I watched last night on catch-up a programme from C4 last Saturday evening 'Britains Railway Empire in colour' which among other things included a short early ciné film that had been rather well colourised - I assume for this programme - of a Webb 2-4-0 (actually probably technically a 2-2-2-0) compound pulling an express and taking up water at speed.
For ciné, it must have been made very early as when Whale took over from Webb in 1903, one of his first jobs was to churn out Precursor 4-4-0s to replace Webb compounds. The 2-4-0s had, I think, all gone by the end of 1905. His 4-4-0 compounds lasted a bit longer and some were eventually rebuilt as simples, but the one in the film was not one of those.
My wife wanted to watch something on another channel ... I may see if I can catch it on my computer. Of course Webb's Jumbos lasted much longer. It's sad that the last three "mainline" passenger locos all got scrapped c.1945.
I see that A Certain Yorkshire Retailer has the Bachmann 00 scale LNWR arc-roof coaches in stock, along with Bachmann G2 0-8-0s and a bargain Precedent 2-4-0.
I've not seen any online reviews of the coaches, which do look very nice indeed, but that may be because no reviewer has yet been able to afford one - even with the usual retailer discount, they're over £93 for examples in LNWR livery...
The Rapido Evolution generic pre-group coaches are still to appear. I hope they sell successfully (they certainly look good - Rapido use the term *prototypically literate*), but I also hope that they'll produce corridor versions in due course.
The Suffix Border Railway would like a couple of corridor brake-composites, to save Guard House the task of edging gingerly along the footboards to examine the passenger's ticket whilst the train is in motion. After all, we do get up to 20mph at times!
The Suffix Border Railway would like a couple of corridor brake-composites, to save Guard House the task of edging gingerly along the footboards to examine the passenger's ticket whilst the train is in motion. After all, we do get up to 20mph at times!
I can't help but think they're missing a trick here. A corridor brake composite makes the ideal through coach. Many could justify a 'foreign' coach on that basis.
The Suffix Border Railway would like a couple of corridor brake-composites, to save Guard House the task of edging gingerly along the footboards to examine the passenger's ticket whilst the train is in motion. After all, we do get up to 20mph at times!
I can't help but think they're missing a trick here. A corridor brake composite makes the ideal through coach. Many could justify a 'foreign' coach on that basis.
Oh dear, I'll try again. If you Google "model railway journal madder valley" you'll get a link to a site called Scaleway which, when you click on it, should give you the download.
Oh dear, I'll try again. If you Google "model railway journal madder valley" you'll get a link to a site called Scaleway which, when you click on it, should give you the download.
One of the most interesting aspects of the Madder Valley layout is the way in which John Ahern used narrow-gauge prototypes (Isle of Man, Darjeeling-Himalaya, Festiniog, and maybe others I've missed), altering their dimensions slightly to fit 00 gauge track, but retaining their distinctive appearance.
Somehow, they all seem to fit in with the eclectic mix of rolling-stock, giving a *prototypically literate* (thank you, Rapido) look to the entire layout.
Not so easy an example to follow these days, unless you scratch-build just about everything, as John Ahern did!
Incidentally, this point was brought home to me this morning when I was setting up my latest baseboard - 8’6”x2’6”. Which ok I’m lucky to have the length for but against a spare room wall it doesn’t project in much.
In OO the same projected layout would be 17’x5’…!
So what I save on locomotives I’ll be spending on townscape.
Incidentally, this point was brought home to me this morning when I was setting up my latest baseboard - 8’6”x2’6”. Which ok I’m lucky to have the length for but against a spare room wall it doesn’t project in much.
In OO the same projected layout would be 17’x5’…!
So what I save on locomotives I’ll be spending on townscape.
Have you looked at Chandwell? The railway there is, I think, subsidiary to the townscape, which is truly amazing.
Incidentally, this point was brought home to me this morning when I was setting up my latest baseboard - 8’6”x2’6”. Which ok I’m lucky to have the length for but against a spare room wall it doesn’t project in much.
In OO the same projected layout would be 17’x5’…!
So what I save on locomotives I’ll be spending on townscape.
Have you looked at Chandwell? The railway there is, I think, subsidiary to the townscape, which is truly amazing.
