MidlandRed

My D1960 was delivered today from TMC - also bought at Ally Pally. I’m very impressed with the model and particularly following some of the criticisms previously levelled (notwithstanding the error on the roof hatches, which may be capable of being corrected). I’ve compared carefully with the photo at Crewe on Flickr of the prototype and concluded the front is, actually pretty well accurate. Adding a bit of dirt to the ‘ledge’ in front of the windscreens will add a little more realism. It’s a very smooth and quiet runner, even more so after running in. This will look a treat alongside the SLW class 25, D7666, I have on order, also in late 66/early 67 corporate livery. NB the digital camera is very unforgiving…. the guttering on the prototype above the windscreen is clearly blue (or dirt) - the bits of slightly overlapping yellow on this model are not particularly visible with the naked eye - if I can be bothered I may touch it over or weather it a little in due course.

My understanding of the susceptibility of Walsall station to flooding was, as stated by @TheSignalEngineer the problem that the culvert through which the Ford Brook passed under the town centre was periodically over topped. No doubt, as with all culverts, there was an element of blockage but particularly when the flow at the upstream (northern) end of the culvert just south of Ryecroft, on the east side of railway exceeded the entry capacity, the brook diverted to the adjacent four track railway which became a river as the railway is on a downhill gradient, rejoining the brook south of the station! This happened at times of excessive rainfall, and the associated River Tame was susceptible to flooding at similar times further south, between Bescot and Perry Barr - on one occasion in the 60s, one of the overbridges was washed out and Great Barr (now Hamstead) station was flooded. The process at Walsall was best viewed from the multi story car park which spans the railway just north of St Paul’s Street. The railway certainly continued to flood after the Sadler’s Centre shopping mall was built next to the station and has also affected that. The very low under bridge south of the station (Bridgeman Street) has raised footways and also floods - there are plenty of photos on line of vehicles almost totally submerged with the driver sitting on the roof - the raised footways giving the illusion the water was only as deep as the edge of the footway!

I only noticed on second viewing of this selection, but E3041 definitely looks to have been repainted in rail blue syp.

Fabulous - a Brush bodied Midland Red AD2 or D5 zooming (perhaps they were a bit more sedate in reality) down the hill. Those strange circular street lighting units, supplementing the standard concrete ones in Tipton Road are very memorable - I don’t remember them anywhere else except Dudley.

(BBC link didn’t work from the forum for some reason - just toggled to the earlier post with a BBC link!!) Network Rail has stated the Newington land slip is caused by climate change. It has created quite a large rectification work which is now not expected to be completed until Monday - it’s interesting also that there is large new housing development on the other side of the embankment which, from observation from the train, during construction, appeared to take some effort to dewater. My understanding of the recent periods of rainfall deluge in the south and south east have been generated by the position of the jet stream being across the middle of the country so every front coming from the Atlantic has hit that area with heavy and sometimes concentrated rainfall. There have been land slips in coastal areas of Folkestone and elsewhere recently along with significant cliff falls on the south coast. It is also notable that the daily amounts of rain in many instances have been multiples of inches (certainly over an inch) where in the past that would have been absolutely exceptional except perhaps locations such as the Welsh mountains for instance. Latest info from Met Office:- Wettest February since 1836 in the south of England. Temperature has increased on average by one degree over the last 60 years. Warmest February on record.

South Eastern trains have also been suspended for the last week by a landslide near Newington also. Planned to be repaired by tomorrow but given the volume of rain in the last week that will remain to be seen - bus substitution was still in operation this evening - interestingly the A2 road which the buses use has been subject to severe congestion also owing to the southbound A249 beyond the M2 being closed for five weeks also - so the buses have encountered significant delays en route. https://www.kentonline.co.uk/sittingbourne/news/landslip-images-show-fallen-embankment-causing-travel-chaos-302605/

Mine has arrived as well, and now run in. It’s a delightful model and very smooth runner down to a crawl. Pity about the right facing BR crest - I’m not sure I’m going to bother to try and rectify it - it’s only visible at close quarters!! Excellent packaging and delivery by Hornby as well.

