Halvarras

The Darling Butts of May(be not) Only Fools and Horseflies Not the 9 o'clock Nudes, followed by... Have I Got Nudes For You!I Doctor Whoevernext..... Strictly Come Prancing (horse edition) Top Grrrrrrr! The Eggs Files Widecathedral (set on the Dorset coast, not that far from West Bay oddly enough) Hitch-hikers Guide to the Cadburys Some Fathers Do 'ave 'em (apparently) I'm an Honest Politician, Get Me Out of Here!

My Falcon sightings were always very hit and very miss! First time was a pure stroke of luck, passing it heading west between Taunton and Exeter while travelling in the opposite direction behind D821, on 23rd May 1969 - we were only going as far as Taunton to see an expected Peak working an ECS IIRC, so headed straight back to Exeter in time to see D0280 come back up from Paignton. We missed D28 but never mind! My attempt at a photo was compromised by D813 parking itself right in the way at the wrong moment, hence to this day it is still my least favourite Warship! Next time should have been during the weekly Wednesday afternoon Swindon Works guided tour on 29th July 1970, but a late-running train meant we didn't get there in time. Oh well, at least I had finally copped D7000 a few hours earlier it had already been a good day....... I started my working life a few miles from Swindon on 6th September 1972 so missed 1200 Falcon on the Paddington - Bristol workings by a matter of weeks if not days (this was also exactly 3 weeks after the RTC's Class 17 8598 had visited Swindon Works to collect Test Car Hermes, on 16th August 1972 - I only learned that about 25 years ago! But it was a work day anyway so I was unlikely to have seen it even if I'd arrived a month earlier). After that I occasionally noted Falcon in South Wales while travelling from Swindon to Cardiff, usually parked as it was always on a Saturday, but struck it lucky one last time when I found it resting on Swindon Stabling Point on 9th February 1974, when I managed to get my only photos of it in blue.

I bought these as they were released - at a time when virtually nothing else was published on BR rolling stock they were absolutely invaluable, inspired a few projects such as converting an Airfix cattle wagon kit into the panelled-in general traffic version and a scratchbuilt all-steel Lowfit wagon on another very old cattle wagon kit chassis survivor from my yoof*, and ensured I numbered these and a collection of other kit-built wagons correctly. When Airfix and Mainline launched their OO ranges it was clear from some of the selected running numbers that they found these books invaluable too! The other essential softback book collection was Brian Haresnape's 'BR Fleet Survey' series, the first of which I recall finding at the October 1981 Barrow Hill Open Day. Both of these sources became well-read and well-thumbed. The latter was only supplanted 20 years later by the 'Modern Locomotives Illustrated' series (of which I collected anything 'First Generation'), yet I still refer to the earlier books from time to time. *I also scratchbuilt a Holman's compressor trailer as a load for it, remembering these regularly heading through Truro in the up 6B59 afternoon freight service, having been loaded at Camborne (I suppose this train at least did stop there Wednesdays....) and I still have that, now mounted on a different wagon.

In both guises the engine room window at No 2 End driver's corner was deleted. I took some photos of 47901 in 1984, while commuting from Swindon to Bristol by train for 4 months.........I suppose 40 years on I should give the modelling a break and finally get around to scanning all the photos I took then, other than 50007 a sea of BR blue - it's all historical now!

Nice - I was aware of the different cantrail grilles on the centre section as they were visible from ground level, but I didn't realise the roof panel between them looked this different from the standard design, so that's a revelation. I did wonder at the announcement whether this variation was worth the effort for just five locomotives, but now I've seen the finished article I've changed my mind! Would the Class 48 TOPS hole have been plugged if Heljan hadn't launched their Mark 2 Class 47? Probably not, so we should be thankful that they did.

I do understand, and it wasn't a serious suggestion! I'm wedded to OO myself and collected decent models of everything I require to achieve my goals before I retired nearly 5 years ago. By decent I mean run well and look the part - that's all that matters to me. I'm a happy resident of DC-land and don't need every detail to be present and correct and only my relatively few 1980s era models need working lights, so my pensions aren't stressed by constant £200+ purchases. I think I can still count the number of locos I've bought brand new for over £100 on the fingers and thumbs of both hands (the unavoidable pre-order for Rapido's Port of Par twins may bury that achievement........unless they represent the thumbs!) and as a result I don't break into a sweat when I modify and renumber/rename locos to represent those required for personal/nostalgic reasons and the results turn out less than 100% perfect. Of course I do admire the fantastic products now being offered (including N where it's lately become difficult to tell the scale in magazine photos at first glance) but I really don't think I'd be upgrading everything even if finances were less of an issue. In the end it's 'Horses for courses', innit?!

