Pennine MC

Small pic of progress on these in Hornby mag - mentions that different stanchion patterns will be available, which is encouraging

I see we're feeding the bulging granary of D&E myth again With respect to Neil (nice pic BTW), it's dark because it's a dark photo. The 'D' wasnt abandoned until late '68, after the end of steam. Lots of locos received blue livery before that I dont doubt for a minute that the loco pictured is blue, but the logic re- the data panel is completely flawed, I'm afraid. From late 1968, literally hundreds of locos had TOPS data stickers applied to green (or maroon) paintwork - photos arent exactly hard to find these days

Looking good as always Jonathan. If I hadnt been late to the party, I'd also have suggested replacing the roof - it makes sense, as the detail on the kit one is wrong anyway As regards rainstrips, some (in BR days at least, and possibly on BR built vans) most definitely were straight and parallel to the roof edge as you've fitted, although it wasnt the most common pattern; this is one of those things that many years ago I took fa -arr too much of an interest in and mentally logged any variation I came across in photo albums. I take Mike's point about their possible effectiveness, but would cite the later BR standard vans in this connection, which had a straight 3-part strip with slight gaps. I would say that the most common pattern - and possibly your safest option, unless you understandably dont want to disturb things again - is a slightly longer (but still straight) strip which runs inwards from the corner at maybe 25 - 30 degrees, or the slightly arced pattern as on Mike's van I've no idea what the LNER GA shows (would this have been binding on the works anyway?) but I think every drawing I've ever seen shows the very sharply curved strips like those on the kit mouldings - I've never seen any photographic evidence of this and I feel it must be very unlikely as it just wouldnt be possible to get the batten into that shape without specialised forming processes, which I wouldnt have thought would be worthwhile

Bernard will correct me if I'm wrong (he's older than me) but said immigrants were (amongst other things of course) employed on the Underground and the buses. So the 'cleaner jobs available' argument stands, and is why the oft-trotted out is a flawed concept which ignores wider social factors Not sure that 'all at once' is truly reflective either, from 1957 (as a convenient date, the introduction of Modernisation Plan diesels plus the gathering pace of DMU building) to 1968 is hardly overnight even if it was quicker than planned

ISTR at least one shot of a 26-hauled local including a blue/grey coach and with Vanfits on the back. Dont ask me where though

And as ever, study of (too many) photos will reveal other variations Cue for a party then

Thank goodness I'm not the only one - it always amazes me how many folk use them without alteration

Yup.

Um, why Google link

Didnt see the original query David, but I can confirm that the brake layout is correct now - the mods you've made to the brakegear mouldings are pretty much what I settled on several years ago. Another way to improve the safety straps BTW is to cut 'em right off and replace with bent-up staples

Didnt one Mr Pisczcek once have the idea to do one of those

At that date (three months before the end of steam), it would still have the 'D' (and I can make out the serifs in the enlargement - does anybody agree?). The '1', being a narrow character, would be relatively squeezed up between that and the '4', but has evidently been lost somewhere in the process. It's certainly not D4 for obvious reasons, and as I said before, D24 wouldnt have had nose doors, nor would any higher numbered splitboxes like D84 or D94 (and D84 was named so is definitely out) Anybody else any thoughts?

Ha, all that proves is you were there on that day (in fact not even that) I dont see why it wouldnt be, Bruce - the second digit does look like '4' and very, very few splitbox Peaks actually had doors in the nose so it wont be a higher number. Also D14 would have been a Holbeck loco, so very likely to be on the route

Reference to Brush Vet's post - and pic - on the previous page of this thread should also settle this

Dont think you've quite thought this one through, matey - if the train engine isnt allowed to shunt with passengers on board, why does that not apply to the pilot as well? I'm also a tad bemused as to why folk would get *onto* a train when its loco was going for refuelling...

It's maybe stating the obvious but you could just as easily talk of a yard pilot for moving wagons, a shed pilot for moving dead locos and those wagons which found their way into such places, or a carriage pilot which would be tasked specifically with duties in, to and from carriage sidings. It's an intriguing word, pilot, as well as the above it can also mean (as others have stated) either an assisting engine or a standby loco to cover for failures. I think it has also been used in the connection of a light engine running ahead of a Royal train Before that there was 08531, which in the late 70s was painted what was effectively a smart version of green-with-TOPS (it was roughly contemporary with 40106) To round out the Liverpool St info, 20s were also briefly used c1969; without checking dates, they were probably direct replacements for the 15s

Well that's an original slant on the 'we soooo need another model of the 37' debate

I am a nice bloke, so when I say that's useless, it only looks like an insult

Doesnt look a bit like a finger

Not sure if it's a good idea to see this thread as something competitive, shouldnt we just accept stuff for what it is... Agreed, the garden shot is particularly atmospheric IMO

Geoff, I dont say this lightly but that milk tanker is probably one of the most convincingly weathered freight vehicles I've ever seen - it certainly belies its origins and proves that overall appearance and colouration are just as (or more) important than absolute fidelity to prototype