Halvarras

Oh yes, I remember those! Had D819 + D832 for haulage from Exeter to Plymouth, maybe all the way back to Truro, on the evening of 1/11/68 (I'd just seen my first Class 33 there, D6564 in green fye!) The only green Warships I can recall employed on these services were D824/25/66 - D866 quickly went blue but the other two lasted long enough for me to see them paired up just the once, on the up CRE through Truro on 26/8/68. Dates courtesy of my old Jun-Nov 1968 'Ian Allan Locolog Book' - anyone else recall those?!

It says "4 sold in the last 24 hours" - I wonder if they mean 4 hours, i.e. since you put this post up?! My long-standing li'l screw box still seems to turn up everything I need otherwise I'd be up for this. I'll bear it in mind though - thanks @spamcan61 for flagging up what's out there!

"Have nothing to do?" With regard to this hobby I'm unfamiliar with this concept - I worry that I may have more projects than time left to do them all!!

Well.........knowing how I felt about them all originally (not the 14s, irrelevant to the South West) I do sort of agree with you - the Westerns and Hymeks had a modernity the Warships and D63xx lacked. I never really took to the Warships' bulbous noses and the D63xx were........well, there. The D6xx type had more presence and looked somewhat better than their chopped-off smaller brothers. However appearance aside I was always impressed by the D8xx Warship design's astonishing power-to-weight ratio compared to the heavyweight diesel-electric Type 4s, that much could be gleaned from my Ian Allan ABCs - I always thought that their replacement by Class 46s of all things was someone's idea of a joke, twice as many wheels and coming on for twice the weight. Still, never mind - modelling 1973/4 would keep the two stylish designs and neatly sidestep the rest! As long as you don't mind BR banger blue of course......!!

Indeed, I rode behind 1048 on the NYMR in April 1979, in the snow. It was incorrectly painted green at that time, but in immaculate condition. The Landore locos - the first air-braked batch 1013/15/25/26/31/55/61/62/63/66/69 - became extremely rare in the far South West in the late '60s, as did vac-only 1000 which also went to Landore for some reason. I had scored all bar 1015 and 1031 before they departed for South Wales via Swindon Works (and still recall 1000 in maroon with its cast BR crests hurtling through Par on a down train in the summer of '66) - having seen 72 Westerns by the spring of 1969 it took me a few months to catch 1031 (at Exeter 6/9/69) and another 9 months to find 1015 to complete the set, at Truro on 5/6/70 - it had taken me 5 years, with a Class I saw every time I went lineside......bit frustrating! As more Westerns became dual-braked those original locos were allowed to roam, thankfully. My biggest spotting failures were Hymeks 7071/79, Class 33 6597 (33212) and Class 47 1788 (47307) - following withdrawal of the last two and thanks to much better info by then I knew where they were stored but by then couldn't summon the enthusiasm to travel long distances in the hope of finding them.......

Funny you should bring that one up Ray, I'd just dug out these pics to present! This was done for the WSR's 'Maybach Music' event in May 1997 to recreate that 'in-traffic look' for all those Western fans who remembered how some of them looked - specifically here about 2-3 weeks after a Laira repaint. IIRC it was achieved using emulsion paint and I thought it was very well done - imagine how many times they'd have had to run it up and down the WSR to get it to look like this!

"A LITTLE" ?!?!?! 😲😜

Didn't D1009 'Western Invader' once attract attention for preservation? Just rings a small bell in the ol' brainbox (it happens from time to time 🙃!) IIRC (cuz I was a member at the time) the DEPG assessed Hymek D7026 for saving (having rejected D7022 due to underbody corrosion), but as we know D7017 won the day. I believe the Group paid £3,510 for it, which is just about the current going rate for a CDA wagon out of the St Blazey scrapline 😲! Blimey, makes you think, dunnit?!

I was unaware of the Peaks' black roof treatment very late in their lives until couple of years ago while looking into 45143's visit to Waterloo in June 1985, when it gained the small extra plate to mark the regiment's 300th anniversary, and found this (on Flickr): There doesn't seem to be much information about this, how many received it and where it was done but I suspect a depot initiative on just a handful of 45/1s. The roof doesn't look very black here, unlike 45144's above, but this looks like a satin finish and the light from above is making it appear dark grey. If it was a quick tidying up exercise it's possible any black paint to hand in sufficient quantity was used. Educated guessin' though!

