Sean the Bob

Very happy with this news, the 320s are common on my usual line and have been since I was a child, so they have a special place in my heart. Going to need at least 2!

Great news, finally some Caledonian Railways stock! Definitely will be picking up the 4 CR liveried ones at the very least.

Cracking news, got mine ordered today. Now just need someone to convince Accura to make 37409 in its new Scotrail livery...

Yeah I watched Jenny's video and got that impression. Fired in an order for another one before the deadline so hopefully another order on the pile strengthens the case!

Has anyone heard anything further on the Andrew Barclays? I already had one on order and assumed that it was going to be lost, but now it looks like there's a possibility of it still going ahead I may throw in another preorder. Just wary the last date for orders on the website is Wednesday!

This is excellent news. I have a Hattons Warwell and another 4 on order with nothing to go on it, some Warriors would look excellent on it! They look great and can't wait to see them released.

Thanks all for the replies, sounds like it was a bit of a mixed bag all round! Picked up another 2 CCT vans for cheap but might see if I can pick up some FFA/FGAs and do some creative painting with the containers. Cheers, Sean

Did you ever find out what the typical consist for this would be? I recently picked up a couple of CCTs and an ex-LMS BG and would be interested to know what else I'd need to make up a prototypical train! Cheers, Sean

Thanks for the responses guys, I've done a bit of testing with the multimeter and some of the interior lights came on whilst testing, so there might be a duff component on the board. I'll keep fiddling about with it but I'll live with it either way (like @Knapdale I didn't buy for the lighting!). I am still using ancient old Hornby starter set controllers though so even if it's unlikely to help, I think am upgrade to gaugemaster is on the cards soon.

Hi all, it's been a while since I frequented the forum but hoping someone might have some advice here. I recently purchased a Bachmann 00 gauge DBSO Mk2f coach from Ebay, which is DCC on board (built in, so no separate chip or blanking plate). The instructions state that although it has a multitude of light functions on DCC, it will operate with just the interior and directional lighting on DC analogue. I set up a quick layout just to test a loco and the coach (I only have analogue) and there were no lights working and a buzzing noise coming from the coach. I've opened it up, checked the connections and circuit board for any obvious damage but nothing to see. I then swapped controller and this time it didn't make the buzzing noise, but still no lights. Has anyone had any experience with these coaches on analogue before? I'm wondering if the initial cheap controller has damaged the PCB, or if they just aren't reliable on analogue. The listing the seller posted showed all lights working, although this was likely on DCC operation. Cheers, Sean

So I don't know whether to be happy or annoyed at Hornby's announcement today of their own Scotrail Mk2fs being released this year! Ultimately I'll still finish the ones I have, but I'll probably get a couple of the Hornby ones too... Also, a full HST set in Scotrail Inter-7-City colours is a must!!!

Gah you're absolutely right, I need to put myself into the corner of shame!!!!

Thanks for the assistance all, I could see that there was a bit of a mix of coach types but it's good to have some clarification on what these are. It's interesting that more of them appear to be ex LNER stock, as there were two lines running alongside each other from Glasgow to Dumbarton, one owned by LNER (ex Caledonian Railway) and one run by LMS (ex North British).

Hi all, I'm looking for a little bit of help. I recently purchased a Bachmann V1/3 tank locomotive, as I understand these were commonly used on my local line (Glasgow - Helensburgh and Glasgow - Balloch). There are several photos of these locos and I would like to get some coaches to match, however my knowledge of coaches is a bit ropey so was hoping someone could help identify what variety of coaching stock was used here, mainly around the 1950s. Below are a few links to trains in that area, the coaches are pretty visible so hopefully that should help. https://www.railscot.co.uk/img/52/111/ https://www.railscot.co.uk/img/59/864/ https://www.railscot.co.uk/img/50/8/ https://www.railscot.co.uk/img/62/898/

Pretty sure ScotRail must have seen this post and decided to present me with this in a Class 320 on Friday evening...

I really must take a trip on the real thing myself at some point! I'm surprised that only one BSO had the Scotrail interior, Scotrail have been pretty religious on refurbing all the EMUs on my line both inside and out! Thanks for that info though, I'll see if I can find a blue that roughly matches the Virgin/ATW seats. Thanks! The Lightning is one of, if not my favourite aircraft, it just looks so purposeful. I'm just disappointed that I never have and sadly probably never will see one in the air. I'll include a picture of the progress on it in my next coach update.

Good to see someone else from Dumbarton on here! Nice work on the Caledonian Sleeper coaches, you still see these coaches on the sleeper from Fort William passing through Dumbarton just now, despite the service having a rebrand. I did notice that a new liveried coach has made it's way into the set in the past couple of weeks though! I do also hope that my Spotrail coaches end up looking as good as yours!

