James Makin

The opposition fights back! 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Whilst Didcot was a hub for EWS activities, the location saw numerous Freightliner container services passing through, connecting up places like Felixstowe and Southampton with Crewe Basford Hall and beyond, so it's only right to bolster the core motive power fleet with another couple of examples for good measure. 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Joining the fleet today are Class 47s No. 47197 and 47206 The Morris Dancer, modelled in late 1998 condition using the original Bachmann model as donors for a fun repaint project. 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr This might be considered a surprising origin! Back at the Ally Pally show last year, East Kent Models (EKM) were selling off the Anglia 47714 bodyshells at just £12 each, and me being me, having a thing for 'Duffs' and unable to walk away from a bargain, pugged away a stack for future projects like this! Here we can see above the printing being scraped away, to form the basis for Freightliner's 47206 The Morris Dancer. Meanwhile, the source of 47197 came from a more unlikely source, a certain RfD 47 body... 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Long-time readers may remember some of my earlier projects, and as the skills and experiences grow over time I start to re-visit earlier things, and my model of 47241 Halewood Silver Jubilee 1988 tackled way back in 2017, that just kept irking me! 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr I wasn't completely happy with the loco - the side shown here was fine, but the other side that never appeared in the photos was a bit of a blunder - it was on this loco I learnt my lesson on leaving varnish for 30 days+ before weathering - a load got stripped off and despite bodging a repair, I was never fully satisfied. So it was with mixed emotions I stripped off the old bodyshell and set to work - a brand new and much-improved 47241 will appear further down the line. 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr A complete triple-grey repaint ensued, using Phoenix colours and a custom faded Flint Grey recipe to complete. The yellow and two side greys were sprayed on, whilst the black and roof grey were just brush painted on - a great time saver and you can't tell it wasn't sprayed once a coat of varnish goes on! Next, the bodyshells are coated with gloss varnish, then Railtec decals and a set of etched plates added, before giving a coat of matt varnish - and importantly waiting a month for the varnish to harden - I've learnt my lesson..! 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Now waiting a month between stages can be quite boring, so what I'll tend to do is have a load of other projects going on the background to chop and change between, and then come back to it when the time is right. 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Armed with some Avril Lavigne, work could start in applying the usual wash stages, some browns and dark greys to represent a mix of road grime and exhaust dirt, brought vertically down the bodysides by rainfall. 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The streaking can be achieved by thinning the paint and gradually removing the paint around the area where the streak is intended to sit, following prototype photographs for guidance. 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Freightliner's machines were generally kept in pretty good external condition, so only a very light coat of traffic weathering was applied with the airbrush, a sprinkle of brake dust and track dirt, followed up by some roof dirt and a mix of black & blue on the roof exhaust area to complete. 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr There's something delightfully average about the Freightliner locos, at the time I was never that enthused by them - they were normally recently-repainted in uniform triple grey and so for me the EWS locos stole the glory, but as time has passed, just the thought of any '47' now seems a very pleasant concept! 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr My model of 47197 is now set for its new life as a Freightliner machine, having lost its tatty Railfreight Distribution garb and set to take up container train duties on Didcot Parkway when it's all finished. The one thing in common that the machine shares with it's old guise of 47241 is the flush headcode at the No.1 end. 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr In real life, Brush Type 4 No. D1847 was delivered new to British Rail's 5A Crewe Diesel Depot in June 1965, and would go on to see spells at Glasgow Eastfield, Crewe and Bescot during the 1970s and 80s, before settling down into the Cardiff petroleum fleet as Sectorisation took hold from the late 80s. The machine would gain the legendary Trainload Petroleum colours, which it would later swap for Distribution diamond stickers upon transfer to the Tinsley fleet in 1993. Eventually, the machine passed to Freightliner and a repaint came to the current colours seen here in 1998. 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr One of the interesting things about 47197 was that it was fitted with sandboxes and bogie modifications as part of the improvement trials being developed for the forthcoming Freightliner Class 57s. It was also given the classic 'Crewe cut' cab, with the bufferbeam cowling removed and the front welded up to reduce drafts for the drivers. 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Finishing touches to the model included drybrushing Humbrol Metalcote gunmetal on the raised surfaces of the chassis and cantrail grilles. 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr I love economies of scale, so why do just one Freightliner '47' when you can do two..! 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The fifth Freightliner 'Duff' to be added to the fleet so far is 47206 The Morris Dancer. There were a few interesting 'namers' back in the day, and this one always caught the eye! 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr One consistent factor between picking these two machines was the full array of underframe tanks - I had a glut of these leftover from previous '47' projects, so it is a big swapsie's recycling exercise here making the most of the assets available. 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The Morris Dancer etched nameplates were affixed with matt varnish, my reasoning being that if any squeezes out then it'll disappear under the final coat of varnish, and you have hours of drying time to get the position just right. 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr There were little damages and marks on 47206, so these were replicated with a small 5/0 brush, gently touching in the marks following prototype pics - on the sides and yellow ends around the headcode panel recesses. 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Much like it's sibling covered here, this loco, D1856 was also delivered to 5A Crewe Diesel Depot, just two months later in August 1965. From here, their respective paths separated however - with transfers to Nottingham, Willesden and Cricklewood on the cards, before forging a long career in Scotland, being based out of Eastfield for much of the 70s and 80s, only really moving South as sectorisation took hold. It would find a new home at Tinsley in 1988 under the auspices of Trainload Distribution, receiving those Morris Dancer plates in 1994, and only two years later it would find itself being newly painted into the now-classic Freightliner triple grey, along with its 'Crewe-cut' cab modifications at the same time. 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Having been delivered so close together, to then moving apart and becoming united again under the Freightliner banner, the two machines would go on to have a very different outcome after the period modelled. 47197 soldiered on in service with Freightliner until eventual storage in 2005, finally being broken up by TJ Thomson at Stockton in 2008. 47206 meanwhile, would see its Freightliner service cut short, with storage in December 2001. All was not lost however, as it was selected to be part of the later tranche of the Class 57 programme, being converted into 57605, and is still in service today with Great Western Railway, as Totnes Castle. 47197 and 47206 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Creating these two machines has been especially fun, both giving a new lease of life to a dodgy old model and turning a bargain-basement cast-off bodyshell into something useful going forward, quite rewarding considering the outcome is just a pair of very average mundane working locos that I thought were really quite boring back in the day! 😂 Cheers, James

