Halvarras

I mentioned that six of the seven TOPS green 47/4 locos were from the ER's D11xx batch so which one was the odd one out? The answer is, this one: ....the WR's 1936 seen at Reading in 1973 (sorry, can't find the actual date). It was renumbered 47494 under TOPS (with bodyside numbers) and was the only green 474xx-numbered example. It had a 'partner' in 1932: Delving into memory here but I believe that these two were the WR's first ETH conversions in late 1971 and as can be seen, unlike all of those which followed, neither received a repaint. They arrived back on the WR some way ahead of the delivery of the Mark 2e stock they were equipped to work so I think they spent the summer of 1972 on loan to Gateshead so their newly-fitted ETH could be put to good use. I happened to be in the vicinity of the ECML for a couple of months that summer too and seem to recall seeing 1932 from a distance - an early blue 47 on aircons, what else could it have been? (Yes OK, I do have a photo of a Western on aircons at Reading so anything is possible!!) Perhaps somebody can confirm this Gateshead loan theory, or was I just imagining it!? 1932 was renumbered 47493 still in this June 1968-applied coat of blue and was unique in retaining all four arrow logos with cabside numbers - photos are rare, all I can offer is this shot taken at Cardiff Canton on 14th September 1974 where it just sneaks into view bottom right (there are so many things I wish I'd better recorded during that interesting period, but heck, there were still Westerns in abundance at the time and I couldn't afford to photograph everything!): The Westerns were D1050 front and D1011 rear, if I may be so bold in a Class 47 thread!

Exactly Brian, nicely put. That's all we'd like to see and all @rob D2 was asking for. What an astonishing storm in a teacup. Come on folks, lighten up 😀!

The Lincoln Loco body represents the production loco side grille layout so the Pilot Scheme batch D6300-5 is out of the picture, as these were completely different. The body as supplied is a little confused as it has the D6306-33 double-hinged nose-end doors but the D6334-57 circular panels (not vents - these covered the original locations for the warning horns). And then there are the D6306-12/33 'eyebrow' vents. Since these and the extra hinges are (I would imagine) fairly simple to remove, the D6334-57 batch would be easiest to do with this bodyshell. There were a couple of exceptions (as always!), I think D6322/3 received the circular panels at one end only due to collision damage repairs, and the caption to a photo of D6323 with its blank headcode plates makes a point of mentioning that it retained discs at the other end (having looked at it closely I reckon this received a new cab structure of the D6334-57 batch design). There is an excellent photo of it ex-works at Swindon in October 1966 having just been brought to standard, it must have narrowly avoided being the first blue repaint.

A few more of my pre-TOPS Instamatic Class 47 photos.... Two more at Truro taken on unrecorded dates in April 1972, firstly 1600 on an up working. By this time all up trains used Platform 3 as the former up P4 on the other side of the footbridge had been truncated at this end during the 1971 remodelling. Before then Falmouth branch trains had used P3, plus a few other workings such as parcels - one which particularly sticks in the mind was the up 'Perishables' (mainly fruit and veg) headcode 3A97 which laid over for around 20 minutes late afternoon and was a good bet for a '47', which gave me my first close-up examination of a Brush Type 4, D1933 (now preserved 47596) doing the honours. And 1923 on a down in the cutting leading to Highertown Tunnel - this must have been an unusual view since it was only possible at a time of year when the sun was high enough but the spring vegetation hadn't yet obliterated the view. Almost certainly impossible these days, although NR has been hard at work cutting back vegetation recently so who knows.....? By now Falmouth branch DMUs were running in and out of Truro's P1 on the down main, such trains therefore regularly using the bay platform again as they had in steam days. Note that the site of the former steam shed beyond was still a wasteland: 1613 at Hereford on 12th August 1972 - Judging from other photos I suspect that Crewe Works gave this one a full repaint into TTG when it collected the later-style numbers, so it's perhaps no surprise that its green paintwork was still in fairly good condition when renumbered 47033 in 1974. It has also lost its works plate on this corner. And a colour shot of 1109 at Kings Cross on 12th May 1973 - another with green paintwork in such good condition that it was one of only seven Class 47/4s to run in TOPS green livery, as 47526 (and six of these were from the tiny D11xx batch!) Nice buffers, by the way:

I took a very similar photo of 08941, from the main gate into St Blazey yard, around the same time - I believe that this was the last locomotive I ever saw still displaying the BR logo, and also being in (various shades of) BR blue was the icing on the cake!

