Thanks to several correspondents who responded to fbb's appeal for answers as to the context of this rare WMPTE paint style. Here is a selection:-
From Tim:-
I'm probably not the first to point out (in which case apologies) that the 'gold stripe' livery is that originally used by the PTE in the very late 70s and early 80s on dual-purpose high-back seated Leyland Nationals used on limited-stop services, mainly on key routes in and out of Birmingham at peak times.
This is slightly encouraging, Tim. Somewhere in the dusty coal measured of the fbb brain was a tiny memory of "coach seated" buses in Brum plus limited stop services - but the memory was too out of focus to guide the on-line search!
From Ben:-
The answer to what context the WM PTE livery was used was literally in your hands. [A reference to another item from the blog about a Peco plastic Leyland National kit] Perhaps your next Peco Project? [Fat chance, Ben. With all those fiddly blue bands and the fine gold line?]
From Shieldsman:-
Would the faded memory have been awakened more successfully if fbb had realised that the centre stripe in the blue was gold and not cream?
And The Pullmans?
The £60 "book set" was by Triang Hornby and is, by today's standards a fairly crude model. The expensive (but still reduced-price) version is by Bachmann and came with TWO power cars, DCC and DCC sound. Some on-line retailers are still offering the set at £750.
fbb will not be buying either. The platforms at Peterville are only big enough for three coach trains so, although the £60 version would look nice, there is nowhere to run it. And Mrs fbb may well utter a soupçon of protest at more clutter!
Here are some of the features of the Bachmann model.
Directional head and tail lights, ceiling and table lights in the saloons and lots of very fine detail with printing almost too small to read.
If you choose to have the "sound" model these are some of the features you can control with your DCC system (don't ask!).
Worth £750 quid of anybody's money - as long as it isn't fbb's!
Photo Feature Filled Out?
A while back, fbb republished this photo ...
... which had arrived, mysteriously, via Twitter. A correspondent suggested that it was probably the very vehicle that had been preserved and was now running again. There were two, built in York in 1903 and the bodily remains of one was found and rescued.
A trust was formed to rebuild it ...
... and massive restoration work duly commenced. There was no chassis, so a suitable replacement was sourced and upcycled with a new Cummins drive-line, seen here on test at Loughborough.
What is truly historic about this unit is that its original PETROL engine (Wolseley) ...
... drove a generator to power electric motors. It was a pioneer of petrol electric drive, which ultimately became the diesel electrics of our recent past and still part of our present.
Rebuilt body has now joined rebuilt chassis and the unit ran in service at the Embsay Railway earlier this month.
Congratulations are offered and well deserved to all who have had the vision, the determinations and the money to bring this project to completion. Dare fbb say that this is so much more interesting a venture than yet another steam engine rebuild.
No, he dare not!
The originals ran at Harrogate, Scarborough and, notably, between Selby and Cawood.
There is little to be seen of this long-since closed branch (expired 1960), but newer buildings in Selby mark the point at which the tracks crossed Leeds Road.
From Old To New
The transport press is seemingly full of reports of new trains delivered, not working or ordered. Merseyrail sits quite happily "up north" in Liverpool and rarely hits the headlines. But this franchise, too, is replacing all its rather elderly rolling stock.
The old girls do look smart in their shiny yellow livery ...
... but nothing really disguises their vintage.
Recent press releases have reported the on-going work on bodyshells for the new residents.
The first Merseyrail Class 777 electric multiple units have entered the final assembly phase ahead of delivery to the UK next year.
The first bodyshells have been moved from Stadler’s Szolnok facility in Hungary, to its Altenrhein facility in Switzerland. Stadler says the first train will be complete in early-2019 before testing begins.
There they will be fitted with bogies, equipment cases, piping, wiring, flooring, windows, seats and other internal fixtures.
From March next year this work will also take place in Siedlce, Poland. For the first six ‘777s’, a single bodyshell will be sent to Switzerland each week. After that, four bodyshells per week will be sent until the process is finished. Bodies for the first four EMUs will go to Altenrhein. The fifth set will go to Siedlce. After that, they will alternate between the two locations.
To prepare Scousers for their flash new units, Mersytravel is displaying a mock-up of the complete front carriage at various places on the network.
Very swish!
Tomorrow we whizz back to mainland Europe.
A while back, fbb republished this photo ...
Rebuilt body has now joined rebuilt chassis and the unit ran in service at the Embsay Railway earlier this month.
No, he dare not!
The originals ran at Harrogate, Scarborough and, notably, between Selby and Cawood.
From Old To New
The transport press is seemingly full of reports of new trains delivered, not working or ordered. Merseyrail sits quite happily "up north" in Liverpool and rarely hits the headlines. But this franchise, too, is replacing all its rather elderly rolling stock.
Recent press releases have reported the on-going work on bodyshells for the new residents.
The first bodyshells have been moved from Stadler’s Szolnok facility in Hungary, to its Altenrhein facility in Switzerland. Stadler says the first train will be complete in early-2019 before testing begins.
There they will be fitted with bogies, equipment cases, piping, wiring, flooring, windows, seats and other internal fixtures.
From March next year this work will also take place in Siedlce, Poland. For the first six ‘777s’, a single bodyshell will be sent to Switzerland each week. After that, four bodyshells per week will be sent until the process is finished. Bodies for the first four EMUs will go to Altenrhein. The fifth set will go to Siedlce. After that, they will alternate between the two locations.
To prepare Scousers for their flash new units, Mersytravel is displaying a mock-up of the complete front carriage at various places on the network.
Next Stuttgart blog : Monday 29th October
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