Haha, very true! In fairness to them this piece would've been around 1997-98 so maybe plans changed, or it was just complete misinformation from the start..! 🤣 I was in my early teens reading the article so my thoughts turned to how many locos I could get with my paper round at the time - could've had a little fleet going in the back garden! Going back to Cavalex Class 60s - may I humbly request Mainline Grey for consideration? As a shock exposé(!) I found that Fox Transfers' Class 60 'Mainline' logos are scaled wrongly for 4mm and so it's currently impossible to produce an accurate Mainline grey class 60 without otherwise resorting to the old Hornby 'Canisp' release (which even then has logos printed in slightly the wrong place on one side) - please be our salvation chaps! Cheers James

I recall reading a feature in RAIL way back when the 66s were new which stated that they could be purchased for a nominal £1 each after the 15-year lease had expired - sounded a bargain to me 😂

Thanks Steve! I've done a few wagon projects on here, I rarely tend to bother with whipping out an airbrush for wagons so it'll normally be a mix of browns, blacks and light greys mottled on the underframe in a semi-random order, all wet and at the same time, so some mixing goes on, whilst on the wagon itself! I'll then often finish off with a drybrushing gunmetal on the hard edges to highlight certain parts and touching in things like the brake levers with off-white paint, so as not to appear too bright! A few can be found here - Dutch OCA Wagons - https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/44066-james-makins-workbench-1990s-dirty-diesels-grotty-wagons/?do=findComment&comment=5054424 Accurascale EWS MHA Wagons - https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/44066-james-makins-workbench-1990s-dirty-diesels-grotty-wagons/?do=findComment&comment=5081008 Scratchbuilt TUA Wagons - https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/44066-james-makins-workbench-1990s-dirty-diesels-grotty-wagons/?do=findComment&comment=4999184 VAA Wagons - https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/44066-james-makins-workbench-1990s-dirty-diesels-grotty-wagons/?do=findComment&comment=4923004 The Contents page on Page 1 of this thread has the full listing of projects but hope that helps get a flavour! Cheers, James

Aha now that would be great fun to pull together! I’ll have to see what I can do! Fitting them in a picture might be an interesting challenge, I surprised myself recently having counted 67 completed Bachmann ‘47’ projects in the collection, eek! There’s a few more in the pipeline/eventual to-do list, but we’re about there with a proportional cross-section of the entire 47 fleet in the 1998-99 timeline, way more than I’ll ever need for a Didcot Parkway operating sequence but everyone’s gotta have their vices I guess 😂

