Taunton Toy and Train Fair

We paid a visit to the Taunton Toy and Train Fair on Saturday, travelling down by train from Castle Cary and, for the first time, riding on a Class 800 rather than one of the lovely old 125s

These new Hitachi-built, bi-mode multiple unit trains, certainly look impressive but ours still arrived 12 minutes late and was absolutely filthy such that we could barely see out of the window.

The seats are very firm (hard) too and, to my mind, probably not very comfortable over long journeys.

Anyway, I took these photos of the London-bound train, which, amazingly, did arrive on time.

This was a first visit to this particular Toy and Train Fair and it is quite a walk from Taunton station - about 1.5 miles. However, it was definitely worth going and, at only £2 entrance fee, excellent value for money too. 

It is held at the Richard Huish College and there was a wide variety of traders in attendance plus they have an excellent restaurant serving food and hot drinks.

I came away with several Limited Edition wagons plus a Bachmann Class 20 and a Hornby Class 67.

This Bachmann Class 20 - 20172 'Redmire' - has a DCC non-sound decoder fitted and is one of only 420 models produced specifically for the Bachmann Collectors Club in, I believe, 2015. Its Catalogue Nº is 32-035K.

This particular Class 20 wore a customized version of the BR Corporate Blue livery, which was applied by Thornaby depot in North Yorkshire. Sadly, though, it was withdrawn in October 1990 and subsequently cut up by M C Metals of Glasgow in March 1995. 

The model now joins the other two Class 20s in our fleet and will, eventually, be fitted with a sound decoder. Of the three she is the only one to have lights and is also the only one to be named.

This Hornby Class 67 is, to be honest, a bit out of our era but we do like to be flexible and, besides, we wanted a suitably liveried diesel locomotive to haul our Royal Train and this one fitted the bill, nicely!

The model is of 67006 and is named 'Royal Sovereign'. Like the Class 20 she has been fitted with a DCC decoder and will, eventually, have a sound decoder installed.

The Catalogue Nº is R3272 and I think that she, too, dates from 2015.

Clearly I must have had a Royal Flush moment at the fair because, not content with acquiring the claret-liveried Class 67 I also splashed out on the Hornby Diamond Jubilee Train Pack. This is a limited edition of just 1700 packs (Catalogue Nº R3094) that were produced (presumably in 2012) to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Actually, I already have all of the coaches contained here but I have always liked this pack and have also always thought it would be nice to add a Britannia to our steam locomotive fleet. 

So, this seemed a good way to kill two birds with one stone, as it were.

Mike Turner Prints

While having a sort out the other day, I came across these two prints by railway artist Mike Turner.

These prints were given away in Rail Magazine during 1981 and I had completely forgotten that I still had them.

This first one is of D9003 'Meld', in two-tone green, at the head of what must be 'The Flying Scotsman' but I have no more information as to its location and date. Sadly Meld was withdrawn on 31 December 1980 and scrapped in March 1981 - about the same time that this print appeared in Rail Magazine!

This second print is of Class 40 'D301' although, again, I have no information as to the location or date. I do know that D301 was built at the EE Vulcan Foundry in November 1960 and was later renumbered 40101. Sadly she too was withdrawn, in August 1982, and was scrapped at BREL Crewe Works in December 1984.

Coaching Stock - Part 4

High time I featured some more of our coaching stock and, this time, it is the Lima Red and Cream Mk 1s.

We have eight of these coaches comprising the following types:

BR Mk 1 Gangwayed Full Brake (BG)

We have just the one of Full Brake and its Running Number is M34722. The Catalogue Number is L305344 and this model dates from around 1979.

BR Mk1 Corridor Second Class (SK)

There are two Corridor Second Class coaches in our fleet, both with the Running Number M24437. The Catalogue Number is L305363 and it dates from 1982.

BR Mk1 Restaurant Buffet (RBR)

We just only one Restaurant Buffet car. Its Running Number is M34642, the Catalogue Number is L305325 and it dates from 1979.

BR Mk1 Corridor Composite (CK)

We have two Corridor Composite coaches, both with the Running Number M34628. The Catalogue Number is L305311 and they both date from 1979.

BR Mk1 Corridor Brake Second (BSK)

We also have two of these Brake Second Class coaches. The Running Number for both is M34376, the Catalogue Number is L305331 and they also date from 1979.