Marky B

Thank you very much, greatly appreciated.

Hi, Can someone please tell me what the correct colour is for the insides of GWR cattle wagons? My layout date is 1947, so well after they stopped using limewash.

I was on a site penrhos.me.uk, titled "Penrhos Junctions & GWR Dean Era Coaches". There are drop-down menus and one of them covers coaches converted to departmental vehicles. It states there that they were painted brown and one red-brown in 1943. There are photos of some of the coaches that were converted.

Hi All, A mate of mine is building a layout of Marlow in 1947. He has some 4-wheel coaches that he wants to use as Engineering Departmental vehicles. I've been looking around online and I found a site with photos of these vehicles. It says they were painted brown and one vehicle painted red-brown, but there is no mention as to exactly what these colours are. I would guess that the brown would be the standard GWR coach chocolate or maybe Windsor Brown, but I'm not sure. If anyone can give me a steer, I'd be very grateful. TIA. Regards, Mark

Hi Yardman, Thanks very much for the steer. Just what I wanted, so I've ordered some. Regards, Mark

Hi All, Does anyone know if any company produces orange LED kits to make working coach side hazard lights on Hornby Mk3 HST coaches please? Regards, Mark

Hi Stephen, Thanks for the steer, I've looked at the site and the replacement pancake motors look to be a good idea, so I'll probably go down that route. Regards, Mark

Hi All, I've got two Lima HST locos, (both powered), which I'm looking to somehow re-motor. Does anyone have the experience of doing this, either by replacing the pancake motors with another more modern offering of the same type, or perhaps replacing the Lima chassis with a Hornby? I've done a certain amount of searching around online for any articles on this, so far, I've not turned much up. The chassis as they currently are, I've re-wheeled to EM gauge using Ultrascale conversion packs. So if I go the Hornby route, I will need to re-wheel them again, but I'm not particularly worried about this. I will want to DCC them as well and put sound on board, so that's another consideration. Basically, I'm looking at both cost and ease of doing the re-motoring. Regards, Mark

Hi All, Thanks for all your thoughts on this subject. As far as I'm concerned, the Hunt couplings seem the obvious answer for my specific problem as indeed, the HST rake will not be shunted, but remain as a complete rake with locos. However, concerning the rest of the stock, there will be shunting required. As a 4mm finescale EM gauge modeller, in the past, I've fitted my stock with 3-link/instanter or screw-couplings as necessary. For this layout, I may very well do the same thing, I'm currently assessing my options. There is one other thing I would like to ask, not coupling related, but rather stock related. My layout is based in Cornwall and there will be china clay traffic on it. The timely re-release of the EFE "Tiger Rail" PBA's and Dapol "Silver Bullets" have come at just the right time. However, the French SNCF tarpaulin-covered "Transferry" 80 tonnes gross loaded weight wagons were used for certain types of china clay shipments. Were these made in 4mm scale (rather than HO 3.5mm) and if so, can they still be found to buy? I'm not particularly worried about the finish, (I can respray in the correct livery), but would like to have a couple on the layout if possible. I did manage to get hold of one new Heljan "Cargowaggon" before they sold out, so that was a pleasing addition. Again, wouldn't have minded two for the layout, but they sold like hotcakes! Regards, Mark

Hi David, Thanks for the reply. I've had a look at the website, they look like just what I want, so I ordered a set! I'll put some photos and a report on here once I get them. Regards, Mark

Hi All, I've got a set of eight Hornby HST Mk3 coaches arriving on Monday, which I would like to close couple. They will run on a layout which is an end of line terminus running into a fiddle yard. Therefore, no sharp curves to negotiate. I presume they come with NEM type couplers (are they 362 type?). So my question is, what is the best replacement to use for the tension-lock couplings, given the coaches will not need to be uncoupled, other than when removing them from the layout? Regards, Mark

Hi All, I'm currently in the process of planning/building a fictitious Cornwall china clay branch line set during the last few years of BR. My intention is that as well as china clay traffic, there will be be some passenger traffic and a small amount of freight traffic. I've got John Vaughan's West Country China Clay Trains book, (both editions) and I'm wondering if anyone can recommend any books that will give me an insight into the freight and passenger traffic in the area during that period please? Regards, Mark

Thanks for your replies guys, given there's a remote chance they did, I think this one might go down to "modeller's licence" and "It's my layout!". I have found out also that the RES liveried 47640 "University of Strathclyde" went down there and did work on china clay trains, as part of driver training for the upcoming TPO services. I've got 47745 "The Royal London Society for the Blind", which has a slightly different RES livery, so I'll do a quick respray and I've already bought and received the replacement nameplates and some cast arrows from Fox Transfers. 47640 lost the arrows at some point, which I'm still to determine when, so I bought them in case I do need them. Regards, Mark

Thank you Neil, I was thinking it very unlikely that they had closed, but I still can't access their website. Maybe it's my browser, I'm using Firefox, so I'll try using another. Regards, Mark

Hi, Can anybody tell me if any of the Railfreight Distribution liveried Class 47's ever worked over Western Region metals and more specifically, down into the South West in the Cornwall area? I'm building a ficticious 1990's Cornwall china clay branchline with passenger traffic as well. I have it in my mind that quite some time ago, when researching photos of locos in the region, on china clay and general traffic, I saw one of the said Class 47's, but now can't find it. I have the Bachmann 47365 "Diamond Jubilee", which I'm happy to renumber to any of the class in that livery if they did venture South Westwards. Regards, Mark

Hi All, Quick question, are Shawplan still trading? I can't reach the website, so I'm beginning to wonder if they've died a death. Regards, Mark

Hi John, thanks for that, much appreciated. Regards, Mark

Hi All, I'm building a 1990's ficticious china clay branchline in 4mm EM gauge. Things are falling into place nicely, with the re-release of the Dapol "Silver Bullets" and The EFE Tiger Rail PBA's. I would obviously like the Class 50 50149 "Defiance" to be present on the layout, however, seemingly, I've got more chance of becoming the next Pope than finding the Hornby offering! So, my next alternative is to buy another class 50 and respray it. Now, I know the real loco had modified bogies in the form of them being lower-geared, however, my question is, were any modifications made to the bogie frames, or were they just as the rest of the class? Thanks in advance for any help. Regards, Mark

Hi Ron, Thanks very much.

Hi, Thanks very much for this, no, I hadn't seen it, however it'll do the job just as well!

Hi All, Quite a few years ago, one of the railway modelling magazines published an article about converting the original Bachmann Class 158 three car DMU to DCC. The model used in the article was a Network South East version. The article was online somewhere as I printed it off at the time. Unfortunately, I've managed to lose it and can't remember which magazine it was in. I've tried searching for it online however I not managed to find it yet. If anybody knows the whereabouts of the article I'm referring to, I'd be grateful if you would let me know please. Thanks in advance for any help given. Regards, Mark

Hi, Thanks for that. That being the case, I'll follow your advice. Regards, Mark

Hi All, I'm looking to put sound into a Hornby Q1, preferably with the speaker in the boiler. If anyone has done this, I'd be grateful for any advice on what decoder and speaker you used please and where they were fitted. Regards, Mark

Hi, Thank you very much indeed for the link to the map. I'll print it out but will also contact the NLS. Regards, Mark

Hi All, I'm planning my new layout which is Ventnor Station circa 1945-48, which I will be doing in EM Gauge. If anyone has any plans of the station and surrounding area, I would be very grateful if you would share them with me please, especially if they are to scale. Many thanks in advance, Mark