Dapol GWR DMU railmotor

[mjb1961]

Almost right. Dapol have used the position of the lavatory to raise the moulding to cover the motor and flywheel.

From the non-lavatory side


From the other side


The second shot shows the relative height of the bulge to the seats. Painting the glazing - rather than the full-height bit of the moulding - off white would help greatly and I may well do it when I have decided how much to modify the interior.

Tony

Hi Lysander,,,,I've bought number 8 and was wondering what decoder would be most suitable,,,would a direct plug in fit or does it have to be a decoder with a harness ,,,,,thanks mjb

[Lysander]

Apologies mjb - I cannot help you with that as I do not run with DCC. probably the best place to look for advice is on RMWeb, where there has been quite a discussion about decoders.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index. ... d-railcar/

Tony

[Bufferstop]

Painting the glazing - rather than the full-height bit of the moulding - off white

The photographs of number 10,11 and 12 Show that window to be clear with a separate solid partition to the back of the cubicle, The door pocket is between the cubicle back and the outside skin of the body. I have a photo of the opposite door pocket with a seat next to it, if you want to see what is behind the cubicle.
I doubt it's possible to find out now, but I'd be interested to know if these three retained the lavatory compartment for the whole of their lives, or were they later modified to be like the rest of the batch. The only fully streamlined survivor is number 4 which has two lavatory compartments towards one end and the mini buffet.

[Lysander]

I agree. I have now managed to acquire via Amazon a near-mint ex-reference library copy of Judge's 'The History of the Great Western A.E.C. Diesel Railcars' [£13 - very good value]. It's hugely detailed and covers the lot with profuse photographs: an excellent book.

On No11, the drawing confirms a very slightly left-of-centre driver's seat with an adjacent tip-up seat on the far right. Photographs of the interior of No12 show seats upholstered in a large tartan-pattern moquette and the floor in the aisle appears to be carpeted. Colours can not be determined for either. The lavatory compartment in the vestibule has no natural light and so must have been illuminated electrically.

It is clear that the windows are also fitted with roller blinds which retract quite neatly when not in use, barely noticeably.

I've not yet found any cab detailing however.

The book has a photograph of W10 on Oxford Shed '...in the 50's...' with the lavatory compartment still in situ. Of course, 'in situ' might not equate with 'in use' though.

Tony

[Bufferstop]

[£13 - very good value]

Darned good value, mine's a £25 modern reprint, via a book club It's a shame that by the fifties when colour film was starting to be more readily available, all the interest was being focused on steam.

[Bigmet]

Worth checking the Colour-Rail collection to see what may be available. There are published colour pictures of railcar no 7 still in full GWR livery in about 1950, and another in the late fifties of no 22 in BR's DMU green, and where there's one it is always possible there are more. Interiors in colour would be difficult though, the good colour films - good enough to give a decently accurate rendering - were very slow, needed full sunlight for the best results. In an interior, the contrast ratio between directly sunlit and shadow would make a photo very chancy. The portable flashgun was still some years away, and flashcubes were really best kept for monochrome; so most photographers wouldn't waste an exposure on a very uncertain result.

Contra 'all the interest was being focussed on steam' there's amateur colour pictures of just about all the non-steam locomotives working on what became BR post WWII and into the 1950s. The LMS and Bulleid diesels, Fell, BTH 10800, the three gas turbines, DP1. There's just one decent colour picture of a Stanier 8F during the Big Four period...

[mjb1961]

Hi Lysander ,,,THANKYOU for the link ,I found the topic very helpful,,,mjb

[swiftbeam]

Hi Guys,

I was posting on another forum about the Dapol Railcar, but...

So I will show you what I did here

I was having problems with my Railcar hunting. After MUCH hunting, I tracked the problem down to the gears in the bogie being too sloppy, so I replaced the whole drive train with a Black Beetle bogie. Now I have a full interior as well and the model runs well. My whole story can be seen from about page 23 'over there' if anybody wants to read it.

[swiftbeam]

I was able to fill in all the motor bulge and remodel the seats. It has been all repainted, doors and people fitted. As soon as I can work out how to reduce the size of my pictures so I can post, I will show the new interior .

[swiftbeam]

I've since put a piece of buff paper in the toilet window, looks better.

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[carnehan]

The man reading the paper is a particularly nice touch there. Who produced the figures you are using?

Paul

[swiftbeam]

Hi, They are a selection of seated PREISER HO. Most fit quite well needing no timing of feet !!

[Bufferstop]

comparing with photos of the original that's pretty much how the toilet cubicle would have looked, the space between the glass and the back of the cubicle is where the sliding door went when open. Nice mod.

[swiftbeam]

You may notice that all the seats and hall way have been reinstated due to the fact that there is no motor in the middle of the chassis

[D605Eagle]

Now thats what Dapol should have done in the first place, and IMO would have justified its price too.