For some of the even earlier wagon designs, such as the delightfully small ‘Chaldron’ wagons now available from Accurascale their size meant that there wooden ‘buffers’ were both lower and closer together than the ‘normal’ adopted buffer position. This meant that for shunting to easily and safely be undertaken the locomotives being used required additional buffering arrangements to be added.
This usually took the form of vertically mounted wooden blocks that were simply / crudely bolted onto the locomotive buffer beam.
B2 Peckett 0-6-0t ‘Leader’ fitted with the 247 Developments dumb buffers
My friends at 247 Developments have created 3D printed vertical dumb buffers available in sets of four either painted (£2.50) or unpainted (£1.00).
These can be simply glued to the buffer beam (I advise just removing any raised rivet from the buffer beam at the mounting position first) providing a dumb buffer solution in a matter of minutes at a pocket money price.
Even without the Chaldron wagons the additional dumb buffers add some further character and individualism to the industrial locomotive fleet.
247 Developments are of course also a great port of call for etched number and nameplates, SR Head signal discs and a wide range of locomotive, coach and wagon detailing parts.
Hornby 75T Crane legs
Continuing the 3D printed theme also new to the 247 Developments range are both short (£1.50) and long (£2.50) legs for the venerable Hornby Cowans Sheldon 75T Breakdown crane (similar to the one based for a while at Eastleigh).
My good friend, excellent modeller and proprietor of 247 Developments Brian Mosby has advised me that he now has produced in his vast etched range Golden Arrow headboard and Arrows that adorned either Rebuilt Bulleid pacifics or BR Britannia 70004. He has also produced the rectangular style headboard used when Bulleid 1Co-Co1 diesel 10202 was used during 1954 on the prestigious Pullman service.
247 Developments Golden Arrow plates
The famous ‘Golden Arrow’ name was first used in 1929, although the origins of the service dates back as afar as 1882 and the final service ran on 30th September 1972. Unlike the ‘Night Ferry’ service passengers would travel by ferry from Dover or Folkestone to Calais where they boarded a similarly prestigious French train under the French name Flêche d’ Or. Ten all-new Pullmans were built from 1949 and entered service as the “Festival of Britain Golden Arrow” on 11th June 1951.
21c1 hauls the the Press Run for the inauguration of the post war “Golden Arrow” on 13th April 1946. The larger Arrow can be seen on the casing side. (GRM collection)
Before WWII the “Golden Arrow” was usually worked by Lord Nelson class locos, For the resurrected post war service the first locomotive used was 21C1 Channel Packet, although though from 1946 a Bulleid light pacific. When in original form as well as the headboard a large arrow was carried on the side of the casing.
34100 Appledore on the last steam hauled Golden Arrow, picture courtesy of Mike Morant
A smaller arrow was used affixed to the smoke deflectors of rebuilt Bulleid light pacifics. Although between 1956 and 1959 No. 35015 Rotterdam Lloyd was the only rebuilt Merchant Navy to be used and and for a while in the early1950s, BR Britannia 70004 William Shakespeare. Light pacific 34100 Appledore hauled the last steam worked Golden Arrow on 11th June 1961 when electric traction took over with what were to become Class 71 locomotives.
In addition 247 Developments stock other SR named train headboards, numerous BR(S) smokebox door number plates for many ex SR classes, dated smokebox door roundels for the Bulleid pacifics and SR Engine Head Signal route discs. Brian’s products are of excellent quality and I can wholeheartedly recommend them.
One of the original releases D2985 is seen at rest on Canute Road Quay
Nine additional Class 07s are now being prepared for release in early 2019. These will cover new identities for the most popular BR green and BR blue editions which sold out quickly earlier this year, the well-known Eastleigh Works shunter of the 1970s/80s, D2991, plus two more industrial versions in ICI grey/orange and Powell Duffryn blue/white. These model have a 6 Pin DCC socket and will be priced around £139. see below for the full list.