The big question this week - how weathered is too weathered? 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Now I just love a forlorn freight '47' - parts of the former Railfreight Distribution fleet were in a terrible by the late 90s - the ones that didn't get painted into the lovely 'Euro' colours soon took on an overall palette of grime and ingrained filth - so it was only right to represent these in the growing fleet. But this just looks like an oversplattered rush job right, that can't be realistic? As Gareth Bayer's superb 1998-dated image of 47304 shows, there is a prototype for everything! 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr I do love taking on a challenge from time to time, and after seeing Gareth's photo, it was only going to go one way..! Alongside this, a myriad of other 1998-dated pics from all angles were downloaded from Flickr and meticulously copied to create this filthy little rotter! I rarely tend to share the prototype pics with my features but with this one so dirty, it felt needed somehow...but anyway, let's get on with the story! 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The model started out life as a Bachmann WCRC '47', offloaded cheaply from a mate thinning down the collection, and perfect as a donor model for 47304, with a few choice mods and lashings of grey paint. 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr One of the harder parts of the triple grey repaints is just making sure that the paint lines are both in the right place, and not wonky! I use a mixture of measuring the heights with rulers and the rest going by eye - after all, if it looks wrong in 'tape' form - it'll look far worse once painted! I try to get the height right at one end, and then put the Tamiya tape under a lot of tension as it's stretched out down the loco bodyshell and then affixed at the other end. Once satisfied, I'll then put in cut lines around the panel gaps for the bodyside door, using a sharp scalpel. I work from light to dark - undercoat, then yellow, then rail grey, then a light flint grey, and a darker roof grey to complete. And then in a flash, here we are! 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Once the paint layers are added, I then gloss varnish the bodyshell, and touch up any ragged edges and defects (there are always some!), and add decals from Railtec, before adding a final layer of matt varnish to seal it all in. It may look neat, but there's always a fair amount of hand painting and touch ups, but these disappear under the final matt varnish coat - what a cheat! The weathering begins... 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Almost every Trainload Distribution loco had faded red & yellow diamonds by the close of the 90s - but look carefully and you'll see that each one weathers slightly differently, so we can't just use the ancient generic faded decals from Fox, if a job is worth doing, it's worth doing properly! Light yellow paint and faded pinks were used to recreate the new look on the logos - to be honest the only reason I used the lovely Railtec decal behind was to provide a good marker on where each element of colour should be on the loco! Next, the bodyshell was given an overall fade - my preference is to apply a coat of white or light grey paint, and then remove with kitchen towel - 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr It leaves a muted pale body colour, and also adds further fade to the logos too. Every recess will be filled with white paint, but not to fear, as this will soon be filled... 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr ...with a big coat of brown! 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The bodyshell is coated in two different shades of brown, painted on and wiped away, initially with a kitchen towel, to remove the bulk of the paint. I often go for almost neat paint, but you can get different effects with thinner washes - my advice is to experiment a bit and vary the technique to depend on what final effect you're looking for. 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Former Girls Aloud member Nicola Roberts (my favourite!) supplies the recommended background music to gently peel back the weathered brown paint layer, leaving slight streaking and dirt gathered in all the recesses on the bodyshell. One of the key differences in 47304 and many other locos tackled before, is the large amount of ingrained dirt on the side of the bodyshell. This is how it went on - 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Firstly, some neat brown paint was mottled onto the body with a large brush, and at the same time, dollops of Humbrol enamel thinners was also added too, leaving a blotchy brown soup on the body. 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Then, some really soft cotton buds (Co-Op's are my preference!) are used to roll around sideways on the body, absorbing the thinners and spreading the brown paint around in a haphazard manner on the lower bodysides. It's a case of trial and error, adding more paint until happy, and stripping back again if it ever looked too much, following photos at all time to make sure it isn't 'overcooked'! This was done with a couple of different brown shades, allowing plenty of time for the first layer to harden before moving on to the next. 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr One of the fun details on 47304 was the ghosting left behind from when it previously carried the nameplates Cory Brothers 1842-1992 - which it lost in 1995, and all that could be seen were the rusty boltholes and surface marks on the grey bodysides. These were painted on with a fine 5/0 brush, and a few shades of brown working from light to dark. 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Delivered to British Rail's 41A Tinsley depot in December 1964, Brush Type 4 No. D1785 would go on to have a strong association with the North East, seeing spells at Immingham and Thornaby, before going on to be one of Knottingly's fleet of 47/3s seeing service on numerous merry-go-round coal trains during the 1970s. The early 1980s would bring about a reallocation to North Eastern petroleum traffic, serving out of Thornaby, Tinsley and Immingham depots, before finally settling into the Trainload Distribution fleet as part of the sectorisation process, and swapping its Rail Blue for the red diamonds in late 1990. 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Humbrol Metalcote Gun Metal was dry brushed on the bogies and cantrail grille slats to bring out the detail on the roof. 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr 47304 had a lot of interesting marks on the body, with faded yellow ends, lots of paint chips and patches of Rail Blue showing through the grey, which was great fun to pick out with the fine brushes. 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr There were many strange marks on the loco, luckily this loco was photographed extensively and platforms like Flickr make it easy to find pics from every possible angle. 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The Distribution logo had a different level of fade on each side, it must've got caught in the sun one side more than another! 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr One tiny little feature I modelled with trepidation was the wonky end number at the No.1 end - the '4' sits just too far about the '30' - promise it wasn't just an accidental slip during modelling 😂 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Down on the underframe, the usual level of detailing was carried out - screw couplings added, along with a wire hoop at one end for working with tension-lock-fitted stock, and air pipes, a mix of Bachmann ones and 0.45mm brass wires, bent to shape. 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Up on the roof, the loco was given a coat of roof dirt, dirty black and a custom mix of black & dark blue. Again, more Humbrol gunmetal was drybrushed on the raised detail to bring it out - very useful stuff! 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr By the 1990s, the loco had become a Tinsley stalwart, and around the same time as being given the Cory Brothers 1842-1992 nameplates, it was briefly renumbered as 47392. However, both of these were short lived and the loco returned to anonymity again back as 47304 in late 1995. With the onset of privatisation, the loco would pass into EWS ownership upon purchase of Railfreight Distribution in 1997. 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Bringing the story up to date, 47304 would continue in service with EWS for just a short time, being sidelined in February 1999, and sadly to be later cut up at Wigan CRDC in May 2000, a fate shared with so many classmates of the era. 47304 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr It's been lovely to add another over-weathered mess to the fleet once again! As with many loco projects, when undertaking these I often have a final destination in mind, and I can see this as part of a hard working RfD double-header at the long automotive train - looking forward to the Revolution Rover car-cubes coming! Cheers, James

That particular one will look incredible with some grime lodged into the grilles - I'm very much looking forward to it arriving!

Lovely Rob, it is a great pastime reading the old mags back! I’ve still got some dog-eared RAILs of the time that I’d taken away on spotting visits, sometimes crumpled while hastily getting the camera and binoculars out of the bag when a surprise headlight would pop into view further down the line..! Rail Express is also right up there in entertainment, all those golden issues from back in the day with Murray/Phil/Gareth & Simon are very much treasured!

Cheers Rich, these days I have to make myself notes on the phone to remember the various parts from the different sources to avoid missing them! Brian’s lovely parts are slightly harder to obtain than the instant click & deliver from say Railtec or Fox’s so I certainly make a point of saving up and doing a big list in one go! The Calvert binliner went through Didcot, a whole variety of dog-eared 47s and then a fair few 58s at the helm when I saw it and then before long it became a red Shed turn of course!

