Two S&DJR 7Fs - Sisters in Grime

We visited the West Camel Model Railway Exhibition yesterday where I felt the standard of layouts was somewhat below par when compared to previous events.

However, I did manage to acquire a second Bachmann S&DJR Fowler 7F 2-8-0 that will now join Nº 88 (53808) in Prussian Blue that is already in our fleet of locos.

I had always thought that it would be nice to have both of the preserved 7Fs and, now, having obtained 53809 in black livery, I have achieved this.

Pictured above is Nº 88, in S&DJR Prussian Blue, having had a sound chip and non-working headlamps fitted.

Here, then, is preserved sister loco, 53809, in BR black with late crest. 
The Catalogue Nº is 31-011 and she is dated 12 November 2010. 

In both of the locos the cab detailing is superb, please see below:

As yet, she has not been fitted with DCC but will be before too long and her duties will predominantly be freight workings while Nº 88 will continue to haul mostly passenger trains.

Bachmann Class 108

The photographs, above, show our three-car Class 108 DMU as it leaves Carswater station.

You will notice that the centre coach has a black roof while the two power cars each have grey roofs.

This is because the Power Cars (53959 - Powered and 54243 - Non-powered) came as a two-car set - Catalogue Nº  32-902, while the centre coach is from a different three-car set - Catalogue Nº 32-910.

This is not a problem since, for the most part, this will be used as a two-car DMU but it does give us the option to run three cars from time to time.

This train has been with the railway for quite a while now but was waiting to be fitted with DCC sound.

This has now been done and, like most of our sound locos, it has had the Howes sound files installed.

The 108 will be used, predominantly, on the Gunnmere Junction to Anchwood branch line although, I am sure, it will occasionally be pressed into service on the main line.

Hornby S&DJR 3-Coach Set

I have been wanting to acquire the Hornby Somerset and Dorset Maunsell 3-Coach Set for some time now and yesterday, at a local Model Railway Exhibition, I finally managed to lay my hands on one!

The coach pack dates from 2011 and, for some reason, it passed me by when it first appeared but, now, I have finally been able to add these coaches to the collection.

The first of the three coaches is the 4-Compartment, 3rd Class Brake, both sides of which are shown above. This coach has the Running Nº: S3214S.

Next is the Corridor Composite Coach (above), with the Running Nº: S5138S.

Finally we have a second 4-Compartment, 3rd Class Brake, with the Running Nº: S3215S.

These are great coaches that will definitely be used on the railway. 

They will go well with any of our S&D locomotives and, especially, the BR Standard 4MT, the tender of which can just be seen in the first two photos.

Coaches Old and New

I have just added three more coaches to our fleet and the difference between them could not be more pronounced!

The first two coaches are the grubby duo pictured above.

These are both Dapol kits that I acquired pre-built and, as you can see, heavily weathered!

The coach in the first photo is a BR 60' Corridor Composite in Carmine and Cream Livery, Catalogue Nº C105C

Its Running Nº is M3940M.

The second coach is a BR 57' Corridor Brake Coach in Carmine and Cream, Catalogue Nº C106C.

Its Running Nº is M5530M.

I love these coaches and the weathering makes them perfect for use on the branch or on local services.

The third coach is the one shown above.

It is a BR Mk1 BSK Coach in InterCity Exhibitions Livery, which is available through the Bachmann Collectors Club, Catalogue Nº 39-075K. Its Running Nº is 99620.

Only 504 of these coaches have been produced of which, I believe, there are only six currently available.

I do like the striking livery of this coach and the plan is to take it to the major stations on the layout in order to show our travelling public all of the improvements being made to the railway.

Perhaps the first improvement should be to ensure all of our coaches are nice and clean!

Fleet of Warships

We now have, what might be described as, a fleet of Warship Class locomotives in that I recently acquired two more to add to the two that we already had.

So, beginning with the two older locos we have:

Class 22 - D6319

Okay, so this is, strictly speaking, not a Warship Class loco but they were nicknamed Baby Warships due to the fact that they looked very much like a smaller version of the original Warship class of locomotives, the Class 41, of which more later.

This Dapol Class 22 has been in our fleet for quite some time now and sees regular use on both freight and local passenger work. 

She has been lightly weathered and also fitted with Howes sound files.

The larger version of D6319 was, in fact, purchased for preservation but was, sadly, cut up at Swindon in September 1971 before she could be retrieved.

A great loss, indeed!

Class 42 - 812 'The Royal Naval Reserve'

We have also had this Bachmann Class 42 for a long time and, as you can see, she, too, has  been weathered, and quite heavily so, in her case. 

She has also been fitted with sound files by Howes and is a regular runner on the railway. As with the prototypes, she is used on express passenger services as well as the more mundane freight work.

The real 812 received the rail blue livery in March 1970 and was withdrawn from service in December 1972.

Fortunately, two of the 38, BR-built, Class 42's have been preserved, these being: D821 'Greyhound' and D832 'Onslaught'.

There could, and should, have been a third member of the class preserved in that D818 'Glory' had become somewhat of a favourite of the employees at Swindon Works and was repainted from rail blue back to its original BR green livery with the hope being that it might be preserved. 

However, this failed to materialize and the loco was scrapped in 1985, just before the Works itself closed in March 1986.

Class 43 - D838 'Rapid'

So to the first of the two new Warships, a Bachmann Class 43 in maroon livery and looking somewhat smarter and cleaner than her Class 42 sister.

She is a recent acquisition and has been DCC fitted, albeit not with sound. She will, doubtless, be fitted with sound and will be weathered, too, to tone her down a bit.

She, like 812, is a cracking loco and will be called upon to perform similar duties. 

She looks especially good pulling a rake of maroon coaches, as shown above, but will also be tasked with regular freight duties.

The real 'Rapid' received her maroon livery in September 1968 and kept it until her demise in March 1971, so was never painted in rail blue.

Sad to say that not one of the 33, North British Locomotive Class 43's survived into preservation and, in fact, all of them were withdrawn before the Swindon-built Class 42s.

Class 41 - D603 'Conquest'

The final loco in our Warship quartet is this Class 41, commissioned by Kernow Model Railways. 

It only arrived last week but is already fitted with a DCC decoder and been given a short test run - and she performs beautifully!

She has yet to be fitted with all of the accessories, including couplings, but she will not be called upon to haul any trains, just yet, not until she has had a proper running-in period.

Eventually she will be slightly weathered and fitted with sound and, given that space has been allowed for a large speaker inside the loco, I think she should sound very good!

As you probably know, only six of these North British D600s were constructed and they were introduced between January 1958 and January 1959. 

As their nickname suggests, they were all named after Warships and were used on many crack Western Region expresses, such as the Cornish Riviera, until they were deposed by the more powerful Class 42 and 43 locos.

During 1967, two of the five received the rail blue livery; namely: D600 'Active' and D602 'Bulldog'. The rest (D601 'Ark Royal', D603 'Conquest' and D604 'Cossack') retaining their BR green livery until the end.

Our model will definitely be a mixed traffic loco, working expresses, local passenger services and goods trains in equal measure.

All six of the Class 41's were withdrawn in December 1967 and all were subsequently cut-up although D601 did languish at Woodhams Yard in Barry until June 1980 - and I do recall seeing her there in the mid-1970s!