That was D2127 in June 1966 Hal, unusually still wasp-stripeless by then (Heljan ref 2052 just the job, only needs numbers adding). Lovely job Pete, as Mikkel says the understated appearance works so well, as does the end mirror making the long straight building look even longer - as it was in reality. I visited the site in April 1968 (with a schoolfriend and his dad who drove us there) hoping to see the "Drewry" but the Class 03s had departed the previous year and we found Class 08 D3255 there instead. I walked part of the branch around 1970/71 and often wished I'd visited the line again since as it had a charm all of its own, but life and circumstances got in the way. I found myself in Bodmin in early September 1983 and did think about it again, but with a family in tow by then I rejected the idea - the line closed 3 weeks later, having existed for 149 years, and that was that! Of course it's well known that Class 37s could never have traversed the branch, I believe the only bogie vehicle allowed up it was the SR's 'Queen Mary' brake van (and S56294 has been recorded) but prototypical operation would be a little dull so......Rule 1 enacted! Coincidentally I have a Bachmann model of 37412 sitting in my modelling room right now, I discovered it on a market stall earlier this year for £40 in need of a little TLC and aware that it worked the china clays in full Scottish regalia from August 1989 it had to join my other three Cornish 37s 😁! If you do bring the layout along to Camborne (whether the trains stop there or not!) at some point I'll have to come along and see it 👍

Top and bottom Peaks are a little dark and murky for my taste but I live with a few Bachmann locos I have like this rather than respray - life's too short. Standard Rail Alphabet loco numbers were 6" high so anything above or below 2mm is incorrect - shouldn't be any confusion about this......🙄!

This consideration I reckon explains the (literal) defacing of Hornby's Class 29. The NBL cab design featured slender corner pillars which if produced to scale would have been very vulnerable to 'playroom knocks', even if supported by the rigid glazing insert. The Class 25 had sturdy corner pillars in reality so the 'face' of that model, released a year before the '29' which made the latter a bit of a surprise TBH, wasn't compromised (other than the vertically-challenged end gangway doors, an error oddly repeated by Bachmann). Ignoring the Class 29's split personality and dimensional issues in other areas, its 'face' at least could have looked so much better if Hornby hadn't made those pillars SO thick, and not made it even worse by adding D800 Warship-style tapered windscreens which the NBL Type 2s and D600s didn't possess!

I was looking down on a few HSTs this summer and many of the trailer roofs are a patchwork of small rivetted panels. The sides look OK though........

You'll be wanting 25259 and/or 25319 in early blue (4 cabside arrows) to go with those then😉! Maybe 25217 with block serif numbers too, although this Scottish loco moved directly to Laira in late 1975 so maybe not....... One of my favoured modelling eras due to the variety on offer. I was lineside more often in the early 1970s than at any other time in my life, so witnessed the arrival of TOPS renumbering. Just wish I'd taken more photos with a better quality camera.......

The Class "29" was a massive disappointment, following shortly after the Class 25 which at least looked 'right' (in the body and bogies - the bit in between was the biggest issue), to the point where many Hornby bodies have been placed on Bachmann chassis to this day (see the 'emgauge70s' website for some great examples). The Class "29"s best feature was the bogie mouldings which appeared to have come from a different source - even the 'SKF' on the axlebox covers was legible! The Chinese versions were certainly better finished and correctly numbered as 29s, although the blue models' full yellow ends were not really full and the real D6119 was never green as a 29. So I guess that leaves D6130 as the best of the bunch then!

Done that too to a Mainline Warship about 7-8 years ago, but try finding a Bachmann chassis for £37.50 nowadays (brand new ex-D823 from a trader at a show, and I still had to think about it until he was about to pack it away and head for home!) Because of the drive shafts you still need to come up with an alternative way of securing body to chassis - in my case screws behind the bufferbeams into thick plasticard 'shelves' backed by Miliput stuffed into the noses.

