A quick Dapol B4 and Kernow update before heading to where Summer comes first

Regular readers of this blog will know that this time of year I tend to head south to where ‘summer comes soonest’, to coin a phrase from that well know Southern Railway Publicity poster.

I am soon heading very South (well about 4 and bit  hours and approximately 1600 miles in a plane south) for a blend of Spanish, African and Latin American influences,  exploration including a dormant volcanoes and a lavascape, rest, relaxation and hopefully some sun, possibly dark sandy beeches and sea too (might help you guess where). Normal service on this blog will therefore be resumed at the end of the month.  Before I get in to full holiday mode I just thought I would give a couple of brief updates on a few Southern related model items.

Firstly, Dapol have now released images of the first assembled Engineering Prototype of their 00 gauge ex LSWR B4, announced back in 2014, This follows on the tooling test pieces that they had on display back in March at the BRM / Warners / MRC London Festival of Model Railways . So far the EP of just the one version of the 5 variants promised has been shown but I believe the other variations will follow.

As a remind those variations so far announced are:

• ‘Normandy’ (Number 96) as preserved by the Bulleid Society on the Bluebell Railway
• ‘Caen’ (Number 90) Southampton Docks brown livery with Drummond Chimney
• Number 88 in Southern black
• Number 30082 in BR black, early emblem
• Number 30096 in BR black, late crest

Secondly, The Kernow Model Rail Centre have received the second batch of livery samples of the their Gate Stock Pull Push sets and also the first main livery sample of the Bulleid Diesel numbers 10201 and 10202.
With respect to the Gate Stock there are still a number of tweaks being made to finalise the liveries.

Although the first EPs of the Bulleid diesels broke cover, like the Dapol B4 tooling samples, back in March at the BRM / Warners / MRC London Festival of Model Railway as reported here, the livery application upon them had been undertaken by the factory from their own research rather than against approved livery artwork. The samples now received still have a few minor corrections to be made as the running numbers and BR early emblems are placed too high on the bodyside. The bogies require the axle boxes and springs painting black and the wheels will be the correct Bulleid pattern rather than the simple wheels provided for testing purposes. (The first engineering sample had the correct wheels).

It should also be noted that these models have a centrally positioned 5 pole motor (not coreless) with two brass flywheels driving each power bogie via flexible drive shafts and having had the chance to test run the first EP they have a good weight to them, are quiet, smooth and powerful.
Kernow Model Rail Centre have also confirmed details of the final pricing and ordering details with respect to the pre-orders and this information can be found on the Kernow website here.

The 10203 versions will follow later.

Production slots for both the 10201 /2 Bullied Diesels and the Gate Stock are currently being finalised but it is hoped should be by the end of August, which neatly gets us back to summer and holidays how this post started.