Dapol OO Gauge GWR Large Prairie & GWR Mogul.

[Bigmet]

...On the other hand, railway modelling is full of compromises...

And some. It still amuses that some 'deep end' over getting the make up of passenger trains right. So what about the freight trains then? For the majority of the existence of the UK railway these have been economically far more significant.

[Mike Parkes]

Thanks both, for the helpful replies. Helpful, that is, in totally opposite directions, one showing me how to change it and the other encouraging me to live with it. I'm now torn in two.

I've been doing some digging, and I have discovered that of the 638x series only two, 6381 and 6385, got outside steam pipes before WWII, leaving me with a choice of eight alternative identities available by changing just the last digit. Though the minefield doesn't end there. I'd feel the need to check whether my chosen engine had the long or the short safety-valve bonnet, another detail that's pretty obvious even to a casual glance.

Photos exist online of 6386 6388 and 6389 all with long safety valve bonnet
6386 - https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrwe2846.htm - no obvious tender lettering so could have the roundal which is often unclear in photos
6388 - https://www.rail-online.co.uk/p40417058 ... #hc9fbfd8a, dated as 1939 tender has full GW lettering
6389 - https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrw380.htm - angle unclear re tender

[UrbanHermit]

Thanks again for your time and trouble, but it's out of the frying pan...

That photo of 6388 (which might have been a good candidate, having been a Cardiff Canton engine pre-war) reminds me that engines on secondary duties didn't get repaints as often as the prestigious express types, and could be seen carrying superseded liveries for years after the change. Quite a few locos never got the shirtbutton at all. So it's a case of outside pipes PLUS long bonnet PLUS shirtbutton. PLUS what next?

I'm beginning to think that it would actually be easier to add the pipes, if I could find any. Dapol are selling a range of spares, like buffers, whistles, handrails, but not steampipes.

Easier still to leave it alone, of course...

[Mike Parkes]

Quite a few locos never got the shirtbutton at all

Being on the tender their is always the possibility it had swopped tenders at some point; similarly boiler changes could result in a loco having different boiler fittings to previously.

[Bigmet]

...I'm beginning to think that it would actually be easier to add the pipes, if I could find any. Dapol are selling a range of spares, like buffers, whistles, handrails, but not steampipes...

How about DIY? Use plastic rod or a good thick sprue off a kit, then settle down to making lots of pieces 'cut and tried', until you produce the neatest possible fit.

[6C]

Painted samples and CADs, for both up on Hattons site:

5101:
https://www.hattons.co.uk/newsdetail.as ... 0ifQ%3D%3D

Manor:
https://www.hattons.co.uk/newsdetail.as ... 0ifQ%3D%3D