A whole load of blue paint!

I don’t know how other modellers operate, but I tend to go through phases. I try and group models by colours, to make it take less time for me I suppose. So here we have a raft of rail blue!

Firstly an oldie. Here is 55018 in mid 1970s condition before it had its headcode boxes plated over. It also has a nice light weathered finish.

Next up back to the modern day. Here is 20096 looking especially at home on the Tinsley diorama! This is a standard Bachmann 20 with shawplan bits used to bring it up to date.

With the model in the paintshop at the same time being Tinsley’s pet 47, 47375, I couldn’t resist posing them together on the diorama. Again the 47 is a vitrains model, these are my favourites to use when modelling the current day operations as they always look top notch with a coat of paint and detailing work.

Finally, and my favourite, is 50044 ‘Exeter’ in blue. I’m not sure if the roller blind head code and names is totally authentic – I’m pretty sure it would have dominos by the time it was named – but it looks great to me. Hoping to get a run behind a 50 this year as they were very much my childhood favourites and thanks to my ever accommodating Dad we spent many hours travelling down from Sheffield to go from London to Templecombe and back – spending around 5 minutes in Templecombe as that was the furthest west you could get without missing the return working with a different 50 – glory days.