coachmann

Only guesswork, but it might be that Hornby realized afterwards that Tintagel Castle would have new inside cylinder fittings, which would involve a change of asembly in China. And that it was better to get the later-built locos out of the way first before instructing changes on the assembly line. After 'Tintagel' is out with the wide scalloped inside cylinder cover, the narrow scalloped inside cylinder cover will maybe follow in due course. Then who knows..... A 'Star'.......?

Thanks for the pics. Isn't she a beauty!

Very impressive coaches. And if DCC sounded like that, I'de take the plunge today!

5011 'Tintagel Castle' will see the the introduction of curved side inside cylinder casing, although continuing with straight frames (4093-5012). Built in July 1927, this loco could at last carry full Great Western on the tender, unlike previous Castles.

The Saturday only Bangor-Manchester travellers would probably get off at the Junction and catch a faster connection rather than be sidetracked down the branch to Llanbourne.... The journey would be slow enough behind a Clas 31 as it is.... As an aside, I once photographed the 09.00 (SO) Llandudno-York leaving Abergele behind the usual Class 25, which were regarded as better machines than the 31's, and still had plenty of time to photograph the same train climbing to Greenfield towards Diggle! Hope you don't mind me mentioning that for 40106 to be accurate for your period, it should have green cab roofs and strapping over the roof panels.

To Beast 66606, I note your excellent shot of the Class 40 in Llandudno was before the track bottleneck was created in 1978. Vintage stuff.

Beast66606 said : With pleasure..... (24082 @ Llandudno)

Bottom hinges make all the difference and all model coach kits should have them in this day and age. It is difficult for manufacturers to make the change when they have a very large range, but there is nothing to stop hinges going into new kits.

This is how Llandudno signalbox looked in the Blue era and even later before its LNWR character was utterly destroyed with uncomplimentary double glazing... Larry

Probably unrelated, but I have quite a number of railway videos and it is striking how many times the narrator says...."It was obvious from the outset that the Western Region had decided to shut the line down once they had taken over control of the line". This was always in reference to someone elses line like the Somerset & Dorset etc.

Good to see another RMweb 'wish list' loco will soon be rolling off the production line. Are the green ones illustrated to be done first? Regarding insignia, 9000 did carry shaded insignia but it was built in 1945 and there was a 3 year gap before the next loco was built in 1948. Plain Gil Sans was used on those built from 1948. On the model of 9001, modellers will need to remove the smokebox door step. This step was added when the upper lamp bracket was moved higher to leave room for the BR smokebox numberplate. From new, locos came out in Apple green while 67717 was the first loco to carry the new numbering series. Commencing with 67723 the loco were painted BR lined black. With so many locos built in such a short time, I wonder how long these as-built 1948 liveries lasted?

Thanks very much Ceptic for responding to my request for pictures and for posting them. My, don't they look a treat. I saw coach No.45 (Kitchen Third) and so presume this is in a different pack. Some serious financial thinking now going on....

Thanks very much Taz for taking the trouble to locate this model. Larry

Hi Mike T, Thanks very much and for the link to 'Ladas'. Just the ticket if I can hold of one.

Can anyone post pictures of the 12-wheel Pullmans please?

Must say I am impressed with the Silver Jubilee train of coaches. Also the Hornby 'Great Northern' adaption. I always liked these A3's with the round dome, so did Hornby ever produce this variant in BR green? The trouble for me converting a 'GN' is I'd have to lower the cab and respray over the LNER green livery to BR - which is such a shame.

I did a lot of refurbishing of Exley coaches (usually stripping the paint (what a job that was) and respraying and lining out etc. The Exley MR clerestory coach above was done for one Derek Lawrence and this is what gave him the idea to produce 'Exley' type coaches from BSL and Westdale aluminium parts in 1973. As has been stated, Exley were renown for their stove baked gloss finish. I replicated the ultra-gross hard wearing finish using cellulose heat-dried. It was expected in those far off days. Exleys suffered from a particular problem, that of steel touching the aluminium and causing what can only be described as varicose veins on the roof. The cause was simple....... Exley used picture glass and this was held in place by spring steel stretchers with black paper insulators between the steel and the aluminium shell. Either the paper broke down with age of some numpty had pulled the coaches apart and ommited to replace the paper insulation. As far as I am aware there were the 'popular' range and the more expensive coaches. Some were shorties (a lot of non-corridors) while others were scale models. The Exley plastic bogie was rather neat but many modellers fitted Anbrico bogies or Rex-Kennedy bogies. The latter were whitemetal sideframes rivetted to a spring steel stretcher, in otherwords, the bogies were sprung. Larry Goddard

GM rebuilt 'Peak'.......

BR Blue Brit, to suit corporate blue era, if steam had run its course......

Class 67 in the white and gold livery carried by BRC&W 'Lion'....

All this shows is the writer never experienced the 'old order'. One only has to looks at what the LMS was building for the third class passenger in 1935....A corridor coach with comfortable seats, control over heating, a lamp above every seat and the a wall covering of empire veneers. This standard of travel was the norm for LMR travellers on mainline journeys right up to circa 1966. Notthing built since even compares.Then there were the non-corridor coaches that most people probably commuted in to work. The seats were adequate for the short journeys and of course we travelled in virtual silence. The new DMU knocked minutes off journey times, but the trade off was uncomfortable bus type seats plus noise and vibration from the underfloor engines. Sadly for us plebs, there was such a surplus of DMU's by 1966 that these noisy cramped bone shakers were put on longer distance journeys for which they were unsuited. I was living in Wales by this time and the standard of travel being offered to rail travellers by then simply lead me to buying a car. We've experienced a better way of doing things, its as simple as that. Today my wife and I love travelling from Carrog into Llangollen in a Mk.I corridor compartment coach and so we too have accepted dumbing down as an inevitable fact of life. But the cars and roads have gotten better! Apologies for the diversion....I'll have to create a photoshopping now I suppose.

A monotonous sea of blue and standard coaches was a poor substitute for the British railway scene of the 1940s, 50s and early 1960s, and you'de be expecting a lot if you thought older railway enthusiasts would dumb down. I witnessed the changes and the destruction of lines, yards, loco sheds, mass redundancies, and the sheer waste on money in the rush towards 'modernisation'. I didnt see the 'heady days' you referred to. 'New & Modern?....All you saw was a change in traction. Sure the electrics on the WCML speeded up journey times, as did DMUs on branchlines, but thats politics and for the commuters. When I visited Manchester London Road to see someone off on an electric in 1960, enthusiasts were conspicuous by their absense. Two years before, you couldn't move for spotters! It is a long time ago now and I expect the corporate blue era looks exciting. Well it would compared with today.

The old WHR has the trump card with 'Russell' and no doubt those aware of historical matters would love to see this loco working on the new WHR, at least as far as Bedgellert. Trouble is such a venture could be seen to be creaming off revenues, so I cannot see how the two companies can come together until such time as the new railway is confident it can turn a profit. In the current fiancial downturn, it remains to be seen how many people will travel the whole journey from Caernarfon to Porthmadog. Then of course the Festiniog Railway proper has yet to see if their own finances have been hit by revenues going to the new WHR, as has the old WHR. In otherwords, it is early days for everybody.

For me the corporate BR blue & grey era did nothing to lift the spirits when Britian was at an all time low. It should have heralded the white-hot technologial revolution but instead it came to represent everything that had gone badly wrong in the 60s and 70s. Small wonder then that the end of the steam age also represented the end of a way of life for many people. Ah, thats better!

Good god, I've heard everything now!