Neal Ball

57 minutes ago, Miss Prism said:

3222 looked a bit different to that in its last years, with a P class topfeed boiler and an extended frame at the front (to accomodate a set of Bulldog cylinders). Seen here at Chester shed. I think the class were predominantly northern division locos in their later years.

 

Having seen the little loco trundling across the viaduct at Pendon, I’ve been a fan!

You are right though, they are not a London based loco in my time period.

As we are talking about the Great Western railway magazine, my copies are from 1936/7/8 and I thought this might be of interest.

At Rick’s @The Fatadder Inspired by Brent, we have been talking about a farm being transported. Plus recently there was a conversation with @Miss Prism about windows changing on Restaurant carriages.

Ive not seen an article about farms, but I did find a piece about restaurant carriages being refurbished - 105 of them!

Of course what caught my eye was one of the last Barnum locos.

33 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

I was trying to work that out, as to whether the labourers would have moved with the farm, or stayed in South Devon and moved to the new owners.  it does say "the passengers who accompanied the train were all impressed with the smooth way in which the train was driven", whether that is people  travelling in the grooms compartment on a beetle / horsebox or a dedicated coach is a good question

I seem to remember in the BTF films from a few years ago, there was a video about a farm moving.

I nearly wrote “ staff”, maybe that’s the distinction - the labourers would stay behind, but the staff would travel.

5 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

It doesnt specify, but I am assuming there would be equipment being transported, and for the sake of interest I will add in Beetle for the bull as well.  From the Calne photo there were also vans containing dry stores and a horsebox, so it should make for quite an interesting set.   With 6 cows per van I think I am going to need to build 2 more kits to get the full set.

Plus of course a carriage for "the farm labourers". The Commander would have travelled 1st class from Plymouth.

9 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

Thanks to @Neal Ball for sharing that The Great Western Society have uploaded a digital copy of the Great Western's in house magazine (https://didcotrailwaycentre.cook.websds.net/authenticated/Browse.aspx?BrowseID=87&tableName=ta_journals) 

 

I find the Locomotive Changes page particularly interesting, for example in the December 47 issue it confirms the final 8fs to be returned to the LMS were 8467 and 8477 (which may come in handy in the future).  I am assuming that this data is a month in arrears (although I thought 6971 entered traffic in Oct 47 and its listed in this issue, so maybe its two months in arrears).

 

Also of interest in this issue is a letter from Commander W B Pirie RN  D.S.O. D.L. formerly of Kingsbridge who writes to the company to pass on his satisfaction as to how well the GWR handled the movement of his farm from Kingsbridge to Alton.  Moving 57 head of cattle departing at 17:30 and arriving in Alton by 10:30 the following morning.      There are photos of a similar farm movement train shown in the Wild Swan book on the Calne branch that I had already been debating modelling, now I think it has to be done!

 

The September 47 issue has a good photo of the end of a Hawksworth coach 822 next to a very interesting looking Dean van with interesting grills on the side.

 

The March 47 issue includes a full listing of all loco allocations, which along with the monthly changes in theory allows for a fairly precise month by month allocation over the year.

 

Photos naturally are not the highest quality, but there are some interesting shots mixed in.   Ove the next few evenings I plan on going back through the 1940s to see what else of interest is contained within

I find the old GWR magazines fascinating to read through. I have about 6 next to the model railway.

Now that they are on-line, I can see many a happy hour flicking through the pages.

Have fun reading and I look forward to seeing the 57 cattle being transported. Presumably there was machinery as well?

59 minutes ago, brumtb said:

Thanks Neal

It's just 3, I think 6 would swamp the layout.

I'm thinking of a pale grey, even perhaps off white to take away the starkness of the bright white and then some weathering powder lightly applied to show the beginnings of the smoke reaction. I'm pretty sure the roof paint was still lead but as @ChrisN has commented, not sure how quickly the roof colour would change. I understand the coaches were still fresh out of Swindon in 1922, their building being delayed by the Great War.

Tony 

 

That sounds about right Tony.

I read a comment I think in the Dapol thread that the carriages are heavy. Do any of your kit-built locos struggle with the 3 of them?

I am hoping for a set to make 6 carriages and hope that my new kits can cope! I don't really want to put a 61xx on the front.

Thanks, Neal.

