Lapford station in N gauge.

[hexagon789]

Thanks Peter. I might start that thread at some point actually. I think I know the answer but it’d be interesting to see what comes up…

Erm, I may have had one too many glasses of wine last night and ordered this from Osborns Models in Bideford.

View attachment 111336

This is what it comes with, I’ll be weathering the life out of the 47 before it goes anywhere near the railway, it’s the first thing I’ve bought with half an eye on modelling the West of England line:

View attachment 111337

I really need to get a breathalyser attachment for this phone.

Very nice, but those poor suited and booted business people have no premium accommodation - or are you serving free plonk from the buffet to compensate? (So blotto they don't care type of thing? )

I'm continually impressed with how decent the quality of N gauge stock is now, I remember looking at N gauge stuff in old issues of Model Rail and thinking it looked very plasticky

 

[Cowley]

Very nice, but those poor suited and booted business people have no premium accommodation - or are you serving free plonk from the buffet to compensate? (So blotto they don't care type of thing? )

Ah I’ve already got a mk1 FK so they’ll be fine. I don’t think they should be allowed free booze unless they can provide their ‘Proof of being a Basher’ card.

I'm continually impressed with how decent the quality of N gauge stock is now, I remember looking at N gauge stuff in old issues of Model Rail and thinking it looked very plasticky

I twice dipped my toe in the water with N gauge in the 2000s before properly taking the plunge about three years ago. It definitely has come a long way now.

 

[hexagon789]

Ah I’ve already got a mk1 FK so they’ll be fine. I don’t think they should be allowed free booze unless they can provide their ‘Proof of being a Basher’ card.

Ooh I don't know about that, the big banks probably from on that sort of thing.

I twice dipped my toe in the water with N gauge in the 2000s before properly taking the plunge about three years ago. It definitely has come a long way now.

There was, in I believe a 2004 issue, a "new" version of Mk2 stock produced in "N" - I cannot recall the manufacturer but everything was printed on. There were no proper windows, no relief to the structure, essentially a tube on wheels with some fancy but not terribly realistic looking printing.

If anything it was that that completely put me off N as a kid but I find myself continually questioning that these days. However, a sharp jolt back to reality and the amount of 00 stock I have usually resolves that.

I do think that if I ever started from scratch though, I'd go for N for the ability to fit far more in a given space if nothing else and the fact that I genuinely feel the top range stuff can now look 00 in the eye over quality and realism.

 

[Peter C]

Thanks Peter. I might start that thread at some point actually. I think I know the answer but it’d be interesting to see what comes up…

Erm, I may have had one too many glasses of wine last night and ordered this from Osborns Models in Bideford.

View attachment 111336

This is what it comes with, I’ll be weathering the life out of the 47 before it goes anywhere near the railway, it’s the first thing I’ve bought with half an eye on modelling the West of England line:

View attachment 111337

I really need to get a breathalyser attachment for this phone.

Now that does look nice. Network SouthEast very rarely seems to look bad and that's no exception. Liking the buffet coach too - but that's just because it's the one with the food

-Peter

 

[Iskra]

Apologies, for the ‘Titanic’ moment here, but I have just got around to reading your feature in Railway Modeller @Cowley . I must say it is excellently written, a fantastic read and the photography really provides a fresh perspective on elements of the layout and rolling stock. That 37 looks sublime in the magazine and I really enjoyed the amount of rolling stock and whacky formations you managed to get included!

Excellent work all round and hearty congratulations on getting your work featured in such a publication.

 

[Cowley]

Apologies, for the ‘Titanic’ moment here, but I have just got around to reading your feature in Railway Modeller @Cowley . I must say it is excellently written, a fantastic read and the photography really provides a fresh perspective on elements of the layout and rolling stock. That 37 looks sublime in the magazine and I really enjoyed the amount of rolling stock and whacky formations you managed to get included!

Excellent work all round and hearty congratulations on getting your work featured in such a publication.

Thanks very much @Iskra, I’m glad you liked it. Hopefully there’ll be a little follow up piece in a couple of months time, I wrote it at the weekend and it’ll feature a few little bits that they couldn’t fit in the article.
——————————————————
18/3/2022

So that’s been three evenings turning this (those white tyres look horrific):


Into this:


That’s involved painting the wheels black, making some wipers, making up some pipes and an ETH box, lots of weathering, making the headlights dimmer, weathering the coaches that came with it and a few other things.

I’ve got a bit of a Waterloo - Exeter in 1988 feel going on this evening!



