Schools Class and suitable coaches

Started by cutting42, October 15, 2018, 12:32:51 PM

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cutting42

Hi All

Confession, I have almost no knowledge about the steam era but when I was a small child I was given a Schools Class in 00 which I still have and was one of my most cherished locos at the time. This has led to a soft spot for the Schools and I quite fancy taking advantage of the current Dapol deal and getting one (Malachite)

My vision was always for it to be hauling a rake of coaches and I assume the Dapol Maunsells in Malachite are the thing to have. What would be a roughly prototypical rake make up please bearing in mind we are in rule one territory here .

Many thanks

Gareth

Dorsetmike

#1
For a Schools, anything from 3 to 15 coaches, on the SR some trains would start from London with 10 - 15 coaches (15 during WW2 else normal max would be 12 -13) on the Bournemouth/Weymouth services typically at Bournemouth Central the train would be divided 3- 5 to Bournemout West, 4-7 would proceed to Wareham where 1 or 2 might be be detached for Swanage, the remainder to Weymouth; on the west country services the train would divide at Exeter some coaches going to north Devon and Cornwall  some to Plymouth, some to Padstow and Wadebridge, the portions would divide again to various destinations. Schools however would not usually go beyond Salisbury locos would be changed there, a King Arthur would usually take it from there to Exeter

Portsmouth line did not usually divide so 9 - 12, although the Portsmouth line was electrified around 1938 so it's unlikely that a Malachite Schools would be seen there unless it was on the Portsmouth > Salisbury service, I'm not so sure of lines further east to Hastings and Kent. Brighton was electrified 1933 so again Malachite schools would be unlikely.
Cheers MIKE
[smg id=6583]


How many roads must a man walk down ... ... ... ... ... before he knows he's lost!

Claude Dreyfus

They were used heavily on the Hastings line - they fitted the restrictive loading gauge - right up to the 60s. In Southern days, they were used throughout the South, Dorset across to Kent. Aside from the express services out of London, they were frequently used on cross country and inter regional trains. Certainly a set of 3 or 4 Maunsells or Bulleids would not look out of place. If feeling flush, they would look good on a birdcage set.

longbow

The Dapol Schools on offer is in a very early BR livery so it could plausibly be seen with Dapol Maunsells or Farish Bulleid coaches in early BR crimson and cream, or the former still in pre-grouping malachite. In early BR days the class was confined almost entirely to the south east.

Karhedron

I don't think that Dapol has released any Maunsell coaches in Malachite livery yet. They have mentioned on their digest that they plan to in future but have not announced any dates yet as far as I know.

Farish have released their Bulleid coaches in malachite so if you are looking for matching loco and coaches these might be an option. Also I believe the Malachite livery on the Farish Bulleids may not be quite correct as Farish have modelled the post-nationalisation version of the coaches which were delivered in Crimson and Cream. The earlier batches of Bulleids which were in Malachite were a slightly different design with shorter window ventilators. However, the differences are pretty minor and like most modellers, you may feel that they are "close enough".

I don't know how well the Dapol version of malachite green matches the Farish version though. The pictures below make it look like Dapol have gone for a lighter shade than Farish so they make look odd together. Neither shade looks quite right to my eye as Malachite should have a more bluish shade to it.





Quote from: ScottyStitch on September 29, 2015, 11:28:46 AM
Well, that's just not good enough. Some fount of all knowledge you are!  :no:  ;)

Karhedron

#5
I have just remembered that Dapol's interpretation of BR(SR) green is suspiciously close to malachite in shade. While the branding and numbering is wrong, you might want to take a look and see what you think.

Quote from: ScottyStitch on September 29, 2015, 11:28:46 AM
Well, that's just not good enough. Some fount of all knowledge you are!  :no:  ;)

Claude Dreyfus

Apologies, I deleted my post as I was talking #@/*. You responded just as I removed it!

Karhedron

Quote from: Claude Dreyfus on October 17, 2018, 01:52:40 PM
Apologies, I deleted my post as I was talking #@/*. You responded just as I removed it!

Don't worry, that'll teach me to type in such a hurry.   :laugh:
Quote from: ScottyStitch on September 29, 2015, 11:28:46 AM
Well, that's just not good enough. Some fount of all knowledge you are!  :no:  ;)

Claude Dreyfus

Quote from: Karhedron on October 17, 2018, 01:49:32 PM
But those are in the earlier 1930s olive-green livery. There would have still been some olive Maunsells around at the time the Schools received malachite but they would have been in the later unlined olive livery.

I have just remembered that Dapol's interpretation of BR(SR) green is suspiciously close to malachite in shade. While the branding and numbering is wrong, you might want to take a look and see what you think.



Chances are with a couple of transfers, you could easily backdate this, which does look to be a similar shade. In reality, once the carriages were out in the real world, especially by the coast, the colours would have faded/weathered down

Dorsetmike

If all else fails a malachite Schools could quite easily have ben seen hauling Maunsell green coaches, there were Maunsell green coaches taken into BR. The Southern would usually varnish a coach a number of times instead of doing a repaint, plus during the war years coach repaints were very low priority, just a quick coat of varnish and out the door.
Cheers MIKE
[smg id=6583]


How many roads must a man walk down ... ... ... ... ... before he knows he's lost!

cutting42

Thanks for all the help. As I mentioned I am strictly rule one here as my planned era is post 2000 ECML  :goggleeyes:

Nice to get a plausible train put together and I like the idea of matching coaches even if I have no intention running in anger.

joe cassidy

I received my "Malvern" in malachite green today, which happens to be my birthday (great timing Rails of Sheffield).

It's a great looking loco with loads of detail and the gap between loco and tender is almost prototypically small.

For me the only disappointment is that the livery appears to be 2-tone malachite green, at least in artificial light.

The boiler seems to be a brighter/bluer shade of green than the tender/cab/cylinders.

Has anyone else noticed this ?

Will check again tomorrow in daylight.

Best regards,


Joe
P.S.Thanks to Chris (Tank) and the team for the birthday greetings

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