D6580 as converted in 1965 to test the push-pull concept had a number of unique features, including external pipe runs to the high-level MU connections, and where these ran horizontally across the top of the bufferbeam they were liable to being clouted by the coupling shackle (see the lower cab front of almost any Class 33 in BR service), hence the provision of the protective plate visible in the above photo. This also appears to confirm that the lower edge of the cab front was cut away to clear the pipes so this feature of Heljan's Class 33/1 tooling is correct for D6580 in this condition, even if the gangway rubbing plate is absent. I think we are highly unlikely to ever see an accurate recreation as demand for a model of such a short-lived (2 years) region-specific locomotive would not justify the tooling investment. This is Heljan's third release of D6580 and if it hasn't happened by now........ There was something adrift with the yellow warning panel on the last one and it appeared to be a result of confusion caused by the lower lamp brackets being in the wrong place - another of D6580's unique features. Considering the almost revolutionary nature of D6580's purpose 1965-7 I'm surprised the trials with scratch TC sets went so unrecorded - another victim of the 'steam swansong' effect? I understand the above photo plus one were taken at Eastleigh Works in August 1967 just before the locomotive went in for modification to standard configuration and repaint into blue, so we should be very thankful the photographer could be bothered to record it in the nick of time, because it seems very few others did!

I've seen this happen but in my experience the large majority don't. Perhaps the material sourced for forming those which turned yellow was faulty - a bit like a few examples of Mazak....... On the other hand I have a Lima 31327 where it's happened to the factory plastic glazing!

And correct red & white marker lights, sprung buffers and neatly flush-glazed side engine room windows. This is why I got one last year, I want to finish the job (the hard way, not SEF Flushglaze this time) to see what it should have looked like! It also runs like the proverbial Swiss watch!

A few days ago Hattons took in a Bachmann 'Cambrian Coast Express' loco & coaches boxed set (Manor plus 3 coaches) and put it up for a very optimistic £216. They don't seem to have noticed that a previous owner has replaced the three chocolate & cream Mark 1s with three crimson & cream Hornby Railroad Collett coaches, something it took me three whole nano-seconds to spot, elevating 'very optimistic' to 'over the hills and far away'. Needless to say it's still available. As is the DCC-fitted Lima Class 26 (26003 in BR blue), still up for grabs for a whopping £85 if anyone out there reckons a fifty quid used decoder is a "BARGAIN" (Hattons' description, not mine, but I can't help wondering what the price would have been if it wasn't a "BARGAIN"!)

One of the issues identified with the new corporate image which replaced cabside numbers with BR logos, pushing the numbers out of direct line of sight down the bodyside* (compare e.g. green/maroon Warships with D831 Monarch in Bsyp livery). Not convenient for crews looking for locos on busy depots on dark wet nights...... Front end numbers would have been an absolute boon for spotters and photographers too! *The general intention based on the XP64 concept, but couldn't be applied to all loco designs of course.

Same 'ere! 🙂

I've just checked the later D7046 (R2410) I acquired last year and it's still central. Although a lot of improvements were made to these later releases I'm not surprised that redoing the roof fan grille was a step too far for Hornby on such old tooling.

Out into the sticks now at Tomperrow, or Temperrow, or as we knew it Hugus, between Truro and Chacewater. Here's a colorised view of the previously-submitted D1639 climbing westbound with.........oh sorry, no it isn't, it's 1598 on 3rd July 1973! Already fitted with ETH I see: And later the same day a more side-on view of 1638 making haste with the down 'Cornish Riviera', a little further back approaching the signal. Note the random application of the 'Inter City' decals on the Mark 2s. I remember thinking I had had a problem winding the camera on for this shot and took a chance in the darkness of the loft back home to take the film cartridge out for a check. All seemed well and it came out OK. Other sightings that afternoon were Peak 112, 1662 still in its early blue style and the seemingly ever-present 1645! And Westerns of course - 1006/08/22/24/53/55. A year earlier I may have seen a Warship......

Some colour views around Truro in pre-TOPS days, from the same Instamatic camera (which I found again in the loft the other day - historical artefact that, the things that little camera has been pointed at.......sigh). Back then I could only afford colour film from time to time. First of all, the last - the final Brush Type 4 out of Loughborough and of all, D1961, awaits the off at Truro on 31st July 1971 wearing its original blue livery, hardly surprising as it only went into traffic in January 1968 after a spell at RTC Derby, possibly connected with its ETH equipment fitted from new. It did receive a repaint into standard blue as 1961, I recall seeing it ex-works somewhere. Work still going on in the yard. D1961 became 47515 and was withdrawn in January 1991, just 23 years after delivery: And a couple of weeks later on 14th August D1717 about to tackle the 1-in-60 to Highertown Tunnel, with my 'second home' since 1966 spanning the view! In later life this one would become 47555 'The Commonwealth Spirit', which I would see at Banbury in April 1979 just days after its naming: Another view from the same bridge on 7th April 1973 showing 1645 doing what D1717 was about to do. 1645 very briefly managed to acquire a TOPS number 47061 while still in green livery - not much escaped the attention of Russell Saxton but this one nearly got away, as was often the case just one photo clinched it! This '47' is still alive and well as 47830 and was recently seen running about back in two-tone green livery on route-training duties - I had no idea that it was still with us so looking up its original identity was a pleasant surprise, as I clearly recall being on this bridge and seeing it arrive in the yard on a down freight in the dark one evening, must have been around March 1972 not long after the remodelling had finished. Note that although Truro Yard had officially reopened on 7th November 1971 the warehousing was still going up on the site of the old steam shed 18 months later - I have no memory of the latter's demolition, it seemed to be there one day and gone the next. Truro West Box had originally stood beyond the roof of the GUV. Like Par, Truro will lose its semaphore signals this year (delayed from 2019) but I suppose those visible here very nearly 50 years ago are not the same as those about to get the chop.........?? To traffic in 1965 and still active it's safe to say that D1645 has done considerably better than D1961!!

