When the great modernisation program started on British Railways the over-riding scheme was to eliminate the 17,000 steam locos in as short a time as possible and fully dieselise the sytem. While most of the system saw the introduction of Diesel Electrics (some good, some awful) the Western region, spiritual base of the old Great Western railway, went down the route of Diesel hydraulics. Principal amongst these was the Class 42 Warship B-B design based very much on the German V200 design but scaled down to fit the British loading gauge. Introduced in 1958 they were a common sight in South West England and I first saw them when I was very young on family holidays in Dorset At the time these would have hauled the principal express trains down to Cornwall D817 Foxhound is seen at the classic seaside resort of Dawlish on a Paddington bound express The class were swept away as none standard after a decision in 1967. The adoption of airbrakes on the entire system and Electric train heating on passenger coaches was the final death knell as there was no room for compressors or generators in the cramped bodyshell. By 1972 they had all been withdrawn but a couple lingered on at Swindon works for many years stored by the outside turntable and were there when me and some mates did an epic locospotting bash in 1978 Still in Maroon livery and with its nameplates still attached was D821 'Greyhound' looking in less good condition was D818 'Glory', minus its nameplates in BR Railblue colour scheme. So I took these pictures and never really thought about the class until......
IvanF on shapeways has designed quite a few British prototype 3d designs as you will have seen from some of my other posts but when he recently introduced a 'Warship' I initially wasn't that bothered. They don't really fit in with the stock needed for the new layout but I had a couple of Marklin Chassis spare and thought I'd get one anyway. It has to be said this is Ivan's best one yet, needing minimal cleaning up at one end. There are some slight layer lines visible but at normal viewing distances not really noticable. I used the SBB 460 chassis with the bottom half painted Railblue to match the bodyshell. I know it has outside bearings to the wheels but unless someone points it out nobody notices. Paint was Precision Paints' Railblue which is lighter than Humbrols and I used Fox transfers and etched nameplates from their 2mm range. Obviously it had to be 'Glory' for old time's sake. the side cab windows are big and using Kristal Klear was not going to look very good so individual glazing made from celluloid sheet was used with the centre divider scribed on. Winscreens were Kristal Klear and the rebated windows in the side also had celluloid glazing added. It is seen here with another Western region diesel hydraulic design behind the Class 35 Hymek, also an IvanF design. Seen on a test train of maroon and 'Blood and Custard' coaches passing the Hymeks again I've still got another chassis so I might as well do Greyhound as well. remarkably this loco survived to be preserved and is now at the Severn valley Railway. Sister engine D832 'Onslaught' survives on the East Lancs so I might try and get to see them this summer cheers Kev
Good job ! Do you plan to remove the trucks' sideframes to let their barren wheels appear ? And speaking of the 1:1 scale Class 42 : were they actually made of Krauss-Maffei V200's components (chassis, prime mover, hydraulic system and "traction motors", etc) or was it a pure british design ? Dom
Component wise they were virtually identical inside to a V200 which didn't leave a lot of room. I think the two preserved ones are using some transmission components sourced from Germany to keep them running footage of 'Onslaught' in action Yes. I'm going to modify the sideframes some time in the future Kev
Components from Germany ? Wow, with the smoke they're belching one could imagine they're powered by ALCO... Dom