Same here, order placed same month for transfers only he produces. Since emailed occasionally with phone number "for faster response" as he requested, but nothing. I did get an order delivered last year, although it took three months, so I chanced it again. It sounds like Jim has been through the mill this year so I've tried to be understanding and accept that he's doing as he says and is working his way through all the outstanding orders. In order to remind him of mine I plan to write to his stated postal address with full details, then continue waiting with fingers crossed. It's not a big order but size doesn't matter - money has been paid. But as you say, there have been other threads about this so there's little to be gained now from starting another one, although the mention of alternative MM transfer suppliers is worth knowing. However I can imagine a finger poised over the Thread Locking Button even now.........

Back in the 1990s I created five such hybrids, Mainline bodies on Lima chassis back then of course but the same process. It was worth doing as the Mainline split gear problem had already appeared and Lima Warships were ten a penny (OK maybe not THAT cheap!) and ran considerably better. I already had two Mainline models, two came free from a mate as part of a job lot as he was going O gauge and the fifth was picked up at a show already Mainline-on-Lima but without modification so was rather out-of-gauge! The brake shoes not lining up with the wheels wasn't an issue when I had accepted that on four Lima Westerns - likewise the loss of the cab footsteps. The main modification to the Lima (now Hornby) chassis - once you've figured out how to get the body off without damage 🤔 - is the need to remove the 'ledge' which remains all the way around the underframe moulding. I laboriously carved and scraped this away with a Stanley knife (five times, but my boredom threshold was much higher 35 years ago 😉!) The Mainline body then sits down on it a treat - however you then need to think of a way to keep the body on. My solution was to place body on chassis in the required position then drill holes beside and inboard of each cab door kickplate through both, make the holes in the chassis slightly bigger then glue very short lengths of 1mm plastic rod into the holes in the body to locate in the chassis holes. Rounding the ends of the rods and filing angles in the chassis above each hole helped the two parts click together. If course you could keep the chassis as it is and cut back the lower edge of the Mainline body (so it resembles the Lima/Hornby body) but doing this evenly and accurately all the way around to avoid unsightly gaps would be extremely difficult. One major advantage with the Lima chassis is the ability to completely dismantle it before attacking it with the Stanley knife - this is nowhere near as easy on the Hornby chassis with its additional wiring with soldered connections. With the Hornby drive unit being more compact than the Lima thing with its whirling external geartrain you may be right, although the Mainline chassis would require significant mods at both ends to accept the Hornby bogies (retaining the Mainline trailing bogie would look very odd indeed!)

Also while I was out this afternoon I spotted the five JGA wagons strung together in St Blazey Yard. Word is that these may not be entirely suited to the loading methods employed by the china clay industry - are they stored out of use (already) or is there still hope for them? Thought I should take these photos for posterity (despite the rampant vegetation), just in case.......

On 4th October I took this shot of first-built CDA 375000 getting worryingly close to the scrapman's gas axe: Also present was the next one, 375001: This was bothersome because both of these wagons had been reported by the National Wagon Preservation Group (on behalf of the Bodmin and Wenford Railway) as being subject to special bids as part of the proposed 6-wagon (or so) preserved rake. Sadly it appears that this initiative has hit difficulties because the rising value of scrap metal saw them outbid by the scrap merchants. It's not over and out yet but while further attempts to secure wagons from those recently withdrawn are prepared the two fleet pioneers have sadly bitten the dust. 375000 - which I was remarkably lucky to have photographed brand new 36 years ago, as posted earlier - was dismantled during the two days after I took this over-the-fence photo. 375001's body is currently sitting on the dirt awaiting collection along with around seven others, their chassis all cut in half. So sadly these two haven't made it, and we can only hope that the bid to save a handful will ultimately be successful (I've done my bit but will do a bit more if things get tight). TBH I'm rather gutted at the loss of '000, which I've been monitoring for the past three and a half years as I felt a special connection to it (blimey H, man up, it was just a metal contraption built to serve a purpose 🤨......yeah well, so was 'Flying Scotsman', so there!) Here are some scenes of the CDA carnage taken this afternoon:

That's right about the Class 42, quick mental scan.......D800/1/4/6/8/9/12/67/70 were wrong, D816/7/8/20/7/9/31/32 were right (actually with the tooling based on D818 with its unique Spanner Mark III train heating boiler roof detail only D818 was truly correct, but we'll ignore that along with D832's NBL-style raised roof fan grilles!) Three of the first four Peak releases had numerous errors, including widespread air tank confusion - D163 is so wrong all over that I've given up on the prospect of putting mine right and just last week got hold of a blue D186 (to model D151 the first Peak into Cornwall) instead - FAR less work! Same with Class 08s although I think having only two bonnet sections (hinged type with one vacuum exhauster and flush type with two) was always going to be a bit limiting - yes they could have made selections to match but the earliest examples were hinged type with two exhausters and cutting out all the black ones would have been a shame......

