Model Railway Forum

The only downside to the GWR when it was a company was that you would not want to be a small competing railway company as the GWR had a ruthless reputation to its competitors in the early years, often making it impossible for the smaller companies to realize their dreams. They were not as bad as the criminal minded Midland Railway directors, but they were certainly not saints.

I liked the standard parts policy which was one of the most forward thinking companies of the time. Some loco classes that I assumed were made by the GWR were not, as they ended up so rebuilt with standard GWR parts it was hard to tell they were not origionally GWR engines. It was due to this standard parts policy they adopted that they were able to scrap entire classes of loco only to salvage many parts and make an entire new class. Most of us know the tale about the largest of Great Western engines "The Great Bear" and how it was rebuilt as a Castle class with its 8 wheel tender running for many years behind an ex. Cambrian 0-6-0.
One of the first things to learn by studying many pictures, is to know the difference (Visually) between the varios classes of GWR 4-6-0's. Saints, Stars, Manors, Halls, Castles, Granges, Counties, Kings (Have I missed any out?) all look similar but with a keen eye one soon learns how to tell them apart without looking at name or numberplates. Different wheel and boiler sizes. Different pipes leading from the smokebox. Different wheel splashers as in the case of the County. Different leading front bogie as in the case of the King. Earlier cab style as in thw case of Saints and Stars (Including loco number 100 if I remember correctly?)
My favourite type of GWR loco has to be the panniers, many of which were saddle tank conversions. They just look the part.

Mountain Goat a very useful and informative piece of information. Thanks for sharing this with me. I to like the pannier tanks but I also have a soft spot for the D97 1466 Loco.

Look forward to seeing your layout. When you say GWR in the 60's I take it you mean WR.

I didn't see the 1960's bit. B.R. western region. Is actually sensible as you can run the standard classes, early diesels, GWR and have the excuse to run the odd loco from the other of the big four. (In my area the main locos would likely be the LMS who used to run into Swansea (Swansea Victoria station).
Generally the Western Region were one of the first to make the change to diesels and scrap steam, so the 1960's may have had more diesels then steam depending what year and the location you want to model. Mentioning diesels, it really surprized me how early B.R. blue came in. I believe from 1964 onwards?
I used to try to model the mid 1930's but I didn't like the circular monogram so I only had one loco with that. (A Replica pannier). My favourite model was a Mainline pannier tank, though my first ever loco was a Triang/Hornby pannier and it was so well run in that it became my quietest running loco and the smoothest with its X03/04 type motor!

Hi Kevin - welcome to the forum. As you've probably gathered it's a friendly place - lots of information, help and fun.

Walkingthedog wrote: ↑Thu Jan 10, 2019 8:17 am Look forward to seeing your layout. When you say GWR in the 60's I take it you mean WR.

Hello Walkingthedog yes 50s going into the 60s. My layout is only a single point plank layout which is progressing nicely through its build. Still a few more bits to add and model.

Look great. I really run anything from the 50's 60's but particularly like WR. Did all my spotting, long ago, in Slough. Well somebody had to live there.

Walkingthedog wrote: ↑Thu Jan 10, 2019 3:53 pm Look great. I really run anything from the 50's 60's but particularly like WR. Did all my spotting, long ago, in Slough. Well somebody had to live there.

Thanks Walkingthedog. I only got to like GWR as my wife bought me a Hornby trainset with a small GWR Loco last year and since then I have been hooked on railway modelling especially GWR. I have recently purchased a Dapol D97 1466 GWR Loco which I have posted some pictures in the new acquisition thread.

Welcome aboard GWR. Could you start a topic about your great work ? Thanks. I saw it somewhere else but I can't remember where.

Hi Pierre thanks for the welcome. I have my layout build on Platform1 mrc. I will start a thread on this forum as well.