I’m not sure when the first standards appeared in preservation but certainly locos like 46443 (SVR) were in BR livery from the earliest days. I may be wrong but I’ve got the feeling the railways involved took the livery decisions off their own bat, as it were.

These days, I don’t have a problem with odd locos being painted in fictitious colours and quite liked the occasional GWR in red or even the temporary purple on the WC Pacific - or the blue livery on D7535 (applied to a handful of repaints and new D7662-77 but not D7535!! And not two tone green as per D7672!!). These days I can’t get too energised about these things as there are plenty more preserved locos and stock in period correct livery of one sort or another. However back in the early days of preserved railways (say 1970) I remember being very disappointed with the fictitious liveries applied to multiple locos and stock at places like the Keighley and Worth Valley and the Lakeside and Haverthwaite - I don’t know why this was - and there weren’t lots of others around either. Particularly disappointing were the rail buses - indeed in the early days of preservation there were few locos preserved in BR livery - anything not pre-grouping or grouping accurate seemed to be anathema to some, some locos being painted as built despite few remembering them in that condition!! Many had survived into BR days of course!! I guess it’s down to the owners but for me, visiting the likes of the GCR these days and much stock being in BR colours is how I remember trains in my youth!! That said, places like the Bluebell with some of its fabulous pre grouping liveries are a joy.

I have lots of these but I’ll limit it to two related experiences and another involving DMUs (or bog carts; bug units; slime cars and whatever other disparaging names older boys who chased steam and other ‘real locos’ at Snow Hill circa 1965/66 called them!!) First the DMU - I first started spotting train numbers/getting interested at the tender age of about 7 or 8, but growing up in the north of the West Midlands my usual fare was LMR - ‘bog carts’ of the Metro Cammell 2 car and 3 car variants, BRCW of 2 and 3 car and even the more exotic Park Royal and GRCW 2 car units - even Cravens - usually 3 car. There was even a Cravens parcels car (M55998). A (much) longer walk over to the WR line yielded not only steam, mostly freight but the single car GRCW, single car parcel units, Derby Suburban 3 cars (many of which remained ununderlined in my books for many years….), and the cross country Swindon and GRCW DMUs. Some of the Derby suburban 3 cars (later 116) were notably in a funny washed out and unlined green colour - seemed really like second class DMUs to us. Don’t worry though, I loved the EE type 4s and all the other diesel, steam and electrics around the region but I was also interested in DMUs, as were most of my mates - in fact if you weren’t, as most of the short and medium distance passenger trains were formed of them, the idea of shunning them felt like shooting yourself in the foot as a train spotter!! Anyway Imagine my surprise at the age of about 11 at Bham New St when a rather unusual almost art deco looking unit appeared - yes it was a Wickham, which had somehow managed to find its way all the way from Norwich. It wasn’t the only time either as a saw at least two of them this way!!! Not sure what service they were on but the usual exotica from the far east was the 1E04 train, which was an express passenger Birmingham to Norwich and vice versa, which yielded an AIA as we referred to them - often a 1600 hp one (D5545; D566x). The empty stock, still showing 1E04 used to wend its way around the north suburbs of Birmingham to get itself to New Street facing the right way after carriage servicing. The other involves diesel hydraulics. Now I had one Western underlined in my Combined for several years which I’d seen in the tail end of their reign on Paddington to Birkenhead trains - the next time my father took me there I saw D1714 on a similar train…. still memorable as an express passenger loco! So a family holiday to Holcombe (a short walk from the sea wall at Parsins Tunnel) in summer of 1967, resulted in two weeks of spotting on the sea wall between Dawlish and Teignmouth along with trips to Newton Abbott!! Not only did I see more than 2/3 of the Westerns and Warships, there was even more exotica with D63xx, 204 hp shunters and I even managed to underline some of those elusive WR DMUs (many of which were in plain blue with white cab rooves and syp). I do recall a very tatty green Warship hauling a rake of coaches through the carriage washer opposite Newton Abbott station and looking inordinately shiny for a couple of minutes, until the water ran off and returned to that washed out green with chunks of finish missing that those which had not been repainted for a year or two often appeared in. So the bragging rights were absolutely huge back home - until - imagine my shock a few weeks later when I saw D846 at BNS - even more shocking whilst with a couple of mates and some girls at Perry Hall Playing Fields, North Birmingham, when a triple header Warship, one green, one maroon and one blue motored slowly past from the Soho direction going towards Bescot….. suffice to say this caused an almost apoplectic shock to the loco spotters amongst us - we didn’t know the LMR had cast caution to the wind and was going to have Warships on the new Paddington expresses from New St. I think the young ladies just put up with a couple of their friends having very strange reactions to certain trains 😀 oh yes the locos were D842 (maroon), D845 (green) and D847 (blue, fye). That Devon holiday had one other abiding memory, sorry all, but of the bus enthusiast kind (yes I’m one of those as well 🤣)!! A trip unaccompanied on a Devon General early Leyland Atlantean bus from Teignmouth to Holcombe. The first five minutes was in first or second gear climbing out of Teignmouth with the incomparable roar of the 0600 engine and Leyland’s whiny semi auto transmission reverberating off the walls of the front gardens. It’s still one of the most memorable trips I’ve ever been on a bus (sorry for the interlude….) Notebook entry below for interest re the Warships in the West Midlands (bottom left) - you’ll see D839 was spotted at Great Barr station (now renamed, somewhat more accurately as Hamstead!!) a couple of days later, and D846 at BNS on 1M11. My writing wasn’t bad at 11 yrs of age - you should see it when bunking sheds though 🤣🤣