Thanks for the comments guys I definitely agree Graeme, loco hauled trains are just that bit more interesting! Particularly as they really are quite a rarity, certainly up north now as most trains are EMUs or DMUs. Loco hauled trains are proper trains. Great work on your own set of Scotrail Mk2s Scott, they're a good reference for my own. Good work on the Caley Sleeper coaches too. Those interior photos of Mk2s are a good help, I've never actually been inside a Mk2 to my knowledge so the interior is a bit of a mystery to me! I know those aren't the Scotrail ones but I only intend my interior to be a rough approximation. Progress on the coaches has stalled a bit both due to me being busy and also due to the fact that I didn't have the satin varnish I thought I had. Fortunately some arrived in the post yesterday so I'll be giving that a go when I get the chance and that should be the coach bodywork completed, with just the interior and chassis/bogies to finish touching up.

It's been a few days but there has been some good progress. I brushed on Humbrol Clear to give the decals a smooth gloss coat to adhere to. There was nearly a disaster with this as it looked like some of it was going to go milky, but it dried okay in the end. I was going to airbrush it but from experience it does brush very well and I've seen some comments saying that even with several coats spraying it doesn't give as smooth a coat as brush painting. Either way, it felt nice and smooth and tonight I applied most of the decals to one side of the carriage. The Rainbow Railways transfers are nice to work with, quite a bit thinner and more delicate than I was expecting, but strong enough that there were no breakages. I did have to remove a small bit of detail at each end (for hanging a lamp on, I think?) to allow the carriage info plate to fit. I'm not sure if the decal was overscale or the detail was in the wrong place, but I'll make a replacement and reposition it. I also sprayed the interior seating grey, I'm not sure if this will be slightly too dark or if will be close enough? Any opinions would be appreciated, I haven't seen the interior of the real Mk2s.

Thanks all. Andy, thanks for the info on the Laserglazing. I assume the sets for the Hornby Mk2Ds would fit? The only obvious difference I see between the D and the E is the position of the blanked out white toilet window (both on one side on the D, alternating sides on the E). Funny that glazing should come up actually, as I had devised a plan for the current glazing. As it is all one section and I intend to light the coach and fit passengers, I thought that it would be as well painting the interior of the coach whilst I was doing everything else. as the glazing is made up of one big panel, I planned to paint this part an appropriate grey (masking the windows of course!). If I go for the Shawplan windows then of course I'll need to look at painting the actual interior walls of the coach, but in the meantime I'll see how this looks. This is it all masked off to give an idea of what will be painted.

Some more progress tonight, all the little details such as hand rails and door handles painted up, along with some touching up done. A little more required then it'll be ready for some gloss coat before the decals.

Certainly if you're looking for decals for modern rolling stock then Railtec is the place to look. The 68 looks good in the DRS livery, it would suit pulling either Scotrail or DRS liveried Mk2s. It's been a bit of a case of one step forward, two steps backwards over the past couple of days. I tried brush painting the orange cantrail stripe as the part on the coach is raised and I figured this would be easy enough to paint... I was wrong! After being unhappy with the result, I decided to mask it off and repaint the black for another go... and ended up pulling up some of the blue with masking tape! After some choice words and a couple of days trying to rectifiy this, I masked it all off again and decided to try and spray the orange line instead. It was a lot of masking work and the Humbrol acrylic orange paint was absolutely terrible to spray (the gun clogged after a few minutes), but the end result looks none too bad!

Yet more progress tonight, got the doors masked off and sprayed Tamiya Sky Grey with a bit of white thrown in to lighten, it looks not too bad to my eye and fortunately it seems to have gone on over the enamel okay... And a quick comparison next to the Dapol Class 68. The colour looks pretty close! Should look better with all decals on and given a tone down with a satin/matt coat. A bit more masking later and the roof and ends were painted up. I initially tried to use Tamiya black for this but for some reason it really wasn't happy, so I reluctantly went for the Halford's black rattle can... it looks to have paid off though! Very happy with how it looks now. Some work has been done to the bogies too so a bit more touching up and they should be ready soon.

Really intereted to see how this one turns out! Will be watching with interest...

Wee bit of progress tonight, although it was a messy business!! Got the Saltire Blue painted on, my first time spraying with enamel (this colour was only available in enamel) and first time using the airbrush in quite a few months. Needless to say it got a bit fraught, but it hasn't come out too bad in the end. The finish is a little spotted looking, although I think that may be in part to do with how course the Halford's primer is. It's great for providing a base layer, but it can be a bit gritty, perhaps I should have gave it a rub with some fine wet and dry before putting on the blue... no matter, we'll see how it goes from here. A few coats of gloss varnish should hopefully smooth it all out before I get onto the decals. The blue itself is very dark, and has quite a purple tinge to it. However, comparing it to photos of the real thing, the Dapol Class 68 and the little Oxford Rail Scotrail Transit van, I can confirm that it's pretty much spot on. The Light blue and white spots do quite a job of hiding how dark the base colour really is. I did however forget to spray the doors first, which are supposed to be some form of silver. However, again looking at photos and the same colour scheme on the EMUs I regularly travel on, it's more a light grey than a silver. I have some Tamiya Sky grey which I used on the underside of a later mark Spitfire, I'll give that a test and see how it goes although I feel it will probably need lightened a bit. (Apologies for the terrible quality picture!!)