LCDR

Some makers of transfers sell matching blanking panels which can be used to obscure the original number, before attaching the new number. These are also waterslide transfers in the different liveries, but you need to let it go hard before putting the number on top. Transfers stick better on glossy surfaces. Once dry and hard they can be fixed with matt or satin varnish.

Colour rendition in both print and on screen is extremely fickle, in fact colour matching I have found is a black art. When I paint my models I normally sit in our conservatory but even then the state of the weather can ,make a huge difference. Overcast skies and bright sun give very different results. I have invested in a daylight bulb but avoid using it when natural daylight is available. BR blue is remarkably difficult to match, and indeed one of the reasons BR quickly abandoned it was because it reacted badly in sunlight and was impossible to re-touch partly damaged paint work. I have painted a "Golden Arrow" resin kit of a Merchant Navy in blue, but I feel that the Precision Paint I have used is much too bright. The post 1965 BR Monastral Blue (of Blue & Grey fame) was a much more stable colour.

A locomotive crane is yet another possibility. Some works premises used these rail mounted cranes for shunting instead of locomotives. With a bit of ingenuity the crane could be made to jib, luff and rotate by DCC control as well. The "Dinky Supertoys" Coles Crane would be an attractive candidate. NCB Ashington Northumberland Standard Wagon Co, Heywood, Lancashire

Thank you Moderators.

The current Hornby catalogue features 10 different tank engines, 1 LMSR, 1 LNER, 2 GWR, 2 Industrials, and 5 SR. L&Y class 28 0-4-0ST LNER J50 0-6-0T GWR 42xx 2-8-0T GWR 51xx/61xx 2-6-2T Peckett W4 0-4-0ST Peckett B2 0-6-0ST LBSCR A1 / A1X 0-6-0T SE&CR H 0-4-4T LSWR M7 0-4-4T LSWR 0415 4-4-2T Bachmann have the following 6 in their current catalogue NER J72 0-6-0T GWR 94xx 0-6-0PT LNWR Coal tank 0-6-2T L&Y Class 5 2-4-2T BR 3MT 2-6-2T LMSR 4MT 2-6-4T Hornby is therefore ahead in numbers although availability may be an issue with both.

The concept of a modern station is a peculiar subject. Many larger stations retain buildings which may be 100 years old, and which have Grade 1 or Grade 2 listing which limits how much the railway authorities can alter it. The smaller fixtures and fittings might be modern but the overall impression will be old fashioned. The original building may have been re-purposed to become trendy bars and cafes and retail units. In the 1950s and 1960s when planning law was less onerous British Railways modernised quite a few stations, good examples include Manchester Oxford Road, Banbury or Coventry. These have striking contemporary architectural feature and may use a lot of concrete and glass. Some stations were awful, perhaps the best example of an awful station is London Euston. Small stations however have suffered over the years. Most are little more than a 'bus shelter. and a platform, and maybe a destination indicator. No toilets, and nowhere to get warm on cold or wet days. Their cosy waiting rooms, ticket offices, and buffets are now a pile of rubble behind the platform fence. Hornby do not currently offer these but Bachmann make a pair of glass platform shelters (44-510)

Harry Potter films are entirely fiction, as too is the train. The locomotive used in the film is of Great Western origin but has been repainted by the film company into a maroon livery which no self respecting GWR locomotive would ever be seen dead in! The locomotive is in fact GW number 5972, proper name Olton Hall -(other locomotives have been used occasionally) - which was built in 1937, and would have run in green livery on the GWR, and on BR until withdrawn about 1964. The carriages are BR mark 1 some of which did run in maroon livery, but this was post 1957 maroon so not at all appropriate for LMS period. Mark 1 carriages were introduced in 1950 two years after the LMSR was abolished. Until 1957 all BR mark 1 corridor carriages were painted in crimson and cream (blood & custard), so era 4 is a no-no. With both the locomotive and the carriages in inappropriate liveries for real life, the train is best kept for a fantasy layout, except for Eras 9, 10 and 11 when you could include a film crew making another episode .

