Culm Valley Light Railway Coach

[Steve Cook]

Not sure how much interest it is to people here generally, but Hornby have started shipping their Thompson non-corridor brake third in maroon livery, two of which were used on the CVLR prior to it being closed. The CVLR has long been a favourite of mine, like many other things, I have just not got round to doing anything serious about it, perhaps this will help! I've grabbed a couple of shots anyway as I know a couple of people would like to see it







Conversion to EM looks to follow the same steps Geoff used on his Hawksworth coach for Penhydd.
So, that'll be another distraction then
Steve

 

[Neil]

Confucius he say "man can never have too many distractions."

 

[Geoff]

What a lovely coach and well worth the wait if you ask me, conversion to EM will be a doodle if you can do it the same way as the Hawksworth. So lets see, an evening to do the coach, say a weeks spare time to build the 14XX chassis and another to tart up the body. Which means you can have an authentic Culm Valley train up and running across Morfa viaduct before the New Year !

 

[Steve Cook]

I admire your faith Geoff
I might get the coach done that quick, but the engine - nah, still remembering the grief with the Pannier
Steve

 

[Geoff]

Oh come on Steve the Pannier isn't that bad is it and you do have a long holiday coming up?

 

[Steve Cook]

Could I ask for some help please chaps? I've taken my coach apart so I can fit a set of window bars to the end windows, but whilst its in pieces I'd like to do something with the interior.



Now the coach I want to represent is an Ex-LNER Thompson Suburban Brake 2nd that made its way onto the CVLR.

How do I find out what the seat colour and the interior panel colours would have been?

The glazing won't be coming out as it is glued in about 30 places, half of which are inaccessible. However, because the inside of the coach body is unpainted in places it shows up as white, or worse, pink through the windows My initial assumption is to paint it brown, tone down the red of the seats and just work out how to get paint around the edge of the windows to reduce the prismatic effect.
Any advice on where do go for further investigation, or what the most likely colour combo would be, will be gratefully received
Many Thanks
Steve

 

[Captain Kernow]

Cand just work out how to get paint around the edge of the windows to reduce the prismatic effect

Thinking about it Steve, I can't really see how you can deal with that prismatic effect without biting the bullet and removing that glazing...

By the way, one of those coaches wasn't scrapped after finishing on the Culm Valley - guess where it ended up until 6th March 1966?

 

[Steve Cook]

Thinking about it Steve, I can't really see how you can deal with that prismatic effect without biting the bullet and removing that glazing...

NFC to that Captain, this is supposed to be a fun project
I've painted the inside of the first coach, but will probably do it again with a darker colour (this one is coffee colour but I think chocolate may work better - although as lit in the photo below, its not worth the effort). It isn't perfect, but its a significant improvement in my book and I'm going to live with the result (colour aside).

By the way, one of those coaches wasn't scrapped after finishing on the Culm Valley - guess where it ended up until 6th March 1966?

Callow Lane...?
Outside of that, no idea I'm afraid, looking forward to finding out though
Steve

 

[Simon]

There's two of them!

That's a very worthwhile improvement I think

Simon

 

[Captain Kernow]

I've painted the inside of the first coach, but will probably do it again with a darker colour (this one is coffee colour but I think chocolate may work better - although as lit in the photo below, its not worth the effort). It isn't perfect, but its a significant improvement in my book and I'm going to live with the result (colour aside).

It does look better, Steve, nice one, but would you be able to post a photo of the inside, showing the precise areas you've painted, please?

I mention this because I have one of those brakes as well, due to it being a regular on the Bleakhouse Road locals until March 1966 (so that's the other conundrum answered ).

Cheers.

 

[Steve Cook]

Course I can Tim, can you just give me a couple of days though as I want to tie it up with all the painting and mods in one go.

Ah, Bleakhouse eh, makes sense - not too far to travel
Bonus is you can leave the wheelsets alone, even EM wheels require bogie mods with a craft knife and dremel action.

Steve

 

[Captain Kernow]

Course I can Tim, can you just give me a couple of days though as I want to tie it up with all the painting and mods in one go

Cheers for that Steve.

Ah, Bleakhouse eh, makes sense - not too far to travel

That's when it's not sharing the passenger duties with a railbus...

Bonus is you can leave the wheelsets alone, even EM wheels require bogie mods with a craft knife and dremel action

That's the only thing with these otherwise lovely Hornby offerings. I was going to convert one of their LMS 50' vans as a 'quickie' Christmas project a couple of years ago, took one look at the undergubbins and put the thing back in it's box until I was more in the mood for 'proper' modelling...

