Jammy2305

Off topic, but I'm still griping about their J15s - They tooled for replacement chimneys, smokebox doors etc to allow the model to be backdated and then never released a GER condition loco! - James

I'd be content with a Highland brake van - (Matching) brake vans being a vital companion for any freight loco!

It's a bit like how they tooled their J15 to allow for GER Y14s to be produced and then never released any! Baffles me...

I'll say the same thing I say every year: Great Northern Railway liveried A1 - James

I've just had my model of No.7 (as preserved) next to my pre-1919 GER pack and I've noticed something frustrating interesting: The bodyshell used is correctly that for No.7, but the roof is from No.8 as it has the more angular rainstrips... - James

Another livery related question - If the pre-1919 coaches are "carriage brown" (I.e repainted after a few years in service rather than being in original teak), shouldn't they be lined? (1/4 inch yellow to quarterlight and upper panels) - James

As well as being the shade used on ventilated vans, French Grey was used as the undercoat for the blue livery, with the wartime grey livery effectively being a case of leaving the locos in undercoat. This is certainly the interpretation Oxford used on the K85 as the loco is in the same grey as their later Dia.72 vans and this is supported by articles on the GERS website. - James

Got my pre-1919 pack yesterday and I have to preface by saying I am happy with it. The coaches particularly are beautiful and look amazing in their GE colours. I fear I'm putting my head above the parapet here by opening what I hope will be a polite discussion, but I'm less sure about the colours used on the loco. Technically, everything is correct. The body matches the coach colour, as it should given the bodies were maintained by the Stratford Carriage Works. The blue matches a photo I took myself of the Y14 tender (but specifically on an overcast day - That's perhaps key, as the shade changes dramatically depending on light conditions). And yet, one or the other looks off. I can't decide if the blue is too dark (GE blue is notoriously difficult to pin point and experience tells me blue doesn't scale well) or if the body is too bright, or if it's both, or that the finish of the whole loco is a bit... flat? (Plasticy, even, despite having metal in the construction). The bufferbeam numbering has discrepancies too. The GER shaded these with "chocolate" rather than black and the overall size of the font looks a touch on the small side. I don't wish to come across as being completely negative about it (as I say, the coaches are stunning) but I did wish to articulate my feelings regarding the loco so as to open a discussion about how other people view it and (maybe) in the hope of getting an idea on what the basis for the shade choices was? As a segway, I'm intrigued to see what the crimson loco looks like upon release as the grey in the photos looks too white for GE French Grey (at least when compared to the Pheonix shade and the shade used on the Oxford K85 and their GE vans, all of which represent the same colour and are all a close match to one another, but are distinctly different to the pre-release photos of the tram). - James

Email from Rails today to say these have arrived in stock 😁

No.87 (and No.490) were paint matched to a paint sample hidden in Stratford works. The problem with blue is it darkens in the presence of Sulphur Dioxide and so the shade as seen on No.87 was a lot muddier than actual GE ultramarine. For the purposes of preserving the loco is was "good enough" at the time, but it wouldn't be viable to represent a GE era loco, unless you used it as a base for some heavy weathering... - James

Pretty standard for them!

So off the back of this, the switches on the PCB did indeed need changing for DC use but having now put the loco on the rolling road, it leads me to ask, do the lights not work on standard DC operation? Or is it my model specifically? Because I've got nothing... - James

Is there any way if obtaining spare multiple working cables? I've just spent over an hour trying to fit one to the No.1 end of D6703 and have successfully snapped both of them. It seems they are inherently the wrong shape (why is the pipe molded in such a way that the bufferbeam end is further away than the bodyside end, when on the loco the bufferbeam sits further back?) - James

Prototypically the buffer heads are polished metal (not black as modelled). Once weathered they will look fine. The horn grilles are not green. Aside from the fact a difference in colour can be observed under scrutiny, countless period photos support the fact that as built, and in the early days (this model being circa 1963) they were brass. Further proof can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/david_christie/5427224989 - James

Good spot! That's going to be fun... 🫣 Ah, no! They were definitely brass. We did a fair bit of research on what to do with the horn grilles on the real D6703 and concluded as much. The full colour photo at Wymondham does show enough of a difference between the grilles and the green of the nose to support this. I think it's just the age of the photo that betrays the fact (whilst it's an amazing photo, the colour capture isn't 100%). Thank you for the suggestion though! - James

A few minor corrections made to D6703 tonight (prior to bufferbeam detailing); painting the buffers silver and adding a red stripe to the axleboxes, as per the prototype: Grease marks will be added once the silver paint has dried but already it's made a difference to the "face" of the model, for the better I feel. Otherwise it's a gorgeous model and I can't fault it! Having worked for a few years on 03 in pres, its nice to have a model of the old girl! - James

Thank you kindly! - James

Might be a daft question, but this loco is too nice (and delicate) for me to mess up by pulling it about - Do the NEM couplings simply pull out of their socket? Also, apologies if this has been mentioned elsewhere in the 293 pages thus far, but my model of D6703 came with a warning card about switches on the PCB for the lighting circuit - My model is DC/not chipped so is this something I still have to check before running (as it specifies an arrangement with the DCC blanking plate fitted). I just assumed it would be set to a factory default and ready to run out of the box. Many thanks - James

From a quick Google search: The Titfield version is indeed correct as that coach is No.8 which never had a class partition. - James

As per my previous reply, the bar as modelled in relation to the coach is physically correct (the bar and the handbrake are fitted to the same end of the vehicle). The error you keep highlighting is simply mis-lettering on the exterior of the vehicle. The physical error is the lack of the additional partition between the First and Third Class sections. I hope this helps clarify. - James

Not quite. On the real thing there is still a partition for the bar, which is correctly modelled (irrespective of which end is lettered First or Third Class). However, the First Class partition is missing from the model (which is using No.8s interior as the basis for the bar fitted vehicles). For a model of No.7 to be accurate to the preserved vehicle, a partition needs adding here: I can only presume that when they restored No.7 (and reinstated the partition) that they specifically chose to add the bar to the Third Class end as it was larger and wouldn't detract from the historical representation of the First and Third Class compartments as per the original vehicle. - James

It is also worth noting that the models of No.7 and No.8 (the Titfield car) share the same interior from No.8 (presumably to make use of the bar tooling, which is wholly understandable!). However, the real No.7 was/is a composite and so has a compartment division in the middle of the coach vs No.8 which was open. I must stress this does not detract from what is otherwise a beautiful model and I am grateful we have tramcars at all (indeed, I am eagerly awaiting the pre-1919 tram pack but also gave in and purchased No.7 at the weekend to run with my model of Ring Haw). - James

I've not built mine yet but it seems straight forward and from others I've seen, the finished coaches look the part! - James

The full compliment! A bogie tramcar a 4 wheel tramcar and GE No.16, which was a D.501 brake coach converted for use on the tramway. A kit for No.16 is available from Eveleigh Creations. - James

37069 it is then... I have a weak spot for quirky liveries on 37s!