Whilst I love a good 'no-heat' freight 47, here are a couple of 'hotties'..! 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Adding both a touch of class and a streak of depravity, joining the fleet today is GWR150's dirty-stopout 47484 Isambard Kingdom Brunel and battered 47523 with it's unofficial 'Railfreight' name, both modelled in 1998 condition under EWS ownership. 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr As ever, the start point was the venerable old-generation Bachmann '47' - and the product of finding some cheap bodyshells from East Kent Models. The Intercity Mainline liveried-'Tamar' bodyshell and a GWR 'Sir Daniel Gooch' shell were picked up at last year's Ally Pally show - I never had an urge for a GWR celebrity but with the green bodyshell going for just £17.50, I couldn't just leave it there now..! 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr In both cases, the old printed details just fell away from the bodyshells with a spit of enamel thinners, applied on a cotton bud and left to do it's thing - leaving nothing but a slightly shiny finish behind. 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Whilst the liveries matched what I wanted to create, there was a bit of work in getting the details themselves correct on the shells - 47484 had a flush end, so it was out with the filler, meanwhile 47523 needed a revised boiler arrangement and bespoke headcode panel marker lights, more of which later. 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Once these bits were done, the new identities could go on, having been given a coat of gloss varnish, the Railtec decals were added to 47523, including a Railfreight decal from one of the packs available of distressed stickers - how much of a timesaver is that! 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The fun part was of course the weathering stage - by 1998, 47523 was a complete eyesore! Having applied a coat of matt varnish, left to harden for a month, I set about fading the bodyshell by applying a coat of white paint, then wiped away with a kitchen towel, muting the colours in an instant. 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Next, I set about adding the specific fade marks on the body, following prototype pics of every angle - the wonders of Flickr! A fine 5/0 paintbrush was used to pick out each element as needed, using both whites and light greys to get a range of faded shades. 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr After this, and having allowed more hardening time for the paint, normal service could resume regarding weathering! Several paint-on & wipe-off shades of browns and greys were then layered on top, building in a range of colours to match the hues seen on the prototypes in 1998 photographs. 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Then, little fine details such as rust patches, scratches and damages could then be picked out on the bodyshell, in line with other loco projects tackled recently. Finally, the bodyshell was reattached to the chassis and given a traffic weathering, including shades of Phoenix's 'Brake Dust' and 'Track Dirt' across the chassis. 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr It's nice to pick out the bogies with a small amount of Humbrol Metalcote Gunmetal, so with a soundtrack of Johnny Flynn, the oily shades were painted on, and once dry, given a gentle polish with cotton buds to bring out the shine on the raised detail. 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr It's almost 'Beauty and the Beast' as grotty 47523 sits alongside the pomped-up 47484! 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr New to British Rail's 87E Swansea Landore depot in February 1965, Brush Type 4 No. D1662 would receive the famous Isambard Kingdom Brunel plates just one month into service and so began a very long association with the Western Region, being shedded at a range of depots including Swansea, Cardiff Canton and Bristol Bath Road. 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr To further cement the machine's fame, it would take part in the GWR 150th Anniversary in 1985, being one of several machines gaining the lined green livery, complete with new brass nameplates and BR arrows to accompany the retro homage to the Great Western Railway. 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The flush ends on the model were filled with Humbrol model filler, sanded smooth, and a gentle repaint of the yellow end, carefully trying to avoid any chance of having to re-do the lined green finish, which would've been a nightmare! 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Fox Transfers' etched brass plates and number plaques were added, fixed in place with matt varnish, whilst an orange cantrail line was added to the Bachmann GWR bodyshell. 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Other details added to the model were representations of the ETH equipment - the essential feature to heat those long rakes of Mk1 coaches back in the day! This was connected to the homemade socket on the bufferbeam using very fine fuse wire - but removable to allow the body to be taken off for maintenance. 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Classy 47484 might be the showstopper but 47523 wants to get a look in! 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr In contrast to the Western Region darling above, 47523 was one of the last batch of 'Brush 4s' delivered new in November 1966, as D1106 to 50A York depot, and was allocated to a whole string of Eastern Region depots, including spells at Thornaby, Immingham and Gateshead. As sectorisation took hold, the locomotive would be allocated to the Parcels sector and later, Rail express systems. 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr As the 1990s drew on, under privatisation the machine would fall under the wing of EWS, and much like 47484, would go into the LWCW pool on TOPS - an elite bunch of grotty old locos seeing out their service across a range of infrastructure and ballast trains across the country, awaiting eventual withdrawal. 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr However, there was still some life left for 47523 as it received a little bit of love - someone applied the unofficial Railfreight name sticker on each side, and even gave it a black headcode at one end to help it stand out - and in this condition it even had a few turns deputising for the top-link 47/8s on Virgin CrossCountry services! 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The model was fun to recreate as it had numerous paint chips, including lots of yellow around the front ends, and whites and greys along the sides, as well as rusty marks too, a very absorbing model to work on! 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The oily exhaust deposits going down the side were created by running dark grey paint (never black!) down the side and gently wiping away the unwanted mess with cotton buds, leaving the desired paint marks in place. 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Up on the roof, the locos received an initial paint-on/wipe-off layer of dark grey over the faded base shades, and then airbrush layers of dark greys and my mix of black & dark blue for the most concentrated oily exhaust deposits. 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr One last peculiarity on 47523 was the oddly-placed headcode markers at the No.1 end! The solution here was an unusual one - the old markers were filled in and marker light decals from Railtec replace the originals - there are a few strange headcode panels out there, and this is definitely one of them! 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr It was great fun to model the loco - interestingly it became the last Intercity Mainline '47' left in operation on the network - the ugly duckling's final claim to fame! 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Bringing the story full circle, as many will know, 47484 Isambard Kingdom Brunel is still with us - the machine being withdrawn from service by EWS in Summer 1998, and can today be found, albeit stripped of plates and looking somewhat forlorn, at the RSS yard at Wishaw in the West Midlands. Meanwhile, 47523 Railfreight had a good life, the former D1106 soldiered on in frontline service until withdrawal by EWS in January 1999, after which it joined the ranks of the many fallen locos to be set aside for component recovery at the Wigan CRDC, with final scrapping completed in May 2000. 47484 and 47523 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr I'm excited to be adding these two varied and interesting beasts to the rolling stock roster, and as LWCW pool members, they will have a solid place on my Didcot Parkway hauling some of the eclectic range of freights just as the real machines did, eking out their final years on the network. Cheers, James

