GCR Coachs References/Books etc

[Bill Bedford]

Presumably by "brown" you mean teak paint with BR numbers added and possibly re-varnished?

Coach brown or Beech brown was the official description.

[coachmann]

I refer to brown in much the same way as I refer to 'LMS red'. They just looked brown and any such detail as graining, had it been present, was lost on me when I saw them circa 1949-58. I don't remember seeing light orange-ish teak coaches like we see on preserved lines that's for sure. I will finish John Fozards NER D176 8-compartment third in grained teak. A full ducket 5-compartment brake third is pictured in Woodhead, Part 1 (Foxline) on page 22 near Gorton but its not one NE Design produces.

Reason for a NER coach at Greenfield...? A bit of fictional 'history' really although it does have a certain logic. In real life, trains from Guide Bridge terminated at Stalybridge while others terminated at Oldham Glodwick Road. The fictional part is, an early BR initiative was to extend one or both to Greenfield during the rush hour; one up the mainline through Mossley and 'tother over the Oldham Branch via Lees. In fact the one from Stalybridge would have gone up to Diggle to turn back.

I've built a Gresley non-corridor brake third. The NER third wil follow and then eventually a GCR matchboard brake from Bill Bedford. This set provides the perfect excuse to buy one of the forthcoming Thompson 2-6-4T's....!

[9E]

The Brake Third (I suppose there is a possibility it is a BC) has the duckets as per D144, but is a 5 compartment vehicle with door ventilators and probably no toplights. That doesn’t seem to match any of the John Fozard models.

The coach is part of a 1953 London Rd-Macclesfield Central train on page 22 of Woodhead Part One by E.M. Johnson. This is the only photo I have seen of one of these coaches in a Manchester GC rake so in contrast to the third is far from typical.

I like your excuse for GC stock at Greenfield. Are you settling on a 3 coach set? The Stalybridge services seem to have varied quite a bit over the years with the 1947 carriage workings showing a Hayfield set with a turn to Stalybridge and in 1950 the Manchester Central-Guide Bridge 3 coach set made one trip up to Stalybridge. I don't know what was used in later years, but anything from 3 to 5 coaches would be justifiable.

If you want to use an L1 then further history bending is required as Gorton didn't have a regular allocation until later in the 1950s. In 1952-1953 I'm not even sure 39A had any A5s, although they were certainly around in 1954 post electrification. I quite like the idea of an N5 struggling its way up to Diggle and back!


Simon

[coachmann]

I quite like the idea of an N5 struggling its way up to Diggle and back!

So do I.