4mm Llanfair

[LarryG]

Well it's November tomorrow so that's the railway shed locked up until next March. It's what I do annually. I'm still holding back on a proper title although Llanfair Moor does look favourite. It would be Llanfair Rhos in Welsh, but the Cambrian Railway (learning from the GWR) had an eye on publicity and the appeal of 'moorland' walks would stretch far beyond the borders.

I'm wedded to Llanfair, which I suppose is something, so it will survive the shutdown. It is why I continue build coaches for the layout. Ex.LMS coaches are required now for trains visiting Llanfair' from the London Midland Region.

Finally, I'm awaiting a 4mm version of a GCR laser cut weighbridge office, and that will complete the buildings around the station (apart from the station platform!).

 

[LarryG]

Thought I'd see how weathered carmine and carmine & cream coaches looked in the scenery...

 

[LarryG]

An LMS D1916/1946 open brake Second showing beading strips added over the panel joins to inhibit rust. MJT LMS cosmetic sideframes and my etched top plates...


Expensive flexible corridor connections are wasted on some of my brake ends, so I fitted one off a rtr coach...

 

[LarryG]

I have since started fitting cast corridor connections of the early scissor and later suspended types to both ends of brake end coaches. Supplied by Wizard Models, they finish a coach off nicely. Intermediate coaches still get flexible corridor connections though...

 

[LarryG]

I gave the layout an airing this morning and took a couple of photos. If nothing else, Llanfair Road makes a decent diorama! The latest addition to the LMS fleet is D1904 Open Second looking lonesome in the carriage siding...


Against the light shot to highlight the panel repair beading so characteristic of pre-war Period III coaches in BR days...


Silvertop roof with weathering. I used grey plus black weathering powder..

 

[LarryG]

Some of the non-corridor sets built for the Llanfair-Oswestry and Llanfair-Wrexham services. Some sets are all-second class...



The 1920's bow-end brake second is a repainted Hornby...


Another all-third set utilizing a Hawksworth all-third. Different waist heights again for added interest. Three more 'suburban's' remain to be painted...
S

 

[LarryG]

For the sake of completeness, a Dia. E147 B-Set in BR lined maroon has now "entered service"....

 

[LarryG]

I think this BR carmine red coach brings the curtain down on brass GWR non-corridor stock, although there is one Hornby composite coach yet to paint. This Dia C66 all-second was built around Comet etched sides and ends, and will be attached to normal service trains when extra capacity is required...



Instead of gluing on 'plastikard', I used a different approach to the deep gutter and rain strips above the doors by painting them on. While glazing is more time consuming with etched-in lowered droplights, the open window do allow one to see the seating. The Hornby bogies on this coach are so realistic and I wish I had more...

 

[LarryG]

This replacement LMS D1807 open second with roof, interior and bogies from scrapped D1807. It was intended to be maroon, anyway it's blood & custard as you can see and looks the better for it. Shallower red band above the windows this time and less weathered.

 

[Pencarrow]

I do think B&C is an underrated and little seen livery on layouts. I understand it didn't work well on the really thing (dirt and fading) but hey still looks good on your models Larry.

 

[LarryG]

I do think B&C is an underrated and little seen livery on layouts. I understand it didn't work well on the really thing (dirt and fading) but hey still looks good on your models Larry.

I'm not sure if it was a case of blood & custard not working well, or if it was overtaken by events in 1956 wen the regions were given more autonomy over their affairs. As expected, the Southern Region adopted green, which was a mostly green region anyway becasue of its re-varnishing malachite stock. The London Midland adopted the old LMS "maroon", as did the Eastern and the the Western ~ except for a flirtation with brown & cream.

Blood & custard actually had a long life on three of the regions. I recall run-down looking Gresleys on Sunday Manchester Exchange to Abergele Sanatorium trains around 1960, LMS 2-window open stock on Bangor-Afon Wen trains around 1962 and GWR sunshine coaches on the Cambrian in 1963.

 

[LarryG]

A coach often seen on railway videos is the GWR D121 corridor brake third, easily identified by it's high and low waist windows. As an experiment, the baffle plates were added to the sliding windows and they have worked out well as seen here...

 

[Dave Holt]

How did you do the window baffle plates, Larry?
Dave.

 

[LarryG]

I cut strips of plastikard 10thou square and use pieces for hinges, destination board brackets and the sliding window baffles. Attached with Loctite Ehthyl-2-Cyanoasrylate, they won't budge afterwards.

 

[LarryG]

The final non-corridor coach has been completed. A composite coach was required and I made use of a Hornby bow-end Diagram E131 coach obtained at a good price off Ebay (Gee Dee Models). Repainting it in Rosso Red was straightforward enough as was the weathering...

 

[LarryG]

The GWR D121 corridor brake third completed two days ago had the lower edge of the deep corridor windows on a slightly lower waist line than the D124 which followed, and this is clearly seen by the increased depth of cream above the windows when compared with the D124...



The D124 had a slightly higher waistline. This coach was completed today....


Baffles were fitted to the sliding vents as previously and also on the lavatory window. This coach is more heavily weathered than the D121...

 

[LarryG]

Further to the above, This picture of a D121 clearly shows the lower waistline than on the two adjacent coaches. The bottom edge of the windows was roughly 2ft 8ins, give or take a few fractions, on most coaches built after the D121's.

The middle coach also shows the lower roof profile of Collett's 'yellow disc' stock which was acceptable widely across the country on other railways lines...

 

[LarryG]

GWR D121 and D124 on the layout showing the different waists....


The GWR E147 B-set has been back-engineered into carmine. Lined maroon didn't do it for me even though I dont mind it on corridor stock...


Photographed this morning on the layout with sunlight (apparently) streaming across the hillside...

 

[LarryG]

Latest addition is the GWR C70 corridor third, which introduced the low waist and deep windows. The coach sides are barely weathered this time, but the chassis has gone the usual colour and the grey roof is no longer pristine...


Both sides were identical except for lack of lavatory windows and is almost LMS in appearance...

 

[LarryG]

The C77 corridor third is now completed. The Bachmann bogies look a bit clunky under this coach...


Something I have never come across before is bleaching of the track paint....