It was done for cheapness. A six wheeled motor bogie which is what a tender drive really is could be massed produced cheaper than making motorised chassis to fit under a lot of different shaped boilers. Unfortunately it comes with problems associated with traction tyres, power pick up and the wheels under the engine part sticking up. Small motors had been around for quite a long time and were used in their TT gauge models as well as the Rocket and Lord of the Isles.

In another thread I have discussed the difficulty with the Era system in being 'pedantic' about the livery (and the number) that a locomotive might carry at any given time. Fortunately people have studied this and I commend John Harvey's book "Southern Style After Nationalisation 1948-1964 " published by the Historical Model Railway Society 2018, for anyone who wants to get their SR locos correct. The Bulleid Pacifics are a particularly difficult class in this respect. The SR livery of Malachite Green with three horizontal yellow stripes and Sunshine lettering transitioned to BR dark green lined orange and black with Gil Sans lettering went through a number of stages and not every example had the same combination of factors. Added to that a handful received the experimental Apple Green livery, not so far produced by Hornby. (34011, 34056, 34064, 34065, 34086, 34087, 34088) Some were lettered BRITISH RAILWAYS on the tender in SR malachite green. Many with Sunshine style lettering, but some with Gil Sans. Some got their BR 340xx number in Sunshine, others got it in Gil Sans. Smokebox number plates appeared at various stages. Some got unlettered tenders shortly before the new BR emblem appeared. As a general rule most got the BR cycling lion emblem at the same time as the dark green livery. Notable exceptions were 34036, 34071, 34079, & 34090, which were still in SR green.

To clarify my earlier post, the start dates given for eras in the list above should not be regarded as a date when everything changed, but the date when examples of the new liveries might be seen on a few items of rolling stock. As the era progresses year by year the number of vehicles in the new livery will be seen in greater numbers. BR blue was introduced in 1965 / 1966 but I was using Southern Region trains in 1971 to go to college and most of them were still green. Small changes were quicker to take hold. The re-numbering of diesel and electric locomotives with TOPS number happened very quickly and locomotives still in green (pre 1966 livery) in 1971 were given their new numbers long before being repainted blue. The change from early emblem to late crest for steam locomotives took a long time and many locomotives went to the scrap yard in 1962 still wearing the old 'cycling lion' emblem. Things also got tricky in the 'Big 4' era (Era 3) because during this time the Big 4 companies changes liveries and numbering at least once. Taking the Southern Railway as an example, from 1923 until 1931 the numbers of SR locomotives remained the same as Era 2 (pre-grouping), but a prefix letter was painted above the number to distinguish duplicates. So ex SE&CR locomotives and locomotives built to Ashford designs had a letter A, Ex LB&SCR locomotives and locomotives built to Brighton designs received a letter B, and ex LSWR and locomotives built to Eastleigh designs were lettered E. In 1931 it was decided to re-number the locomotives, and so all locomotives prefixed A had 1000 added to their number, all locomotives prefixed B had 2000 added to their numbers. The Eastleigh numbered locomotives lost their prefix. (Except locomotives on the Isle of Wight which retained a W prefix!). In 1938 R E L Maunsell retired as CME but before he did the Southern decided to replace his dark olive green livery with a brighter Malachite green. The application of this brighter livery was overseen by his successor O V S Bulleid but before the change could be widely applied World War 2 intervened, and by 1941 many locomotives were appearing in plain black, and it wasn't until 1946 before full malachite green repaints appeared once again. Lettering changed during the War with 'Sunshine' lettering replacing the Maunsell serif style. Others of the Big 4 had similar changes during their existence. Notably there was a distinct change between Fowler and Stanier on the LMSR, and between Gresley and Thompson on the LNER. The LNER in 1946 started wholesale re-numbering their entire fleet of locomotives. This meant 4472 became 103 and 4468 became 22. The Era guide should be treated with a great deal of caution, because the situation regarding liveries was highly dynamic.

