Silver Sidelines

My layout is set in the period 1959/1961, give or take couple or years. With the arrival of the New Year I have taken the opportunity to move the time period forward and run a few models from say 1963/1964. I shall call it the British Railways Maroon era. British Rail WR Maroon Hydraulics – Bachmann Magpie and Heljan Western Talisman Western Talisman was outshopped in maroon in August 1962. A year or more would have to pass before any of the Warships were painted in maroon. British Rail WR Maroon Hydraulics – Bachmann Magpie and Heljan Western Talisman Prior to 1956 British Railways mainline coaching stock was supposed to be painted in crimson and cream (blood and custard). Seemingly the Western Region of British Railways did not always comply and the rolling stock for some named trains began to be painted in chocolate and cream. Certainly by the late 1950s when the first diesel hydraulics emerged from Swindon (without yellow warning panels) there wer...

The arrival of Bachmann’s new Class 43 Warship Pegasus has encouraged me to revisit my fleet of Bachmann Warships.   I have counted four distinct variants of the Bachmann Warship: the early 'low' version, the corrected version, the lighted version and now the latest Class 43.   I don't count Kader’s early Mainline models as being Bachmann, although they have a place in this narrative. Four ages of Bachmann Warship, left to right, Onslaught, Glory, Zenith and Pegasus First some history, Kader Industries introduced their first Warship under the Mainline label I think in the late 1970s. I certainly bought a couple in the early 1980s, now long since sold at auction. The Mainline models had a good shape and came with directional lighting. When Kader rebranded their UK models under the Bachmann label the body shell from the Mainline Warship was reused (with different fixings) right up until the introduction of the Bachmann Class 43 in 2015. The Mainline chassis had...