And there’s nothing wrong with that…

 

[hexagon789]

Thanks very much @Iskra, I’m glad you liked it. Hopefully there’ll be a little follow up piece in a couple of months time, I wrote it at the weekend and it’ll feature a few little bits that they couldn’t fit in the article.
——————————————————
18/3/2022

So that’s been three evenings turning this (those white tyres look horrific):
View attachment 111695

Into this:
View attachment 111694

That’s involved painting the wheels black, making some wipers, making up some pipes and an ETH box, lots of weathering, making the headlights dimmer, weathering the coaches that came with it and a few other things.

I’ve got a bit of a Waterloo - Exeter in 1988 feel going on this evening!

View attachment 111697

And there’s nothing wrong with that…

Oh yes, that looks very nice - not jeen on the white tyres either, too much in small scale I think. All we need now is a nicked "appropriated" Shove Duff and you've got the full set, eh?

 

[Cowley]

Oh yes, that looks very nice - not jeen on the white tyres either, too much in small scale I think. All we need now is a nicked "appropriated" Shove Duff and you've got the full set, eh?

I was just chatting to a friend about 47704 staying in Scotrail livery when it moved down here.
From the Cornwall Railway Society website:



Those colours really don’t go together but I love it!

 

[hexagon789]

I was just chatting to a friend about 47704 staying in Scotrail livery when it moved down here.
From the Cornwall Railway Society website:

View attachment 111700

Those colours really don’t go together but I love it!

The reverse happened too (NSE 47/7 with ScotRail Mk2s), and I don't think the combination is unpleasant either.

Though I slightly prefer the modified ex-NSE dark grey stripe ScotRail Regional Railways livery.

I see one of the four rare NSE WoE pool air-con Mk2s has made its way into the set on the back as well.

From all-accounts the 47/7s were not a great stop-gap on the WoE, the field divert modifications for 100mph running did not stand up well to start-stop duties as the third divert came in at a different speed to a standard 47 and performance under ~30mph was apparently rather weak.

Of course we rather hammered them up here as well, I doubt that helped - Scottish drivers were known fpr believing in running locos hard particularly when it was getting close to final orders!

So it's not really surprising one of them is reputed to have taken an HST set up to over 115mph on the Highland Main Line is it?

(As usual my post has started out entirely on-topic and then rather un-neatly segued into something else entirely. How it happens every time I really don't know, I hope you can forgive me @Cowley! )

 

[Cowley]

The reverse happened too (NSE 47/7 with ScotRail Mk2s), and I don't think the combination is unpleasant either.

Though I slightly prefer the modified ex-NSE dark grey stripe ScotRail Regional Railways livery.

I see one of the four rare NSE WoE pool air-con Mk2s has made its way into the set on the back as well.

From all-accounts the 47/7s were not a great stop-gap on the WoE, the field divert modifications for 100mph running did not stand up well to start-stop duties as the third divert came in at a different speed to a standard 47 and performance under ~30mph was apparently rather weak.

Of course we rather hammered them up here as well, I doubt that helped - Scottish drivers were known fpr believing in running locos hard particularly when it was getting close to final orders!

So it's not really surprising one of them is reputed to have taken an HST set up to over 115mph on the Highland Main Line is it?

(As usual my post has started out entirely on-topic and then rather un-neatly segued into something else entirely. How it happens every time I really don't know, I hope you can forgive me @Cowley! )

I love this sort of stuff Hexagon. 47/7s were a bit of a mystical beast to us down here and I’d only managed to chalk four off for haulage (which I was very proud of) before they ended up down here on my local line.
Some of them definitely were a bit knackered but the later conversions seemed to hold up pretty well.

I never realised that there were four mk2 aircons on the line. I thought I kept seeing the same one!

 

[hexagon789]

I love this sort of stuff Hexagon. 47/7s were a bit of a mystical beast to us down here and I’d only managed to chalk four off for haulage (which I was very proud of) before they ended up down here on my local line.
Some of them definitely were a bit knackered but the later conversions seemed to hold up pretty well.

Perhaps 5 fewer years of intensive push-pull service and one fewer year of officially sanctioned 100mph running (though only Bishopbriggs to Haymarket) was sufficiently kinder to the later batch.

I never realised that there were four mk2 aircons on the line. I thought I kept seeing the same one!

Four vehicles of 3 types and one was that ultimate in super rarities of the coaching stock world - painted in NSE colours, the only Mk2 air-con so treated.