Further to my post a couple of months ago or so with a few b&w images from the late 60s, remember which one was lurking behind the ever-so-shiny D1106 at Reading in April 1969 which I said to forget about? Here it is again - two more Instamatic photos of D1929 at work in Cornwall in the early 1970s....... 1929 shunting PW wagons in Truro yard during the 1971 remodelling. Three Class 47s worked two-weekly stints at this, 1929 2nd half of April, 1596 1st half of May and 1917 2nd half of May. The suggested reason for the use of these and not Class 22s was the former's slow speed control. The last green Class 22s were withdrawn during 1917's shift, which also saw GFYE Hymek 7014 arrive, assumed for clearance testing but on reflection it seemed a bit early in proceedings to be doing that (5179 did better turning up in late August or early September, wish I had noted the exact date) so perhaps 7014 had actually arrived unobserved on a PW train - it went back up coupled to 1917 light-engine: And 1929 seen again just over a year later (2nd May 1972) accelerating up and away from Par: Both of these locations now look completely different - most of that relayed track in Truro "yard" went in the 1980s and the the footpath at Par now runs through woodland.........well, on the right-hand side anyway, just some bushes between path and railway on the other. See that tensioning post on the right? - it's now covered in ivy with a large tree right behind it! The pub is still there but the semaphores at this location (and Truro and Lostwithiel) will be gone by the end of this year, along with the 'Castle' HST sets.......and I think there's not much variety now.......

Rare shots of these two already dual-braked machines with the 3-part fixed radiator grilles. I have seen just the one pic of D1660 'City of Truro' like this, taken at Saltley.

Sorry yes, I was referring to the green syp model production, the blue fyp (moulded in two shades of blue, first 'electric' then 'BR') predated the one-piece body - as you say there were no more blue fyp Hymeks from Hornby until the release of the extra-detail D7067 in weathered condition in 2004. In between there was D7093 in blue syp with the 'orrible white cab window overspray released around the mid-1990s (the real '93 never carried that livery).

I don't think show organisers requesting from exhibitors during the booking process the few extra descriptive words about their layout the OP wants to see in order to decide whether the travel costs would be money well spent, especially under present circumstances, is asking a lot. What goes into the show guide is secondary. I have one of those phones - charges in an hour, lasts 4-5 days and doesn't weigh heavily in my pocket. It'll be 13 years old this July! I do have a smartphone too, it seems to be getting less smart these days but is still very useful for certain tasks and has a great camera. Have you ever thumbed through the show guide after the event and realised that you missed an entire room.......?!🥴

Replace the loco references and how many areas of life could we apply this interesting statement to?! 😀 A certain Cornish retailer currently has a few 'Niclausse' W4s - the unpopular one with 'Hornby's best guess' mismatched green cab - which undercut your Pug price by a fiver at the moment. This vs Pug = no contest.........unless one needs a Pug of course......... Generally speaking though, I can't be the only one who gets constant reminders that there's a 'time vs money' equation when it comes to highly detailed models - spend a lot of time detailing and repainting an economical average model yourself, or spend a lot of money on a box-to-track modern RTR model. It's not necessarily quite that simple - some with enough money to buy new RTR will still take the other path for the challenge and satisfaction of "I did that!" - plus there's the advantage of creating a 'bespoke' version in the process. It's how I ended up with a Hornby 29/A1 Kits model of Class 22 D6307 with protruding headcode boxes, and have another H29/Bachmann combo representing the solitary disc headcode-fitted D6123 awaiting the paintshop (hopefully this year.....!)