Remember too that eras overlap. It can take up to five years for a repaint the majority of trains into the new colours, and even then odd examples can linger on. I took this picture of a class 20 still in green livery in 1975 at Avenue sidings south of Chesterfield nearly 8 years after BR started repainting diesel locomotives blue. And this one at York in the same year. Moderator note: LC you may have received a reject mail. This was because you posted this twice and the duplicate was rejected to leave this one approved.

Just to re-iterate, If you are serious about accuracy then in 1958 there were no diesel locomotive types operating branch lines on the Western Region, or on any other region for that matter. Diesel railcars were the only internal combustion units that were being used, and they were severely limited as to where they operated. There were still lots of steam worked branch lines, many being worked by 'push-pull' (Motor Train) and this remained more or less the norm until the early 1960s. Modernisation started slowly and it wasn't 1962 when diesel traction made noticeable inroads into steam worked branches, or on the main lines either. Most were closed by Dr. Beeching before steam disappeared. Diesel multiple units came first, as they didn't need to be 'run-round' at either end as you would need to do with loco and coaches.

Why limit yourself to Hornby? Certainly the Hornby ex LMS carriages which are Stanier Period 3 are excellent models, the 2005 introduced versions are nicely detailed, but supply and availability can be a bit of a problem. Currently these are only available new in BR crimson & cream. Same applies to the Period 2 12 wheel catering car. If you want LMSR livery and better detail the best ones will be Corridor 1st, R4230, Corridor 3rd R4231, Brake 3rd R4232, and Full brake R4233. Suffix letters A & B applied to later issues with alternative numbers. Bachmann did at one time produce the Fowler Period 1 panelled stock (third, brake third and composite) using Mainline tooling, which are passible, lack of flush glazing may be an issue, but otherwise a useful alternative which will be available second hand. Airfix / Dapol produced some Period 3 carriages, a 57' brake third and a 60' composite, and recently these have been available as pre-coloured kits. I believe these are now discontinued but may be available second hand. In addition all the above have produced the 50' full brake, and Dapol made the six wheel brake as well. Happy hunting!

Actually Hornby have issued the rebuilt Merchant Navy in a large range of identities over time. 35005 Canadian Pacific 2000-2003 (in blue) 35010 Blue Star 2008-2010 35011 General Steam Navigation 2005 35012 United States Line 2003-2006 in set 35016 Elders Fyffes 2003-2004 35019 French Line CGT 2006 35020 Bibby Line 2001-2005 35021 New Zealand Line 2002 in set 35022 Holland America Line 2001 in set 35023 Holland Afrika Line 2000 / 2013 35025 Brocklebank Line 2002-2005 35026 Lamport and Holt Line 2006 in set / 2011 35027 Port Line 2002-2003 35028 Clan Line 2000 / 2001-2002 / 2007-2011 & 2011-2012 in set 35029 Ellerman Line 2002 Fifteen out of a class of 30 isn't bad going! And if you want a different number and name there are excellent replacement nameplate sets available from a number of sources.

It is a long while since I dismantled a Lima carriage, but I seem to remember that the glazing and roof is all one moulding the clear plastic on top being painted grey. There is a hole in the corridor connections and a pip on the roof moulding sits inside that. Originally the glazing was NOT flush, but it is possible that the window areas on later models were thickened to fill or at least partially fill the window openings. Certainly the 4 wheel CCT was like that. This will make removing the glazing a bit more tricky. Dimensionally the carriages are not too bad, except the BG which was too long. The sunken glazing was unfortunate but I applied Flushglaze to some of ours which did improve the appearance significantly. The buffers are wrong being round and not oval, and the wheels are too shiny but I found them to be excellent runners. The Hornby RailRoad carriages are certainly better in detail, so my Lima carriages are confined to excursion traffic.

