model was rebadged as a Dodge. Net result is the Commer model post bus is a close copy of that in 03060's picture and I will add one to WHL4 at some stage. It is a bit of a 7D13 fest at present, here 37022 is shown departing Ardlui and meandering towards Arrochar through the late afternoon sun.

It has taken a while but I have now acquired an Alpha Meter. I have found the results fascinating, on my layout which has an end to end length of over 30M and around 30 sound chip fitted locos, the maximum power draw I am seeing at any time is little over 1 Amp. I did have 10 locos idling with their sound on and this made negligible difference to the power draw. I also tried moving several at the same time but still no significant jump in the power draw. Based on this I concluded that I do'nt need a booster, my 7 Amp Cab Control power output should be more than sufficient for what I need.

On the basis of what the Alpha Meter tells me I do not need and will not be adding a booster. I already limit the Cab Control power to 5 Amps using the settings in the Mobile Control unit and in the light of what I have seen on the Alpha Meter, I will think about reducing the 5 Amps to a lower level. What this all tells me is that the issues that I faced on start up when I first got Cab Control must have been due to bottlenecks in the wiring causing Cab Control to see a non existent short. Since I added more droppers to the fiddle yard I rarely experience any spurious shorts on start up. 37022 continues it's journey south and arrives at Ardlui with 7D13.