Thanks ever so much Cav! I may well fit sound at a later date, for now doing the economy option! I’ve just put in an order at DC Kits for the 59619s, and look forward to getting the beasties going! Cheers, James

A quick silly question if I may please, is the below decoder the right kind of ESU Loksound (59029) one to go in these please? I’m a bit of a technophobe in some respects so just wanted to double check before ordering the wrong ones! Many thanks! James

Aha thanks very much! There's always bargains to be found somewhere I think! They tend to pop up when least expected, for example at DEMU Showcase last year, tucked away on Charlie/DC Kits' stand had a gaggle of Hornby 60s going for £75 each, and it was rude not to liberate 3 of them for a new life..! Mind you, back in the day (how old am I sounding now, eek!) I used to have a little saying "£60 for a '60'" that would be my ceiling price for a used Hornby 60, until prices did start to go northward on the second hand as well as the new items. As a club we'd be out at shows several times a year with Loftus Road, giving ample time to find bargains over a weekend and you'd come away with multiple carrier bags full of recent releases all at those kind of prices - it felt good then, but we didn't know just how lucky we were at the time..! The smaller shows & swapmeets/toy fairs are also great sources for surprise bargains too, so I try and make an effort to scout out local ones, but you never know what you're going to stumble across! It also pays to have a lot of cash stowed just in case they don't take cards and you've already just spent out on something else...I learnt my lesson some years back finding a trainload of about 20 (then rare) Bachmann RMC JGAs at £15 each and had to quickly nip out to a cash point to avoid missing out! Even now cash still seems to work well - I did a cash deal at the GETS show last year for a Bachmann 47 and saved a tenner off the price - you can sense when certain secondhand traders are open to deals to clear their items, so I tend to just smile really sweetly and politely ask "what's your best price for cash?" and then stay completely silent until the trader responds with their offer. I've been told I've got quite a young face and you sometimes get the impression from their response that they think I'm just starting out in the hobby - if only they knew the true state of the addiction..! 😄 Ellis Clark Trains is a source for many of the wagons I've got - honest secondhand prices and great guys to deal with - my first go-to stand at any venue they're trading at. One of the good skills is to do like you have with your threads Jules - the ability to paint things up and weather means that you don't need to be picky finding secondhand items - any livery or condition and it doesn't matter as it'll end up changed beyond recognition! Ironically I've had some fun recently having bought newer items that are being offloaded by friends - locos in liveries such as Colas and DB Schenker, and now being put back into their old BR liveries for use on my layout - it is strangely satisfying! Cheers, James

That is most interesting, I’ll have to keep an eye out for anything like that on mine, I must admit doing the same as you as fixing together random spares to make a few dummy locos, it is good fun! EKM are normally at Ally Pally and still appeared to still have a giant selection of Bachmann 47/57 bogies back at Warley so one would hope they still have some good pickings in due course!

Awesome stuff as ever Rich! I’m curious as to the Bachmann chassis block not fitting the body, I’ve never encountered this yet (with the old gen model) and thought that as far as I can see they are all interchangeable (mins the cutaway/original bufferbeam versions) - do you know where it has trouble? The bit I get occasionally is a mismatch in the cab moulding/under screw not always aligning properly and needing fettling, and the odd loco where one or more screws just spin in the holes, so I’m most intrigued!

Cheers Rich, and agree on the livery - simple but elegant! I'm amazed at how well the paintwork has stood up on those examples that still carry it - whether like the 60s that are stored in Toton or even the 92s in their original grey, that has stood up to some serious time and still looks pretty reasonable! Fingers crossed you get a good price for your 60! I've found some real bargains at shows in recent times, as well as a few friends offloading their examples, in the shadow of the Cavalex model coming it is a great time to be boosting your Hornby 'Tug' fleet ironically! I reckon you could do with a bigger fiddle yard 😉 Thanks Rob! Those are some great guesses, 007 would be lovely to do, though I can state now it won't be 086 as I've tackled this a couple of years back on the outgoing Hornby model - They were great fun to do at the time but I am looking forward to getting started on my two new-gen Cavalex 56s, and looking forward to getting some weathering on the very 3D-bogies, a huge difference on the Hornby ones! Cheers, James