57 minutes ago, Coach bogie said:

That was certainly the plan. D83,C45,E109,H26, E110, C44, D84 was allocated to the 3.55 ex Swansea in 1923. It changed immediately with the addition of a 70ft brake compo of a different vintage as Swindon did not design a South Wales brake compo.

 

Oddly they were never classified as South Wales stock in the registers.

 

A batch of ten, upon completion, went straight into the Cornish Riviera until the 1929 stock was introduced. Even LNER A1 4474 (nameless) Victor Wild was hauling a full train on the CRE during the 1925 exchanges.

 

Three of the buckeye sets went straight on to a Cheltenham working and a similar set was soon working on Worcester trains as far as Great Malvern.

 

If I have done my sums right (probably out by a few) there were 117 built in total plus the Dreadnought rebuild, far too many for one specific route.

 

I love this stock. I have been building them from the MAJ days, so they always have a special place on my layout. In later years there were bogie changes so I have a couple running on 7ft bogies. 

 

For me the SW Stock stands for Send Wherever as this is what happened.

 

Great build Neal

 

Mike Wiltshire

49 minutes ago, Coach bogie said:

Third class was four across upholstered in red with black flecs. First class was three across in brown with gold and brown lace.

 

For once there is accurate information about this stock as the Great Western Magazine covered their introduction in great detail photographing both inside and out.

 

Mike Wiltshire

Thanks as ever Mike. 
 

Have you seen that the GWR magazine is available on line? https://didcotrailwaycentre.cook.websds.net
 

Fascinating to see it. 

1 hour ago, ChrisN said:

food for thought, as I am not completely certain, but I have found on RMWeb, if you state something then someone will come along with the correct information almost immediately.

Most definitely the case Chris, thank you.

2 minutes ago, checkrail said:

Lovely looking carriage Neal, finished beautifully.  I think the 1934 livery suits them well.

Thanks John, very kind. I want to add roof boards and seat numbering panels, I am also going to try adding corridor handrails as well.

Looking at the photo in Russel, the seat numbers seemed to finish at 368 and it looks as if it starts at 304

• 3rd class x 5 compartments at 4 across = 40
• 1st class x 4 compartments at 3 across = 24
• Which gives a carriage capacity of only 64 which doesn't seem very much.

In Russel, some photos show carriage seat numbers, which always seem to be 3 digits - but some photos show letters - does anyone know when seat numbers were changed for carriage letters? It is possible that this is a post nationalisation scheme.

Incidentally the typical rake for the 70ft South Wales stock was (Taken from the Comet models instructions):

• Brake third = 4 compartments = 32
• Third = 10 compartments = 80
• Composite (above) = 64
• Restaurant carriage H26 (1st x 18; 3rd x 32) = 50
• Composite = 64
• Third = 80
• Brake third = 32

Giving a train capacity of 402 - many years later a GWR 8 carriage HST would accommodate 487 or 557 depending on the configuration: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/hst-trainset-capacities.73196/

To be continued!

That looks very nice Tony. 

How about a light grey for new / service look? Or of course some gentle application of weathering powder, which will have the benefit of not being completely even over the roof.

Did you get a set of 6 or just 3?

3 minutes ago, KNP said:

Pannier off to the paint shop as nearly all the fittings added plus the crew has been dispatched!

Just missing the sand box control rods,  had to order some more as the ones I had where wrong…

 

 

Excellent job on removing the top feed Kevin.

19 minutes ago, gwrrob said:

 

In retrospect I should have took some of the panniers.

Perhaps someone who is going to Ally Pally today could oblige....

15 hours ago, Harlequin said:

Here's a video comparing the sounds with and without the speaker enclosure.

 

I'm not making any great claims about this - you can hear a difference but it's not earth-shattering.

 

Sound haters don't need to comment, thanks. I know the sound is a bit weedy.

 

 

That’s a good improvement Phil.  Well worth replacing it.

14 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

I made up and painted the body shells for a 10 coach train of Centenaries with window frames but sort of lost interest in it.

 

When David Geen took over the Hayes range, we both went through the films and discovered a never released underframe to fit the Airfix Centenaries. I have a couple of test etches called off but with the move, never got around to ordering more. I might sort some more underframes and bring everything back on my next trip home. 

 

Mike Wiltshire

Interesting Mike thank you.

My carriage construction blog now covers the build of two Centenary carriages; the C69 and D120. I had been meaning to finish the blog for a while for these carriages. Hope you find it useful.

