GRM1

cheers MJI a b set or 2 its definatly on the cards

thanks jason, my google-fu is getting sloppy! what a great website, and the further links page too! over 28,000 photos. cheers!

thanks chris, some great info there. I think I'll grab those books! My next question is one of photographs - where to find them? especially online. thanks again!

I'd just like to poke my head in and say what an absoulety fantastic project, I'm following this with much interest!

Hello, first post here so hi! I've recently became stuck regarding Western region coaches. A bit of background - my layout is loosely (or going to be at least) based around Newquay in the late 50's, early 60's incorporating the branchline off to Perranporth and the china clay works using the books a study of great western stations. I'd like to gather a small stock of coaches maybe 6-10 that can be arranged and shunted for local and mainline services behind a pannier/45xx/grange/baby warship. The book operation Cornwall has been insightful as to how the rakes were made up but it doesn't touch on the type of coaches e.g. collet/hawksworth/mk.1 e.t.c. I'd like them to be realistic, representative and typical of cornwall of the time. For example the information im after are things like the centenary coaches were painted blood and custard and pushed out to branchlines by this date so I can get one of those in somewhere as a break or corridor. I'm not asking someone to do the research for me, as I do find it enjoyable, but get me pointed in the right direction so i can start answering questions such as: What coaches were about at the time? What liveries were they in? Were they shuffled as and when or kept in sets? Can older Ex-gwr coaches run in the same rake as mk.1s? Did mk.1s ever end up on branchlines at this time? What even is the difference between collets, hawksworths and 57s and how to tell them apart? Was it just ex-GWR stock used in the western region or coaches from across the country? The chocolate and cream livery that made a comeback – where they just limited to the named trains or did they end up mixed with others? The ex-GWR TPOs, what livery were they? Looking at pictures isn't really cutting it, I can barley identify them from diagrams or model railway catalogues let alone in black and white, at a 10 degree angle and obscured by steam. For example I cannot personally identify any on this webpage http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/chacewater---newquay-50th-anniversary-of-closure.html but i'd like to be able to, is there a referece book i can start with? Thanks for reading the long post and hopefully someone can point me in the right direction, to a specific book, website or impart some knowledge of the time as I'm much to young to have my own photographs or notes aha!