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I arrived at these conclusions following reasoned analysis of how quickly BR repainted its stock after nationalisation in conjunction with the few colour images available showing how ex-LNER Gresley carriages in general appeared during that time: David Jenkinson's book "The big four in colour, 1935-1950" (Pendragon) p.161 photo taken at North Woolwich, Apr. 1951 with J69 E8619 on a special with a BTO in teak carrying a BR style number painted at its L/H end, followed by two corridors in crimson/cream and at least one in teak behind that. p.171 photo taken at Heaton of 60072, Sept. 1949, on the r/h side of loco in the carriage sidings, part of one Gresley non-corridor in teak, no white rims on wheels, greyish roof, flanked by two carriages: one Gresley corridor type and one ex-GCR corridor type both still in dark wartime brown, none of the three having "3" designations. p.173 photo taken at York, summer 1949 with 60910 on express with Gresley corridors in teak, no "3" designations visible on first carriage, grey roof, 5th/6th coaches in two-tone blue livery. The photo taken at North Woolwich also appears in Peter Swinger's "On Great Eastern lines" (Ian Allan, 1998) Also information from Michael Harris's "LNER carriages" (Noodle Books, 2011) p.40 "3" designations abolished from July 1940 and from Nov. 1940, transfer "1" applied to the windows of first class compartments; other wartime changes included the abbreviation of LNER to NE and this lasted to Jan. 1946, after which the LNER and running numbers were moved inwards onto the bodyside; in the 1947-48 period, a number of carriages appeared with the running number in sans-serif characters, before and after nationalisation. p.120 non-corridor carriages re-numbered to 8XXXX from 1943, from late 1948 had regional prefixes.

Teaks were rapidly repainted into crimson from 1949 and very few if any were in teak by 1952. Having said that, teaks lost their "3" designations and were re-numbered into the 8XXXX series from 1946, initially with the LNER style typeface, but from 1948/1949, carriage running numbers, at least, in BR Gill Sans style lettering and numbering. The roofs would have been grey, no white wheel rims, and by 1949-1952, the overall finish of those remaining in teak would have been pretty well weathered.

Today I bought a NSE version (DCC ready) from a well known Sheffield boxshifter as a part-ex deal. Part of one of the cab handrails snapped off though it was still in the box thank goodness and it was fixed using Humbrol liquid plastic glue with a fine brush. One of the DTC's bogies at the cab end kept derailing and I traced that to the coupling in its cam being too stiff causing the bogie not turning easily when it approached bends. As I have no plans to work my EMU in multiple I removed both end couplings. Both bogies turned much more freely once the whole coupling assembly and springs were removed. The same bogie also dislodged a shoe beam which I refixed with glue. I rearranged the traction tyres on the motorised coach so both were on one side, having tried it diagonally, instead of one axle with two tyres and one axle without simply by carefully pulling off the wheels and swapping around. Once the motor bogie's pickups were adjusted the wheels were refitted. Running was a bit noisy initially on DC especially when in full unit mode pushing two coaches but fitting a Bachmann 36-553 chip switching off CV49 (BEMF) to zero and CV2 (starting voltage) set to 1 improved running as the motor got bedded in around a R3-radius oval layout. At the moment, I don't see any more weight needed for improved running. I found the orientation of the carriages important for the directional headcodes to work correctly. It has to be marshalled as 76923+62467+71146+76924 in that order. There's more work to do before this EMU can be fully accepted, I've got to cut down the light bleed from the LEDs, decide whether to re-number and assign a route code. Overall, I'm reasonably pleased with my purchase once I've tweaked the motor and some of the mechanics following other RMWebbers' initial experiences.

If this simple modification works, assuming the motor runs OK when I test run it in the shops, then I may be interested in buying a 4VEP with spare traction-tyred wheelsets on one side to install in the motor bogie for Xmas. On other Hornby motor-bogied locos and units, both wheelsets with traction tyres are on one side and I've never had any problems with running or pickup with that arrangement.

Wondered when Kernow would bring out appropriate matching stock, good move choosing the 56' version. At least they'll have the underframe as a basis to modelling the side-corridor and non-corridor versions as preserved on the Bluebell and KESR in the future, but that's thinking ahead ...

I've never seen their 4VEP running even on Hornby's demonstration layout which they take to shows. Last year I went to a model railway show at the NRM in York (6-7 November) where Hornby had a presence and Simon Kohler was present. I asked him where the model had gone as by then painted samples were available, but it wasn't in the display case, he said it had gone away to be photographed. If I could have seen it running merrily around their layout, then I would have been more confident about buying one when they reached the shops.

