Yankee

Such a shame that something so easy to get right when relaunching this model by EFE that it went unnoticed, but thanks pushpull33 for the remedy.

The sideways and long bench seating layout arrangement is correct as many pictures of the last set 373 in BR days show as well as the drawings in Mike King’s book. The drawings also confirms the first and third class layout is as per the model. No doubt the location of 1st class seating within the set was chosen to give direct access from the entrance vestibule and be a standalone dedicated area without access from Third class which would be the case if positioned at the connecting corridor end of the coach. Also a picture again in Mike King’s book of set 374 in SR says shows the smoking area is as per the model.

End Result I had two coaches to split as I was bringing my old Kernow model up to the correct underframe standard by changing over the chassis. After many attempts at trying to prise the vac pipe out of the chassis I wondered if it had been glued in with a drop of cyno so tried using “Deluxe Glue Buster” to release the pipe. All it did was soften the plastic pipe which finally melted through, thankfully at its base. With the second coach I tried picking away at the base of the pipe where there is a wider lip. There was some give and I thought it was coming lose but it did break off, at least like before right at its base. Removing the chassis is a very delicate job as the vac pipe wraps around the coach buffer beam and if not flipped over the headstock first could very easily snap off. Fortunately the pipe is very flexible and flipped over the beam freely. This task is made easier if the bogie at that end of the coach is removed first. Here are some pictures during the chassis removal. First pipe melted through at its base Released pipe flipped over headstock Freed Pipe

Word of caution for anyone thinking of splitting the chassis and body of the third trailer coach. I was about to split mine and both sides were free, but felt a slight restriction in freeing the engine non corridor end. Close inspection found that the Vac pipe, the only one on the model, is glued both into the body end and chassis. I have tried to gently prise and unglue the vac pipe, and will continue trying, but it looks at this stage it may have to be cut close to where it is glued into the chassis. Will update with end result. Can’t quite understand why something is permanently fixed to prevent body removal, so easy for the pipe to be just a push fit into the hole in the chassis. My earlier Kernow model is the same, I did a search on the Kernow Gate Stock Forum topic and surprised there was no mention of the problem. Sorry if it is there and I've missed it.

I think the prototypical wheels for the 1930’s Southern Gate stock would have been the wooden inset Mansell wheels. If like me you are considering upgrading your Olive Green coaches with Alan Gibson Mansell wheels please remember the bogies of these models are narrower than normal and you need to specify the 24.5mm axles, (front), as against the normal 26 mm axles, (rear).

If you consider the chassis, seat and roof mouldings constitute a very large part of the model, the cost would not be much less than the complete set. May be, like me, best to buy a new set, remove the new tooling parts and convert your old Kernow set. Then, if you no longer want them, fit the old Kernow tooling parts to the new EFE bodies and sell them.

Hi Andrew, I think this answers your question.

I’ve created this topic to separate the Gate Stock out from the general release announcement of all the models and show the tooling changes made, at least to the Southern Olive Green version. I had considered adding it to the Gate Stock topic on the Kernow’s forum,but as it is now an EFE product thought best to keep it here. What I think is the main tooling change is the corrections made to the underframes of both coaches. The original Kernow Driving Brake is the lower chassis and the new EFE the upper one. And here the trailer third, again Kernow lower and EFE upper. Changes have also been made to the roof vents. The original Kernow model had the slightly larger LSWR type and the EFE now has what I believe is the correct SR smaller version. Also the roof is now grey as against the original much lighter colour. Question, did set 374 carry that lighter colour and set 373 the grey. ? The interior of the Driving Brake now has the correct partition added and the rear bench seat changed to a two by two arrangement to give access to the gangway door between coaches.

Hi cypherman You got me thinking and remembered buying these some time ago with the aim of fitting to a Bachmann Tender loco to improve pickup performance. DCC Concepts DCF-WP12 P-Bronze wiper sets. Might try them out if I get problems.

Here is my post of how I originally did this. I have now refined the method to make it better. Check this page as this will give you an idea of what I mean. Currently I cannot seem to link any pages from RMweb here. July 17, 2019 in Modifying & Detailing RTR stock .How to make a Mainline 4mt last longer Thanks cypherman very interesting, I found the link

