brossard

Sounds like the Mainline disease to me where the plastic bushes between the driver stub axles cracks leaving the drivers out of quarter and back to back. There is this article if you feel ambitious: http://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4369&hilit=split+chassis+loco+repair Hornby has a Grange - may be time to upgrade. John

Here's a bit of info: http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Medical/AmbulanceTrains.html There is lengthy description in "British Railways and the Great War, Vol. 2" by E.A. Pratt, 1921. A typical train consisted of nine coaches. In the center was a pharmacy car comprising a dispensary, treatment room and linen store. There were 5 ward cars on either side of the pharmacy car. There was one kitchen/diner/sleeping car, another for day/sleeping accomodation for staff. There was a brake with beds for 6 men and a store. While GWR coaches seem to have the cross on a white circle, there is a picture in the book of an unidentified coach at Southampton with a cross in a white square. All are in line with the windows though. My question would be whether each railway's trains stayed together or whether they became mixed with other companies stock. John

Oops, my bad. Still, as Bachmann don't do any Midland coaches (we can only wish), their PIs have been pressed into service I think. Nevertheless, the set is attractive, and the figures are a nice touch. John

The coaches are LMS Period I. A great many of these were seconded for ambulance use in the war. Essery & Jenkinson's LMS Coaches discusses these in a couple of places but we are not told whether the WD painted them (olive) green. The two pictures in the book show a red cross on white ground but this is in line with the windows. There is numbering on the ends which could be set nos., however, not the huge numbers shown in the model? I'm not claiming the model is wrong, just waiting for someone with additional knowledge to provide more info. John

I would agree that Bachmann has been our friend over the last few years. LMS also built a number of 0-4-4T locos if I remember right. Lets not forget the 0-6-4T Flatiron. I had about given up on seeing any LMS non corridor coaches (the Airfix/Dapol models can't be converted to Pull Push and were fairly low in number) so the announcement at Warley got my attention. I understand these are PIII. I am a tad vexed because I bought 4 Comet kits not so long ago. John

Sorry for the late reply Chris. The CCT is currently not in my era but it does look tasty. I particularly like underframe detail - those pictures in the flickr link will be incredibly useful, I wish more kit makers would do things like that. One of these days I'll get involved in a BR layout and build it. Cheers, John John

Thanks David, I think these will do. I'm always making work for myself, you obviously can't see the detail but viewed from the side you get the impression of busyness. John

...and then there were two: I painted these using Lifecolour BR Bauxite. We can argue about how correct that is. Weathering is done using just powders. John I thought I'd add a few words about the underframe detail. I'm generally unimpressed with the detail provided by plastic kit manufacturers - not their fault really, there's only so much you can do with moulded plastic. I always like to add the brake detail when I build a kit, just to add that extra ooomph to the model. I have used parts from the Mainly Trains AVB etches: - clasp brakes, cranks, levers, vee hangers and yokes. - safety loops are constructed from 0.020" brass wire. - vacuum and steam pipes are secured under the bufferbeam, not through. The method is simple, a piece of 0.080 x 0.080" strip drilled 0.032" and glued behind the buffer beam with the hole just peeping out.

It's been a while, but I think I got it cracked, here's the van all gussied up: I'm quite happy with this and think it looks the part. You can just see some of the security bars which I think are a significant detail. I made them thus: I marked up the positions of the bars on an index card. Frames are scrap brass strip. These were stuck onto double sided tape and the wire (0.45mm NS) soldered on: These are the verticals and: these are the horizontals. There are a lot because I also have three Bachmann LMS BGs to upgrade. Here's are some examples after being removed from the card and trimmed: John

When I was doing shows for the club, it was always great fun to let the kids have a go. It was delightful to see them (girls and boys) use DCC (NCE) with just a few instructions about direction and speed. They seem to take to it very naturally. John

Agree Steve, I too have a good stock of detail bits from Mainly Trains. Brassmasters seems to have some good stuff, I'm looking forward to the Easi Chas kit for the 1F. John

