chrisf

My understanding, based entirely on what others have said, is that the Bachmann model is a scale foot too long. Chris

It seems that the two Thompson coaches on the Hemyock branch had acquired W prefixes by the time the passenger service ended in September 1963. The Railway Observer for November '63 refers to W87280E and W87245E, described as "the entire coaching stock allowed over the line". Prior to their arrival the available stock comprised two brake seconds, W263W and W268W, built for the Barry Railway in 1921. This may have led Rev Edward Beal to refer in one of his books to the Barry Raiway as running from Tiverton Junction to Hemyock. (To err is human, to forgive divine.) These vehicles were built with electric lighting but when transferred to Hemyock circa 1951 were fitted with gas lighting as the speeds attained on the branch were insufficient to keep the batteries charged. A three legged tortoise could have outpaced the train easily. A new battery charging plant was put in at Tiverton Junction in October 1962 for the Thompson twins - one of which arrived at Tiverton Junction behind a Cross-Country dmu! - but to be on the safe side it was ordained that the spare coach should run to Paignton and back to charge its batteries. I have no idea what happened to these vehicles after the Hemyock passenger service ceased. Bet someone does though ... Chris

There have been many instances of foreign stock turning up on the WR. One has only to browse through the fine photo albums by R J Blenkinsop, as I did last night in bed, to find loads of examples. My two favourites both come from South Wales and aren't in any of the Blenkinsop books. The late and very well-informed Sid Rickard captured on film an LMS lavatory brake second, as made long ago by Airfix, formed next to the loco in a train from Merthyr to Barry Island in 1958. Four years earlier he was at Cardiff General to record a Great Eastern coach, still painted brown, in a Merthyr to Cardiff train. There are other crazy examples - a 4 car Derby lighweight dmu at Coryton Halt near Cardiff, for example - but it would be wrong of me to take away from members the joy of looking at pictures closely to see just what is there! Chris

LMS coaches strayed regularly to WR workings. The last day of the Exeter - Heathfield service produced four! If the rostered vehice failed for any reason it would be natural and expedient to grab the nearest suitable replacement. Chris

Up to a point I can help, or more correctly the Railway Observer can. Red Dragon - was re-equipped in December 1956 with the following stock: FKs 13068 and 13074, CK 15078, BCKs 21021 and 21125, SKs 24384, 25136, 25149 and 25150, BSKs 34897 and 34898. It soldiered on with GW design catering vehicles in January 1962 when it got RF 301 and, it is said, RSO 1009. How long any of these coaches stayed in the set is one of those good questions ... Photos from circa 1962 also show a BG in the set but not which one! Capitals United - sadly whoever contributed or edited the info in the RO was more interested in the Dragon than the Capitals [sorry Craig]. What we do know is that it was given RU 1903 in August 1957 and 1914 in May 1958. How long 1814 was in the set is not known but it was in the Pembroke Coast Express in May 1959 when it was derailed at Slough. Chris

The best article I know about milk traffic on the WR is "Home with the milk" by R C Riley which was in the March 1959 Trains Illustrated. More recently BRILL Annual no. 4 had an article dealing thoroughly with the rise and decline of milk traffic on all regions. Chris

Remember that many WR full brakes were allocated to specific workings and were branded accordingly. For example, 55 (diagram K40, can be made from Comet kit) and 142 (diagram K41, think there is a suitable Comet kit) were allocated to the 12.20 pm Penzance - Kensington milk and 7.45 pm Kensington - Penzance milk empties the next day and carried the lettering "Penzance and Kensington Milk Train". Someone, somewhere, may have a full list of brandings. Oh dear, it's gone rather quiet. Chris

In the November 2010 issue of Steam Days, which I have just been reading, there is a fine photo on page 677 of a King in full cry at the head of the down Bristolian. The majority of the coaches are Hawksworths in blood and custard and sport carriage boards above the windows and below the gutters, similar as The Stationmaster says to BR Mk 1s. These boards are shorter and shallower than GW boards which were 18 feet long and were carried on the roof. BR boards were 11 feet long. I have this nagging doubt as to whether the boards carried by the Hawksworths were the same as the BR ones or a slightly different size. At this point I invoke Chris's first law of government - things are not the same because they do not have to be! Chris

I can't find the photo of the end plate with a window but there is one in use at Didcot. Its purpose is to allow the giuard to see out of the front of the trsin when it is being propelled. AFAIK it is an invention of preservation. Chris

I should expand on what Craig has raised, with apologies for the delay as I've been away. Two Hawksworth brake composites, 7372 and 7377, came out in 1949 in GW chocolate and cream and were collared straight away for special duties, ie Royal trains and VIP duties, usually working with one or more of the VIP saloons 9001-7. The good old Railway Observer has many reports of their wanderings. They were kept in a shed at Old Oak out of harm's way and managed to escape blood and custard altogether. When the WR started using chocolate and cream these vehicles received it. 7377 survived to receive GW livery on the South Devon Railway. As far as I know the only other Hawksworth coaches to receive BR choc/cream were the three BCKs that were converted to slip coaches in 1958, viz 7374/5/6, and the SK that became a dynamometer car which I think survives. Robert Carroll is far better qualified than I to pronounce on this but he wasn't in the pub with me and Craig! Chris

Mark is too modest to report that Portchullin won the MRJ Chalice. Chris

That has been solved. A while back an experimental electro-diesel bus was demonstrated at Doncaster racecourse. Where there were wires it would collect power from them. Off the wires the power came from a diesel generator located where the rear engine may be found in a typical double-decker of today - simple but effective. Needless to say nothing came of it. The vehicle may be seen at Sandtoft trolleybus centre. Nowadays there are those who regard overhead wires as ugly. They should have gone to Specsavers ... Chris