I've posted these pics before but they were probably lost during the Great Image Wipeout - these were all Kodak Instamatic shots, quality tended to be weather-dependant....... 5180 was the first of its type into Cornwall, arriving at St Blazey on a freight on the early evening of Friday 30th July 1971; I was located further west and it took two weeks for the grapevine to activate so I travelled up on Monday 16th August to take this photo - if an earlier shot of a 25 in Cornwall exists, 52 years later I still haven't seen it (note that it was still carrying 55A Leeds Holbeck cast shed plates, as well as '86B EBBW JUNC' stickers on all four corners): On some sadly unrecorded date shortly after this I saw 5179 clearance-testing Truro Yard which was still in the process of remodelling, but without a camera to hand. However on 11th September 1971 I paid a visit to Laira and photted it there instead (on this date D7657 in Gsyp livery was stabled at Exeter - I believe these were the crew-training locos, 5180 at BZ, 5179 at LA, 7657 at NA/EX): On 21st October D7676 still in its original blue livery was found stabled in Truro's down sidings, I had the camera with me but didn't take a photo as there was a row of cars parked in front of it........mistake! - I didn't see it again!! In January 1972 crew-training commenced between Penzance and Truro utilising D7502 and a rake of condemned vans - I noticed 'VB-EQ' on the data panel (wrong end on this loco) and I imagine that the crews noticed it too ("What the 'ell's this, didn' 'ave that on them ol' 22s!"): However........this is a Hymek thread so, what have I got? Um, well there's these three at Hereford in August 1972 on not-exactly-ten-coach expresses - firstly D7031 on an unrecorded day: D7029 on the 5th: And D7026 on the 12th:

Many years ago I picked up a cheap spare body for this model with a view to possibly creating one of those Blue Circle bagged cement vans on a TTA chassis, as they shared the same design of sliding doors. It never happened, partly because the darn thing is too tall, by some margin, and I couldn't see an easy fix. Compared to a photo of a real one the top edge of the top door runners (use of a standard chassis means it has no lower runners of course) should be aligned with the top edge of the topmost end corrugation. It almost appears that the runners were added as an afterthought and the ends extended upwards beyond the vent and curved rivet lines to cope. The height issue is then compounded by a thick roof moulding (which on mine was black - did Hornby ever do the sensible thing and mould them in grey plastic?) Back in the 1980s/90s I had some fun mounting Mainline and Dapol bodies on Airfix chassis - not possible with this since it's too short, as well as too tall. Nicely moulded but sadly irredeemable. More recent versions were even mounted on chassis with 'wooden' solebars - words fail me. Not really an odd choice, just very poorly executed, like so many of their products from that era..........

I believe that, judging from all those received by the WR still in green and early blue (D7675-7) liveries, to a very large extent this was true - and not only the 25s but 31s, and before them 46s as well. By early 1972 the WR had a large number of green Type 2s in circulation (and the last three green 46s) but they wasted no time in putting them all through works, such that two years later only one green 31 acquired a TOPS number, and for just two weeks! It must have cost the WR a small fortune but they probably took it on the chin because, let's be honest, retaining the best locos which had most likely been put through reasonably recent works overhauls at the home Region's expense was entirely understandable. For us WR enthusiasts though the sudden influx of green into a scene not long deprived of maroon and rapidly turning blue was a welcome if short-lived event - I recall it fondly! The first five 31s to Old Oak Common to replace the 22s on Paddington empty stock workings were different of course, these arrived in ex-works condition following dual-braking for compatibility with the Mark 2a/b stock then entering service.

Bachmann modelled D5182 with a water tank........maybe should have stuck with D7581 as shown in the catalogue (D5255 arrived numbered D7502 as well!)