Hawksworth Coaches

[KenRB]

I used to see trains of these coaches at Exeter St. David's station in early 1950's. i have a set of the Hornby models, but would it be possible to produce a model of the Hawksworth Restauranr car?

[the ferret]

Restaurant Cars seem to be a blind spot in the r-t-r repertoire (poet and don't know it!) But seriously I have a lovely rake of GWR stock but unless I kitbuild at vast expense there are no suitable restaurant cars.

The one I want is the flat-ended

12 wheel job - an absolutely magnificent piece of Swindon Collett design.

The only restaurant car I have seen was Mark I stock and therefore way out of the period I am modelling (mid-1940s).

How can you run a true to type Cornish Riviera or Bristolian

without catering facilities?!

So KenRB, you will have to join "Southern Railways Group" and buy a Phoenix kit or, if you are really not short of a penny or two, I believe Comet Models do one! How good are you are soldered construction?!

[mortehoe]

It is a pain when you have to add a kit built coach to the current Hornby coaches. The biggest problem is matching the paint ( and lining ), you stand the chance of your restaurant/buffet coach standing out like a sore thumb.

[mortehoe]

I have spotted a get out for you ferret, mid 1940's you say, most if not all catering facilities were withdrawn during hostilities and not re-introduced till around 1947.
So its cheese sandwiches in grease proof paper and a flask of tea, " One lump

or two Vicar ".

[mortehoe]

KenRB, I was at the Halifax exhibition on Sunday and saw many well made Phoenix/BSL coaches.
It reminded me that many years ago, I purchased a BSL( now Phoenix ) 4-Cor. NIGHTMARE.........
I eventually gave it away to a friend at the model railway

club, it would have been easier to go to British Steel, Haworth Timber, and GEC, and built a full size 4-Cor.
Some people have the knack, I haven't, and I have lost count of the number of scratch built 2-Bil and 4-Cor units that have ended up in the bin.

[Postman Prat]

That's not loving and cherishing them!!!! (See other post)

[LCDR]

DC Kits do occasionally get Ian Kirk 2Bil kits, I have one but it is earmarked to become the basis of a 2Hal unit. I have already built a DC Kits 2EPB, Phoenix Kit 2Hal, and a NNK Bulleid 4EPB, they need a lot of work - true - but once finished they look

good. I now have a NNK 1946 4Sub, a Roxey LSWR 3Sub, a Phoenix 'Tin' 2Hal, and DC kits 6S still to build. Somewhere I also have a MTK 4EPB kit incomplete but with enough bits to save me a lot of scratch building.
It would however be nice to see some more

RTR SR electrics. Instead of the 4Vep and the 5Bel, I think Hornby should have made one of the units that used the 62 foot SR underframe, that way they would have the undeframe and drive mechanism tooling for 95% of the SR built electric trains. Between 1926

and 1956 the Southern built over 1200 multiple unit sets of which a handful, less than 100 were not on 62 foot undeframes, BR then went on to build a further 300 on the same 62 foot standard Maunsell underframes, some re-used from earlier stock. Only the 5Bel,

the motor coaches (only) of the 6Pul/Pan, a batch of 25 new 3Subs for the SW section, and a few dozen 3Subs converted from LBSCR AC overhead units were built on something different. The possibilities are huge, and apart from the numerous suburban types there

are the 2Bil, 2Hal, 2Nol, 4Lav, 4Cor, 4Res, 4Buf, 4Gri. to choose from.

The competition were clever enough to use the BR mark 1 type undeframe for their EMUs, so why has Hornby gone down a blind alley with the 4Vep and 5Bel?

[KenRB]

I have made a couple of whitemetal kits and many plastic coach, freight wagon & building kits but have chickened out making a braass soldered kit!!

the ferret said:

Restaurant Cars seem to be a blind spot in the r-t-r repertoire (poet and

don't know it!) But seriously I have a lovely rake of GWR stock but unless I kitbuild at vast expense there are no suitable restaurant cars.

The one I want is the flat-ended 12 wheel job - an absolutely magnificent piece of Swindon Collett design.

The

only restaurant car I have seen was Mark I stock and therefore way out of the period I am modelling (mid-1940s).

How can you run a true to type Cornish Riviera or Bristolian without catering facilities?!

So KenRB, you will have to join "Southern

Railways Group" and buy a Phoenix kit or, if you are really not short of a penny or two, I believe Comet Models do one! How good are you are soldered construction?!

[81F]

What about hacking a 3rd class dining saloon *(dia H44) out of a Centenary. Just change the window and roof vent spacingand replacing the interior. With luck you'll only need to respray the cream.

I started one about 20 years ago (from an Airfix

one) got one side finished but deteriorating eyesight prevented me from finishing it.

[mortehoe]

Postman Prat said:

That's not loving and cherishing them!!!! (See other post)

Too true my friend, but they looked more like Cigs and Veps, and my trusty band of Beagles just love to go for the fuse box.
When it comes to Cigs and

Veps, Ripping Yarns springs to mind, " I LOVE SCRAP ".