I'm old enough to remember when the A604 between Godmanchester and Cambridge was a dangerous single three-lane carriageway and it took the death of an ambulance driver in a crash to prod the powers that be into even thinking about an upgrade. Chris

I meant Allerton! Chris

It's a 115, as allocated to Marylebone, but some were based at Garston. Chris

I'm in danger of disrespecting former workmates at this point. The misguided bus in Cambs was one product of a multi-modal study called CHUMMS. The idea was that a public trsnsport solution should be in place before improvement plans for the A14 were taken forward. That bit is fine but consultants were paid good public money to come up with this wretched idea! Even better is that the plans for the A14 include replacing the length around/through Huntingdon with a new alignment closely following an altern ative route put forward in the 1970s by the MP before last for Huntingdon. Now, of course, we have draconian cuts in public spending so we have no funds for improving the A14 and new infrastructure gathering dust and other substances. This is what made Britain great. Chris

Indeed. The Capitals United was the first titled train to gain a Mk 1 RU in lieu of its GW diners, in August 1957. The 117s and 118s weren't built with gangways either but were retro-fitted. Chris

This would be an exceedingly good basis for a flush glazed coach. Think about it: the thickness of the steel in which the windows sit must scale down to about the thickness of a coat of paint! Chris

7804, 7813 and 7254. They were converted in 1961 and painted dark green. 7804 appeared before this puzzled 13 year old spotter at Paddington on the first day of the winter 1961-62 timetable marshalled in a Bristol-based 119 set in, of course, almost-but-not-quite-malachite green. The working was 8.15 am Frome - Paddington, 1.18 pm Paddington - Oxford, 3.45 pm Oxford - Paddington and 6.5 pm Paddington - Westbury. Chris Afterthought: anyone wanting a choc-cream example may like to know that three BCKs were converted to slip coaches in 1958 and painted in that livery. Slip working of course ceased in 1960 so the "new" slip coaches were redeployed to branch line work. On the face of it, says he without a detailed examination of the model, the conversion doesn't look too difficult if anyone fancies it!

Checking e-mails, or rather not checking them, does seem to be their weak spot. I wanted to buy some bits'n'pieces from them at St Albans but about half were out of stock. I printed out the unanswered e-mails and took them to Nottingham, two months later, where a full and frank discussion ensued, my outstanding order was completed and profuse apologies proffered. It appears that they have not learned from this. Chris

Granted, but if he had read his RO a few months before he would have known about this one! Chris

Some more on the 103s, courtesy of the insomnia pile: To replace W55025 [CTN101] and W55026 [CTN102] on the Cymmer – Bridgend service M50413+56168 and M50414+56169 were transferred to Canton from Chester in May 1970. The two power cars were formed into set CTN100 and the trailers stored. The two displaced 121 cars were then used as additional power cars on the Cardiff – Crewe service. The 103 power cars were clearly an outstanding success [not] for on 7th June they were reunited with their trailers and sent to Reading, replaced at Canton by W55022 [CTN10] and W55023 [CTN103]. They were put to work on the Henley branch. By November 1970 four 103 sets were based at Reading [50411-4 and 56166-9, sets RDG111-4] working on diagrams taking them to Marlow, Windsor, Greenford and, as a special treat on Sundays, Paddington. On 7th January 1971 50413+56168 failed on the Henley branch and were replaced by taxis until a 3-car 123 set could be found. On 27th August 1971 50414+56169 were on a Reading – Paddington diagram, which was described as most unusual. Perhaps that member didn’t get out much. Chris

According to the Railway Observer for January 1969 there were only two green sets left at Canton at the end of 1968. I expect the 1968 volume shed more light on the isue but that is still on my insomnia pile [a precarious heap of reading matter beside the bed!] Chris

The third batch of sets [commencing 51128+59438+51141] was actually intended for Bristol but it seems that many of them did not stay there long, partly due to service reductions. No joined-up thinking in those days either! As there seem to have been no official records until the mid 60s, what we know is down to observant people like Brian and the amazingly vigilant membership of the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society: the pages of the RCTS magazine, Railway Observer, are fascinating to comb! The Tyseley sets were soon pick'n'mixed and the Cardiff ones were always being lent to other depots, such as when the 117s were late being delivered and Cardiff supplied sets to Reading. The set numbers were first reported in 1958. At that time CAT was Cardiff Cathays and the numbers extended from 300 to 355, though whether Cathays ever had enough sets to run the service is a good question. CDF was Cardiff Canton and the ten sets that worked in the Eastern and Western Valleys out of Newport, CDF400-409, were based here for maintenance. When the Cross-Country sets began to arive they were given numbers in the 500 series. At this time the number was displayed on a little green plate fixed to the solebars of the power cars. TYS was Tyseley of course, BL was Bristol, SHL was Southall, RDG Reading and LA Plymouth Laira. Each depot numbered its sets in its own series so when the 117s eventually arrived they started off SHL300 onwards and RDG300 onwards. As the years went by minds were changed about how sets would be numbered and where the numbers would be displayed. Tyseley was out of the picture as far as the WR was concerned as it had been transferred to the LMR in 1963. Sets were renumbered when they were fitted with gangways so renumbering was a fairly constant process! Eventually the whole region adopted a common series: 1xx for bubble cars, 3xx for 116s, 4xx for 117s and 118s, 5xx for 3-car cross-country, 6xx for 2-car cross-country and 7xx for 123s. The divisions where they were based and the set numbers were displayed under the cab windows, eg L403, P357, C450, B501. The 121 pictured at Bristol a few posts ago should have been displaying B134! Having a common series reduced the need to renumber sets as they were reallocated: it seems that in the early days Laira renumbered their sets every time there was an influx or egress. Well, I find it fascinating even if no-one else does! Chris