1 hour ago, KNP said:

Found another one of the Panniers.

Thought you might like it!

 

 

Changed it to Monochrome but wasn't sure so here it is for your thoughts.

 

 

 

You can’t have too many Pannier tank locos Kevin.

36 minutes ago, Coach bogie said:

I look forward to seeing them complete. You have shamed me into finishing the growing pile of half finished coaches. We are going into winter now which will make painting possible. I was trying to line an E73 but the paint kept drying up in the bow pen. I have managed to complete some non passenger vehicles by working on them before dawn, usually when my wife has an early flight to Canberra. I never had this problem in Yorkshire!

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

I know what you mean Mike. I tried using the bow pen on my Mallard models J5 yesterday for the bolections. The paint was drying too quickly, I watered it down and it was going everywhere 🙁

Yesterday was our first full on decent temperature all day, this at 10am it’s 24 in the shade on our terrace already. 

The 28xx was out and about last night, it even hauled the Centenary 6 carriage rake! Which is quite a heavy train.

As ever, I was waiting for paint to dry…..

• The 70ft carriages have had their final coat of varnish to seal the transfers.
• The bolections and droplights were finished on the C23 clerestory, any overspill has also been tidied up.
• ditto on my last remaining Slaters Toplight.

These carriages will now have door furniture added and will then be glazed. It’s good to see them all at this stage in their respective builds.

7 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Andy, it's the most recent Hornby (2010) version, R2919. I'm very happy with it, both appearance and running.

Surprising that it’s now 14 years ago. That’s the same version in my photos at Henley and it has always been a good runner. 

1 hour ago, Andy Keane said:

I have been browsing gwr.org.uk on loco liveries and I notice it says that 517's could be painted crimson lake when coupled to similarly coloured auto-coaches. Given I have a lined crimson lake auto-coach on order I am now wondering about a matching paint job for my Mallard kit. The 517's that ran to Helston were 569 / 1158 / 1163 / 1481 and I suppose one of them might have been painted that way. What is not so obvious to me is if the 517 would have been lined as well - does anyone know? Also which of my four numbers might most likely have had this done?

I guess the question is, which depot supplied the engines for Helston? And then do you have details about loco overhaul for the correct period.

Let’s assume locos for Helston were supplied from Truro and that 1158 was based there in 1918. The bonus would be that it visits Swindon for a heavy general in Sept 1918 - which would include a full repaint - and that come Jan 1919 it is released back to Truro - the chances are it would arrive back from Swindon in the 1919 livery.

Looking at loco history details they were in and out of Swindon all the time, so the chances are a loco would get all liveries relevant to that time.

Does that help?

Here is a quick iPhone photo of the 28xx which shews the extent of the train.

The loco drove into Platform three, then reversed the train into the headshunt / back siding access. Its a lovely loco that runs very smoothly.

27 minutes ago, Andy Keane said:

Neal,

There are some lovely photos you are  posting.

BTW, what makes are these goods locos? How do they run for you?

Thanks

Andy

Thanks Andy.

The 72xx is a Hornby loco from the so-called design clever days, weathered by TMC it's a lovely loco, which runs very well. It is fitted with a Zimo MX640 sound decoder

The Dean goods loco over the years has been a right pain in the a**se, but these days is fitted with a sound decoder, which will be a Zimo MX series. Now as a result it is a very good runner. I am sure the story of this loco is way back in the history of Henley - several pages ago! I bought it from Gaugemaster / the Engine Shed as it was the local model railway shop at the time - this is in fact the 2nd loco as it was so difficult to get into the tender to fit the decoder! It's an Oxford loco.

The Collet Goods is a Bachmann loco, with only pickups on the loco - one day I will add pickups into the tender. Its fitted with a Guagemaster decoder - its an "ok" runner.

As I was assembling the train, I added coal into two wagons - one was a fresh load using the Geoscenics kit.

This wagon already had a Dapol plastic coal load, which I reduced in height and then added coal on the top. Im not going to weather it, to make a difference in a mixed train.

8 minutes ago, Harlequin said:

 

For all the flaws of the Hornby 28xx, it does at least have the black parts painted black and a firebox top that doesn't make it look like a hunchback...

 

 

It's a nice loco Phil. I have a spare DC one that wont be PX to Hattons now :-)