almost new Type 2's

Rummaging through my big box of purchased diesel & electric photos, I found these two shots of Brush Type 2's early in their careers. At first I didnt notice the background in this shot:

but it could be York Station. If it is, then I might have stumbled across a picture of D5511, either on its way to or back from Scotland! The loco is certainly virtually brand new , so there is a good possibility. A shame you cant quite make out the number :-(

The second shot I dont know the location (possibly Cambridge, or Norwich ?) but it shows one of the few production batch locos, D5555 which had headcode discs fitted, at a time when other members of the class were being built with headcode boxes, a sort of transition period

 The loco is a bit grubby, and there is not yet a yellow warning panel,  so shot possibly taken around 1960-3.

Mc Brush

Doing some 're-researching' of class 31 information (i've forgotten most of what I learnt ages ago!), I was going through the allocation history of the pilot batch of 20 locos, D5500-19.

I had a vague memory of a 31 on trial in Scotland, and there it was,  D5511. The first of its' type to visit the country, when virtually brand new. Delivered to Stratford in June 1958, it almost immediately went on holiday to Scotland , going on loan to Inverness (June 58) Eastfield (July) Edinburgh St Margarets (July) and back to Inverness (July), where it stayed for two months until it returned home to Stratford in September 58.

So you could legitimately have a brand new Brush Type 2 running on your scottish layout, I suppose. 

Photos of the loco whilst sampling the scottish delights would appear to be quite rare.

I think I read somewhere that the ScR wouldnt allow diesels with three or four axles per bogie on many lines because of track and or tyre wear.  I expect this might have been through experiences gained with the trial of D5511 possibly.  In any event it didnt stop the Scottish region running quite a lot of Class 37's in later years, and to virtually every corner of the region.

Class 30/31 roofs

Brian Daniels has an excellent collection of detail photos of Locos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianews/sets/72157626899029003/

these are his class 31 shots. He has very kindly allowed me to use a couple to illustrate the different types of roof arrangement found on 31's, over the engine bay. 

 

The loco on the left is preserved D5600, and it can be seen that the central 'catwalk' section is removable; the loco right is preserved 31101, and the catwalk section forms an integral part of the whole roof section over the engine bay.

What I dont know is if the style on the right is how they were all built, then some were later modified to the style on the left, or whether it was a design change introduced from a certain loco onwards.

Even If i did know the answer, it's clear that my Triang TT 31's will need some extra work, as there are none of the gaps around the edges of the opening flaps, the whole area of roof is modelled as 'solid'. The answer may be to cut out the sections and mount them onto like a subframe, I'll need to have a think about that...

diversion

Another occasional dabbling is the alteration of 4mm scale model buses to try and make them a bit more authentic.

I did a lot of research/work on destination blinds a few years ago, because this is one aspect where manufacturers and code 3 producers fail miserably ; most of what they come up with is just amateur guesswork. The concept of multiple number blind rollers is alien to them.

A long-term project for a friend is back on the burner. The ABC models Volvo Ailsa model is reasonably good, but the front end is a horror story. Completely wrong size and shape upper front windows, wrong size destination box amongst some of the faults. Removal of the windows/blindbox glazing piece, allows you to cut the blindbox part off. This part is way too small in the casting aperture, so I made a new blindbox from plastic card which is a tight fit ; once it's perfect fit I'll make a rubber mould and cast a load in resin to alter other models. I'd already done the artwork for the blinds (it will be for a West Midlands PTE example) but originally they were to fit the ABC destination box 'as it comes', so they were scaled down to fit accordingly. Now everything is the right size, except for being fractionally too short and shallow overall. Best that can be done without filing the metal casting. Still need to alter shades of grey and black to make everything stand out that should, but its not far off. I test printed the ones seen in the pic onto Crafty Inkjet transfer paper, varnished, allowed to dry then fitted.

As can be seen in the pic, the lower saloon interior was the wrong layout to represent a WMPTE bus (the two seats behind the bench seats over the back wheels were facing forwards, they should face back. I cut them off, turned them round and lengthened the bench seats to suit, making sure everything lined up with the windows properly.

Well, just a few things put right, but there's a stack more you could do, as ever it's deciding how far to go, gauged against how long it takes.