A Winning Streak

Following on from The Frontiersman, I thought I would feature another vintage Tri-ang Train Set and one which dates back to the early 1960s. This one was aimed at the Australian market rather than North America although Tri-ang did produce variants of this train for America and Canada too.

This train set was called "The Blue Streak" and its Catalogue Number was RS34. It was introduced in the 1963 catalogue and lasted for just two years although, individually, the locomotive and coaches continued  in production until the mid to late 1960s.

The train set featured the following items:

R159 Double Ended Diesel Locomotive with working headlights.

R131 Transcontinental Passenger Car - Coach

R132 Transcontinental Passenger Car - Blue Vista Dome

R133 Transcontinental Passenger Car - Observation Car

R134 Transcontinental Passenger Car - Baggage Car

Tri-ang also produced two additional items that are not shown here, namely:

R325 Transcontinental Passenger Car - Diner

R250 Non Powered Dummy Diesel Locomotive - for running double-headed trains.

Down On The Farm

I think it is high time for closer look at another hidden corner of the layout and, this time, we will pay a visit to Dairy House Farm. 

Actually, the farmhouse is not particularly hidden sitting, as it does, beside the branch line from Gunnmere to Lake End. As such it occupies a fairly prominent position, high up in the North East corner of the layout.

Being a dairy farm it has its own siding where milk tankers and cattle wagons can be delivered. This gives us yet another destination to which we can send our trains and it also means that the branch line gets to see a variety of locomotives and rolling stock trundling up and down.

In the photograph, the farmer can just be seen, behind the greenhouse, digging in his vegetable garden while his wife cleans the windows and her mother sweeps the doorstep. One of their sheep dogs is running in the garden while lots of chickens search for food near the Land Rover. 

Hmm, I wonder how many of those hens get run over by passing trains?

Social Climbers

Another scene along the branch line to Saggy Bottom and I hope that you can just make out the two climbers in the photograph, slowly but surely picking their way up the rock face. 

Obviously they caught the early morning train in order to spend the day pursuing their favourite hobby and, judging by the blue backpack at the foot of the rocks, it might well be their intention to stay the night, camping out under the stars and the viaduct.

My nephew's girlfriend made these figures for the layout using a sharp knife, a dab or two of glue, some paint and a lot of patience. She and my nephew are both climbers themselves so who better to achieve the authenticity and accuracy required here? That plus a steady hand and a keen eye - two things which, at my age, I sadly seem to be lacking these days!

Branching Out

In a previous posting I featured the branch line station that we have named Saggy Bottom Halt and which sits in the shadow of Nigglehead Viaduct. 

I promised then to include photographs taken further along the line towards the tunnel mouth, as it emerges from beneath the London loop, high above.

Well I do, eventually, keep my promises and so here is a photograph of our Class 108 DMU (still to be DCC chipped) coming out of the aforementioned tunnel mouth. 

When this train has had its sound card installed, it will be used on this branch line, taking climbers, cavers and campers to the wilds of Saggy Bottom!

An Old Timer!

 

No, I am not referring to myself in the title although, admittedly, the epithet is wholly appropriate to both the train and me!

Actually, the train in question is "The Frontiersman" which was introduced by Tri-ang in 1962 as part of its Transcontinental range. This range of locomotives and rolling stock was produced in an effort to appeal to the Australian and, in this case, North American markets. 

The train, which was sold as both a set and individually, was available between 1962 and 1967 by which time Tri-ang had become Tri-ang Hornby and this item was dropped from the catalogue.

The locomotive, which came with smoke and an engine crew, was called Davy Crockett and had the Running Nº: TRR 1863. The loco's Catalogue Nº was R358S and its tender carried logs rather than coal.

You will notice that the two 'Old Time' coaches (Catalogue Nº R468) are slightly different in that one is plain while the other one is lined. Both coaches carry the same running number (Nº 257) and I am not sure if the livery variations were as a result of the passage of time or were based on Australian and Canadian outline railways.

The train in my photographs also includes a caboose (Catalogue Nº R115) which was not part of the original train set but was added by me to lengthen the train.

Coming On A Storm!

