Silver Sidelines

Good fortune or a lucky chance meant that I have acquired a pair of Dapol’s new ex GWR Mainline City Toplight coaches. All second ex GWR Toplight in BR livery The advertising literature tells me that these coaches were all withdrawn by 1957 although two or three lived on, on the South Wales Mineral Railway for carrying miners to work.  I love the squat appearance and I can imagine that prior to withdrawal these coaches would have been cascaded down and used on some quiet remote branch line.  My brake second and all second will form an extra early morning working in place of the routine daily ‘B’ Set. An early start When I first unboxed the coaches I was immediately struck by their heavy weight.  The Dapol Toplights weigh in at 175gm compared to 125gm for one of Hornby’s suburban Collett coaches.  Even Bachmann MkI coaches only weigh 165gm and they are nearly 50mm longer!  It was only later that I realised that Dapol have provided a proper metal chassis, similar ...

The summer weather has disappeared so an incentive to spend time on railway matters. This Post was initiated by the purchase of a Dapol Fruit D van.  One of Mr Dapol’s Fruit D vans   Over the last twelve months I have been imagining a Welsh themed layout. What better for inspiration but to follow Katerfelto’s pictures on Flickr https://flic.kr/ps/SokUv .  I was fascinated by one particular picture which featured an ex GWR Fruit D in the process of being shunted between passenger trains. Machynlleth by Katerfelto  https://flic.kr/p/2oAZyMc   Apparently a major source of the old GWR's parcels traffic was market garden produce. Small growers would take their fresh produce and load it into a van at the local station. The vans would then be moved speedily to market at the larger towns and cities. To cater for the fresh produce the GWR provided vans with additional ventilation slats in their sides to allow cool air to circulate. The vans could be attached to pas...

I like my rakes of Bachmann coaches especially when the coaches are brought closer together. Close coupled Bachmann Mk1s hauled by Heljan Western King For track layouts with Peco Medium radius points and above with 36 inch radius or greater curves, there are a number of options available for bringing the coaches closer together. Some appear more readily available than others. My coaches have been bought over a number of years. As supplied by Bachmann they came fitted with what I believe are now referred to as 36-064 Long Cranked NEM couplings. Bachmann Cranked NEM couplings 36-064(long) left 36-027(short) right And from the side: Bachmann Cranked NEM couplings 36-027(short) top 36-064(long) bottom I standardised on Hornby R8220 (Roco) type couplings to go between coaches and Bachmann 36-027 Short Cranked NEM couplings for the ends of rakes to couple to the tension locks fitted to the locomotives. Roco 40270 left, Hornby R822...

I have given in to temptation and purchased one of Dapol’s Class 22 green diesels. (Left) D6313 (Head Code Boxes) back from hospital (Right) D6311 (Discs) fresh from its bath! In fact I have bought two Class 22s, one with Discs and one with split Head Code Boxes. Green Diesels from “The Western Since 1948” (G Freeman Allen 1979) I never saw the prototype but there is a picture of a Class 22 with an early form of air conditioning in the company of a couple of Warships in one of my favourite reference books for things ‘Western’. D6311 with Headcode Discs D6311 was purchased new from one of those well known retailers. It was very noisy and jerky. I was advised to apply some oil to the gearing - or if I was not happy the engine could be returned. The replacement model had been tested and was a little quieter. I still thought it was an uneven runner. The latest models have a small hole in the keeper plate on the underside of the bogie to aid...

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...