Halls and Prairies

I’ve bought a secondhand Bachmann branchline bargain loco but it is covered in dust. If I remove the body from the chassis, what is the best way to clean the body please? Wash it with clean water and a tiny bit of washing up liquid??

With most engines, yes. If we are specifically talking about small prairies, the tanks extend back to the cab doorway, hence not possible.

I bet it varies from loco to loco but of the one I am familiar with (from memory) typically fireman’s side, mounted on the inside of the tank, maybe halfway between back of the tank and the back head, about knee height.

Quick request …. Please could anybody with a Hattons 4mm / OO SECR “P” class loco possibly measure the length of the side tank on it? Thinking of buying one for a bespoke re-livery but I want to make sure that the transfers aren’t too long before I do! Thanks very much in advance.

Also 4505, 5519 and almost certainly 4215 in same BRITISH RAILWAYS Gill Sans style, 4298 in BRITISH RAILWAYS GWR style, along with 4946 like that based at Penzance which would have at the very least passed through Par. [4947 also of Penzance was major overhauled days after 4946 in 1948 but it seems that photos of this loco in that period are non-existent, presumably because they stayed in Cornwall and certainly west of Newton Abbot. So I’ve no idea if it was painted the same, but it’s a reasonable likelihood. Anybody?]. And slightly later as you say 4585 and 5519 at least in lined green early emblem. A very high incidence of rare liveries for a fairly small shed at the far reaches of the network!

Good news and bad news ….. 4547 - lined green early emblem at St Ives. Transport Treasury - Peter Gray Gallery - Image 1126. 4549 - I’ve found a Peter Gray shot but it looks to be early emblem, probably black. So my bad.

4547 - found a photo in “Lost lines Western” by Nigel Welbourn. 4547, lined green, large early crest at Bovey. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen shots of it like this on the St Ives branch, but unable to locate right now.

Also 8773 in block lettering - photo recently acquired.

Picking up on a few bits here: 4545 - fairly sure not, the latest livery I’ve ever seen it in is black and this includes a shot of it dumped at Swindon just before cutting up. 4547 - pretty sure I’ve seen multiple photos of this in lined green, early emblem. Possibly Peter Grey archive online. 4549 - think I’ve seen shots of this in lined green (with buffer beam numbers in GWR style painted locally). Can’t immediately find a photo but will look as and when. 4552 would appear to be the safest answer, photo in Prairie Papers taken in 1961, lined green late crest, outside pipes but difficult to see the frame style, however an earlier photo of it showed curved and unlikely it would have changed. Also: I have sight of a photo of 4557 ex works with roundel c 1936. 5519 was another example of Newton Abbot style lining. 4564 possibly unlined late green. 5527 (larger tanks) was black, lined, early crest (large size), several photos exist. Also 4546 and 4571 (at least) ran with BRITISH RAILWAYS in GWR style on (I think) a green engine and 4505 and 4526 (at least) had the block style BRITISH RAILWAYS on a black engine. Some 4575 / 55xx also had the block style.

I’ve acquired another photograph dated May 1956 with 5972 at Laira, loco in tatty BR lined black but with a tender in green with very faded lining and “British Railways” in Great Western style lettering. Difficult to see both separate sources both being wrong in the same way.

Hi All, Appreciate this might be chasing rainbows due to the scarcity of photographs in the immediate post-war period, but ….. does anybody have any hard evidence of a GWR Pannier in Wartime Black in mid Cornwall please? Or other loco types for that matter. The closest I can yet identify is a couple of 46xx which were built in Wartime so *should* have been painted that way, which were allocated to Laira, so *might* have found their way over the Tamar on loan to the smaller sheds on occasion. Thanks in anticipation!

Hi All, Appreciate this might be chasing rainbows due to the scarcity of photographs in the immediate post-war period, but ….. does anybody have any hard evidence of a GWR Pannier in Wartime Black in mid Cornwall please? Or other loco types for that matter. The closest I can yet identify is a couple of 46xx which were built in Wartime so *should* have been painted that way, which were allocated to Laira, so *might* have found their way over the Tamar on loan to the smaller sheds on occasion. Thanks in anticipation!

Photo itself is undated, but in “MORE Great Western Steam in Cornwall” is another similar view of 5972 from the same location, arriving into the station, dated 19th May 1956. The only thing is that the tender legend isn’t visible, due to angle as much as anything. Whilst we cannot categorically say that it was the same date, there are common factors and there is nothing to suggest that it isn’t.

A better and wider shot of 9715 is in “Great Western Steam - The Railway Photographs of R.J (Ron) Buckley” by Brian J. Dickson.

Sorry, first chance to log in for ages. For black loco with white / cream lettering, 9715 has a photo linked to it in the list and the same one also appears in “Collett and Hakesworth Locomotives” by Brian Haresnape (easily found in secondhand outlets). The photo of 3738 is in “Great Western Railway Pannier Tanks” by Robin Jones. For green locos with GWR style lettering, the ones I can easily recall the source for 3636 and 3726 both in David Maidment’s “Great Western Pannier Tank Classes”, 3694 is in a bookazine “Railway Liveries The British Railways Steam Years”, 8738 is in “Steam Locomotives of British Railways” by H C Casserley, and 9741 is in this thread and possibly in print somewhere too.

Two photos I’ve found:- 2828 between Marazion and St Erth in May 1940. Bradford Barton Great Western Steam in Cornwall, p67. 3862 on Forder Viaduct (East end of the County), no date but it is a Peter Gray shot which usually means late 50s / early 60s and others by him in the same area in the book relate to that period. The caption comments that it was a rarity. The Great Western Railway in East Cornwall, Alan Bennett, p14.

Thank you all. Regards 6321, there is great photo posted on the “Railway Identification Group” on Facebook a few months ago. I don’t want to repost it here to avoid any copyright problems but have a look there if you can.

Thanks Will, I had seen it but thank you for sharing it in case I hadn’t. I have seen photos of a number of other locos not in that list:- GWR style:- 4298, 6321, 3694, 6987 and I think some more of the 698* Halls, 5972, 4100 (no photo but from a reliable source), 6658, 2286, 4037, 270, 666, 3726, 3636, 4078, 4925, 1542, 4941, 5068 (8 wheel tender). Gill Sans:- 4526, 5546 (I think - difficult to make out the numberplate but certainly 554*), 4241, 75, 4235, 73, 46, 6025 (blue livery), 5010 (experimental green livery). Difficult to make out which font:- 4505, 6684. But no 28xx / 38xx so far .......

Please can anybody point me in the direction of any photographs of GWR 28xx or 38xx locos in the early BR 1948 livery with “British Railways” on the tender, in either style of lettering? I’ve seen examples of most of the other main GWR types in this style, but never one of these. It must have happened, but .....! Thank you in advance for your help.