Hi Alan, When starting out with railway modelling it is best to start simple, and not get too concerned about the fine detail. Get a simple oval of track, and a locomotive and carriages / wagons that appeal to you. Get used to running it and only then think about expanding your set with extra track, points and accessories such as stations and other buildings. By adding a siding or two you can increase the 'play value'. If you want to fix it to a board, do so with pins so that if you need to take up track pieces to adjust the layout this can be done simply by pulling the pins out again. Don't glue anything down at this stage. Only when you are happy with your layout should you think about adding scenery. There are people on this forum who will be happy to offer advice. happy modelling!

Hornby tends only to do "special editions" if they already have the tooling, and all that is needed is a new livery. Unfortunately the T3 would require brand new tooling which can be horrendously expensive, and because the actual loco was preserved by the Southern Railway and did not run in BR colours it does not have quite the same potential as the O2 which was the iconic Isle of Wight workhorse. The 4mm scale model of the O2 was commissioned by the West Country Model Shop Kernow originally with Dapol, but they are now producing their own via Chinese manufacturing resources.

I'm with you on this Chris. These 'Second Generation' MUs are now themselves becoming 'heritage'. The 142 would indeed be a good candidate for the RailRoad range, the level of detail is no longer up with most of the recent main range models, but is in my opinion still an adequate model. All I would say is that both cars MUST be motorised, and power needs to be picked up by at least four wheels (two per car) and linked in parallel across the coupling bar. I have one of the early ones which doesn't have a link across the coupler bar, and itr is a really poor runner. My later model WITH this feature is much more reliable. The livery opportunities are endless!

The Iron Ore hopper and unloading bridge was probably the simplest and most reliable of the old operating accessories. Next would be the Royal Mail coach which operates with a simple trip mechanism. Ideally any future accessories need to perpetuate this simplicity and reliability. Items which need a power supply are less desirable.

Presumably the development of alternative tender types will have a knock-on effect in the production of detailed models of other BR Standard types in future. eg BR1b - 5MT 4-6-0, 4MT 4-6-0, 4MT 2-6-0 BR1c - 5MT 4-6-0 BR1f - 5MT 4-6-0 BR1g - 5MT 4-6-0 BR1k - 9F only

This is the prototype 4Pep unit that was developed into the 313 etc. series. It is seen here on its demonstration run at Beckenham Junction in 1972 I think the front end looked better than the 313s but BR did not perpetuate it, sadly.

Strangely the lack of ready to run overhead line equipment hasn't prevented Hornby releasing the Classes 87, 90, 91, 92, 370 APT, 373 Eurostar, 390 Pendolino, 395 Javelin, or 800 class Azuma et al. Lack of third rail has not prevented the appearance in the Hornby catalogue of 5Bel, 4Vep, 2Bil, 2Hal, or 466. the 313 etc. series have been a significant albeit geographically restricted type in use since the mid 1970s until the present day. Examples also found their way on to parts of the Southern. These were the first BR units to operate on both overhead and third rail. Third rail versions (507/508) provided Merseyside with a reasonably modern train service. There is certainly some merit in considering these for the future.

Modern bogie stock is unlikely to negotiate first radius curves without the risk of derailing or buffer- locking. The early Triang / Hornby R157/R158 Met Cam DMMU was designed to operate round first radius and I think the 1982 Class 110 RR698 would be OK too.

The GWR railcar only ever ran on BR during era 5 in the two liveries you mention (crimson & cream, or green). Two of the later versions (the one Lima / Hornby made) were sold in the late 1960s as follows. W20W to Kent & East Sussex Railway, W22W to Didcot Railway Centre. However it is unlikely these were restored to GWR chocolate and cream until after the end of steam.

Thing to check. The wheels run on axles which have pin-point bearings . These are supposed to sit inside conical dimples moulded into the bogie sideframes. During shipment the boxes can receive shocks which may displace the pin-points out of the dimples. This will cause the flanges on the edge of the wheel to foul the bodywork. cure. Gently pull the bogie sideframe outwards so that it frees the pin-points, and then manoeuvre the axles so they sit centrally in the dimples.