ETA: I hear that it's a Bachmann announcement - do you have a link?
If I am reading it correctly from today's email, it is also being issued by Locomotion models for the NRM, but in the dark blue livery. (Its page on their website appears to be out of service at the moment).
It's curious that nobody seems to be totally confident what shade of blue Caledonian engines were, and there are suggestions it varied depending on who painted them, how they mixed the colours and how much of the various different ingredients they had on the day. Part of the impression people have that Caledonian blue was always as light as the Caledonian Single No 123 usually is, seems to come from the problems early twentieth black and white film seems to have had with many blues coming out very pale, much paler than they actually were, the opposite of the way ortho film rendered reds as black.
I suppose it's a bit like the way one used to have to put a yellow filter over the lens to get clouds to be distinguished from the sky behind them even with pan film
In Caledonian Cavalcade, Glen/Dunbar (authoritative because they were there) there is a note that, "...prior to 1897 the blue was of an indigo variety, but was then lightened to the 'ethereal' blue livery which is remembered by enthusiasts". One of their photo captions of a Conner 2-4-0 refers to "the dark Perth blue circa 1895..." that was applied at the Perth workshops. I think I have seen that elsewhere, but can't lay my hands on it. I have too many books.
The Lightmoor Press has a book (out of print) called Caledonian Railway Livery, by Jim MacIntosh, which would probably answer our question.
Another *blue* railway that comes to mind is the Great Eastern, whose livery (as seen on the preserved 2-4-0, for example) appears to be of a fairly dark shade.
The most striking blue IMHO is the amazing sky-blue used by the Great Northern (Ireland) post-WW2, on their superb 4-4-0 express engines of various types. This has been well-recorded on film, and can be seen today on preserved locomotives. It must have been a job to keep clean, though the GNR(I) did its best.
You still can, if you visit Ireland. The RPSI runs special trains, using Slieve Gullion and and the V-class compound Merlin, in various parts of NI and the Republic.
I note that Merlin is not in service at the moment.
The V class engines were similar to the later VS class (simples, rather than compounds, and fitted with smoke-deflectors), and I suppose can be compared with the English Southern Railway's own V class (the Schools).
I did see one long ago, about 1964 I think, but it was too far away to ascertain which loco it was. I was on what was then Amiens Street station, now Connolly. CIE by then was entirely dieselised, but through trains from Belfast were still steam hauled. It had obviously worked in from the north and was in a siding waiting to work its return working. It had smoke deflectors, which I think makes it a VS.
Incidentally, this point was brought home to me this morning when I was setting up my latest baseboard - 8’6”x2’6”. Which ok I’m lucky to have the length for but against a spare room wall it doesn’t project in much.
In OO the same projected layout would be 17’x5’…!
So what I save on locomotives I’ll be spending on townscape.
Have you looked at Chandwell? The railway there is, I think, subsidiary to the townscape, which is truly amazing.
I have not, but now shall!
I'm not even a modeller, and I watch his youtube videos - in my case out of a weird nostalgia for run-down northern industrial towns c.1990, which is around the time I came to the North. I've joined commenters on there discussing which way the angled things go that take the barbed wire at the top of concrete posts for chain link fences, and how broken car window glass might best be rendered in N scale. It's right up my (CPOd and awaiting demolition) street He's been a bit diverted making an N scale model of Bradford Cathedral for their city-of-culture thing, for the last few months.
You still can, if you visit Ireland. The RPSI runs special trains, using Slieve Gullion and and the V-class compound Merlin, in various parts of NI and the Republic.
I note that Merlin is not in service at the moment.
The V class engines were similar to the later VS class (simples, rather than compounds, and fitted with smoke-deflectors), and I suppose can be compared with the English Southern Railway's own V class (the Schools).
Interesting that both the GNR(I) and SR locos were Class V.
BTW @Enoch - the engine you saw at Amiens Street was indeed a class VS, the UTA having acquired two of them when the Great Northern was split up in 1958.
On the subject of loco liveries, I have a copy of a letter from Percy Banyard, who ended his career as a Loco Inspector at Leicester (GC),
Mr Banyard recalled walking into Leicester shed and seeing several GC green engines, no two of which were the same shade of green.
