D818 Glory - Misfit with a Legacy!

[Halvarras]

I have often read that the Mainline/Bachmann Class 42 Warship only truly represents D813-29/31/32, or even D813-17/19-29/31/32 (the latter at least acknowledging that D818 was different from the rest). I also believed this myself, until I found a comment on RMWeb about a year ago (which I cannot now find again) to the effect that Mainline's research for the model was conducted on D818 Glory at Swindon Works. This would make sense - it was out in the open with plenty of space around it, it wasn't going anywhere (for a few years anyway.....) and since only the exterior was important its internal state didn't matter. But of course it begs the question - did its unique Spanner Mark III horizontal train heating boiler, presumably an evaluation for use in the upcoming Western class diesels, have an impact on the exterior? After a lot a searching for elusive roof views the answer is, yes it did - Glory's centre roof panel was unique to it. The normal arrangement for the Stone Vapor OK4616-boilered locos, D813-17/19-65, was a louvre above the nameplate on one side and a small rectangular meshed port in the middle of the other side of the centre roof panel. On D818 the latter was covered by a rivetted panel with a hole in one end, and another rectangular meshed port was installed on the 'louvre' side, offset to the right in side view - this can be discerned on page 70 of the colour album 'The Heyday of the Warships'. The Mainline/Bachmann Class 42 body has this layout, and interestingly so does the Fleischmann HO model, indicating that they followed the same path, and of course went on to produce a model of 818 itself in the final blue livery variant. 

 

Some photos of 818 Glory on 3/9/75 and just before the gates opened for the Swindon Works Open Day on 13/9/75.......what a difference 10 days make!

 

And one from the top of the water tank above the Pattern Store - a shame this is not sharper, I know Works photographer Roy Nash has a better one.....even so, if 818 had the standard arrangement the boiler port should be as visible on this side as it is on D1062 Western Courier in the background; the blanking panel with hole disguises it. 

(A note on the view - the turntable is still there but all of the visible infrastructure was swept away to create the West Car Park for the MacArthur Glenn Outlet Centre - astonishing).......

 

When I combined five Mainline Warship bodies with Lima chassis in the 1990s - three Class 42s and two Class 43s - I was aware of the different engine exhausts and train heating boiler vent arrangements for D800-12/866-70 but nothing else, because clear roof views were very difficult to find, so I'm now aware that these have a few roof errors (yes I still have them). As it happens I have just been working on a couple of Bachmann Class 42s to produce Swindon D827 Kelly in green SYP and NBL D856 Trojan in plain green, and as I have a spare D823, as well as a blue Class 43, I took the opportunity to take this view of the modifications I have undertaken with my new-found knowledge! From top to bottom:

Class 43 (model as supplied - Stone Vapor boiler compartment roof panel: common to D813-17/19-65)

Class 42 (model as supplied - Spanner Mark III: D818 only)

Class 42 (modified - Swindon D813-17/19-29/31/32)

Class 42 (modified to Class 43 - NBL D833-65)

The rubbed-down Milliput filler shows where various orifices have been filled in. The Class 43 engine exhausts are Shawplan Class 37/40/50 etched brass horn grilles over drilled holes, as used on my previous such conversions - they look the part even if a little undersized. Move them back 5mm and inboard 2mm (my own estimations based on photos) and they'll do D830 as well. I've left lips around the opened-up rectangular boiler ports but may file these away as the Bachmann Class 43 is correct in this being flush. Two other differences I wasn't aware of over 20 years ago were the two types of roof fan grilles (flush with raised walkways on Swindon's locos, all raised on Glasgow's - with a few 'cross-over' exceptions - not that I could have done much about it) and the absence of the two square ports on the latter - I believe these were only relevant to Maybach engines which required pre-heating prior to start-up, neither the MAN engines nor D830's Paxmans required this so no square ports. Since I don't intend to replace the roof fans, and I can't raise the fans up on D856, I've created a visual difference by filing the lip on the walkways down level with their mesh (a little further filing required I think) - best I can do without major surgery!

 

For reference, a view of the roof of the Fleischmann model (internet photo) - compare to the second one down above. D818 definitely has a lot to answer for! :

 

And finally, whilst on the subject of Warships, a front-end comparison - on the middle one, note the difference painting the 'groove' between the windscreens and picking out the wipers in black makes, this requires a fine brush and a steady hand, but it helps to have a couple of cocktail sticks with ends cut into a chisel shape to push any 'overspill' back into shape. IMHO it now looks a little more at home alongside the Class 43. Well, from the front anyway......... The older model's lower valances are easy to fit if a chamfer is filed along the inside edge of the top lugs, this helps guide them into the slots in the underframe. The two I've just done were such a good fit, clicking firmly into place, I didn't bother with glue. The coupling shackle is Hornby's R7200, again a straight push fit not requiring glue. Impressed that the hooks are metal on these.

One last tip - removing the Class 42's bogie frames to unscrew the tension lock couplings is simple - screwdriver in the slot at the inner end, lever off the lug, wiggle about a bit and off it pops. Reverse procedure to put it back on again (screwdriver not required!)

 

I hope some part of this is of interest, perhaps even useful!

[Trainshed Terry]

That has made for an itresting read.

 

Terry.