 

[Steve Cook]

Bit later than planned Tim, and only the painting bits I'm afraid - can't seem to work quick enough these days
Interior repaint - guards compartment in light grey with all of the roof in the same grey (hides a lot of overspray). All of the glazing in the passenger compartment is painted in a coffee colour.



A cruel close up around the windows - you need to paint everything bar the window itself. I used cheap acrylics as they allowed me to clean off the overpainting on the window with a sharpened cocktail stick.



I haven't done the bottom of the recess yet as I don't have a paintbrush that bends back on itself - I don't want to chop up what I do have to experiment with! If you are going to do the glazing paint, you might as well do something with the interior module too. As supplied



Graham (@Dog Star ) was a big help and he tracked down some photos concerning likely fabric colours for the seats, click here. To my mind, that is pretty much beige over red, so I just dry brushed some beige over the existing red seats. The partitions were painted that coffee colour again and the floor a dark grey. A bit of weathering powder finished it off. The guards compartment got a black floor, with light grey panels and some dirt too.



Put together and viewed through the window



Certainly less garish On balance, looking at that, I retract my previous statement about repainting it in a darker colour - I don't think its worth the effort now. If I were starting again though, I probably would. To be honest, you could paint the whole lot one colour brown

You'll have to forgive the big holes in the side, they are where the brass handles were - they have been removed, the holes plugged with plasticard rod and I'm gradually filling them up with a filler made from paint and talc. If I find out I need to reinstate them, its a simple job to just drill with a 0.55mm drill again.

I've started the basic weathering on the bodysides too.



Any questions, just ask - I look forward to seeing your version on Bleakhouse Road
Steve

 

[Captain Kernow]

Cheers Steve, that's really helpful.

Why are you taking the grab handles off - did the CV examples not have them?

 

[Steve Cook]

No problem

They had handles when they arrived at the CVLR in October 62, but at least one coach had them removed by November 62. Not sure why, I'm just trawling through the reference materials to see which one and then when both definitely had them removed.
Steve

 

[Captain Kernow]

No problem

They had handles when they arrived at the CVLR in October 62, but at least one coach had them removed by November 62. Not sure why, I'm just trawling through the reference materials to see which one and then when both definitely had them removed.
Steve

Thanks Steve. I think it must have been a different coach of the same design that ended up on the S&D, because I rather like the handles and will be retaining them on my version!

 

[Steve Cook]

There are some spares up here if you need them then Captain

Some more progress on the painting and assembly front, its getting there



The window bars were scribed into a piece of glazing that was then stuck behind the original.





Steve

 

[Steve Cook]

Re-did the holes in the side from the handles today, mixing up some Humbrol Acrylic No 20 with some talcum powder and forcing the resulting paste into the vacated holes. Definitely worth the effort. Aside from renumbering (when I work out who and what transfers I need to buy) its done



Right, time to pick that PMV back up again
Steve

 

[AJC]

Very nice Steve, though I'm not quite sure why the thread has turned up in 'talk' which is why I'd probably missed it up until now. Regarding the missing commode handles - do we know whether this was the case on both sides of the coach(es)? And were the platforms of the Culm Valley all on one side of the track? Is it possible that the doors on one side were locked out of use?

Oh, and finally... shouldn't the cosmetic couplings hung from the S&W be screws rather than links?

Adam

 

[Steve Cook]

Very nice Steve, though I'm not quite sure why the thread has turned up in 'talk' which is why I'd probably missed it up until now.

Cheers Adam . The location is my fault, I didn't intend to work on it quite so quickly but knew others were interested in it, so I just stuck it in what I considered the most appropriate place.

Regarding the missing commode handles - do we know whether this was the case on both sides of the coach(es)? And were the platforms of the Culm Valley all on one side of the track? Is it possible that the doors on one side were locked out of use?

I hadn't thought about that so have just watched the dvd again and gone through the books and mags. The platforms were all on one side of the coach on the CVLR, including where passengers alighted at Tiverton. The platform side of the Thompson coaches was very camera shy - there are only three photos I can find, everything else is of other side. However, one of the photos is of the last passenger train leaving Hemyock and the handles are clearly visible. If one ties that photo in with the one of both coaches stabled at Tiverton with their handles visible then my guess is that your suggestions are correct Adam I'll be sticking handles back in one side this afternoon then
Glad you posted, it means its possible to also number each coach and set its orientation correctly in terms of end windows facing Tiverton or Hemyock. It also means I can identify which coach was used most in all of the photos of the line now.

Oh, and finally... shouldn't the cosmetic couplings hung from the S&W be screws rather than links?

You're on a roll, I'll give you that one 'Yes'
As a 4mm man, where do I get steel ones from, or at least decent brass ones where I can replace the last link?

Steve