The four vehicles were:
Mk2D TSO 5687
Mk2E TSO 5795
Mk2D FK 13563
Mk2D FK 13575 (the sole NSE one)

Here's a shot of said coach behind a pair of 50s in the Carlisle Fifty Farewell railtour:

50007 50050 Preston2

50050 + 50007 'Sir Edward Elgar' at Preston on the 'Carlisle Fifty Farewell' 16:45 Carlisle - Waterloo on 11/04/92.

flic.kr

(Copyright British Rail 1980s and 1990s Flickr)

 

[Cowley]

Perhaps 5 fewer years of intensive push-pull service and one fewer year of officially sanctioned 100mph running (though only Bishopbriggs to Haymarket) was sufficiently kinder to the later batch.

I reckon it might have helped actually. When 47713 decided to self flambé and they converted 47497 I remember it being a pretty decent loco as 47717. I had a run up Whiteball Bank with it the year before on 13 coaches from a dead stand at Taunton and although it took a while to get going it was a pretty decent run.

Four vehicles of 3 types and one was that ultimate in super rarities of the coaching stock world - painted in NSE colours, the only Mk2 air-con so treated.

The four vehicles were:
Mk2D TSO 5687
Mk2E TSO 5795
Mk2D FK 13563
Mk2D FK 13575 (the sole NSE one)

Here's a shot of said coach behind a pair of 50s in the Carlisle Fifty Farewell railtour:

50007 50050 Preston2

50050 + 50007 'Sir Edward Elgar' at Preston on the 'Carlisle Fifty Farewell' 16:45 Carlisle - Waterloo on 11/04/92.

flic.kr

(Copyright British Rail 1980s and 1990s Flickr)

I’ve only ever seen photos of that coach, I don’t remember seeing it in service but I must have done at some point.
The 1st class was nearly always at the centre of the train on the W of E services and as I’m sure you can imagine, that’s not where I’d have been!

I’ve now got two mk2 BSKs and I’m thinking about doing this to them (without the Provincial blue stripe obviously):

ex NSE Mk2 BSK (ex BFK) 35513

35513 ex NSE Mk2 BSK (ex BFK) A nice simple re work of an early NSE Mk2a split from the 'Capital Connection' set. NSE branding has been removed, and blue stripe applied. Note the correct West of England branding. Roof also has correct layout of shell vents. Now ex NSE to recreate the rakes that...

www.flickr.com

They were always positioned van to van in the centre of the train but finding a Graham Farish mk2 TSO at the moment is virtually impossible unfortunately.

 

[Gloster]

Delving into the disorganised depths of my ageing mind, my recollection is that up to May 1980 there were two Mark 1 BSK in the centre of the train, but thereafter it was two (sometimes only one) early Mark 2 BFK; the May 1980 SR carriage workings confirm this. The reason was to keep the guard and the van space on the platform at some of the shorter stations.

 

[Cowley]

Delving into the disorganised depths of my ageing mind, my recollection is that up to May 1980 there were two Mark 1 BSK in the centre of the train, but thereafter it was two (sometimes only one) early Mark 2 BFK; the May 1980 SR carriage workings confirm this. The reason was to keep the guard and the van space on the platform at some of the shorter stations.

Yes I think you’re absolutely right about that Gloster. My era is more mid to late eighties (it’s all about what you remember) than earlier because I know I’ll get dragged off course if I’m not careful!

 

[Peter C]

Thanks very much @Iskra, I’m glad you liked it. Hopefully there’ll be a little follow up piece in a couple of months time, I wrote it at the weekend and it’ll feature a few little bits that they couldn’t fit in the article.
——————————————————
18/3/2022

So that’s been three evenings turning this (those white tyres look horrific):
View attachment 111695

Into this:
View attachment 111694

That’s involved painting the wheels black, making some wipers, making up some pipes and an ETH box, lots of weathering, making the headlights dimmer, weathering the coaches that came with it and a few other things.

I’ve got a bit of a Waterloo - Exeter in 1988 feel going on this evening!

View attachment 111697

And there’s nothing wrong with that…

Now that looks very nice. Painting the wheels black really does a lot in making it look weathered I think. I dread to think how fiddly making those wipers would've been!
Loving that shot with the 50 too. Lovely engines them.

-Peter

 

[hexagon789]

I’ve only ever seen photos of that coach, I don’t remember seeing it in service but I must have done at some point.
The 1st class was nearly always at the centre of the train on the W of E services and as I’m sure you can imagine, that’s not where I’d have been!

I understand it was normally declassified.

Delving into the disorganised depths of my ageing mind, my recollection is that up to May 1980 there were two Mark 1 BSK in the centre of the train, but thereafter it was two (sometimes only one) early Mark 2 BFK; the May 1980 SR carriage workings confirm this. The reason was to keep the guard and the van space on the platform at some of the shorter stations.

