31A

OK well, I've said what I think and I still think the LMC model is a good contemporary reference that supports what Nick Campling wrote, and what I believe to be the case. But at the end of the day, it's your model.

And could also look black in the black and white photos of the period, as per the difficulty in telling whether a black LNER loco has red lining or not, as the photographic emulsions of the time tend to render red as black in black and white photos.

Well this is what I wrote last year on the other thread; it is a direct quote of what Nick Campling wrote in the Model Railway news back in 1967. I have always taken Nick Camplng as being a reliable authority on matters pertaining to the LNER. At the time he wrote that in 1967 people could still remember how the LNER did things, and he acknowledged the BR (ER) PRO as a source of information. "Anyway, I have now found the May 1967 Model Railway News myself. The drawing is of No. 2219 'New Fly' built in 1929 to Diagram 97, and there is a photo of No. 31 'Flower of Yarrow' (Dia 96, 1928). There is a paragraph on painting which I will quote: "The detailed livery of the vehicles has been somewhat difficult to authenticate. The first Railcars were finished in 'varnished teak' and this was later changed to cream and crimson. From 1928 and therefore for the cars in question, the livery was as follows: Body below waist and droplight of trailing and drivers' door; loco green. Body above waist; cream lined 1 inch from panel edge with 3/8 inch plum coloured line. Roof: lead grey. Underframe, bogies and solebars; black. Wheel; black with white rims. LNER and number; Standard 4 inch characters. Name; 7 inch letters." Bear in mind though, this was written in 1967 and although it sounds authoritative, it looks as though further information can nowadays be deduced e.g. the photographic evidence in this thread that the lining was at least sometimes a double line. The article acknowledges "Photograph and original information by courtesy of the PRPO, British Railways, Eastern Region" which sounds pretty official and the painting description does read in the way that railway company paint specs might have been written."

I've just always had this memory that I knew the lining was red, it might even have been something my late father told me, and he could have seen the real things. If somebody had asked me before these threads started, that is what I would have said. Then when answering your other thread, I was pleased to find this reference to the lining being 'plum', which confirmed what I'd always thought. I can't remember the reference now but I remember thinking that it came from a quite reliable source. Then this LMC model appears to confirm what I'd always thought.

I did say, in the 'other' thread, that I'd found a reference which I thought was a reliable one, to the lining being 'plum' .... And the LMC model would probably have been contemporary with the real thing.

To amplify what Jonathan has said, the two Side Lamps that your van is carrying would normally show red to the rear as you can see, and white lights forward so that the loco crew could look back and confirm the brake van was still there and the train was complete. There would also be a Tail Lamp on the middle lamp iron, just showing a red aspect. I think usually the cases of the side lamps were painted black and tail lamps were painted white, but that may have varied?

I believe the bolt heads existed on the right hand side as well, but were countersunk so that the door could slide to open; on the left hand side it didn't matter so they didn't bother.

It's getting easier now I've got past that stage! To be honest, with the Teak coaches that I normally do I don't bother with the door bangers, but with these being smooth sided I thought their omission might be rather obvious! I'll put a some more about these on my own thread when I've got a bit further with them.

Cheers Phil! Door bangers? Head banger more like!

They are also available from Wizard Models; however for the ones in the picture I think I used the Brassmasters ones, part P003: https://www.brassmasters.co.uk/track_details.htm

I used the 0.45mm square nickel silver wire available from Wizard Models to represent square (channel section) rodding:

Very interesting to see your pictures from Wolsztyn. I went there in 1999 as well, with a few friends under our own stem ('scuse pun!). We had Ol49 100 for haulage, including an impromptu cab ride, but didn't get into the signal box! I don't think Ty1 76 has moved since: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq-L1rbYexU Sadly it may soon be verboten again; I have been reading that a new law is being passed in Poland making it illegal to photograph strategic installations including railways, although quite how they'll enforce it when everyone has a smart phone I don't know.

I think they underestimated the amount of noise Class 68s produce! When there was a furore about it on Look North, it was said that noise protection had been put up on the 'town' side of the depot but the people complaining were on the other side of the valley! Having heard them roaring away on the buffers in Platform 2 at York I can understand it; it is impossible to hold a conversation inside the York Tap at times. I think that was all they needed to do, and I wonder that too. But I have heard that Hitachi couldn't produce enough trains quickly enough for the complete fleet replacement (well, nearly - it was always intended to retain some 185s), so as well as the Hitachi 802s they also got the loco hauled sets and the Class 397 EMUs from CAF. I think that was the root of their problems, having more types of new trains than they needed to, and think as well as First Group for proposing it, the DaFT should take some blame for accepting the proposal.

Doesn't look too shabby for an NCB loco watering tank? Obviously not the kind of make shiftery the GWR would have stooped to! Would it look better if you painted the red bit concrete colour (distressed)?

Reality follows model ......

A triple header! Oh no .... 🤣

There don't seem to be any passengers on. It was quite possibly the conductor quite correctly doing a door test before the train went into service.

Sorry to be picky, but are you sure you saw the Lumo train in Harrogate, not York? Lumo trains don't run through Harrogate, and are straight electrics (not bi mode) so they couldn't run through there under their own power even if they wanted to! LNER run bi mode Azumas to Harrogate from King's Cross.

I thought of Lenwade too, but is it not going the wrong way for that?

It looks as though the rest of the service through Chilworth was cancelled for the rest of the day after Britannia's train (1Z94) failed, so not inconsiderable disruption to other trains!

If it is the ex Airfix GMR type body moulding it can be used with the Parkside (from Peco) PA16 underframe kit to represent LMS Diagram 1892 vacuum braked with clasp brakes, or with the Parkside PA35 kit to represent LNER equivalent, Diagram 210. I have done both, although I think I did the ex LNER one using whitemetal parts from ABS for the brake gear rather than the Parkside underframe kit.

I got involved with that a bit when I worked in a Travel Centre that handled Motorail bookings. I was trained on that job but don't remember actually having to cover it. We held the Reservation Charts for this particular Motorail service. It was formed of GUVs, not double deck CCTs. Length of vehicle was one of the items the customer completed on the booking form, and you then had to allocate spaces by juggling the cars between the railway vehicles to achieve the best fit. Sometimes it resulted in the train being 'full' to new applications for long vehicles, but a Mini (for example) could still be accommodated.

Ah the good old Woolworth's screwdriver (or so my father called them, so I suppose they were). I've got about three; they seem to be indestructible and can sometimes reach into places where other screwdrivers fear to tread....

I agree re the use of Bar Keepers Friend; it does make a lovely job of cleaning up brass parts. It does turn solder dark grey but doesn't seem to do any other harm, and can have a similar effect on white metal castings, but I hadn't noticed any damage to them. Possibly if it does roughen the surface slightly, they might take paint better? I believe I have read that Bar Keepers Friend is the American version of Shiny Sinks (or vice versa?); originally I did use Shiny Sinks (bought locally in the UK) but when that ran out my nearest hardware shop had Bar Keepers Friend in stock so I bought that instead; they certainly seem very similar. I think both products do a better job than Cif, though.

Third of second batch; I think possibly Doncaster MPD.