Time to conquer Ben Lui..! 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Gently picking off the '60's one by one, it was only a matter of time before a former Trainload Metals machine would get added to the fleet, and here we can now welcome 60031 Ben Lui, modelled in early 1998 condition. 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr I've a soft spot for all the Trainload sectors, and though my favourite one still alternates on a regular basis, it's hard not to like the bold yellow and blue chevrons that still look so fresh, even some 37 years since first being unveiled. Where to start? Much as I'd love a nice Cavalex '60' when it drops, for now we'll make do with a bargain used Hornby one, and picked up for £70, couldn't say fairer than that! 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The donor model was once a Mainline Grey 'Canisp' example, with the old branding removed back to the base colours and gloss varnished, ready for the new decals to be applied. Railtec's excellent Trainload decals were added, alongside numbers and electrification flashes where needed. 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr At this stage of the project, a couple of the unique details could be added - the bodyside doors on one side was a slightly lighter grey than the rest of the loco, and interestingly, a little bit of the blue triangle was missing from the sector logo, so this was carefully cut away before the model was finally sealed with a coat of Railmatch matt varnish. 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The bodyshell was then left for around a month for the varnish layer to harden, after which the invasive paint-on & wipe-off layers of weathering could commence - the dangers of not waiting could be that the varnish layer is accidentally stripped off when enamel thinners is used for the washes, so it's worth waiting! I know many modellers have moved over to acrylics these days but I'm a bit basic and just stick to my old fashioned techniques, I may do some experimenting one day with the new generation of acrylics that seem to have moved on a whole load since first fettling with them in the late 90s! 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Time for the weathering stage, and accompanied by a lovely bit of Röyksopp, the layers of browns were added onto the luscious triple grey body - starting with shades of Humbrol 113 and Humbrol 251. 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr I tend to vary the application of the paints depending upon the final look being sought, in this case going for nearly-neat paint, but other times I'll mix a large amount of thinners - you get a feel over time fo the effect you're looking for and how much to thin the paint, it is ideal for a bit of trial and error! Next, a kitchen towel is used to wipe vertically downward and remove most of the paint in one go: 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Thanks to the layer of matt varnish applied previously, the paint will then cling to the bodyside, leaving you the option to remove as much as you like, using cotton buds dipped in enamel thinners - letting you create streaks dirt patches as you wish. 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr One feature of 60031 noted from photographs of the time, was an ingrained dirt build up on the bodyside around one end of the bodyshell, and this was recreated by rolling a cotton bud around in some thinned paint on the body, with lots of fettling before getting the effect being sought! As well as this, Ben Lui also had a long scrape on the side too - possibly some sort of shunting yard mishap maybe? 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Regardless of how it happened, it was recreated by running a strip of Tamiya masking tape down the side, and touching in the relevant areas with a fine 5/0 brush and three different shades of brown and grey paint to replicate the damages. 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr 60031 in all its glory! The bold blue and yellow of the Trainload Metals markings really set off the triple grey, it is a shame that more of the Metals machines didn't make it far into the privatisation period, '031 was one of the very last! 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The machine would lose one of its Ben Lui nameplates around 1996 - leaving just bolt holes and a few marks where it used to be - presumably liberated 'unofficially' and perhaps still out there on someone's wall, all these years later... 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr After reassembly of the bodyshell, the chassis had the full-depth bufferbeams added at both ends, and the tension-lock coupler and self-catering swing function entirely removed, to be replaced with a 0.33mm brass wire loop, drilled into the chassis and superglued in place, to allow the usual bufferbeam pipe detailing to be fitted, yet still haul tension-lock-fitted stock. 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr A view here showing the somewhat forlorn bodyside on 60031! The scrapes and damaged sector logo add to the character of the machine, whilst it would've been lovely to model the loco in peak ex-works condition, it's fun to do something that portrays the hard life and bad luck they often experienced! 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Up on the roof, the exhaust silencer was painted in several rusty shades, along with a bit of talcum powder mixed in for texture, before being coated with shades of roof dirt, dirty black and my custom black/blue exhaust fume mix too. 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr A driver was added in the cab - one of the cheap eBay Chinese 1:75 figures was chopped up and painted up, and homemade blinds added in each windscreen too. 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr 60031 was a hard working beast! New to BR's Trainload Metals sector in 1990, the locomotive was allocated to Thornaby and wore the iconic Kingfisher depot plaques, with the legacy of its time there being the scars left on the cabside where the plaques were removed in 1997. 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The geographical names on the '60's were most magical - namesake Ben Lui being one of the Scottish 'Munro's in the Grampian mountains of northeast Argyll, and measuring in at 3,710 feet tall. 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr One of the fun little oddities seen on 60031 was the damaged No.2 end - a big punt in on the yellow just inboard of the buffer on the secondman's side - after some head scratching, this was achieved using a soldering iron, and touching in the damage with some spare yellow paint! Completing the story, the real 60031 would go on to lose its remaining Ben Lui plate later in 1998, and then swapped the 'Metals' colours for a shiny coat of EWS red in 2002, along with a new name - ABP Connect. The mighty beast would continue in service until storage by DBS in 2009, after which it would see out the remainder of its years to date in the confines of Toton yard, alongside its many classmates all awaiting their final fate. 60031 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr It's been great fun bringing this one to life, part of the special club of '60's to retain the original sector colours into privatisation and into the history books, and what a looker it was back then! Cheers, James

I was very impressed how strong the backing colours held up to the debranding, it’s always a leap of faith with a new model type but it didn’t disappoint 😂 I used to remember the harrowing sheer panic from renumbering in the old Lima days when the yellow base plastic used to start appearing through the bodyshell 🤣 I’ve bought a couple of different ‘56’ releases so far, this one will be a Transrail but I’ll keep the identity a fun surprise for when it gets the full Workbench unveiling in a little while! It’ll be on my thread when the final paintwork has dried..!

