Silver Sidelines

I have been watching listings for the six wheel Stove R on that well known auction site. I have succumbed and ‘won’ one. From its name I imagined that it was perhaps a train heating van that the LMS had designed for use with the LMS twins. Dapol Stove R in company with Bachmann ex LMS BG How wrong can you be! A check with Jenkinson and Essery shows that the Stove R was Sir William Stanier’s first design for a ‘Full Brake’. It was a Period III design and appeared in 1932/33. It was a six wheel vehicle– the precursor to the more familiar 50ft BG. The name ‘Stove R’ is because the vans were later fitted with a central stove to keep the guard warm – we can imagine.  The Dapol model dates from 2010/2011. It was commissioned by Ian Allan Publications and marketed in their periodical, the Hornby Magazine. There is a comprehensive thread on RMweb from the time detailing modellers’ expectations and listing various perceived shortcomings in the model – too many door hi...

I recently took delivery of one of those cute little six wheeled vans originally from Ian Allan Publishing. I thought that an elderly Mainline ex LMS 2P would make a suitable train engine. Ex LMS 4-4-0 in Dumfries Station in the early 1960s I bought my Mainline 2P back in 1984 from C&G models in Darlington. Mainline 2P from 1984 – it has a lovely faded appearance! My model was supposed new but never ran properly and has spent most of its 40 year life either in a box or resting peacefully in a siding up against the buffers (stored). Spot the 2P – engines waiting for their last journey at Dumfries early 1960s Although ‘branded’ as ‘Mainline’ my model is very obviously of Airfix origins. The mechanics of the tender drive are identical to the unit fitted to the Airfix 4F. The tender body is lined as opposed to plain black but lacks the wire handrails that appeared later when the tender drive 4F was reintroduced by Hornby. I had considered r...