BUT Grills

[Kirley]

I'm currently building a number of BUT Railcars. As you can see in the attached photograph (Keith Bannister) the engines were covered with mesh grills.

 

 

I hope to replicate this but am at a loss as to where could I source mesh as fine as this, can anyone help please?

[Garfield]

Scale Link do a comprehensive range, Kieran: http://www.scalelink.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000002.pl?WD=mesh&PN=Meshes___Mailles%2ehtml

 

0.5mm seems to be the finest mesh available, probably due to tolerance issues.

[Glenderg]

I know it's an oddball solution, but Penney's do a roll of Voile, like curtain mesh. About £5 for 8 metres of the stuff. I used if for straining paint that had lumps etc. in it, and eventually used it for the mesh on the bonnet grilles of my E Classes. Very fine and works with standard glues & cements.

 

You can also get small pieces of it for jam and chutney.

[GNRi1959]

Hope this one helps with any detail you may find..... Omagh, again

[Kirley]

Thanks Guys for two very different solutions, I'll explore both. Great photo Tony of AEC 614 leading.

[RichL]

This is the place to go

 

http://www.themeshcompany.com/products/Bronze.html

[Weshty]

Wow,

 

I've never seen the all mesh covering before. You learn something everyday eh? (very Canadian that....eh?)

[Mike258747]

Another way to distinguish the 600 railcars from the newer 900 series is the position of the headlight. The 600s had the lights just above the drivers windows whereas the 900s had the lights set into the roof. The photos above clearly show the two types.

[Kirley]

Front Cab of 900 Series BUT.

 

I've started building the interiors of these Railcars and I'm looking for a picture of the interior looking towards the front drivers cab.

 

In the drawing there appears to be a partition between the 1st Class compartment and the Drivers Cab including a door.

 

 

I know the seats in the 1st Class compartment were tiered to allow all the Passengers a view through the front so I first assumed the Partition was partly glass.

 

Some of the exterior photographs seems to suggest there was a seat opposite the Driver's seat.

 

 

I know that what appears on plans is not always replicated on the actual Railcar, can anyone help on this please, a photograph would be great?

[jhb171achill]

I remember looking through those windows! Yes, there was a door between the 1st class and the driver, and yes, there was a seat on both sides. The car above is in an "in-between" livery - a one off. Despite still being in GNR navy and cream 9the blue was a lot darker in real life than that pic suggests), a UTA yellow panel has been added, but as yet no black "wasp" stripes. The GNR lettering and crest have been painted over in (GNR navy blue!) and UTA numerals added instead. Interesting.

 

With regard to the grilles, as can be seen above, by the time the UTA and later NIR inherited their share of these railcars, the bare engine was generally exposed with the entire panels off, grilles and all. I never remember seeing one with a grille (or side panel), and for a time I travelled on them regularly.

 

The front partition between driver and 1st class was indeed all glass (waist up) but more often that not the driver kept blinds down - don't know why. As children we thought it was because the driver was a killjoy! In terms of the tiered seats, I could be entirely wrong on this, but I have a theory: I have seen definite photographic evidence of tiering, but from recollection I suspect this may not have been the case in ALL of the 1st class sections, as I never remember seeing it, or sensing that some seats were higher. Maybe someone out there might know for certain?

 

Where the tiering did exist, as may be seen in at least one photo, it didn't amount to much and wouldn't have made much difference. We're not talking about cinema or Croke Park tiering here, and these railcars had high enough seat backs, so only the front two pairs of seats had any meaningful forward view. The others didn't.

 

The seats in those cars were extremely comfortable, although the engines were noisy and in later years the window openings rattled (though not even remotely as badly as in the power cars of 70 and 80 class railcars). My recollection of AECs is also that they seem to be the only railcars, apart from the 70 class, ever to run anywhere in Ireland where the temperatures setting were comfortable! Well ventilated in summer, cosy in winter. Now we have the NIR CAFs as probably the best temperature wise, and the ICRs set at stuffily tropical extreme heat almost all the time. I am assured by an extremely reliable source that this is not, as I first wondered, a design fault, but a conscious decision to keep the blue-rinsers happy! (I would tell them to buy a jumper, but that's for another day!).

 

For interiors of GNR AECs, the walls were covered in a sort of vinyl-like stuff, painted cream in UTA days - probably also in GNR days. At least a couple in their very late NIR days were a light grey. not unlike the upper panels exterior above the NIR maroon. The first class upholstery was a flowery pattern on a mid green background, and the standard class was the standard dark green UTA upholstery as may today be seen on several preserved UTA buses. The UTA used this on main line stock too.

 

The GNR sets which went south ended up with CIE upholstery which was a mid to light brown plastic stuff, same as in many buses. And as push-pulls, of course, the dreaded bright orange plastic seats!!!

[Kirley]

Thanks JHB for all the information.

 

 

Still hoping for a photograph showing the other direction.

[jhb171achill]

As you can see, these ones aren't stepped, as (a) it's the main 2nd class saloon and (b) as such, you wouldn't be able to see ahead anyway.

 

That type of upholstery shown was, as far as I remember, some sort of red and grey mostly. That's GNR original.

[Kirley]

Sorry JHB I meant to say it is a picture of the 2nd Class Saloon. I just received some information to suggest there were two glass partitions separating the First Class from the vestibule where the doors were and again to separate the vestibule from the Second Class.

Awaken any memories?

[jhb171achill]

Yes, Kirley.

 

The partitions in the vestibule areas either side, i.e. both those which opened into the 1st and 2nd class sections were not of glass. They were of the same cream coloured panelling as can be seen on the sides in your photo.

 

The glass partition, which is actually better described as a partition with windows in it, was between the driver's compartment and the 1st class section.