Loco Revue Forum

[Vikki Nagindas]

Irecently took a ride on a train pulled by a steam engine twixt Sheringham and Holt and noticed in the sidings at Weybourne Station that there was a Battle of Britain Class 92 Squadron engine fired up. I recall seeing a similar one at Swanage Station a couple of years back 257 Squadron.

I know these engines are cared for as lovingly as a vintage airframe but what is left of these B of B engines, I'm aware 44 were built but how were these names chosen and what is the significance behind the choice.

Nice little line, ive spent most summers of my life (17 so far) in that area. Did you go to the Muckleburgh Collection near Weybourne Station? They have a Meteor night-fighter and Harrier Gr.3 there among many military vehicles.

Might be worth asking this question at www.national-preservation.com/forum theres a guy there who seems to know a lot about the streamlined pacifics. Quite a few B of B's are still around today, they look a lot better streamlined, a lot of them had the streamlining removed.

Which gives a little detail. Apparently the RAFM have 18 of the 44 locos' name plates. It's not clear to me if they're located in London or Cosford (you can find hits at both London and Cosford URLs - see above) but they're not on public display according to the website.

Oliver Bulleid

Usually know as O V S Bulleid he was one of the innovators of locomotive design is still remembered today even though he was born back in 1882 in New Zealand.[...] He designed the famous West Country, Battle of Britain and Merchant Navy class of locomotives. The Battle of Britain class 'Fighter Command' was the 1,000th engine to have been built at the locomotive works in Brighton. It was named at a special ceremony in Brighton Station in 1947 with Air Vice Marshall Keith Park and fighter ace Douglas Bader present.

Thanks for the links, they were certainly worth following, on the RAF Museum link _plates/complete_list.cfm this one lists all the locos names/numbers, I wondered after a cursory look that no Bader/Tuck/Johnson etc names but then twigged that the one engine named FIGHTER PILOT 34055 covers them all.

It is also interesting to note that a random selection of names submitted was adopted for the naming ceremony, perhaps it's a pity they cannot be displayed somewhere other than in some storeroom at the Museum, but conversely it is good to see that there are pages devoted to the preservation of the names.

Re the Muckleburgh Museum I didn't call on this occasion having been there previously, a good example of a museum to boot! The picture I took on Sheringham platform is of a mobile fire hydrant from the collection, God I can hardly believe that we (in training) had to man these machines by grabbing a handle and running to the scene of a fire on a RAF station :eek: :rolleyes:

City of Wells was a West Country class, same design, just different names, there's quite a few of those left to, my first ever train picture was taken of City of Wells on the Golden Arrow at Folkestone in 1958 with a Kodak Brownie, believe it or not it remains quite a good picture.

Best thing about the Muckleburgh Collection is the Gamma Goat ride, just hang on and shut your eyes.

Some piccies, including Sir Frederick Pile when completely rebuilt. Not all the BofBs and West Countrys were rebuilt as it was not considered economic at the end of the 1950s with the plan to oust steam (which lasted on these locos' patch in the Southern Region until 1966 I believe!) The rebuilt locos were not so exotic to look at but were easier to service and run. All 30 of their slightly larger sisters, the Merchant Navies (see 35005 in pic) were rebuilt. however. I'm a GWR fan myself so "Defiant" means more to me but I do like the lines of these Bullied Pacifics in both their forms. Please note that I cannot take credit for these pics! The trio photo comes from the Mid Hants Railway, near Lasham, and is a "must see", its excellent!

Now some of these names I remember from Gods Wonderful Railways (GWR) when a kid living near Swindon and believe most if not all were ex 'Castle' 4-6-0 types, I wonder who owns these plate names today as the RAF Museum site says one of the BofB Class plates sold for 3000 at auction, what price any of the above, eh? :rolleyes:

Browsing through a steam magazine in the newsagents today and saw a nameplate, I think for a Southern "Schools", that had never come up for auction before made 28,500. It would seem that nameplates were a fairly good investment. In the same snippet, a plate that somebody had paid BR two quid for went for 12 grand!

The new registration number would be C(a) 971. This van is part of the C 881 to 999 series with a steam production capacity of 1300 kg/h. Built in 1963, end of career in 1987. No UIC registration, because this kind of stock is similar to the locos it is coupled to, and, like them, did not receive such a number, as well as the railcar or EMU trailers (explanation on the Loco-Revue forum).

I'm modeling on a budget, but more importantly, I like actually getting down to painting/building/etc -- hence the fact I'm asking about kitbashing as opposed to the easiest way to buy into a non-dynamic GP35.

Being a NOBLE-Scaler all I can do is venture a WAG to your question but I was always impressed with this company's work and read the press' revues of these body shells when they came out. If memory serves me they were designed around compatibility with Athearn drive mechanisms. I seem to recall that certain body shell modifications were required if you wanted to mount them over, say, Proto Power West drives.

Hi Evan - The RPP GP35 shell was made to fit the Athearn GP35 frame with modifications. There are little rails(?) the length of the frame on both sides that need to be removed. These would fit into the too-wide Athearn shell but not into the narrower RPP body. The rear bolster also needs to be narrowed. I have done these modifications several times before using a Dremel. I hope this helps...

The GP35 shell is OK, certainly better than the old Athearn widebody GP35 shell. However, it is no longer state of the art and includes some visually jarring features, like oversize, very shallow door latches, way-too-thick pilot plates, solid steps, oversize rivets, and an overall coarse quality of detail.

Thanks for all the replies! No, I'm no rivet counter, but I am bothered by finding dynamic brakes on a loco that, prototypically speaking, didn't have them. The door latches/etc. I think I can live with...

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