I don't have one of these but I'd assume that the grey side vents are holding the roof on, in the same way that Lima used the glazing for the same purpose on their BR CCT / GUV and LMS 42' parcels vans. If you can press these in a little to release the roof (try one side at a time) you'll be able to look inside and hopefully figure out how to get the body off the chassis. The rivets may simply be holding the ballast weight in place.

The 'Winter 1960-61' Ian Allan ABC shows the Class 46s running up to D199 then continuing with D1500 to D1513 - total = 20. There were 20 'generator' Brush Type 4s so it's clear what happened........

Ah, you need to move up to OO, then you could tell one diesel loco from another 😜!!

Reference to split drive gears usually involves the old Mainline Warship where it's near universal - however last summer while rebuilding a Heljan 47 using bogies with the old blackened brass wheels I was concerned to discover that each bogie had one driven axle with a split gear. Luckily I had some spares left over from other conversions to the shiny wheels but I did panic a bit and checked all of my other older Heljan locos - no problems, phew! Then early last month I retrieved an original Bachmann Class 08 (blue 08623) for a makeover and a test run quickly revealed.......a split drive gear. This one cost me around twenty quid for a complete new wheelset. I had no idea either of these models were prone to this problem, but when plastic drive gears are force-fitted onto axles and thus put under permanent tension perhaps it's not surprising this can happen in some instances over time, especially if the gears were moulded with a slight imperfection which the tension exploits.

Agreed, but in my ageing case it would be more than "slightly" 🤓 !

A pic of the short buffers.....

RIP Par Signal Box and its semaphores. The station will never look or sound the same again. When the 'Castle' HSTs bow out too, and with one Class 66 working the clays for 2-3 weeks at a time with one type of wagon my interest in the current railway scene will reach an all-time low. (PS regarding surviving Cornish semaphores I forgot to mention Goonbarrow on the Newquay branch where Imerys Rocks Driers are located - the future of these signals will most likely be tied to those at St Blazey.)

And Par 3 days later, Friday 8th March, around 4.00-4.30pm. This new signal had been horizontal since early summer, biding its time, and the up bracket signal has finally lost its arms - both changes occurring within the preceding 72 hours: The replacement for the junction signal close to Par Signal Box - the feather signal seen lying on the platform was attached to the horizontal post and raised into position within an hour or so of me taking this photo! View from the road bridge showing three new signals at this end and two beyond the footbridge already 'live': And from the other side showing the new starter for the down loop. I got into a conversation with the NR photographer on the bridge who informed me that the replacement for this down home bracket is out of sight around the corner and includes access to the seldom-used down loop..... ......he explained that although the new signalling plan allows for some new moves it has removed some too. I asked him if he knew what the future holds for the remaining semaphores at St Blazey, Liskeard and St Erth - it's all down to funding within Control Periods (CPs) and availability of space within the Exeter Signalling Centre, so it sounds like they'll be around for some time yet.....

Some photos taken at Par on Tuesday 5th March - the up home bracket signal is the only one with arms still fitted:

You're correct, indeed it was - I'd forgotten about that!

Blimey Johnster, you don't 'alf know some stuff 😃!!

And AIUI the MD655s had been modified to work with generators in such a way that they were not interchangeable with those in the Western fleet. Which begs the question, was there a spare modified MD655 held by Brush for Falcon or could a serious engine failure (e.g. 'leg out of bed' type) have side-lined the loco at any time?

