Class 01 Diesel shunter

Yesterdays black paint needed a second coat to build up some colour depth but after that, things were plain sailing.

I couldn't resist numbering it as the very first loco in the TOPS list - 01 001. Those wearing tweed anoraks will point out that this loco barely ran before being confined to shed and canibalised for parts to keep 01 002 running, but as I always say, it's my train set and I'll do what I want with it. And I want 001.

The livery itself is accurate. The locos were given new numbers and wasp ends but never repainted from the all-over black first applied when new. The old style BR crest was also a feature to the end. It was a really old style version as the lion, or ferret, faced the front on each side of the machine. This stpooed when it was pointed out that the two crests were technically different and would need to be registered with the Heladry people seperatly.

My numbering comes from a very old sheet of rub-down transfers bought from Howes when they were based in the centre of Oxford. Amazingly they still work but using them is a bit fraught as you only get one go. Mind you, a sensible person would have applied the digits to some transparent backing film and then slid this in place. In one step it would make lining them up easier and replicated the black patch over the original numbers on the real locos. I was not that clever.

Transfers on and the model was sprayed with satin varnish and then wafted over with various greys and browns. I may well attach it futher in the future but for now, it looks fine to me. The prototypes wern't that dirty although possibly less shiny than my model. On the other hand, my version is less battered and it's staying that way !

All in all, this is a very nice kit. It goes together logically, all the bits fit perfectly. I look forward to running it on the layout in the future.