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Cardiff - Portsmouth / Weymouth BR Mk1 formation


ba14eagle
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:ugeek::ugeek: Warning - this might be a bit too serious :ugeek::ugeek::oops:

This thread gives a little info on one of my coaching stock rakes, which I have just about finished messing with. It is mainly used to represent the coaching stock rakes that used to ply the "Solent & Wessex" route between Cardiff and Portsmouth, along with the stopping trains between Bristol and Weymouth - these were the staple passenger trains through my local station. In May 1988 the route was "sprinterised", although this didnt go very smoothly at first :roll: - for a while, anything but a sprinter could turn up on a train :P:o:shock: With the addition / removal of a vehicle or 2, it can also represent a multitude of other services seen throughout South Wales & the South West of England.

The set normally runs as a 5 vehicle set, formed : SK (second class corridor), BSK (brake second class corridor), CK (composite corridor), SK, SK. All of these vehicles are the Bachmann Mk1 vehicles, in Blue / Grey livery. The coaches are close coupled when in use, using the Bachmann system (which works really well, even on my sharp radius curves). They have all been dis-assembled, had the seats painted, passengers (& gricers :P ) added, appropriately renumbered and weathered.

The BSK or the CK can be substituted for a Bachmann Mk2 BFK (brake first corridor) which regularly found their way into sets as cover or when the CK vehicles started being withdrawn. My BFK is just about to go through "works" and a photo will be added later.

The leading SK, W18712, features 3 "gricers" leaning out of the droplight windows - something you would have quite often found my friends and I doing - especially during the school holidays :D The "gricer" in the front window has the distinctive grey & black jacket, that a friend of mine wore for years on our travels :lol:

I will now try to add a photo of each vehicle, in the correct order - I will be :o if I get it right - more likely :x when they come out backwards or something.

Bachmann Mk1 SK, W18712.jpg

Bachmann Mk1 BSK, 35480.jpg

Bachmann Mk1 CK, W7224.jpg

Bachmann Mk1 SK, W18816.jpg

Bachmann Mk1 SK, W18956.jpg

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I have now completed the BFK for this set of coaches. Surprisingly, the Bachmann Mk2 came apart easier than the Mk1 (just as well - Ive another 8 to do).

Again, the inside has been painted in roughly the right colours and also the tables have been removed from the compartments. A couple of people have been added too.

The outside has been weathered. I am not completely happy with the underframe weathering, which I think would be better if I invested in an airbrush kit....... ;)

Bachmann Mk2 BFK, 17066.jpg

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  • 2 years later...

I had been toying with the idea of fitting carriage lights to my passenger stock, so started with this short set.

I am aware that there are many ways of doing this / kits available, but being a bit of a technophobe, I was going for a very simple solution :lol:

A few months back I bought a Train-Tech CL2 coach lighting strip.

This strip has 4 or 5 lights at regular intervals along its length, which will probably light an open vehicle very nicely, but, disappointingly, doesnt light compartment stock well. Like the Train Tech tail lights, it is fitted with a motion sensor, so switches on / off with movement. Taking the first coach - a Bachmann MK1 SK i discovered the first problem. I needed to cut away a lot of the top part of the compartments / interior walls, just to make the strip fit. Having re-assembled the coach, I then found out that the light didnt disperse enough to light each compartment, equally. As a result of this, I decided to fit it into the BFK, where, again with major surgery to the compartments, I have managed to fit it in the roof and just about light each of the compartments successfully. Needless to say, I wont be using another of these products, unless it is in open stock.

After the above trials, I decided to try a Rapido Trains "Easy Peasy" lighting strip.

I had this a couple of weeks before trying to fit it, again in the Bachmann Mk1 SK. This strip has only 2 lights - 1 at each end - but an ingenious clear plastic strip that has various slots in it at varying intervals, which distribute the light along its whole length, quite well. To get this to fit I had to remove even more of the compartment / interior walls from the coach. This was a very fiddly task and I did break some of it. However, the result is that there is a more even light, throughout the vehicle.

Overall, both light strips look to work best in an open vehicle, rather than compartment stock and arent quite as straightforward to fit as the manufacturer would have you believe! I may well finish off the rest of this coach set, but am not sure if I will do any more, as I couldnt actually tell any difference when I took them outside :!::roll:

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A bit late with my response I know, but that's a really nice rake of coaches you've assembled there. Nice weathering and attention to detail.

I like how you modelled them on actual vehicles rather than just sticking them together as per the 'Worsley Dale' method. I guess that's because I had no interest in railways as a youngster so I don't really have any memories on which to model anything.

I keep looking at lighting kits myself and wondering if its worth it or not. As you've discovered, outdoors in the daylight there going to be of little benefit and unless they're designed for a particular coach layout then it's going to mean additional work getting them to look right in any case. I might just make do with daylight running - when (or if ever) I actually start running that is.

A 'gricer'? Just had to look up the definition :oops:

Demise of the Gricer

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  • 2 years later...

Can I just say, I LOVE the bellowers!  As someone who spent thousands of miles out of the window behind class 40s in the early 80s, it takes me right back.  See here for some of my dad's early VHS footage for what I'm talking about!

 

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  • 4 years later...

A great rake and I very much enjoy watching them on your YouTube channel. The 'Pompey-Bristols' were one of the first trains I used to regularly 'bash' in 1983 at the beginning of my 'bashing' career before I settled down on class 47's around 1985. Doing the route between Southampton and Pompey you could get a fare few in during the day, although I recall it was often a 0-0 connection at Southampton with some mega fast leaps across the bridge! Didn't take long to get nearly all of them in 'the book', even the no-heat one 33047 and some 'Slim Jims'. The only thing I would say though is that I'm sure when I was doing them they were load 5 with 2x Mk1 BSK's in the rake, often marshalled back to back. I remember because I always thought it odd them having 2 half-brakes. Now I'm lost in nostalgic thoughts of window hanging along the Solent listening to some Sulzer magic up front.... I even remember the day they were filming 'Howard's Way' on one of the stations and we were trying our best to get in it... lol

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On 11/05/2022 at 09:20, Loco Hauled said:

The only thing I would say though is that I'm sure when I was doing them they were load 5 with 2x Mk1 BSK's in the rake, often marshalled back to back. I remember because I always thought it odd them having 2 half-brakes. Now I'm lost in nostalgic thoughts of window hanging along the Solent listening to some Sulzer magic up front.... I even remember the day they were filming 'Howard's Way' on one of the stations and we were trying our best to get in it... lol

When the Mk1 CK's were being withdrawn, they were generally replaced with a MK2 BFK or, very occasionally, a MK1 BCK.

Edited by ba14eagle
typo
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I think when I was doing them they always had a CK in the rake, but as I'm starting to age now and the memory is not what it was I thought I would do a brief search just to see if I was dreaming and came up with these shots pretty quickly.

Portsmouth Departure Avoncliff Spring 33051, Millbrook

I also found plenty with the Mk2 BCK in the formation as well, although those tended to be later on than when I used to do the trains, more circa 88. I think the only time I really noted the Pompey-Bristols that year was when I was waiting at Southampton for a 47 and Thornaby's NB 31323 rolled in on one heading towards Bristol. The only time I have ever seen a 31 on them, although of course they used to be booked for 31's before the 33's took over.

33008, Southampton, April 1988 Swansea Bound

And just to complete the set (ish... lol)

33 017, Bristol Temple Meads, 14-03-87

 

Edited by Loco Hauled
Tidying up
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