I've been looking online at a few broadside photos of the X3121 motor bogie and concluded that the axleboxes simply weren't tooled very accurately on the sideframes, as they all seem to sit like that. I can't believe wear is much of an issue with these as the interface between the steel axle and bearing surface in the casting is fairly large, which spreads the load. Back in the 1970s I had a go at upgrading a Tri-ang 3-car Met-Cam DMU (I'd bought it at the Swindon Works Open Day in September 1975) with Anbrico engine castings and MTK exhaust pipes and bogies. For a more consistent appearance I dismantled the motor bogie, filed off all of the raised detail (which I recall wasn't easy, until I got a file large enough for the task) and glued on a pair of MTK DMU sideframes which had to be stretched slightly to get the axleboxes to align with the wheels, which in this case were Millholme 12mm turned brass items (the other bogies being fitted with 12mm Romfords running in Peco brass bearing cups). The new sideframes were of course slimmer than the Tri-ang originals, leaving a few exposed areas of the filed surface visible - filing it down further to suit was not practical so I painted the MTK sideframes in 'track colour' and the exposed filed areas around them satin black in an attempt to disguise these.

I think there was talk of its traction motors beginning to fail one by one requiring isolation due to the lack of suitable spares towards the end too......? It must have had enough still operable in 1975 to perform what may have been one of its last duties - hauling a breakdown train up a Welsh valley to assist in the difficult recovery of 37143, which had derailed and slipped down an embankment on its side at Marine Colliery, Cwm on 29th January 1975 - it was finally recovered on 4th August. I have seen a photo with Falcon visible in the background, its presence IIRC not commented on in the caption. Can't recall where I saw it now so can't look up the date. D'oh......found it on Flickr! It was recovery day, 4th August.

Regarding your list of four models, ref. 39-320A is not a Brake Second, but the Bar car (Hadrians Bar). There were no Mark 1 Pullman brake vehicles built - during your time period an 'original' Pullman brake vehicle would have usually been provided. On the WR a Mark 1 BG in choc/cream livery could be a stand-in, or if you really want something different a Hawksworth BCK in choc/cream - there were two, W7372W and W7377W, which initially retained GWR livery for use as brake and staff vehicles for the Royal Train and were repainted into BR (WR) choc/cream in 1957 IIRC, being relinquished to normal passenger service in 1965; however they were quickly commandeered for use as brake vehicles for the WR's stand-by 'South Wales Pullman' set (employed in case of non-availability of a 'Blue Pullman'). A photo in the Bradford Barton album 'Diesels on Western Region' (page 53) shows D1643 at Cardiff in 1965 (definitely not 1961 as stated - D1500 didn't appear until 1962!) with one of these two Hawksworth BCKs behind the loco, followed by two original Pullman cars then three of the Mark 1 type. So these Mark 1 Pullman vehicles were definitely in use on the WR during 1965, although I don't know whether the Bar car made the move from the ER - I suspect not, perhaps a Pullman expert can advise. It is possible to change Hornby's R4504 into a passable representation of W7372/7W in later BR (WR) condition by using T-Cut and a blunt wooden cocktail stick to erase the GWR insignia, lower waist-level lining and other markings; the model is numbered 7372 but this needs changing to W7372W lower on the bodyside. The 'Smoking' wording on the inside of the windows also needs changing to BR 'No Smoking' labels as well as those for First Class as appropriate - T-Cut will do this too without damaging the glazing, although this obviously requires dismantling the model. I've done all this but it took me well over two hours of frantic rubbing......for your purposes an original Pullman brake or Mark 1 BG would be simpler!

It may be worth keeping an occasional eye on 'Hornby Spares - drive units' at Lendons of Cardiff over the coming months.......just in case.........

53 'Royal Tank Regiment' was the last loco I ever saw in traffic with its original number (Westerns excepted of course) - Birmingham New Street, 19th April 1975.

Similar, but I use a glass-fibre scratch brush (Expo ref. 70510) - the name makes it sound coarser than it is. It works very well but, as I'm sure many will testify from experience, it has to be used with care, as broken-off fibres lodged in your skin are quite painful - they can be difficult to see to get tweezers onto but at least you know where they are! So these days during the powered cleaning process I make sure I have no fingers in the 'drop area', gently blow any residue off the model directly into a solid waste bin and use a soft brush to do the same to the table top where I was working, and I don't rub my hands together until I've given them a wash, firstly under free-flowing water. Sounds like a faff but it just takes a couple of minutes and I've had no glass-fibre-induced painful experiences for years.

So......compared to the previous Heljan 47 the body is slimmer but the cab handrails remain the same distance apart over the width......🤔? That was the well-known fault with the old one, to achieve a transition from the over-wide body to the cab front (which the bufferbeam and buffer spacing indicate was more-or-less correct width) - I don't see that on the new one myself.