Simon Bendall

54 minutes ago, Covkid said:

Yes.  That was my thought.  Not sure whether my memory is playing tricks but ISTR some runner wagons had rows of rails welded on longitudinally for weight purposes.  

Those with rails were ex VDA. The ex VIX runners just retained their planked floors. Did one out of the Hornby chassis a while ago and was a bit of a pig!

3 minutes ago, Covkid said:

AM I right in thinking some of these were "decapitated" and used as under runners for long steel traffic and rails ?  

 Yes, some were. Would be good to know what the chassis looks like with the body off for conversion potential.

Headcode disc were D5520-29/35/39/43/47/51/52/55/56/59/62.

3 hours ago, Mophead45143 said:

Is No. 5544 being modelled with the boiler steps in place? i.e. not plated over?

Steps in place and unplated filler.

7 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

Interesting, I knew of the Western, Warship and Hymek, but what were the others ?

There's one with Locomotion and the prototype HST on it https://www.ukrailwayana.com/20120005/imgs/55d_v.jpg  This, the Western, Warship and Deltic are common enough on ebay but don't recall seeing the Hymek before.

53 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

I wasn't aware of a 4mm kit for these

There was an ebay seller offering a resin kit, although its only good for Railvac 1, which is no longer in the UK.

TPE Mk.5s can now be legitimately used on engineers workings 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRom34ypiLs&ab_channel=317Dan

On 27/01/2022 at 19:19, 26power said:

At leat I think so for the Dolphin (I did do a quick internet search on the Dolphin to try and find out how many were made or what their distribution was but without success). 

BR had 90 Dolphin and the LNER had over 100 to the same dimensions. BR ones were mostly new to the Eastern with ten to Scotland.

30 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

Am I not right in that CATFISH were mainly confined to the LMR, at least when first introduced?

Yes, the whole fleet was new to the LMR, some went on loan to the Southern from the late 1960s. Later spread to the Eastern.

Replica Railways as well, pack RA110 http://www.replicarailways.co.uk/mainsep1/menuaccess

The 08s are an odd choice, two are as preserved - the NRM's 13079 and the Great Western Society's 08604 from Didcot which never ran in blue with cast plates in BR service. Then Loram-liveried 08632, which hasn't been at Derby since last April.

You would think that the likes of Railfreight Red Stripe, triple-grey, Provincial or even a Departmental grey re-run would be more useful. Just like the Class 31 situation really.

11 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

Rail Adventure power cars looks a bit of a punt.

Afaik they were exported to Germany, and so far theyve not been used ?

They were only visiting, returned to the UK in December to rejoin the others at Eastleigh.

You do have to wonder if the Trout is ever going to get a new run. 

2 hours ago, Dan Griffin said:

I was Hoping test coach Mercury would be a non driving end from their VEP. It would look better than just a brake end as mercury had a cab on the end of it that looked similar to an EMU cab. 

Mercury didn't have a cab, Hermes was the driving end.

5 minutes ago, great central said:

I'm fairly sure there's at least one in the sidings at Great Yarmouth among the many ex Caledonian sleeper mk2s and Anglia mk3s. I passed a few weeks ago on the bus as it was getting dark but the livery is pretty distinctive and only viewable from the road side.

There's a couple of Mk.2s there in dark blue and cream, same style of application but different shades. 3240 ex Riviera Trains and 1213 ex Dartmoor Railway,

1 hour ago, Fredo said:

Thanks,  think some of the Mark 2’s are working for West Coast Railways, and the Mark 1 catering cars with various different operators.

Most of the Mk.2f FOs went to West Coast. were repainted maroon and still in service. The Mk.1 buffets went first to DRS, then into the Stobart Pullman but now with Riviera Trains, repainted and in traffic, as is one Mk.2f FO. The Mk.2f BSO and one FO went to Eastern Rail Services, both now in Intercity. The only Mk.2 left in Blue Pullman colours is 5669 at the NRM, which was an additional vehicle added by Cotswold.

Kidderminster, turnback siding by the box, opposite the Severn Valley carriage shed.

its Cardiff Pengam.

2 hours ago, GordonC said:

Were those containers not 'guards vans' for these trains?

They were used for a propelling move at Forders with the shunter riding onboard. IIRC, he had control of a brake valve.

9 hours ago, scottrains29 said:

Does anyone know what ever happened to the R6463/4/5 ZCA Seahorse and R6469/70/1 ZCA Sea Urchin engineers wagons that Hornby announced back at the time they announced the similar OTA wagon some years ago? I wonder why these wagons got cancelled.

 It was something along the lines of too many differences and uneconomic to tool. It's fairly obvious the subject wasn't understood when they were announced as what was being proposed as the Seahorse was from images actually an ex OBA Sea Urchin and the Sea Urchin itself was ex VDA. Would have needed two new suites of tooling as little would have transferred across from either of the OTA types.

DB 92s last operated under their own power on the WCML in 2017 and the third rail shoes were all gone by 2019. GBRf 92s can still use the third rail when needed,  such as going to/from exams or out of course movements like new wagon deliveries.

The only Construction ones that spring to mind would be the Queen Mary brake vans used on Channel Tunnel construction traffic.

Railfreight General found  on a few odds

SPA transferred to civils use https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/spaconvertdept/e212ade90

The VGA, VCA and Palvan from the exhibition train http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackwatch55013/5511833675

I think there was an OCA as well but not sure.

Yes that's right for departmental rolling stock, not until 1979 that it appeared on a 'loco' in the form of the Class 84 load bank.

Afraid not, out of revenue traffic by 1973/74.

6 hours ago, tubs01 said:

Hi all, I read up the other day that the use of brake vans in certain situations was not completely done away with until march of this year, 

What you saw was a story about an update to the rulebook that removed the residual requirement for brake vans, it was a paperwork change. There were none in use. https://www.railwaygazette.com/uk/brake-van-requirements-removed-from-railway-operating-rules/58655.article