I do think modellers are too precious about liveries that no living person has seen, when we are talking about an age when foremen mixed paints (they did not come in a tin of Dulux marked, for example, GC green) and where there was heavy industrial pollution in the atmosphere, which would certainly have had an impact over time.
On the subject of loco liveries, I have a copy of a letter from Percy Banyard, who ended his career as a Loco Inspector at Leicester (GC),
Mr Banyard recalled walking into Leicester shed and seeing several GC green engines, no two of which were the same shade of green.
I do think modellers are too precious about liveries that no living person has seen, when we are talking about an age when foremen mixed paints (they did not come in a tin of Dulux marked, for example, GC green) and where there was heavy industrial pollution in the atmosphere, which would certainly have had an impact over time.
Indeed. If it looks right to the modeller's eye, then it is right.
Another *blue* railway that comes to mind is the Great Eastern, whose livery (as seen on the preserved 2-4-0, for example) appears to be of a fairly dark shade.
I've always quite liked British Railways blue, especially as applied to steam engines...
Another *blue* railway that comes to mind is the Great Eastern, whose livery (as seen on the preserved 2-4-0, for example) appears to be of a fairly dark shade.
I've always quite liked British Railways blue, especially as applied to steam engines...
Agreed, with respect to the steam locomotives, although, IIRC, the *rail blue* introduced in the 1960s was a different shade. It could indeed look well - one of the Southern's Bulleid/Raworth electric locomotives, resplendent in blue with yellow ends (and some white bits as well) made a fine sight at the head of a short Royal Train taking HM to the Races...
Another *blue* railway that comes to mind is the Great Eastern, whose livery (as seen on the preserved 2-4-0, for example) appears to be of a fairly dark shade.
I've always quite liked British Railways blue, especially as applied to steam engines...
Not sure about the three Rheidol locomotives ... https://tinyurl.com/mthebfx2. One of them at least later gained some kind of lining. It's recently been announced that No.9 is being repainted into this livery.
I think the early BR blue suited the original Bulleid Pacifics.
Another *blue* railway that comes to mind is the Great Eastern, whose livery (as seen on the preserved 2-4-0, for example) appears to be of a fairly dark shade.
I've always quite liked British Railways blue, especially as applied to steam engines...
Not sure about the three Rheidol locomotives ... https://tinyurl.com/mthebfx2. One of them at least later gained some kind of lining. It's recently been announced that No.9 is being repainted into this livery.
I think the early BR blue suited the original Bulleid Pacifics.
Comments
https://pendonmuseum.com/about/madder-valley-railway
Worth a visit!
A landmark in railway modelling, nevertheless.
For ciné, it must have been made very early as when Whale took over from Webb in 1903, one of his first jobs was to churn out Precursor 4-4-0s to replace Webb compounds. The 2-4-0s had, I think, all gone by the end of 1905. His 4-4-0 compounds lasted a bit longer and some were eventually rebuilt as simples, but the one in the film was not one of those.
Has anyone else seen it?
I've not seen any online reviews of the coaches, which do look very nice indeed, but that may be because no reviewer has yet been able to afford one - even with the usual retailer discount, they're over £93 for examples in LNWR livery...
The Rapido Evolution generic pre-group coaches are still to appear. I hope they sell successfully (they certainly look good - Rapido use the term *prototypically literate*), but I also hope that they'll produce corridor versions in due course.
The Suffix Border Railway would like a couple of corridor brake-composites, to save Guard House the task of edging gingerly along the footboards to examine the passenger's ticket whilst the train is in motion. After all, we do get up to 20mph at times!
Madder and Much Madder, eh? And the estate agent's is called Quibble and Cuss. Remarkable! (See film in link.)
Yes. John Ahern had a dry - almost Dickensian - sense of humour...
Replaced link with working one (hopefully) - Arethosemyfeet, Heaven Host
Residents of Kidderminster will be familiar with the longstanding (totally genuine) estate agents, Doolittle and Dalley.
I can't help but think they're missing a trick here. A corridor brake composite makes the ideal through coach. Many could justify a 'foreign' coach on that basis.
A very good point.
Were you trying to post a link here? This looks like a local path.
I think I've sorted it.