There’s a very feint texture ghosting of the logo but based on past experience I’d be more than comfortable just varnishing over that and having as an unbranded loco! It was a real struggle to angle the loco under direct light to see it (you can just see a bit of the diagonal chevron on the lower grey) but even without varnishing it’s so hard to see, and once the other varnish layers go on, that’ll fully disappear! Over time I’m planning a few unbranded and of course some lovely Transrail ones, pleased how smoothly the de-brand went, and the thinners was not even getting close to attacking the rail grey & flint grey - magic stuff!

Beautiful model guys! I’ve had my first pair for just 24hrs now, so it seemed wrong not to, er, start ruining them..! Here’s how easy the branding comes off with Humbrol enamel thinners - Nice big plop of thinners on the area, and leave for a good 30 secs or so, Then you can start to rub away, the printing takes a little bit of effort to get started but soon obliges… Then just keep going, slowly and surely but with not too much pressure and here we go, a lovely blank canvas! Maybe now time for a cup of ‘Big T’ 😛 Cheers James

Thanks for all the nice comments guys! Ah that is very kind! As it happens I was collared by Steve Farmer and Dave Tailby at the Warley show whilst looking at Steve's lovely O gauge 'Hillport Goods' layout and they made a very strong case for me taking up the big trains sport! It does look awfully tempting when you see the price of a Dapol '08' and just how much model you get for your money! Never say never I guess..! Thanks Mark! To be honest with these ones I did the numbers just by lining up the mixed Railtec numbers cobbled together from a variety of sheets I've collected in recent years - some of the sheets have got so many digits missing that they barely hold themselves together, they almost look like a doily! 🤣 I've started to use the pre-made up numbers on some of the EWS red stock though - all the 56s and 60s tackled in the last couple of year's batches are done this way, an absolute breeze! Then there are the next batch of the mighty ZKV 'Barbel' wagons coming that Steve ever so kindly took the bespoke numbers for and turned into the beautiful decal packs now on sale - they've been half-built and sitting around for most of 2023 but I am determined to finish now that the loco batches are leaving the workbench and space is finally being cleared..! I'd go with Rich's approaches there, there are a few 37s on my hit-list that have this same style and I was wondering how to tackle it best, another thought crossing the mind was to file down all the detail from the raised bit back to the flat part, and then add back in the headcode box lamp mouldings from Shawplan etched range - but I've got no further than armchair thoughts on that right now! I'm very much looking forward to the next Accurascale 37s, the 'Dutch' release in particular will likely spawn many a useful workaday example and gives time to go to town on all the little detail differences on those 37/0s! Cheers, James

Something about the mix of Intercity locos on Virgin stock really worked well despite the opposing liveries, strange isn’t it! Look forward to seeing 47 coming along, you know it sounds more fun than couplings haha! 👹 That sounds lovely Geoff! I’m always keen to see everyone’s pics of the hallowed location if ever you did feel like uploading! Oh wow, so it is! That shows how things never stay still for these machines and the story keeps developing, long may it continue!