That completely agrees with my knowledge of the subject of WoE formations which is relatively basic. As good a modelling subject as the route is, it's outside my main sphere of interest.

 

[Iskra]

Thanks very much @Iskra, I’m glad you liked it. Hopefully there’ll be a little follow up piece in a couple of months time, I wrote it at the weekend and it’ll feature a few little bits that they couldn’t fit in the article.
——————————————————
18/3/2022

So that’s been three evenings turning this (those white tyres look horrific):
View attachment 111695

Into this:
View attachment 111694

That’s involved painting the wheels black, making some wipers, making up some pipes and an ETH box, lots of weathering, making the headlights dimmer, weathering the coaches that came with it and a few other things.

I’ve got a bit of a Waterloo - Exeter in 1988 feel going on this evening!

View attachment 111697

And there’s nothing wrong with that…

That's a nice train pack you've picked up and an excellent weathering job

 

[Cowley]

That's a nice train pack you've picked up and an excellent weathering job

Thanks @Iskra. I like em dirty.
(and the trains)

 

[Cowley]

I’ve been doing a few jobs to the loco fleet this afternoon.
When I weathered my green 33 (33008 ‘Eastleigh’) unfortunately I got some thinners on the glazing and it made the plastic go a bit misty, so today I stripped the glazing out of the non detailed end of my other 33 and swapped them around so that both locos have now got decent front windscreens.

Another issue that I find irritating (and @Gloster will probably back me up here) is that the lights fitted to these models are ridiculously bright and over the last few weeks I’ve toned all of them down to more realistic levels and the two class 33s were the last ones that I needed to do.

(Nerves of steel me )


Here’s how they look now:

(they actually look a bit dimmer than that in the flesh)

The other job I did tonight was to make up some snow ploughs for the non detailed ends of Eastleigh and 37035 which involved raiding various leftover detailing packs, cutting the ploughs off and filing them down to size before gluing them into place.

It’s only a little thing but it makes a big difference when they’re coupled up to a rake of coaches and you’re viewing them from the rear:

33008:


37035:

 

[hexagon789]

I’ve been doing a few jobs to the loco fleet this afternoon.
When I weathered my green 33 (33008 ‘Eastleigh’) unfortunately I got some thinners on the glazing and it made the plastic go a bit misty, so today I stripped the glazing out of the non detailed end of my other 33 and swapped them around so that both locos have now got decent front windscreens.

Another issue that I find irritating (and @Gloster will probably back me up here) is that the lights fitted to these models are ridiculously bright and over the last few weeks I’ve toned all of them down to more realistic levels and the two class 33s were the last ones that I needed to do.

(Nerves of steel me )
View attachment 111807

Here’s how they look now:
View attachment 111804
(they actually look a bit dimmer than that in the flesh)

The other job I did tonight was to make up some snow ploughs for the non detailed ends of Eastleigh and 37035 which involved raiding various leftover detailing packs, cutting the ploughs off and filing them down to size before gluing them into place.

It’s only a little thing but it makes a big difference when they’re coupled up to a rake of coaches and you’re viewing them from the rear:

33008:
View attachment 111806

37035:
View attachment 111805

Snowploughs are such a great wee detail, I often think 47s look almost naked without them!

 

[Cowley]

Snowploughs are such a great wee detail, I often think 47s look almost naked without them!

They look great with ploughs don’t they? We had a number of ex Scottish 47s on the Waterloo line in the late 80s but I’ve been struggling to remember any that retained them?

 

[Gloster]

Having been brought up and then started my career in the land where two digit headcodes were displayed, the important thing is that the digits are readable. If they are too bright all you can see is glare.

 

[hexagon789]

They look great with ploughs don’t they? We had a number of ex Scottish 47s on the Waterloo line in the late 80s but I’ve been struggling to remember any that retained them?

I think they were removed when outside areas that required them on 47s or is that me talking rubbish?

Certainly the 47/7s were never fitted.

 

[Peter C]

I’ve been doing a few jobs to the loco fleet this afternoon.
When I weathered my green 33 (33008 ‘Eastleigh’) unfortunately I got some thinners on the glazing and it made the plastic go a bit misty, so today I stripped the glazing out of the non detailed end of my other 33 and swapped them around so that both locos have now got decent front windscreens.

Another issue that I find irritating (and @Gloster will probably back me up here) is that the lights fitted to these models are ridiculously bright and over the last few weeks I’ve toned all of them down to more realistic levels and the two class 33s were the last ones that I needed to do.

(Nerves of steel me )
View attachment 111807

Here’s how they look now:
View attachment 111804
(they actually look a bit dimmer than that in the flesh)

The other job I did tonight was to make up some snow ploughs for the non detailed ends of Eastleigh and 37035 which involved raiding various leftover detailing packs, cutting the ploughs off and filing them down to size before gluing them into place.

