Tony Cane

The American locomotives were oil fired, which was important on the lines in Iran as the steep grades and long tunnels made the footplate environment lethal. The WD 2-8-0s also had problems with the injectors as the water in the tender was typicall 40 Deg C, tenders were painted white to try to reduce the temperature. The WD locomotives were used long after the war on the railways in the Egypt area.

The book Southern Railway Passenger Vans by D Gouldhas details of two newspaper trains, in 193, leaving Waterloo at 1:30am and 3:00am. These included the new GBL vans with a van various principle sations, eithe in the Westcountry or the Southampton area.

Here is a better picture. The train consists of two ex GWR sipoon Gs and an ex L&Y coach.

These might be at use. http://website.rumneymodels.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Cradle-Mounted-Tank-Wagon-Detailing.pdf

In 1942 all ordinary goods brake vans were "pooled" so would generally stay with the train when passed to another companies rails. So there is the option of the use of "foreign" brakevans on goods trains, but probably not on local branch trains. There is recorded instances of SR guards refusing to accept a GWR brake due to the exposed location of the brake handle.

I can supply what you need. Send me a PM with your address.

There is video showing an ex SECR brakevan in camouflage colours being used to move a railway gun, but this is the only instance I know of where an army livery van was in use on the civilian lines. There is a story, probably apocryphal, where an SR brake van arrived on the LMR and was repainted in the hope that the SR would not miss it.

Picture of captured wagons at Cherbourge in 1944 here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192879433974?hash=item2ce88298f6:g:AkYAAOSwDk5TxtUD Other pictures of the area available from the same seller.

Yes still available. Send a PM with your details and prefered postage method. Or you could collect if near Heathrow.

Two GWR books picked up in the Tesco free library. A pictorial Record of Great Western Coaches 1903 - 1948 and A Pictorial Record of Great Western Engines Vol 2. Both in good used condition, locomotive book has some minor damage to pages at front and back. Your choice of postage method, if no interest will go to a charity shop.

White spirit should do the trick, but also use a stiff paint brush to push the hardend grease out of the teeth of the gears.

Her is a picture of the LMR brake van Which is available here https://www.invictamodelrail.com/37-537x-exclusive-longmoor-military-railway-brake-van-green-14500-p.asp

From 7 minutes in this film shows part of the line.

One other thing to note is that the roof of the cab was painted green, the same as the rest of the body, but would not have stayed this colour for long.

Yes, the colour used is similar to two post war colour imagies of WD 2-10-0 locomotives. Attached is a deliberately small image of one of the pictures in the Colour Rail collection, Ref WD 5. The other is a a rather dirty 2-10-0 with the 21st Army Group Shields, Ref WD 4.

The livery with the 21st Army Group shields was used on engines built in early 1945 and so is not typical for the class. Perhaps the impending defeat of Germany made possible this extravagance. More typical was the same size lettering, with no shields and the War Department arrow between W and D on the tender. The buffer beams and buffers should be black, and not red, as on the Bachmann model. The painting diagram shows lettering as WD followed by the number. The lettering could be 2, 4 or 6 inches tall dependin on date and location of building. The very first lettering was only 2 inches tall, so an apparently unlettered locomotive is authentic.

The loco pick up is via the "prongs" on the top of the boggie, then via the split chassis. Two of the screws that mount the PCB connect the chassis to the rest of the circuit. Personely I do not consider the bogie to chassis connection to be good for long term use. I would solder thin wires directly to the "prongs".

From the HMRS livery register the details of what is termed the sage green sceme are as follows. Introduced in 1915, and extended to all coaches in 1922. The horse boxes were now painted green, with the lettering moved to the grooms door and made smaller.

The HMRS livery register confirms that horse boxes were in all over brown livery. The lettering is stated to be in gilt with the company initials above the number on the drop flap. size of lettering on this type of vehicle said to vary fron 2.5 inches to 7 inches.

The roof vents were installed when 54 siphons were converted for use in Casualty Evacuation Trains, this had 12 vents in a staggered pattern. Later many, if not all, of the vehicles were used in military ambulace trains and lost one ventilater to make room for a roof top water tank. Attached is a picture of my model thats shows the arrangement. This is based on a photograph and the drawing in the Siphon G book. This shows the 11 vent arrangement. While the drawing shows the pattern of vents is symetrical as to the intervals between vents it is slightly offset as to the centre line of the vehicle. About 4.5 inches, which I susspect could be an error. The rows of vents are 13 inches apart according to the drawing. Regards Tony Cane

The nearest I have to what you are looking for is a captured German tank on a British wagon.

That would be Herr Sheen. The picture was taken in 1946 and the patients were wounded POWs, hence the hardware in the background.

Radar towers in the back ground, so definitely Martin Mill. Here is a dramatic screen capture from the video.

The title of the video implies that it is on the Martin Mill line.

The image below comes from an online video from the IWM. My apologies for the poor quality ( you should see how bad the original was) The van is in in front of a heavy railway gun probably Boche Buster, as the description say 14 inch. Though it names it Pooh which is not correct. This looks to me to be a SECR dance hall brake van painted in camouflage colours. I have a record that a van of this type, No 55482 was used on a railway gun train so this checks out. Am I imagining things, or does anyone else concur with my identification? The video is at https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060009501 Th last third is of the railway gun.