WillCav

4017 Knight of the Black Eagle => Knight of the Liège => Knight of the Liége ? There were many King (Name) => The (Nationality) Monarch => (Nationality) Monarch in the 402x series but they all had the scalloped cylinder cover that doesn't match St Pat. Will

Some yellow/red signals before terminii were 3 or 4 aspect heads with other aspects blanked out. Possibly for economy so only one head type needed ordering? Also, Dorman LED units are only available as RYG and you use the same head for 3 aspect, RY RG, YG, fixed red etc. And 2 units double stacked for 4 aspect. (Other manufacturers are available, I think the same is true for the VMS type). Distant signals on modern schemes are not generally numbered ...R now, they are just given another unique number. Will

Thanks 57xx That proof nails it - same bogie pivot for the SIPHONS (and it's an easier job) Will

Many Thanks Lofty. Will

I've got another question (sorry) I'm planning to use the sets of the redundant 7' bogies for a O7 SIPHON F and an O11 SIPHON G. These were originally both fitted with 9' bogies. Do I need to move the bogie pivot for these? I've looked in the Slinn SIPHONs book and both diagrams have 9' bogies. The photos I have seen are all from a diagonal so it is not obvious. I would assume that the pivots stay where they were as it would be major undertaking to move the bogie pivot on a real vehicle and I can't see any benefit when fitting a smaller bogie. Does anyone know for sure one way or the other? Many thanks Will

Many thanks, Coach Bogie. That is much easier way of doing the pivot move - I never would have thought of it! Will

Many thanks Johnster and Miss Prism for all your assistance - 2 x E145 on the way (with the 7' bogies cascading down to some Siphons). Will

Thanks Johnster I hadn't thought of that. Does the pivot move 1' so the outer wheelset stays in the same place? Will

Assuming that the loading gauge stays the same, my gut feeling is that speeds would have to be lower - or more derailments on curves would occur as there would be less of a margin of safety. The six- and ten-foot intervals would become the seven- and eleven-foot. Junctions would be slightly shorter. n gauge would be called e gauge?

The only other problem with the Felix Pole wagon is that parkside do the later BR version. The W irons have circular holes instead of triangular. Will

Hi Penrhos, It's easier to shorten than lengthen so you could star with a parkside Mink G kit. You might have to slice off the DCIII V hangers and reposition as well. Only issue is that you get a spare body - but doors and ends can be used as replacements on 16' cooper craft vans. Hope this helps Will

Many thanks Miss Prism. Will

Hi all, I've got some E140 B Set coaches that I want to convert to E145 with the longer 9' bogies. Looking at the incredibly useful gwr.org site, it says they are 9' heavy bogies - are these the same as the Bachmann Collett bogies 36-010 (I thought these were later pressed steel type but other RMwebbers have used them). I'm a bit confused. Many thanks Will

Shortest I've seen is: <Power car| <Power car| |Power car> It was travelling through Bristol Temple Meads to turn a power car for St Phillips Marsh depot (came out of the east end of the depot, through Temple Meads towards Bedminster, reverse back into the West end of St Phillips Marsh) I have also seen 2+5 and 2+7 formations. Will

Could this have been white with layers of not quite clear varnish of the era? Will

I was in timetabling 2002-3 and we had that move then (at least on Sundays - I never did Mon-Sat). In the evening, the 08 came from Laira depot with the Plymouth coach and sat in one of the platforms awaiting the Up Sleeper. The Gronk shunted the coach onto the Sleeper and waited for the Down Sleeper and took the coach off in the early morning. The coach (with sleeping Plymouth residents) was left in the platform until a more reasonable hour, then the 08 took the coach back to Laira. It was a nightmare trying to fit the Gronk in from Laira to Plymouth as it was timed at 15mph on the mainline - try fitting that in the timetable without delaying the Down HSTs and Voyagers. Will

The 1/2 DC 1/2 lever brake variants were of earlier DC types where the small lever was at the LH end of the wagon on one side. DC3 brakes on O14 are already RH lever both sides. I'm not saying never - but would GW spend money and effort changing the brakes if already compliant? It is an interesting conversion for earlier opens though. Some O3 were DC1 and could have had it. Whatever you do with it, you'll need to add diagonals. Straight variants can easily be made with the parkside O11/15 kit so I'd go for the hockey stick type as in the O14 picture above (also on O3). Will

If it is 17'6" then no 5 plankers had the flat door. If 16' then possible diagrams are O3, O9 non vac, some O11 or O14. All of these had DC brakes of some kind or other when built. O3 and O14 are the best bets as most O9 were vac fitted and most O11 had GW self contained buffers. Hope this helps... Will

The main differences to look for to differentiate the many 5 plank diagrams are: Brake gear - lever brake then Dean Churchward (DC) small lever then DC cross cornered then Morton (+ hybrid alterations to make cross cornered) Length / wheelbase - 16'/9' then 17'6"/9' then 17'6"/10' Planking - 5 equal then top plank wider then 4th plank wider Door - flat door to sack truck door (bottom plank tapered out) Diagonal strapping - curved near the bottom end, straight and straight with a gusset plate attached to the door frame strapping Bold = known from the photo The main thing to check is the length and wheelbase to narrow things down a bit. regards Will

Thanks for the warning. The pictures linked on gwr.org 1948 livery page show: 4022 unnamed lined with steam pipes 4025 unnamed unlined without pipes And I also found 4026 unnamed unlined with pipes (Google star 4026 temple meads and it is the first image result) So, I either need to remove the lining or add steam pipes or both! In some ways 4026 is the most interesting as it looks like someone painted a large patch on the tender before adding the BRITISH RAILWAYS lettering. Will

Sounds like an easy job then (hopefully). Thanks for the kind offer but I've got two sets waiting to be used and BR(W) only used them for 5 months so I'm just going to do a Star and a large prairie tank and leave others in older liveries for variety. Thanks again Will

Thanks Fatadder, I found the photo and the detail is there as you thought. Will

Hi MIB, I'm modelling early 1948 WR and have found your blog very useful - thank you for sharing your ideas. I'm thinking of getting a Knight of St Patrick and re-numbering it to one of the ones that lost it's Monarch name because of WWII (two of them 4022/6 got given the rare BRITISH RAILWAYS in GWR lettering). When you re-named your Star, did you happen to notice if there was the correct boiler details modelled behind the nameplates? Many thanks Will

FPLs were only required if the passenger move was in the facing direction. Companies wouldn't spend extra fitting them where they didn't have to. A facing point traversed only by a passenger train running ECS (Empty Coaching Stock) say, to or from a carriage siding does not need FPLs. The same with Goods trains and light engines. Will

Was that one of the ones that had a weight added to the front buffer beam to add stability on the Devon banks? Will