Actually I think it was earlier than that, there seems to have been a number produced with integral window surrounds on the original motor bogie, too many I reckon to all be the result of chassis swaps. I wish I could remember back that far now! Certainly an internet search throws up images with this combination (and @RailwayLacky of this parish appears to have recently found one for his '21" diameter micro' layout thread........sorry, I haven't a clue how to embed links to other RMweb threads!) I've been trying to get a clearer picture myself lately for my own reasons but without much luck - time to put out a call to @Ruffnut Thorston I reckon!! The original design with separate window frames made sense on the first green release but didn't look so clever on the blue version. Unfortunately having modified the tooling Hornby got a bit lazy and used the still-present full yellow end raised guide lines to apply the white cab surrounds, resulting in a deliberate white overspray which looked terrible. But then the pale greens looked far worse than the original too........the 1970s were not Hornby's finest decade. @ianmacc since you have stripped it you can now get rid of all the unwanted raised painting lines and mould marks, including the rim around the roof fan (not present on the very first 1967 tooling) and replace the moulded warning horns (or not if doing D7000-2 in original condition) - it's a surprisingly good moulding for its age, I've done two (with Lima running gear) and they turned out really well!

How about DC Resin Replicas? https://dcresinreplicas.co.uk/product/r332-clerestory-composite-coach-seating-unit/ Both interiors available in brown or white, £7 a pop. I obtained two brown ones for my composite and brake clerestory coaches last year, they drop in on top of the floor projections (no need to do any 'ground clearance' work) and add some useful weight too. NB Crossed lines with @salop89a!

Ah yes, Mangapps taking advantage of a BR numbering anomaly! The real 11104 was a Hibberd 4WDM built 1950, renumbered to Departmental 52 in 1957 and withdrawn in March 1967. The Drewry original numbering sequence had to skip around it!

You did say "from memory" so an 'escape clause '! D6306 had almost faded from my memory too but some years ago an internet trawl turned up an excellent photo of it with the boxes in Truro yard, reaffirming my recollection - wish I'd saved it as I can't find it now, but it's out there somewhere...... I recall seeing D6317 with the big boxes and front-end damage withdrawn at Laira in September 1968. Earlier that year I'd cabbed D6307 in multiple with D6306 up front at Truro and the loco gangways were connected - the black hole didn't look very inviting, maybe that's the real reason why BR crews didn't use them very often! Connected gangways were common on Class 22s in Cornwall at the time (you'll probably be aware of the colour photo of D6307 and D6339 so linked - also at Truro in May 68) and it's been claimed that the practice was resurrected with Class 25s on Cornish passenger workings in 1972*, if true it must have been the last such use on BR - if not then Class 22 must still hold the title. I can believe Laira 25s at Bristol, the diesel-electric Type 2s seem to have been allowed to roam further than the hydraulics and 'foreign' examples could make it as far as Exeter and up the local branch lines. Same with Class 31s, although 5827 on 1V76 to Penzance on 29/6/73 takes some beating 😮!! *Not possible with all Class 25s of course....

A good use for these newly-available Kernow headcode boxes, that hadn't occurred to me! 25 years ago I reproduced D6307 (a loco I was sick of the sight of in the years up to 1971) using the Hornby 29/A1 conversion kit combo, I didn't like the shape of the etched headcode panels so, since I was making my own and painting the entire thing, might as well do this one - having realised it wasn't an irritation after all but an old friend! These protruding boxes were fitted to D6302/6/7/17/24/26 - D6302/24/26 were later modified to the flush type, D6302 on acquiring blue full yellow in May 1967 (almost a waste of time then, but at least it lasted 5 months longer than D600....) D6302/24 were damaged in a derailment in January 1961 while running in tandem, repairs that year gave them the first headcode boxes and they were the only ones so fitted until late 64/early 65. D6302 had gained oversized yellow panels by August 1962 but D6324 avoided these for a while longer. Not sure where the notion that the disc headcode Class 22s all had bi-folding gangway doors came from, all 58 were built with plain doors and the bi-folding type were fitted during headcode conversions to D6300/02-33, no exceptions AFAIK (ignoring one end of D6323 in September 1964........ 😉!) I would only have expected Laira Type 2s to appear at Bristol during trips to and from Swindon Works. I don't even recall seeing any at Exeter during spotting trips there in the late 1960s, any which made it over the Devon banks (presumably not otherwise required for Cornish china clay duties) were usually pilot engines which came off at Newton Abbot. I also didn't like the A1 etched nose doors so on D6307 and D6322 I scribed in the bi-fold doors with the hinges down the middle of each door represented by thin plastic rod inlayed into the groove. I still have both, but no photos to hand at the moment.......

Hmmm......one of these, or two Oxford Rail Pilchard bogie wagons and a little loose change? Having taken delivery of a Pilchard only yesterday I know the answer to that question........ And as for that floor, another choice - load an excavator, or go dancing on it?! 😜