Artwork drawing for 2906: BR Eastleigh Works light green D2991
Version 1 – as-built BR Locos
2904: BR(S) green D2986
2905: BR(S) green D2988
2906: BR Eastleigh Works light green D2991
2907: BR blue D2998
2908: BR blue 07002
2909: Powell Duffryn blue/white ‘07006’
Version 2 – Later BR and industrial dual-braked variant
2914: BR blue 2989
2915: BR blue 07009 (weathered)
2916: ICI grey/orange 07005 Langbaurgh
247 Developments
Friend, excellent modeller and proprietor of 247 Developments Brian Mosby has advised me that he now has produced 22 etched smoke box number plates 30081-89, 30092-103 and 30147 for the Dapol ex LSWR B4 Class 0-4-0t. Brian also stocks a range of SR etched nameplates and smokebox door number plates including the Lord Nelson class which will be of great use when the forthcoming new Hornby model arrives. In addition he stocks dated smokebox door roundels for the Bulleid pacifics and SR Engine Head Signal route discs. Brian’s products are of excellent quality and I can wholeheartedly recommend them.
Canute Road Quay on tour
It was a very enjoyable weekend at the Worthing MRC show last weekend with Canute Road Quay, Thanks to friend and fellow modeller Simon Paley for his assistance and company over the weekend and all those readers of this blog whom dropped by and said hello.
Simon keeps the visitors to the Worthing show entertained A Dapol ex LSWR B4 ‘Caen’ in Southampton Docks livery makes her debut at the show
It is always a pleasure to exhibit at this show, I took Fisherton Sarum there in 2015, as the Worthing MRC club president, Dave Kent, is a friend and past member of the High Wycombe & District MRS. He will hate me for saying this again, as I know he reads this blog, but when I joined the Society at the tender age of 15, *cough* years ago, he took me under his wing so to speak, working on the scenery for the Societies then large 00 layout ‘Hillingdon Court’. Dave is an exceptional modeller and some of you may well have previously seen is excellent SR third rail layout Ashington (which featured in the November 2007 issue of Hornby Magazine).
Hinton Parva keeps the crowds at the Doncaster Show entertained
Hinton Parva represents a very busy junction station on a Joint Midland/Eastern north-south line. The “Branch” purports to be a cross-country line bringing Southern and Western trains from the south-west. As well as the usual “mainline” movements, there is a goods yard constantly shuffling wagons for the pick up goods trains, and a motive Power Depot which has to receive, service, prepare and dispatch locos for the stopping branch express trains, all of which require a loco change. We operate a varied, late 1950s, steam/early diesel schedule with a wide range of stock from modern detailed RTR and a large sprinkling of quality kit and scratch built locos and coaches.
A view from the other end of the 32′ long Hinton Parva, different day different crowd
Not many layouts feature two Garratts (one an LMS and the other the sole LNER machine) hauling 60 wagon trains or an ex LNER W1 or 10001,10201,10800 and prototype diesels / gas turbines. The loco roster for an exhibition is nearly 50 locos, and they all make a running appearance.
Another unusual feature is the working semaphore signals, 37 working arms at the last count. Apart from the aesthetic value of the signals, they also provide drivers with their only means of indications of what they are supposed to do, truly prototypical.
The layout is large at 32ft x 12ft, and maximum use is made of this size to provide a running spectacle for the viewers. The complete sequence takes some 50 to 60 minutes and involves about 90 mainline movements, trains in, trains running through, trains starting.
21C3 ‘Royal Mail’ making an appearance on Hinton Parva and easily handled an 8 car Pullman rake
Hornby, have increased the number of shows they are having a presence at this year and I took the opportunity to run and photograph on Hinton Parva, courtesy of Hornby, one of the first of the product batch their new original style Bulleid Merchant Navy Pacifics 21C3 ‘Royal Mail’. This is an advance version with the main production batch due to arrive at retailers during March.
21C3 rests on shed on Hinton Parva
These locomotives have a 5 pole motor with flywheel and plenty of adhesion weight and hauled an 8 coach rake of Hornby, Pullman cars with plenty of power in reserve. It should be noted that in the pictures to the left she has been taken straight out of the box and the detailing pack containing front steps and cylinder drain cocks etc have not been fitted. I am also pleased to confirm that the lettering shading has been corrected from the livery sample to be black as it should be.
Another view of 21C3 on Hinton Parva
As I advised in my Talking Stock #35 post back in December about the imminent Hornby Merchant Navy releases R3435 No. 21C3 ‘Royal Mail’ is in the condition between when introduced in September 1941; with the ‘widows peak’ style front end without smoke deflectors but with the opening around the chimney and the slot in the front face above the smokebox; and when she was painted in wartime black livery in May 1943.
R3422 Adams radial number 3125 in SR wartime black livery
The next batch of ex London & South Western 0415 class Adams radial tanks have now arrived with the retailers including R3422 number 3125 in SR wartime black with ‘Sunshine’ lettering. this means that for once to suit my modelling period I do not have to repaint and/or renumber an RTR Southern release (although I do have an R3334 ex 30582 with Drummond boiler ready to become 3520 also on SR black with Sunshine lettering as she ran between March 1945 and March 1948).
