Garden Railway Forum

Hi all,

Various re-workings of the old (45 years-ish) Faller E Train railbus have appeared on this forum over the years, and it's not really a surprise. Although a little on the small side, they're really attractive vehicles, which need little modification to achieve very pleasing results and, once upon a time, they were available pretty cheaply. I've been running one re-painted in chocolate and cream livery for over twenty years now - it crops up on my (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland thread from time-to-time, despite looking nothing like anything that ever ran over the real WHR. It's among my favourite models, I've had a second railbus stored away for decades, and I fancied a quick distraction from some long-running projects - I decided it was time for another one...

Although they can look great with nothing more than a coat of paint, I decided to ring the changes a little with this one, removing the top headlight and swooping moulded lining at each end, and replacing with new lining that continues straight across the front. I added further lining across the doors and above the window line, all from microstrip that was once my Dad's, so is probably about as old as the railbus itself. See below for a comparison with the largely unaltered chocolate and cream version:




After that, it was time for painting, and I've gone for a green livery this time - the lining will be picked out in cream:


I've already painted the interior, which is otherwise unmodified - you could do tons to these, but I think you'd lose a lot of the original's charm.

Lining next, then a look at the chassis. That seems to be running OK, I just need to take it apart as much as possible in order to paint it.

Cheers all,

Andrew.

That has changed the character so much and will make a nice railbus model when complete.

It looks wider, or is that just the photo angle?

Rik

I've always liked these. I have an ETrain one that i started to repaint years ago that really needs stripping back and starting again.

The green works very well on yours.

ge_rik wrote: ↑Thu Apr 25, 2024 7:01 am It looks wider, or is that just the photo angle?

It does, doesn't it?!

I think it's partly the angle/perspective, and partly that the addition of the roof and chassis makes the chocolate and cream version look taller and thinner.

I have seen a Faller railbus which has been widened, and had extra height added too, I think, to make it more in keeping with other 16mm scale stock - that seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to!

Andrew.

StuartJ wrote: ↑Thu Apr 25, 2024 8:12 am I've always liked these. I have an ETrain one that i started to repaint years ago that really needs stripping back and starting again.

The green works very well on yours.

The first coat of green I applied was from an old (possibly very old) can of spray paint I found knocking about somewhere. I knew it was a bad idea - it looked like I'd pebble-dashed it! I had to rub it down and re-spray, and the finish isn't quite what I'd like in places - happily though, this isn't a model intended for either close inspection or entry into competitions!

Glad you like the green - I have a soft spot for old DMUs in their earlier guises. The lining should really lift it, just hope I can apply it neatly enough!

Andrew.

Andrew wrote: ↑Thu Apr 25, 2024 8:21 am
I have seen a Faller railbus which has been widened, and had extra height added too, I think, to make it more in keeping with other 16mm scale stock - that seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to!

I started to do that with one of mine but gave up in the end, it just didn't seem worth the effort. I was actually planning a 3-car set with the middle one have both driving cabs chopped off and the other two being single ended!

The one pair I do have are in green, as I've shown before, and they look fine, I think.

philipy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 25, 2024 8:48 am XI was actually planning a 3-car set with the middle one have both driving cabs chopped off and the other two being single ended!

I really like that idea! I do actually have another railcar, but I've robbed loads of bits for the first two - I'm wondering about turning it into a twin cabbed diesel loco, but that's a VERY long way down the to-do list...

philipy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 25, 2024 8:48 am The one pair I do have are in green, as I've shown before, and they look fine, I think.

Me too! I had yours in mind...

I do like a railbus, never seen a Faller railbus I didn't like but these are particularly nice. Loads of character and quite distinct.

SimonWood wrote: ↑Thu Apr 25, 2024 9:49 am never seen a Faller railbus I didn't like

A truth universally acknowledged...

Caution! Line painting in Progress!

Well, that looks pretty good to me!

Strewth! That looks amazing! I've seen a fair bit of lining over the years but that must be among the best.

Rik

Thanks chaps!

I am pleased with how it's turning out, although it's more a case of colouring in than lining, in that I'm painting along either original moulded lining, or extra stuff I've added. It's pretty fiddly ( don't look too closely!) and time consuming (each line's needed two coats), so I've only done one half so far. I'm hoping to get the other end done during the evenings this week...

Excellent work, sir.

Good afternoon!

This weekend saw the railbus project pretty much draw to a close - it's now ready to go apart from adding some traction tyres (the other one uses kids' "loom bands") to improve running.

As you can see, I've gone for a BR "green diesel" era look, complete with "speed whiskers", which were supplied by Model Transport Graphics (scaled up and tweaked from their OO version) and which I'm very pleased with - the best £5.99 I've ever spent?!


This and my original, chocolate and cream, railbus belong to the (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland's alter-ego, the West Kent Light Railway. They're supposedly narrow gauge versions of the Waggon und Maschinenbau railcars used to cut running costs on branch lines in the 60s, these ones having been bought for the Vale of Rheidol, proven themselves to be unsuitable (probably on account of having only eight seats!) and then been sold on to the preservationists restoring the WKLR. As such, they have alternative destination blinds for the VoR's Aberystwyth and Devil's Bridge, the terminal stations on my line (confusingly, both named after places in/near Aberystwyth!), plus Saffron Walden and Audley End, which were served by the real SG railcars - my wife grew up near the former.

So that's that. I'm looking forward to giving it a proper run at some point. Now I need to tidy up the chocolate and cream one, which is now looking rather tatty after twenty years of use. Then I think some sort of railcar running day will be in order...

Cheers,

Andrew.

Looks very tasty, Sir!
Thanks for the stations explantion, I was thinking that Safron Walden to Devils Bridge is a bit of a shlep!

Delightful!

Looking forward to pics from the railcar running day

That does look good Andrew, well done on a cracking job there.

Very smart