It’s only a little thing but it makes a big difference when they’re coupled up to a rake of coaches and you’re viewing them from the rear:

33008:
View attachment 111806

37035:
View attachment 111805

Loving those last two shots in particular. The snowploughs really do add a lot to the end of an engine, don't they? I also can't not comment on the cutting side you've made there - I think I've said this before (so apologies) but the amount of detail in it, with the trees and the flowers, and the staircase is all really super. May I ask where you got the flowers from?

-Peter

 

[Cowley]

Having been brought up and then started my career in the land where two digit headcodes were displayed, the important thing is that the digits are readable. If they are too bright all you can see is glare.

That’s how I remember them too. It was only when the sealed beam headlights came in that you had proper bright lights on locomotives.

I think they were removed when outside areas that required them on 47s or is that me talking rubbish?

Certainly the 47/7s were never fitted.

Thinking about it I seem to recall that MSPs were a bit of a no no on the southern region due to the possibility of them clanging into the 3rd rail - hence the cut down (or cut up even ) versions fitted to the 33s. However there were a couple of 50s that had ploughs fitted that ran on the W of E and they didn’t seem to have a problem going to 3rd RailLand…
We did get snowplough fitted 47s turning up at Exeter st David’s though including this memorable interloper in 1988:

47461 Exeter

47461 'Charles Rennie Mackintosh' at Exeter St David's on the 08:45 Newcastle - Plymouth on 22/08/88.

www.flickr.com

Loving those last two shots in particular. The snowploughs really do add a lot to the end of an engine, don't they? I also can't not comment on the cutting side you've made there - I think I've said this before (so apologies) but the amount of detail in it, with the trees and the flowers, and the staircase is all really super. May I ask where you got the flowers from?

-Peter

Ah the flowers…
Basically they all started as white cow parsley type bushes that I painted the tips of in various different colours. Rhododendrons were a big feature along that part of the line so the pinky purple ones are meant to represent them.
I went all in on the flower beds at Eggesford though because that’s one of the things that’s nice about the station. I think I bought the yellow ones but the rest were all painted and it was an easy thing to do in the end.

 

[Peter C]

Ah the flowers…
Basically they all started as white cow parsley type bushes that I painted the tips of in various different colours. Rhododendrons were a big feature along that part of the line so the pinky purple ones are meant to represent them.
I went all in on the flower beds at Eggesford though because that’s one of the things that’s nice about the station. I think I bought the yellow ones but the rest were all painted and it was an easy thing to do in the end.
View attachment 111839

Ah wonderful - thank you! That's very interesting: not seen people paint them before. I'm currently looking into ways of getting some colour into the green spaces on my own layout so I might just use that technique. I could do with getting some different coloured paints anyway

-Peter

 

[Gloster]

Thinking about it I seem to recall that MSPs were a bit of a no no on the southern region due to the possibility of them clanging into the 3rd rail - hence the cut down (or cut up even ) versions fitted to the 33s. However there were a couple of 50s that had ploughs fitted that ran on the W of E and they didn’t seem to have a problem going to 3rd RailLand…

As I automatically think of MSP as meaning Member of the Scottish Parliament, the first sentence threw up some rather odd mental images.

 

[hexagon789]

Thinking about it I seem to recall that MSPs were a bit of a no no on the southern region due to the possibility of them clanging into the 3rd rail - hence the cut down (or cut up even ) versions fitted to the 33s. However there were a couple of 50s that had ploughs fitted that ran on the W of E and they didn’t seem to have a problem going to 3rd RailLand…

The 3rd rail interference would make sense. I could be wrong but I think some locos had two settings, either the ploughs could actually be raised or there was a raised fitting they could be locked in. Something like that.

 

[Cowley]

The 3rd rail interference would make sense. I could be wrong but I think some locos had two settings, either the ploughs could actually be raised or there was a raised fitting they could be locked in. Something like that.

Interesting.
Anyway I borrowed one of Pauls coaches tonight during our running session so that I could recreate something that we were talking about on here the other day…



And here’s another 1991 recreation :

 

[hexagon789]

I

Interesting.
Anyway I borrowed one of Pauls coaches tonight during our running session so that I could recreate something that we were talking about on here the other day…

View attachment 111854

And here’s another 1991 recreation :
View attachment 111851

View attachment 111852

I mean it just looks so right doesn't it?

Having a random interloper coach in the rake, and the weathering is perfect given the weather.

Somehow snow seems to make trains grubbier? Go figure...