Time for another pair of top-link lovelies! 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr This week's new additions are ILRA-pool superstars 47812 and 47854 Women's Royal Voluntary Service, both finished in their well-worn Intercity liveries, as seen at the head of Virgin CrossCountry trains up and down the country in the late nineties. 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr I think the gorgeous Intercity Swallow livery still looks as great today as it did in the late '80s, a timeless classic! 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr As ever, the models can trace their roots back to the first-gen Bachmann model of 2013 vintage, the immaculate Fire Fly models being again 'de-blinged' to represent everyday examples of the fleet in action during the late 1998 time period. 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Despite being over a decade old, the bodyshells give up their printed branding very easily, with just a cotton bud dipped in Humbrol enamel thinners - it's particularly satisfying to watch the printed details just lift away, and the only remnants being a slightly shiny paint finish behind. 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Details like the numbers below just lift away, and are replaced with Railtec decals. I find that these are best applied over a gloss surface, to avoid any carrier film showing through, so a layer of gloss varnish is sprayed on, before then applying the decals and then protecting with a layer of matt varnish afterwards. 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr With a month having passed to allow for the varnish layers to harden, it was time to start the customary weathering processes, the aim being to recreate the 'clean but dirty' look that the machines had - looking clean from a distance, but with dirt deposits in all the hard to reach places! 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Two layers of paint-on & wipe-off washes were applied, a mid brown and a dark grey, applied a few days apart with drying time in between so that one layer doesn't then react with the one beneath. The recommended soundtrack for the Intercity weathering project comes courtesy of Ladytron's lead vocalist Helen Marnie's solo albums. 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Having applied the matt varnish layer earlier in the project, this helps the paint washes to cling to the sides of the body, giving the option of adding extra weathering and streaking effects, but primarily here on 47812 and 47854, most photographs showed them to have generally clean bodysides - no doubt a result of the regular trips through the carriage washers as part of their regular duties! 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Other weathering work undertaken was the traditional traffic weathering, completed via airbrush spraying the usual brown and dark grey shades around, following prototype pics of the duo from the 1998 period. 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr One of 47812's notable features was the flush headcode panel at the No.2 end, the result of collision damage sustained in 1982, whilst in a previous guise as 47239. The process for filling this was the same as other '47's tackled here - some dollops of Humbrol model filler pasted over the recess, whilst the headcode marker lights were temporarily filled with cocktail sticks to hold their position, before everything was then sanded down when the filler was dry. 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Applied in 1990, 47812's classy Intercity livery had seen better days by my chosen 1998 time period, with some flaky paint and damages noted, these were recreated in model form just by using the fine 5/0 brushes to pinpoint on small amounts of white or light grey paint to respective areas, following photos from Flickr as guidance to the exact places. 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr A long-time Welsh machine, the loco was delivered new to BR's 86A Cardiff Canton depot in November 1965 as D1916, after which the-then Brush Type 4 would see several changes in identity and allocation throughout its career. Under TOPS, the machine would be renumbered to 47239 and the latter half of the 'eighties saw it reallocated successively to Gateshead and Glasgow Eastfield depots, by then under its new identity of 47657. As that decade drew to a close, the machine was taken under the wing of Intercity at Bristol Bath Road, and given the iconic 47/8 number to distinguish the extended-range passenger machine from the ranks of the mixed-traffic 47s that dominated the scene back then. 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Little touches to the model include drybrushing the cantrail grilles with Humbrol Metalcote gunmetal, and highlighting the wear and dirt around the kickplates of each cab door. 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr 47854 Women's Royal Voluntary Service forms the second of today's new additions, and notable as being the last in the 47/8-numbered series of locomotives designated for CrossCountry workings. 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The nameplates came from Fox, and were applied using matt varnish as adhesive - having been applied before the final matt varnish layer, an excess squeezing out from behind the plate could be hidden under that final coating! 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr On the underframe towards the No.2 end, the little engine isolation switches were created from square styrene strip, glued onto the chassis and given a touch of red paint around the outside of the white squares. The Bachmann mould lines on the roof were sanded down during the project to create a smoother finish on the cantrail area and over the tops of the cab roof, near to the horn grille at each end. 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Also delivered to British Rail in November 1965, this locomotive would have an extremely strong link to Scotland, spanning several decades. New to 64B Edinburgh Haymarket as D1972, the loco would see a short allocation to Gateshead before going back North of the Border for spells back at Haymarket, Glasgow Eastfield and Inverness through the seventies and eighties. It would be 1992 before reallocation to Crewe Diesel came, by then having gone through a range of identities - 47271, 47604 and 47674. Eventually the locomotive was selected to be part of the Intercity long-range fleet, and 1995 saw conversion to it's current format and a renumbering to 47854 accordingly. 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr The gunmetal grey can be used to pick out some of the sheen on the underframe, by gently drybrushing across, and then rubbing over with a cotton bud, once dry. Up on the roof, the locos were weathered with the airbrush coating of Phoenix Roof Dirt, Dirty Black, and my custom black/blue mix for the oily exhaust area. 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr It's fun to compare the two differing front ends - modelled to 1998 condition, there are certainly an interesting amount of paint chips and dinks for what were front line locomotives - albeit waiting their turn in line for a lick of Virgin red! 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr Bringing the story up to date - these locomotives have been very fortunate compared to others. Close to their 60th year now, they are both still with us, for now at least. Both 47812 and 47854 would gain the classic Virgin red & grey colour scheme, 47812 picked up a bonus name along the way - Pride of Eastleigh - as part of Virgin's 'last hurrah' in the dying years of locomotive haulage as the Voyagers readied to take over their duties. After finishing with Virgin, 47854 would soon be scooped up by West Coast Railway Company, seeing service on their various railtour trains and receiving a couple of versions of the operator's distinctive maroon livery over the years. Meanwhile, 47812 would go on to have an interesting post-Virgin career, finding itself custodian of Freightliner and working range of container and freight services in the 2000s, along with a repaint into original British Railways green. Riviera Trains would later take on the locomotive, and this saw it outshopped in their Oxford Blue colour scheme, before debut of the jazzy Rail Operations Group livery which it currently wears. 47812 and 47854 by James Makin by James Makin - Account 3, on Flickr It's always great fun modelling a pair of workhorses and even more so when the real life prototypes are both still out there and writing new pages of their history even now - who knows what's still to come for these two old beasts! Cheers, James

There was a good number with a livery that can be described as “rust, with yellow stripe” - this could be ideal for your one!

I would absolutely say so Fran! I'm 37 and my childhood trainspotting memories involve boat-fresh EWS '66's arriving - gleaming red paintwork, luscious shiny black underframes and bright rust-coloured wheels, beautiful and a real nostalgia trip modelling them now! I'm amazed that EWS livery is still as extant on the prototypes even in 2024, that must rival or possibly even exceed BR Blue and BR Large Logo in terms of how long a livery hung around, en masse, after being declared obsolete by its owner. I think that because EWS has lasted so long that it is seen by many as more of a 'current' livery but it's 26 years since first applied to a '66', time plays tricks on the mind! I can see why so many enthusiasts in the generation before me disliked them with the usual phrases of the 'Red Death' or the 'American Invasion' as it brought the end to numerous vulnerable ex-BR loco classes, but at the same time, I always had a soft spot for the GMs and it was always fun and subversive for a youngster to love a '66' whilst the older guys hated them 😂 Then as time passed the 66s just became a dominating part of the scene, there are very few layouts set in the last 26 years that can't justify a red & gold 66, they are still everywhere - but even now when I encounter a faded red and tatty EWS 66, I think back to the times when I saw it while new and gleaming - the nostalgia is very strong! Cheers, James