MattR

Morning all I was just wondering if any one could help me out with liveries in between company colours and the blue-grey era. I model a TPO theme on my layout and, though my era is mainly the 70s and 80s, I like to run occasional late sixties and early seventies TPOs using old company rolling stock. I have a number of ex-GWR and LMS TPOs, but does anyone know what liveries they would have sported before being outshopped in blue and grey in the late 60s/early 70s, if they survived that long (and I know some did). Would it have been signal red, or would they have just kept their old company colours, or a combo of both? I've seen some black and white photos of TPOs in the 50s and 60s, and as far as I can tell they were all red of some description, possibly BR maroon and/or signal red (hard to tell from b&w photos!) Thanks Matt

Evening all i bought an old Hornby class 47 today - one of the Silverseal ones with the metal frame. It is quite badly marked and I was wondering if it is mazak rot (pictures attached). Presumably if it is there’s not much I can do? Thanks Matt

Evening all does anyone have a copy of the service sheet for the old Wrenn class 20? I’ve found the Hornby Dublo one but it’s not quite the same. If anyone does, and doesn’t mind, would you mind taking a photo and uploading! thanks, Matt

Okay - progress has been made. I've fitted extra pickups (which I needed to do anyway), and polished the commutator, removed the suppressor and regreased and oiled, all of which has improved running. It now starts much better in one direction, but still jumps from stationary to nearly full speed and needs virtually full power to get going. Does this mean it's likely to be worn gears?

Thanks all - very useful and much appreciated.

Afternoon all Can anyone offer some advice about old Hornby Ringfields please. I’ve just serviced one and I’m happy with the running except when it starts- it jumps from stationary to about half speed with nothing in between(!) could it be the springs and brushes? Thanks, Matt

Morning all Can anyone point me to some reading - posts, mag articles, books - on how to make your own wagon loads, please. I’m new to freight working. Specifically, I’m interested in how to simulate coal loads for hoppers, but in easily removal and ‘put-awayable’ ways. I know you can buy loads, but I’d rather make my own. Thanks, Matt

Hi Bee thanks so much for your help with this - that’s really helpful and much appreciated. Your analysis also confirms why I’m so often disappointed with the various renditions of BR blue - I’ve tried just about all the off the shelf one’s. But as many others on this forum and elsewhere have done many times, there’s no sign of these sorts of debates ending anytime soon with all the variables that you mention. best, Matt

Evening all I’m in the process of painting a Hornby class 47 into the apple green livery in which 47522 was outshopped, but am stuck on the roof colour: https://www.railwayherald.com/imagingcentre/view/582558/TM would the closest be Railmatch silver grey? Or would it be diesel roof grey (latter looks a bit too dark to my eyes). thanks, Matt

Evening all Does anyone know if and when Oxford Rail’s Motorail car flat was reviewed in the Hornby Magazine? Had a quick scan of 2017, but can’t find anything. Thanks, Matt

Evening all I purchased a second-hand Hornby class 56 a few months back, and I'm finally getting round to doing some research on it. I think from what I've been able to piece together from the collector's guide and Hattons etc, it was the model issued in 2002 - running number 56099. But having looked at it inside, it doesn't look like a conventional Hornby ringfield, though it's clearly the latter. It might just be that I'm not that familiar with Hornby products post the 1980s. But there also other things that don't ring true to Hornby products. My question is this, does anyone know if this was tooling that Hornby acquired from another manufacturer? I don't think it's the usual Lima retooling in the Railroad range from this time as the spec is quite high, and I'm not sure that Lima did a 56 though I could be wrong on this. But I wonder if it's a Mainline tooling from the early 80s, with a few updates, or I seem to remember seeing something somewhere that Dapol also did an OO gauge class 56 for a while, though now I can't find anything on that. I should say, it's a pretty good model with lights and quite a bit of detail, not quite the super detail that Hornby was soon to introduce, but not bad. Thanks in advance, Matt.

Evening all Does anyone know which Railmatch green paint would be the closest to the one used on the class 29 green model from the late 70s? It doesn’t need to be a perfect match as I plan to fade it as part of a weathering project. I’m not very knowledgeable about the pre-corporate blue era liveries. Thanks Matt

Evening all I'm in the process of severely distressing and weathering a warship - Hermes. I know the class 42s often looked very sorry for themselves by the early 70s. There's some great cine footage on YouTube from the 1970s, which includes a maroon warship, Zulu, I think, and that's what I'm working from: ( ) I've done a reasonably okay job at aging the sides of the loco and exposing some of the underpaint, but I want to simulate the peeled paint effect on the noses. I've had a go at this, using sandpaper and files, but it looks a bit hacked - not quite the effect I was going for. I seem to remember using acrylic paints once and they tended to peel more than enamels, but I don't seem to be able to replicate that effect. Any suggestions gratefully received, Matt.

Thanks, all - very helpful. Matt.

Evening all sometime ago, I purchased a class 40 model, numbered 40126. It’s stamped Hornby underneath but I was told it was actually a Lima model - hence presumably its rebranding under the Railroad label. I’ve been trying to find out when Hornby issued this model. It doesn’t appear on the collectors guide website, so must be after 2011. Does anyone know when it was issued? I like to know for my service sheet. Thanks, Matt.