Aside from weathering 3 of these my Mk3 buffet project is done. Quite a bit of work has gone into them and I bet no one notices! Ironically the one on the far left would have been almost out of the box if I’d used a Lima one but i used a Joeuf one as I already had it. (the roof had to be tweaked as well as the mould lines removed but that’s par for the course with Jeouf mk3’s.
The eagle eyed will spot that the blue and grey liveries don’t match and this is something I havent seen mentioned before but they don’t. Blue and grey loco hauled mk3s have a slightly different treatment to the blue and grey HST mk3s. By kind permission of Dennis Taylor the two images below illustrate the difference.
image copyright of Dennis Taylor/80s Rail
HST First open – note the bottom of the grey runs through the door handle and above the grab rail.
image copyright of Dennis Taylor/80s Rail
Loco Hauled first open. Note that the bottom of the grey is much lower and runs through the grab rail.
Dennis’ online galleries are well worth a visit for those modelling the 1980s. Click here to see them.
On Mk3s the top blue/yellow/red strip also goes higher around the roof line on the HST version.
Merf.
It does indeed. Luckily the place where the roof splits is higher on the Lima models that the Jeouf ones so you kind of get that by default.
Hi Jim,
Interesting to see the two interpretations of the BR blue grey livery.
Perhaps some practically minded paint shop manager decided it was easier to avoid running over the grab handles with the lining?
The coach look just like the kind that I used to travel on by train from Shrewsbury to Euston in the mid – Eighties. (Not first class though!)
All the best,
Colin
Hi Jim, Nice job on the coaches. I have six of these Jouef inter city and I have tremendous difficulty working on them. They seem to break easily as the plastic doesn’t flex. I’ve broken two so far trying to take the roof off to put lights in them. I also broke a bogie trying to change the wheels because the Jouef flanges were too deep. ( They were bouncing over my sleepers) Have you got any tips as to how to do it without needing a lot of glue for repairs. : )
John.
Hi John
I know what you mean as some are really brittle. I don’t know if it’s down to different batches or how they have been stored over the years. I’ve collected loads so I tend to just bin the fragile ones. I can’t say I’ve had any bogie failures though.
I know that doesn’t help you much. I wonder of you can gently warm them up to make them softer?
Another difference between LH and HST versions of blue & grey is that the Mk3a has the grey panel with rounded corners and a small piece of rail blue afterwards- between the grey panel and black end.
On the HST Mk3 the grey panel extends as far as the black end.
That’s right Natalie
It’s something I did but forgot to mention. Technically both makes of coach have this correct out of the box but the Jeouf ones don’t have the grey deep enough. Add in the paint dividing lines and that the blue is a bit wierd and these need a repaint anyway.
Thanks for pointing that out.
Outstanding work again jim on the Buffett coaches. I love your attention to detail, even where other people would just ‘let it go’ would love to see some moe pics of a few boards together and some of those rakes. Livin in Norwich I remember the short rakes and the 31s going off to Birmingham. Great stuff as ever. S
Any ideas as to where I could get replacement wheels for Jouef mk3s that don’t bounce on sleepers?
Hi John
Yep, Alan Gibson. They come with the brake disks moulded on. I think they do shorter axles that might be a straight drop in for the Jouef bogie but haven’t tried them.
http://www.alangibsonworkshop.com/
Hi there Jim,
I hope you’re well and work on the layout is progressing well!
I had a question about the Mk3 buffets. You have an RFB in your fleet – how long did these last for? Did any make it into InterCity Executive or INTERCITY Swallow liveries or were they all RFMs by this point?
And did all RFMs have the same 3-window arrangement as the HST TRSBs and TRFBs?
Thanks for your help
Hi
I think (but stand to be corrected) that very few loco hauled mk3 catering vehicles ever got original inter city livery (perhaps only the first 2 RFMs) as most went from blue and grey into swallow livery. I dont know if there were any RFMs with 3 windows as most had either 4 large windows per side or 4 one side and 7 the other (they were converted from FOs)
HTH
Jim
Hi Jim
Re RFB (or AJ1G) in Inter City Executive livery- I was a signalman on the Trent Valley during this era and don’t recall saw these coaches in the said livery being an oddity. I don’t have a definitive list atm but can provide a link to a pic of M10002 at Nuneaton on 30/12/1985.
http://80srail.zenfolio.com/p520092474/h18c62d74#h18c62d74
I also recall a Plat 5 book had a pic of one also.
The production batches of RFM always had 4 windows and came after the introduction of Swallow livery. The first two vehicles 10200 and 10201 were originally going to be RSM, then RUM- initially being outshopped as such sans yellow stripe. These two vehicles were outshopped in Executive livery in 1985/86 as they were used to trial/prove the modular concept(one was for static use and the other was used in a Blackpool diagram as an additional vehicle) and predated the production batches by about 18-24 months- by which time Swallow was standard.
Thank you both for your replies. My last question should have read “And did all RFBs have the same 3-window arrangement as the HST TRSBs and TRFBs?”
I think you are right Jim that RFMs were either 4 large window or 7 and 4 large window depending on the origin of the original coach.
As there have never been any RTR loco hauled buffets and I lack the skill, time and equipment to make one I was wondering if I could use any of the HST buffets renumbered as a stand-in. M10002 is perfect for this. I’ll just pretend it existed a year or two longer than it probably did in real life.
Thanks again to you both and happy modelling!