Great looking loco Steve. The Bachmann chimney looks quite a bit thinner and straighter than that on the kit - wonder which is right - maybe both. Love the backhead detail. I'm frequently disgusted at the truth that photos reveal. John

Doh! I had a feeling that something like this would happen. What a nuisance! Thanks for the link. Now I must have a think. My friend has offered me his kit, so perhaps a repaint is in order. The link to the model in the last post, as I daresay you know, is to a model of an earlier diagram Fish van, which was undoubtedly maroon. I'm tempted to get a couple of these too. John

This morning I lettered the van. Frustrated at the lack of load script transfers though. Later on I weathered it: Not too bad I think. John

OK, so the preponderance of opinion is red, so that's what I did: I also had a rethink about the wheels and changed them to 3' 1" 3 hole disc. These are Exactoscale. Now to see if I have the right lettering. John

Well, Ben, for those outshopped in 194, the livery of the 6 wheelers is pretty clear cut - there's a picture in LMS Coaches showing the van as it looked then. I'm afraid my knowledge of BR matters is sketchy so I can't say which colour is right for when. I do like the vans though and I'm looking for an excuse to do mine. Modelmaster's sheet 4630 seems to have the requisite markings for BR. Perhaps there is still one open question and that is whether the D2059 had 3' or 3' 6" wheels. I have settled on 3' 6". Cheers John

Thanks Market, always helpful to see how others tackle the problem. Still dithering though. John

I suppose whatever I decide to do, it will be hard to dispute since so little is known about this LMS van. It is clear, from what I've read, that BR did paint them maroon with yellow lettering - Modelmaster do a transfer pack. I will let this fester for a while longer and see if anyone else has any thoughts. Cheers John

Well Jonathan, I agree they should be Crimson Lake and shaded lettering. However, they were built in 1941 and the PD notes indicate that they had an austerity finish, although I haven't seen that written by Essery so don't know the provenance. I have a lot of Essery's work and may need to dig deeper - perhaps having a trawl through LMS Journal. LMS Coaches only mentions these vans in passing and I haven't seen a photo. Tatlow's NPCS doesn't include these either. John Edit: Here's a picture: http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/lmsfish/h164f1cd5#h164f1cd5 At least it confirms I have the brake lever right, some had long ones.

Thanks for trying David. I should have mentioned that the van was NPCS. Most of these were Crimson Lake, some even lined and generally had yellow shaded letters. However, there were exceptions. The CCT is one and I'm thinking this van may be another. I do like the 6 wheeled fish van and have the Chivers kit. Alas, these were built in 1947 and never wore LMS branding although the first ones did have LMS NPCS livery. John

Thanks for that clue David, I'll have a look too. It crossed my mind that if I painted over the red oxide with a translucent Maroon (Badger paint), the colour might just come out right. John Edit: I've had a read of LMS Coaches and LMS Wagons, Vol 2. Both of these talk about "Undercoat for Lake" and "Lake Undercoat". Undercoat for Lake is described as a "brown undercoat" being principally composed of "oxide in iron" or perhaps "red oxide". "Lake Undercoat" is described as Undercoat for Lake with 5% black added. I may have answered my own question in that this description does sound like the colour for the CCT. I look forward to other opinions.

I'm having a go at the PD Kit (PC59) and a bit puzzled about how to finish it. Here's where I am (although I have primed it in red oxide and painted the underframe black): I did a search and found a discussion from 12 (!) years ago: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=48783 There's some good info but I was wondering anything further might have come to light. The PD sheet says that the body colour was "lake undercoat" but I'm not at all sure what this means, a browny shade of Crimson Lake? I'm thinking that the lettering should be white, not shaded yellow. I wonder if the CCT colour and lettering style is appropriate: Thanks John

It would look even better in LMS lake. John

It still shows on Rails site: https://railsofsheffield.com/thames-clyde-express-midland-compound-1000-unboxed-locomotive-30-170-loco-JJJA27062.aspx Livery is actually MR though and it represents the preserved loco, which is why I passed on it. John

Should have known you were on top of this. Still, the info might be of use to others. John