Having heard both YouTube vids mentioned earlier on, sounds like an assembly fault in the motor bogie, has your class 627 railcar got a similar motor? I had a Railroad class 37 loco that gave a knocking sound when going slowly, but when I tried disassembling the motor bogie to investigate, both plastic halves of the motor bogie that held the motor and gears were glued together and I found it impossible to separate both, without damage, in order to find out if any of the gears might have had unwanted plastic flash still left on them or if the internal assembly was misaligned, I never got to the bottom of that issue. Very occasionally with other manufacturers products gears come loose on the axle(s) and this also results in slippage.

The nearest analogy to the 4VEP problems I've came across were the very early production Dapol 150 and 155 Sprinters. They were released in 1992 initially with a self-contained motor bogie without traction tyres, no trailing bogie pickups, all bogies with internal bearings and no weights below floor level in order to model the underfloor engine details, apart from the thin weights between the seats and the floors. Dapol realised early on that they couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding and so they added in their packs, cast weights shaped to fit over the motor bogies to be fitted by the purchaser, it only partially worked in my experience. Later on they redesigned the underframes to accept a weight in a boxed area at the expense of some of the individual underfloor engine detail and added pickups to the trailing bogies, which seemed OK as Hornby kept that setup when the 155s were re-released. I think the problems on the VEP stem in a similar way, a combination of: 1. Insufficient weight in the motor coach in the wrong places, much of it which is only over the motor bogie because of the all-plastic floor and open trussed underframe; 2. Use of traction tyres and possibly also dragging pickups on the bogies; 3. The use of inside framed trailing bogies throughout, which causes more friction than use of pin-point bearings. Bachmann's motored EMUs have a diecast floor which adds weight where it's needed, and on that basis they then attach plastic trussing and underfloor equipment, pickups through pin-point bearings and phosphor bronze strips fixed to the backs of the bogie frames; this combination's proven and has caused no problems.

It appears most of the running problems and issues so far have been reported from those owning the NSE version, but how are RMWebbers getting on with their rail blue VEPs?

S.A.C. Martin, Thanks very much for your info, the state of the traction tyres shocked me as I've run other Hornby new style motor bogied locos (37s, 47s, 73s and DMUs) with traction tyres for similar lengths of time on a 2nd/3rd radius layout and I've never had any problems with those. I'll hold back from buying a VEP until their next production batches and hope they've resolved the motor and other assembly issues.

This latest finding raises serious issues as I was on the point of buying a NSE version this weekend and on my layout it'll run round minimum third radius curves. As they've been available for a while now, are RMWebbers running these around 2nd/3rd radius curves and how have they've fared?

Having more or less "locked down" my railway collections, I'm turning my attention to what model buses I should possess to accompany them. I've moved a fair few times over the years but the buses I own in OO haven't always tied up with the trains that I own, e.g. few trains representing West Yorkshire. I'm still feeling my way towards a new policy for collecting model buses, but must admit I prefer half-cabs in general and Bristol, Daimler, Leyland and MCW (Metrobus) rear-engined types. If a municipal operator ran during the time where I lived over the years, I'll own at least one vehicle from each operator, in my case it would be Birmingham, Liverpool, Wallasey, Portsmouth and Bournemouth (post-1986), plus others that regularly ran into its areas: Midland Red, Ribble, Birkenhead, Crosville, Southdown and Wilts and Dorset. Additionally, if my train fleet justifies it, I'll add as necessary: older Birmingham Corporation, Midland Red and Crosville vehicles, post-deregulation Southdown and People's Provincial, West Midlands Travel/Travel West Midlands. I'm already collecting at least one tram and/or trolleybus per operator where I've lived: Birmingham, Liverpool, Wallasey, Portsmouth, London United/London Transport, Bournemouth and Leeds. Otherwise I'll own models that have a significant personal connection, e.g. OOC's Keighley & District 760 bus to Wetherby (used it to/from work) and an Eastern Counties low-height post-war ECW double-decker (mum remembers the side gangwayed upper decks)

Last week I went through my OO loco fleet to see, as an exercise, what could go and the criteria I would use to keep models in my collection if I moved and found I had less room available to store stock, and to assess its implications in terms of storage space. I'm fortunate I'm living in a pretty large flat with adequate built-in storage space, converted from a large late 19th/early 20th century house, but renting this privately on an renewable yearly tenancy agreement. The most obvious candidates if I had to cull my fleet were those that weren't DCC ready and those with features not to my liking e.g. the plug and socket loco-tender arrangement on newer Hornby models. It took me ages to find the optimum solutions to store as many locos as possible, given I use a variety of boxes, including archive-style office supplies boxes (the best) and strong cardboard boxes e.g. those used for packaging electrical goods, not to mention the varying sizes of manufacturers' loco boxes. I've got things down to a fine art now so that only a few train packs (e.g. multiple units) aren't in those boxes. I've found unless I substantially reduce my loco/MU fleet, I actually don't save a lot of space, however individual boxed locos don't get squashed up so much and storage boxes take less strain. The volume of packaging makes quite a difference and I think Lima and older style Bachmann boxes are still the best in terms of securely keeping the model intact and yet being compact in storage terms. Yes, I could use self-storage solutions at a price, or store things at friends, but even though I'm still sorting out and bringing stuff back from my parents with the aim of keeping all my possessions together in one place, it's good discipline not to have too much clutter around.