We have done quite a lot of work during the past week or two and, as such, the landscaping around the fire station is almost complete as we continue to work our way, very slowly, through the town. The building is still not fixed in place as we want to install some lights before we do this.
More fencing has been erected around our, yet to be named, National Trust house and hill although parts the kissing gate have still to be painted.

We have also done some work on Petersfield Station in an effort to try and improve the look of the station.
This was done by simply covering the top and fronts of the existing Hornby platforms with  some of the Metcalfe station kit that we had over from constructing Sueston. Sadly, though, we did not have enough to complete the job. 

Having seen the improvement, thus far, though, we are now thinking of doing the same to Gunnmere. It is certainly a great way to hide the joints between the platform sections - as well as the clip at the base of the platform fencing!

The Blue Pullman

The Blue Pullman was a luxury class of DMU that was in service on British Rail from 1960 until 1973. The train was so named because of its Nanking Blue livery, as used in Chinese blue and white porcelain, and it was conceived following the 1955 Modernisation Plan in an attempt to try and compete with both the motor car and the emerging domestic air travel market.

Although not completely successful the Blue Pullman did demonstrate the potential for high-speed, fixed-formation, multiple unit, inter city train travel and, as such, were the inspiration behind the development of the Inter-City 125.

There were five complete sets of Pullman trains built by Metro Cammell of Birmingham with all coaches being air-conditioned with automatic humidity control. The coaches had armchair-type, table seating, each with a lamp and steward call-button whilst noise from the track was kept to a minimum by extra insulation in the bodywork and double glazed windows. There were even Venetian blinds contained within the panes of glass!

Initially the trains were operated by the Pullman Car Company (PCC) which had, by then, been acquired by the British Transport Commission. In 1962, however, the PCC was fully nationalized and, so, operation of the Pullmans was incorporated into the BR network. Towards the end of their operational life the trains were given the BR TOPS Classification Number 251, for the motor cars, and 261, for the kitchen and parlour cars. They were, however, never to carry these numbers.

The Pullman services ran from Monday to Fridays only, with weekends being reserved for maintenance and for the occasional special or charter service.

The London Midland Region were allocated two six-car sets and these operated the Midland Pullman between Manchester Central and St Pancras. Meanwhile, the Western Region had three eight-car sets which operated the Bristol Pullman between Bristol Temple Meads and London Paddington and the Birmingham Pullman between Wolverhampton and Paddington via Birmingham Snow Hill. From 1961 the WR also ran an additional morning train called the South Wales Pullman between Paddington, Cardiff and Swansea.

Following electrification of the West Coast Main Line in 1966 there was introduced a faster, locomotive-hauled Pullman train between London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly at which point the LMR ceased its Blue Pullman service and their sets were transferred to the Western Region.

By 1973, through a  combination of the introduction of air-conditioned, second class Mk2 coaching stock, declining reliability, the cost of maintaining such a small fleet of trains and the imminent arrival of the Inter-City 125, the days of the Blue Pullman were numbered and May of that year saw the withdrawal of the last sets. There was a final, commemorative special that ran to and from Paddington via High Wycombe, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Kenilworth, Coventry, Birmingham New St., Cheltenham, Bristol Temple Meads, Swansea, Cardiff, Bristol Parkway, Didcot and Slough.

Sadly all of the Blue Pullman sets were subsequently scrapped with none being preserved for posterity despite ten carriages, reportedly, being saved from the scrapyard in July 1975.

I mentioned earlier the livery of these units was, originally, Nanking Blue. This lasted until 1971 when all the sets were repainted in corporate BR grey and blue livery and this is how they stayed until the end of their days.

The only models that were produced of the Blue Pullman were made by Tri-ang; originally in the Nanking Blue livery between 1963 and 1967 with the extra parlour cars being produced between 1964 and 1974. Then, between 1969 and 1971, Tri-ang produced these models in their 'new' BR livery of grey and blue. 

These models, particularly in their original Nanking Blue livery, are still highly sought after today and an updated model has long been requested by modellers. Finally, it seems, these requests are going to be answered since Olivia's Trains of Sheffield, in conjunction with Danish manufacturer Heljan, are about to produce a ready to run model - hoooray!