BrushVeteran

Well sort of yellow!

I'm inclined to agree with you. I have spoken to the NRM about this face to face when it was repainted but it was never corrected...........which would have been quite simple, and still is. My point in commenting really is to alert Accurascale that there is a difference in the released artwork, which presumably the customer has checked, to the condition that the prototype is currently sporting. I am not criticising but trying to be helpful whilst there may be an opportunity for corrections......... I have been down this road before!

The artwork on the colour layout then doesn't reflect this and I'm trying to be helpful to Accurascale here (having been checking many colour layouts for another manufacturer over the years)! Unfortunately the NRM didn't quite get it right when they eventually repainted it in 2002 to smarten it up. I attach my images which I have taken over the years and hope that it helps. It would be quite easy for the NRM to correct the prototype as per the colour layout!

It will be interesting to see whether Locomotion interpret 31018's final BR livery correctly and not as the NRM have restored it.

I had one or two cab rides in the NBL Warships when they were doing the Padd-Worcester's as a friend of my parents was a driver at Oxford. On one memorable trip with D859 in early 1971, I remember walking through the engine room going around the Didcot avoider and it scared the s**t out of me as the manifolds were glowing almost white and the force of the cold air being blown in through the bodyside grilles was pushing you towards the power unit. By the time we had reached Southall the leading cab had filled with smoke from the transmission............whch it had been booked off for several times in the defect repair book................and was failed yet again at Padd. I don't think it ever ran again after this trip. The return journey home to Oxford was with D1672 and apart from the engine-room being awash with water from the CWA bolier, I was able to hear what was being said to me without shouting, as had been the case in D859, although in its defence it was run down and being thrashed! The comments from my 'uncle' and his secondman would probably get me banned if I was to repeat them on here!

The full potential of the East West Railway's purpose seems to be being thwarted by 'operational' issues rather than the wider issues involving decisions on routes further East. As I see it, and I am just a user living further West but on the rail link, the issue that is not going to go away, unless some physical construction work takes place, is that there is not enough stock available to run the required length diesel units between Bletchley and Bedford. When eventually the service runs right through they will be based on current 'new generation' 165/168/170/196 types which we all know are longer so this should be being planned now. As a bus service is currently in place to cover this then why aren't the platforms being extended now to cope with the future use of longer units. We seem to spend more time 'dilly-dallying' about these days talking about the problems rather than actually addressing them. 1). We know about the problem, 230's have been tried and aren't now suitable so next solution. 2). 23m length diesel units cannot be used because existing platforms are too short............they have known that all along! 3). The railway line is currently shut so bring forward the plans to lengthen the platforms..........if there are any plans,........ and get on with the work whilst the public are used to bus replacements. I like many am looking forward to travelling from where I live to Cambridge on this railway line..........as I did in the sixties. I think/am hoping I will still be around to get to Bletchley/MK by this method and Cambridge is probably just a dream, but Bedford now looks dodgy! Come on EWR you have a potential winner here...................make some decisions!

I can remember calling in to Somers town with one of my Uncles to pick up two bags of coal, which just about fitted on the fold down luggage rack of his 1933 Austin 10, to transport back to my Grandparents maisonette in West Hampstead. This normally coincided with a visit from another Uncle, my father's brother, from his home in Burtonon Trent and we would run him back to St.Pancras for him to catch a train to Derby. The year would be about 1963 and my Grandfather still got his coal allowance from his former railway employment at Marylebone goods which by then had closed to domestic coal deliveries. I would nip in to St.Pancras and Kings Cross whilst I was there and it was something I always looked forward to on my monthy visits from Oxford. I can't remember much about the coal yard in Somers Town though as obviously had my mind on other things and I never took any pictures...............only of the Austin! There had been a coal yard by the long closed Finchley Road MR station which we had fetched coal from at times as well and even in 1955 it had a diesel shunter working in there, image attached taken by my Father when I was four!

The official paint references for NBC colours was as follows:- Poppy Red BS2660-0-005 later superseded by BS4800 04E 53 Croda Tekaloid ref. BG 18 536 Leaf Green BS381C-218 Croda Tekaloid ref. BG 18 218 Brilliant White BS4800 00EE55 or BS5252F These were also the references used by Busmatch paints manufactured by H Marcel Guest.

I assume the width problem can be sorted out when the upgrade of the line to Bedford Midland takes place and surely they can lengthen the platforms to accommodate the longer stock at the same time. The East-West Railway is being marketed as a new through route so the Bletchley-Bedford section ought to have the same passenger consideration as the Oxford-Bletchley section has seen. It's a great disappointment that the new route has given the line great potential, especially from the Oxford end, and now the halfway stage is being reached that further 'dilly-dallying' is starting to undermine the feasibility of the original concept. The roads around this area are a joke now and the competing bus/coach service has had to be split in two to make it reliable.

................and the fact that there are all those 769 units awaiting final commissioning, at least four stored at Oxford. Surely they could swap some of these around with GWR 165's to enable them to operate Bedford-Bletchley rather than buses! They don't seem to be encouraging people to use the rail system along this route despite all the hype the East-West Railway is pushing through peoples doors. We need the likes of the late Adrian Shooter to crack a few whips I think. Will it ever reach Cambridge I wonder!