Another view of R3422 number 3125
Number 3125 is in the condition she ran between October 1944 when she regained an Adams boiler and March 1949 when she was repainted in British Railways lined black livery. The other recent Hornby, Adams radial release is R3423 as number 30583 also with a an Adams boiler in British Railways lined black with late crest that she gained in early 1959.
H Class smokebox door number plates from 247 Developments
A cruel enlargement of the H class smokebox door number plate
Recently under the new ownership of Brian Mosby, an excellent modeller himself whom I have known for some time, 247 Developments has produced the full range of H Class numbers (except 31264 and 31312 which never gained the BR number!) The etching is of a high standard and will be welcome addition to the 247 Developments range for any Southern Region modeller.
With a nod to David Frost et al for the title… although I am not really that old… honest… As regular readers of my blog will know last weekend was the last of three exhibitions in three weekends, and was the third year in a row that I have exhibited with a layout at the Warley National Model Railway Show. This time it was turn of the Layout Ashland which was built by myself, Richard Proudman and Hornby Magazine Editor Mike Wild as a challenge, which we duly completed, to build a layout in a weekend at the Hornby Magazine Live show in Hartlepool last July.
21C102 'Salisbury' arrives at Ashland. Note her short deflectors and original style cab.
Ashland formed part of the Ian Allen / Hornby Magazine stand at the show and is based on the North Cornwall Line, the track plan being a mix of Ashwater and Dunsland Cross. We ran my own Southern 1946 to 1948 era stock on the Saturday and moved forward 10 years or so on the Sunday with Mike’s own BR Southern Region stock being used. Along with a couple of Bulleid light pacific’s, M7’s; an O2, N, N1 and a T9, my recently re-liveried Beattie Well Tank also put in a sterling performance hauling a mix of suitable stock.
Beattie Well Tank 30586 in early British Railways livery trundles into Ashland with a pick up goodsT9 721 on the morning parcels turn
Warley is a bit of a marmite show you either love it or hate it, however a number of changes made to the show this year including widened aisle widths and increased seating available for visitors to rest weary legs (due to the extremely hard concrete floor) which seemed to improve circulation around the show. There will always be discussion on the cost to visitors attending taking into account the entry fee (still half the price of the next door motorcycle show) and parking, but even all in, its still cheap when you consider the cost per layout ratio or the cost per hour of entertainment as most visitors appear to spend all day there (which is needed to see all or nearly all the 75 layouts and nearly 150 traders!)
Many of the suppliers and manufacturers now appear to time announcements and new releases for Warley, with respect to the latter also Christmas is possibly a factor, however this must put strain on the traders stocking policy and cash flow having to suddenly stock so many new items.
Bachmann released a number of new items and had on display a number of pre production tooling’s in both 2 and 4mm with the most noticeable being the 6 car Midland Blue Pullman. The N Gauge Society’s commissioned, from Graham Farish, fine model of an SR Queen Mary brake van was also available.
Hornby had their livery sample Brighton Belle unit on display, and very nice it looks too, and their non corridor Gresley suburban coaches now released certainly look excellent despite not being Southern.
Dapol have just recently got there 4mm Class 22 into the shops. Kernow Models had the excellent looking livery samples of their commissioned weathered versions on display. Dapol also announced their intention to enter the 7mm market with a 6, 7 and 8 plank private owner wagons to start with. Hattons although not having a stand had a presence with Dapol showing off their stunning looking LMS Twin diesels 10000 / 10001 (both of which ended up onAshlandtowards the end of Sunday!).
Heljan announced their intention to add to their range of transition ear diesels with the Class 16 The prototype, not the most reliable of engines, “worked” mainly out of Stratford so am not sure if they ever reached Southern Region metals via transfer freights.
Gary at 247 Developments showed me his new etch of Southern engine head signal discs (often incorrectly called route discs or headcode discs) that are complete with half etched handle.
This post is not intended to be a full review of the show but just a snapshot from my perspective / interests. Operating a layout at Warley does not really allow the time to fully view all on show and therefore the above are just some of those things that came to my attention. I am sure that there will be a fuller roundup in the various next magazine issues or on some of the web forums.
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The model railway world and mainly Southern Railway meanderings of Graham 'Muz' Muspratt