Somehow, they all seem to fit in with the eclectic mix of rolling-stock, giving a *prototypically literate* (thank you, Rapido) look to the entire layout.
Not so easy an example to follow these days, unless you scratch-build just about everything, as John Ahern did!
So we have. Back to sprung buffers and firebox flicker glow, without which no model locomotive is complete...
'Lead us not into temptation'. But this is surely a bridge too far. A truly delightful little loco.
In OO the same projected layout would be 17’x5’…!
So what I save on locomotives I’ll be spending on townscape.
Have you looked at Chandwell? The railway there is, I think, subsidiary to the townscape, which is truly amazing.
Which firm has announced this, please?
As you say, a delightful choice, and another type which lasted well into BR days...
Not quite - it’s a Rails of Sheffield exclusive (made for them by Bachmann) so that’s where you need to look
Ah yes - so it is:
https://railsofsheffield.com/blogs/news/exclusive-bachmann-cr-439-class-announcement
Not scheduled to appear until 2027, and the price of the basic model is not far short of £200, so I think I'll forget about this one...
I have not, but now shall!
If I am reading it correctly from today's email, it is also being issued by Locomotion models for the NRM, but in the dark blue livery. (Its page on their website appears to be out of service at the moment).
Bachmann made them all.
I suppose it's a bit like the way one used to have to put a yellow filter over the lens to get clouds to be distinguished from the sky behind them even with pan film
Some railways, such as the Midland Great Western in Ireland, found that blue didn't weather all that well, and discontinued its use quite quickly.
The Lightmoor Press has a book (out of print) called Caledonian Railway Livery, by Jim MacIntosh, which would probably answer our question.
The most striking blue IMHO is the amazing sky-blue used by the Great Northern (Ireland) post-WW2, on their superb 4-4-0 express engines of various types. This has been well-recorded on film, and can be seen today on preserved locomotives. It must have been a job to keep clean, though the GNR(I) did its best.
https://www.steamtrainsireland.com/storage/rpsi-collection/1140x0/thumbnail_1000047249.jpg
https://steamtrainsireland.com/rpsi-collection/5/no85-merlin
I note that Merlin is not in service at the moment.
The V class engines were similar to the later VS class (simples, rather than compounds, and fitted with smoke-deflectors), and I suppose can be compared with the English Southern Railway's own V class (the Schools).
I'm not even a modeller, and I watch his youtube videos - in my case out of a weird nostalgia for run-down northern industrial towns c.1990, which is around the time I came to the North. I've joined commenters on there discussing which way the angled things go that take the barbed wire at the top of concrete posts for chain link fences, and how broken car window glass might best be rendered in N scale. It's right up my (CPOd and awaiting demolition) street
Interesting that both the GNR(I) and SR locos were Class V.
BTW @Enoch - the engine you saw at Amiens Street was indeed a class VS, the UTA having acquired two of them when the Great Northern was split up in 1958.
Mr Banyard recalled walking into Leicester shed and seeing several GC green engines, no two of which were the same shade of green.
I do think modellers are too precious about liveries that no living person has seen, when we are talking about an age when foremen mixed paints (they did not come in a tin of Dulux marked, for example, GC green) and where there was heavy industrial pollution in the atmosphere, which would certainly have had an impact over time.
Indeed. If it looks right to the modeller's eye, then it is right.
I've always quite liked British Railways blue, especially as applied to steam engines...
Agreed, with respect to the steam locomotives, although, IIRC, the *rail blue* introduced in the 1960s was a different shade. It could indeed look well - one of the Southern's Bulleid/Raworth electric locomotives, resplendent in blue with yellow ends (and some white bits as well) made a fine sight at the head of a short Royal Train taking HM to the Races...
Not sure about the three Rheidol locomotives ... https://tinyurl.com/mthebfx2. One of them at least later gained some kind of lining. It's recently been announced that No.9 is being repainted into this livery.
I think the early BR blue suited the original Bulleid Pacifics.
And the Kings. And the A3s actually.
YMMV, but to my eyes the *rail blue* is not the same as the darker(?) colour applied in the early 1950s.
Then we have the lovely"Electric Blue" as on the AL locos; and the Glasgow Blue Train (possibly the same) blue.