I must say, I’d have preferred it in plain green with wasp stripes but I’m happy to accept the Ruston dodgy lining out as built 😀 I still haven’t worked out the rule 1 reason for buying this for my WR/LMR or thereabouts location - other than I love the model and am impressed by how well modern Hornby locos run - I guess it can sit with the PWM and Wickham trolley in some siding or other perhaps borrowed en route to Birds scrapyard or similar!! 😵‍💫 such things weren’t entirely unheard of in the 60s (although not exactly this) - having literally stumbled unexpectedly across D8572, D5908 at Bescot and E26014 at Soho amongst other heart stopping moments as an impressionable teenage rail enthusiast.

Such a shame they’ve applied the BR roundel so low!! The name and number plates look spot on - the BR symbol should be in line or thereabouts - certainly higher than that ‘droopy drawers’ application (you need the Design Panel reconvening to look these details over 😀🤣). Otherwise it’s brilliant 👍

@McC are you able to post a pic of the cab side of the class 30/early 31 to wet the appetites of those of us who love pre 1970 liveried class 30/31s and are patiently awaiting their arrival 😀

Would be great to see two tone green as per classes 25 and (what the body shell is based on) class 47 👍😉

It’s actually a Triumph 1300 - Triumph’s version of the Austin/Morris 1100 (and from 1967, 1300). Available from as early as 1966 (D reg IIRC). A very nice and quite luxurious car for its size.

Hooray - payment has been taken and Hornby has notified me my Departmental 84 (direct order from Hornby) is about to be shipped 😀👍

Apologies - my cock up - I actually meant 5803 - which went to OOC in 1972 (BR database)!

Very interesting stuff - so it appears D5801 became green/fye/arrow emblems/new font numerals between 24/1/67 and 6/9/67. That’s some considerable time before it went to the WR (although BR Database doesn’t list it as being allocated there - I’m sure I’ve seen photos of it on WR duties). I’m glad Accurascale have got this in ER condition! Im also pleased to see my recording of D5662/5 and D5815 in green, syp and arrows back in 1967 is borne out by this info (repainted between Nov 66 and Jan 67). It’s always possible to doubt one’s level of accuracy 45 yrs ago!!

