Hi Dog Star
Things did indeed go quiet. I seem to have hit an impasse.
My problem is that I want to model the Ocean Special trains including the Ocean Mails from 1928-36.
My goal was to have 4-5 possible rakes, 1 for 1928 made up primarily of 70' stock, 1 for 1929 which includes the Pullmans the GWR had at the time, once from 1932 which introduces the Super Saloons with added kitchen car and one from 1936 which now has a remodelled Saloon with the kitchen now included.
I have found a lot of information about these services but photos, working coach plans etc, are very thin on the ground. But between the Harris books, the books on Plymouth in the 30's, the GWR Potal services and a wonderful detail of the Dining Cars from Backtrack, some great detail on the Pullmans from GWR Journal and a few other little gems I have found, I think I know what I want.
The idea is to have 3 x 70' stock (still to be decided what Diagrams) , 3 x Pullman, 3 x Saloon as original and 2 x Saloon with the Kitchen. A total of 11 Passenger vehicles.
I then need a Kitchen Car from the 1929 Riviera sets which was included when the Saloons ran pre '36 and an H22 12-wheel Diner for the 70' stock.
To complement these, I need M15 / M9 in "Ocean Mails" lined livery and another Brake in lined livery. There is reasonable evidence that they were still in pre-27 livery into the early 30's
And then I need a couple of Full Brakes or Vans in the 1929-35 livery.
And finally a Siphon G.
These 11 coaches, 2 Kitchen / Diners, 4 Brake / Vans and a Siphon mean that I could create the following realistic variations with 17 coaches.
1928 Star pulled rake with 70' Ocean Mails, 3 x 70' Passenger coaches, H22 Diner, Siphon G and another Brake / Van
1929 Star or Castle pulled rake with 70' OM, 3 x Pullman (ideally the 12 wheel wooden bodied Brake /1st called Arcadia with 2 of the steel bodied 1928 stock, probably Zena and Ione, all of which were photographed at Millbay. It would alos be prototypical to mix and match, using some Pullmans and some 70' stock.
1932 Castle pulled rake with 70' OM, 3 x Super Saloons, 1 x 1929 Riviera Kitchen and then a Siphon and another Brake
1936 Castle pulled rake with Brake, 5 x Saloons, Siphon and another Brake
I feel that this would give me tremendous variation and a real treat to watch any of them rolling along a huge S bend in the garden!
Kits are few and far between though.
Goldenage Models are apparently still going and I talked to Quentin only last week. He confirmed that the Super Saloons are the first project to go live later this year now that the business is functioning again so I shall hopefully source all 5 Saloons from him.
The Pullmans are not insurmountable. The "White" Pullmans from 1928 steel bodies stock (the GWR received about 10 of them including Zena, Iona are possible to source and a repaint from the Umber livery is not impossible to achieve. I have not found a 12-wheel kit for Arcadia though so that may have to go.
The 70' stock is a problem.
Blacksmiths made an H22 and they also made M14 which is basically identical to M15 so that would cover one of the 2 Kitchens and one of the Brakes.
They also offered a selection of 70' Toplights including an A11 First Brake which would probably have been seen in the late 20's, 3rd (C29), Brake 3rd (D48).
Westdale also made some of the 70' Collet stock, namely a Composite, a 3rd and a Brake 3rd.
But try finding these kits! I have sourced a couple of the Westdales but am hanging out for the Blacksmith Toplights, but have not had any luck at all!
So in summary, my research of this niche has been progressing very well, but the kids are still using the planned route for their trampoline etc and finding the coaches has proven to be much harder than I thought.
I have thus been mulling over the step to Gauge 1. The attraction of a live steam Aster Castle holds strong and I have been in touch with the charming Peter Rogers. By simplifying the above and focusing more on the 1923-36 period I would be able to get away with less coaches and there seems to be more of a scratch-build culture in G1.
Quentin at Golden Age claims he will release the Saloons in G1 after the O gauge release, so that would solve that problem.
All I would need then would be M15 in post-29 livery, a nice 70' Brake, a Siphon G and a Kitchen Car. Peter reckons he can build these for me and frankly, the price differential between O and 1 is oddly minimal.
Either way, I have commissioned the M15 because even if I suddenly find all the O gauge coaches and stick to O, it is such a beautiful coach in its own right that it would sit very nicely on a shelf.