Simon, having just gone through all of my old black & white photos of the 1960's it would appear that the fitment of LT trip cock apparatus was only confined to those locomotives originally allocated to Finsbury Park depot, now I assume from that this equipment was in use on the Widened Lines or Highgate branches? Locomotives identified as carrying this equipment include Class 15's D8227-D8243; Class 16's NIL; Class 20 (No evidence found of fitment); Class 21's D6100-D6109 originally allocated to the GN at Hornsey were trip cock fitted although D6110 onwards temporarily allocated to Stratford weren't) ; Class 23's D5900-9 (only up until refurbishment); Class 24's D5050-D5066 (equipment removed once transferred away); Class 26's D5300-D5319 (equipment removed once transferred to Scotland); Class 31's D5586-D5615, D5622-D5627, D5639-D5654, D5670-D5679. This to me does throw up more interest in the operations and rostering of locomotives at Finsbury Park as :- A). Other classes used the Widened Lines e.g. 24's,25's & 27's from Cricklewood, 20's and 24's from Willesden and 33's using the route via Hither Green. B). LUL Lines that shared the LUL signalling system where BR regularly used the same tracks e.g. Amersham-Marylebone; Richmond-Gunnersbury; Queens Park-Watford Jcn. I think there were also a few lines on the Eastern around Forest Gate and on the LTS, but were any of these controlled by trip cock protection. I know the 165/168's on the Chiltern have some similar equipment. An interesting subject, perhaps some former FP men can enlighten us!

My understanding was that anything venturing down to the Widened lines had to be trip-cock fitted which I didn't think the 08's were. I'm sure Manna's expertise on this aspect will prove enlightening!

Another possible livery variation of D326 taken at Willesden in September 1967.

Yes I was Phil but unfortunately I had no camera as a ten year old! My uncle would give my dad's brother a lift to St.Pancras to catch his train to Burton.............in his Austin 10...........and whist he was fetching a couple of sacks of coal for my grandads BR Coal Allowance I would nip across to Kings Cross to see the diesels......................dare I say it I ignored all the steam...............God forbid A1's to A4's! Yes I did underline D6100-9 and D5300-19, D5330-3 as well as a few newly delivered Brush 2's. I saw about eight out of ten of the 'Baby Deltic's' as well before they were refurbished and remember one or two going down the 'hole' with short freights! I did borrow my dad's camera on at least one occasion, which I still have, a Kodak Reflex.............utter crap results with a shutter speed that was painful to wait for! So nothing from me until my Kodak Instamatic 200 from 1964..............still some 24's lucking at KX in 66 though.

I have successfully used methylated spirit lightly rubbed with a cotton bud in the past, but the trick is not to rub too hard. Using this method managed to remove the XP64 red panels from the Heljan model of D1733.

Yes the GN allocated 21's had them as did the GN 15's D8225-43. The pilot scheme 26's had them. Strangely the 24's, 25's and 27's from Willesden and Cricklewood ran down the widened lines to Moorgate and beyond yet weren't fitted so I would be interested in knowing the reason for this. The Class 23 'Baby Deltic's' were fitted in their original guise but post-refurbishment they were supposedly banned from operating down the tunnels! I know the GE allocated London area diesels operated over LT metals but the Class 16's and their 15's didn't seem to be fitted so on the face of it seems to be a GN requirement somewhere.

D5671-D5679 were originally allocated to Finsbury Park which at that time was also responsible for Grantham's small allocation until Immingham was up and running. It does seem strange though that non trip cock fitted locos could not have been selected for T.C. fitment but apparently some of the GE's trip cock fitted allocation were no longer required at Norwich, being later transferred to the London area so there were plenty of trip cock Brush 2's available to cope with running over the LT system. Also a lot of the Finsbury Park allocated class 24's had their trip cock apparatus removed by Finsbury Park depot before they ventured north to new pastures.

D5586-D5615; D5622-D5627; D5639-D5654; D5671-D5679. Hope this helps.

Anyone looking for prototype inspiration to purchase some Palbricks here is my image of D7095 running back towards Calvert through Oxford Station in February1967. Unfortunately the wagons weren't the reason for taking the photo but are just about visible.

We 'borrowed' six of these at Oxford in June 1982 whilst our brand new B51 ECW Leopards were returned to Lowestoft for body strengthening. The gear linkages were all knackered as I found out whilst on a local service one evening................much to the amusement of my passengers listening to my expletives over the gearbox noise! Other than that thy were quite tidy and managed to race up and down to London when required.

Oh yes you can...................or as one of my cats thought so this morning with a present! Cats are now in the doghouse (or cathouse I suppose) but my wife tells me off! Mind you I did laugh.

You could do Cross Country from Reading as an alternative depending on how easy Reading is to get to from where you live. Most CC southern services are starting and finishing at Reading these days.

The old Mainline Warship models had a different mechanism to that of the Bachmann variants which were central motor, twin bogie cardan shaft drive to the wheelsets through reduction gears in each bogie. The Mainline models had just one single motor bogie with a pancake drive motor similar to Hornby and Lima of that period, so I doubt that the axles that you are looking at on ebay will be of any use to your model.

It would be good to see Dapol continue with their OO versions of the NBL Class 21 and 22 family especially the 'pilot' scheme versions.

Have you checked the WC siphon? I have had a similar problem with the siphon buttons temporarily jamming and causing the fill valve to operate intermittently. Turning the water pressure down a bit also helps.