Encouraged by the results with the J72 I decided to give the Mainline BR STD4 4-6-0 a go. This started off with the aim of simply replacing the boiler hand rails with thinner nickel sliver wire, but then I got carried away. Weathering was carried out similar to the J72. The wheels and motion were first painted Mat Black and them over painted with Gun Metal. I found the Gun Metal alone too thin to apply straight on to the bare metal motion parts. The cab rear pillars are too thick so these were pared down to a more scale like appearance. The regulator operating rod alongside of the boiler is just a bent piece of wire where it enters the boiler so a more scale like handle was fabricated from plaskit card and glued on. This is not a finely detailed part but a representation, far better than bent wire. The only addition to the tender was added coal. Being pleased with the results I thought it deserved a little more, so ordered from Bachmann the detailing pack for their latest STD 4 that included buffer beam pipes, front steps and cylinder pipes. Also added to the frontal area were a Hornby R7200 screw link coupling and Foxe’s shed code transfer. Mainly Trains Lamp irons from Wizard’s were added also, but I feel they look too large and out of scale, but too late to change now. When all finished the cab area looked too open with no windows. The small front facing cab windows and those on the tender were dealt with by using Glue and Glaze. The forward side windows were cut out from a CD clear case cover. This is quite thick material and use of a OLFA scriber really came in handy. I found a push fit was sufficient to secure the windows, but the material being so thick caused a prismatic effect that didn’t look right. Painting the edges of the windows Mat black before installing overcame that effect. Added Crew

Well the J72 and Linda were both Mainline models.

The recommended advice of the experienced when starting out on detailing and weathering is to practice on some old models. Well I did just that, digging out some old Mainline engines left over from my children’s train set era of the early 1980’s. I must admit that for their age they are quite well detailed to start with. I started with the J72 Detailing included vacuum pipes from Wizard’s and lamp irons from the Hornby X9631 M7 detail pack obtained from Peter’s Spares. Real coal was added along with a cut down driver from Bachmann to hide the motor in one side of the cab. Weathering consisted of washes and powders sealed with Mat Varnish Running Qualities of this model was quite good also.

On good level track mine handles more than that.

What a fool I am , should learn to read the Owners Manual first in future. Doh.

With reference to the Well Tanks pulling power, take a look at my video on “EFE’s” post.

May be I’ve just been lucky but the pulling power of my Beattie Tank is fine for what I want it to do. For such a small engine how many coaches do you want it to pull. ? Here is a video showing it pulling 5 coaches no problem, struggles but does pull 7. It couldn’t possibly be anything to do with Sam’s track, could it . ? Interesting to note the original Dapol Well Tank with 5 pole motor and weighing 5 grams more has no problem with 7 coaches.

The Hornby was my first try at installing sound in any loco and was done as per the install guide on the YouChoos web site using a MX648 and Minnow4 speaker. Here are the pictures I took at the time, June 2019. I have only just recently procured a programmable Control system (Digitrax), previous to that it was only a Bachmann EzCommand, so will now be on a learning curve for CV adjustments.

Sound fitted Southern Terrier arrived today, all bits in tact, nothing bent, just like my DCC ready one. Only thing missing is a Function Key menu chart. Run off video against my Hornby YouChoos sound fitted Terrier, I know which I prefer.

Email received to say Sound fitted Southern Terrier has been dispatched today.

Another almost freebee . Here’s a near 40 year old model I bought for my kids back in about 1982. Thought I’d have a go at some weathering and detailing, had nothing to lose. No Airbrush, just paint and powers. Did a quick overhaul, without splitting the chassis, cleaned armature through the brush holes with “N” gauge fibreglass brush. Wish some of my new purchases ran as well. Bit out of place for Pine Road, https://urlzr.mp/yqb but handling the SMP track work and points fine. There are bargains out there.

My only gripe with the packaging is that it stands out a mile. The wife had got so used to seeing the red and yellow and red and blue she didn’t notice another new arrival. Now I get “that one’s new isn’t it, how much did that cost. “ and the box is so big you can’t say “Oh it’s only a small wagon dear”

Up until Grouping they would have looked like this. The driving ends didn't get modified like the Kernow models until about 1929. These coaches started life as Kernow models and were converted by a club member so could be done if you really wanted one.

You probably wouldn't say that if you had it in your hand. When I went to collect mine with my colleague he had only ordered the Green Lined version and no intention of buying the Green, but a soon as I opened the box with my Green one in he said I've got to have one of those and he's usually a sticker for accuracy https://cpineroad.blogspot.com/ . We all succumb to rule 1 at some time in our modeling life. Wouldn't be surprised to see one pop up on Canute Road or make its way towards Salisbury. ?

The video of my Well Tank with the Gate Stock was purely to show what EFE were releasing, not to indicate in anyway what happened in real life. The Gate Stock in the video is the original Kernow version set 374, EFE’s will be set 373 due next week. The Well Tank Green version represents how the engine appeared as a static exhibit in the Museum at Buckfastleigh around 1997 https://sremg.org.uk/steam/0298_04.html