I guess like others, had Bachmann released models that fit my period of modelling, I would most certainly have ordered. There are plusses and minuses with both models but in general they appear both to be to a high standard. I’m interested that Bachmann is using a 5 pole motor, something which appeals to me, at least.

Architecture and Signposting is covered in Section 3 of the Corporate Identity Manual (July 1965). Some of the history (including that pre 1965) is covered in British Rail Designed 1948-97 - David Lawrence. The signposting covered in the 1965 manual is shown in some detail in that book. Architectural colours and signposting pre 1965 are referred to and tend to be based on regions, which in some cases are carried forward from previous companies.

There are pics of it on the ER in green/fye/arrows logo livery with the D in place - locos in this condition started to appear from 66/67 and were ubiquitous on the ER and beyond. It didn’t move to the WR until the 70s.

I’m slightly doing a slightly earlier period so need the D!! I did think about buying 5544 and completely renumbering it but went for the very transitional D5803 (green, fye, double arrows) instead. Agreed re the delivery schedules!!

Accurascale’s D5544 does not have its D, so therefore post late 1968 at least. Bachmann’s D5564 looks very good indeed - also available with class 30 (Mirrless) sound file - I wonder whether these will make it into the shops before Accurascale’s class 30s arrive.

I sincerely hope not as it had lost its Ds when on the WR - it was on the ER for some time (with its Ds) in green, fye, central arrows in the late 60s, which is the era I’m after!! I’m sure you’ll be able to obtain 82A stencilled shed codes from one the specialist transfer guys, and delete the Ds easily enough (not quite so easy to add them - I held off on ordering 5544 for this reason!! No worry, D7599 as new in green is about to arrive (I saw D7598 and D7607 brand new adjacent to the station at Derby so this brings back memories…. and even better, D7666 as built in blue will be, hopefully, not too far behind!!) A shame about Russell and I wasn’t aware other than I’d noticed he’d stopped posting - I have at least one of his excellent books. Re the four arrows on locos, the original reason quoted for this was to get the new ‘image’ known quickly around the network by being emblazoned on both ends of locos (bearing in mind the livery instructions were from 1966, when there was a lot of steam still around). Presumably after steam had been eradicated there was less need and in any case, locos like the AC electrics, Hymeks and Westerns, with their cast numerals or number plates) could never comply without costly work. I can’t believe that they saved much cost by halving the number of transfers per loco - maybe works found it easier and less time consuming.

There is a difference with this analogy in that car manufacturers introduced the Apple car play system to work with that technology when no other existed. Apple and Android use different operating systems in the first place, the former arguably being less susceptible to hacking and viruses. DCC as a system has been around for a while and there are various systems in the market place. I suspect the Accurascale model has been introduced into an established market place where models are, and have been produced where ‘DCC ready’ can be obtained and the functionality works with a range of decoders, which the purchaser can purchase later, or alternatively the purchaser can buy a DCC fitted variant where the chip is chosen by the manufacturer. So if the Accurascale model does indeed only offer full functionality with only one make of decoder, that is indeed a new departure in the market place which seems only to have come to light subsequent to the model being widely in circulation. Whether this is by design or accident is, I guess another matter. However the modeller has a choice to accept this limitation or simply choose another manufacturer for their model. I don’t have an Accurascale class 37 yet but have a couple on order, as suitable models were only available in the second batch - as someone who plans to have a DCC model railway ultimately, but for the time being is buying DCC ready this thread is useful to understand the requirements and limitations imposed on this model for the future, which would only become an issue if I choose to even use the lighting and other features, as opposed to the fundamental operational flexibility of DCC - hopefully that works regardless of chip make??!!