Have you or anyone else tried running it on DC with the blanking plug fitted? If the motor's quieter at low speeds then the chip if it's a R8249 type may be the culprit. I've found Bachmann's 36-553 chips work better with Hornby's power bogies of this type, especially if you disable the BEMF function (CV 49) by setting it to zero.

Despite its faults, I may still buy a refurbished version soon. At least many of its issues have been pointed out now and owning one in NSE means I can keep it away from my Bachmann 1970s rail blue era EMUs. Certainly I'll insist on seeing the model in the flesh and arranging a test run before purchase. I could have held back until a blue/grey version became available next year or so, hopefully the assembly issues will be resolved for the next production run, but unlike Bachmann with their attempts on the 37s, I can't see Hornby making significant corrections to the tooling. Moreover next year's versions will certainly cost more and this time round I have some finance available.

There were two different shades of NSE blue: The paler blue livery was first applied from June 1986 on Network SouthEast's launch, initially with the BR double arrow logos, but from late 1987, they adopted a darker shade with the upsweep at each end curved rather than angular, at the same time approval was given for the blue band to finish below the door stops and handles to make it easier to mask off for repainting. The refurbished units first appeared in Mar. 1988 so always wore the darker shade of blue. I've seen all the RTR manufacturers each use subtly different shades of the dark blue livery.

Digressing slightly, Some Bulleid design refurbished 4EPBs also had express gear ratios as they used ex-2SAP (ex-2HAP) 5601-5636 series DMBS: Selhurst-based 5401, 5410, 5425 had those up to then. My RCTS 1982 British Rail coaching stock book still listed 27 Bulleid design 2SAPs in service with express gearing, apart from 5624 which had a BR Mk1 ex-2HAP DMBS. They were disbanded by 1983 and those Bulleid design motor coaches then ended up forming more refurbished 4EPBs.

I only have room at home for one 4VEP and am still deciding whether to go for the refurbished version to run alongside my Networker and Wessex Electric. If Bachmann announces a 4CIG, I'd add a blue/grey version of that to my rail blue era fleet, for consistency in detail and running with my existing 4CEP and 2EPB. One other thing is how well matched is running of two EMUs if the VEP's coupled to a 4CEP/2EPB, which happened in real life. Bachmann uses a heavy diecast chassis with flywheel whereas Hornby's gone for mainly plastic construction, and if my experience of running their motor bogies is true, they'll race off quicker than Bachmann's models.

Model Rail's September issue has a photo of the underside of one of the DTCs and the only electrical connection shown is the coupler at the inner end. Its review states on p.17: "The mechanics of the unit are surprisingly simple, and confined to the the motor brake second (MBS) vehicle. The through wiring via the couplers only operate the lighting system in the other three coaches, and the headcodes. There are no electrical pickups on the trailer cars"

By 1953, very few Gresley non-corridors were still in teak. Those that lasted that time had long since lost their white roofs, their "3" designations and "LNER" and were re-numbered in the post-1946 LNER numbering scheme series as like the crimson carriages. Having said that, many similar ex-LNER pre-grouping carriages retained teak or brown until withdrawal.

Thanks for showing us the inter-unit couplings, how did you couple them up? It looks like to me that you have to turn the carriages upside down to link up fully as there are two sets of plastic prongs with pins and sockets to mate and you'll need a 4 foot long space to assemble and rail the unit. Are there instructions about how to assemble the VEP correctly (like Bachmann did with their CEP)? Also, how effective was the carriage lighting?

Question about the inner couplings: Do they swivel and close couple the same way as their Maunsell and Pullman carriages and do they have NEM style pockets? My Bachmann 4CEP uses ordinary NEM tension locks which can be substituted without alteration instead of their electrically conductive bars, but at the expense of not having carriage and rear headcode lights which I've accepted as a trade-off. This made things easier for me as I have to pack it away each time when not in use.

Hornby's Facebook page (updated 02.59 yesterday) stated "the NSE version is due at the end of the month"