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Mundane, grey and run of the mill (N part 50)…

This is not the first and is sure not to be the last time these humble locomotives grace a post here on the blog…

The humble class 08, hundreds and hundreds built, seen across the entire British railway network for over 70 years, sadly now a rare beast but for my Speedlink era 1990s N gauge layout, very much at home.


I already have two Graham Farish 08s - the first a repaint of a Network Southeast liveried ‘Ivor’ into BR blue, the second the celebrity provincial blue 08761. Why a third you may ask? Put simply nostalgia. A few of the photographs that inspired Paxton Road 2 feature a grey 08. This austere livery was applied to many of the fleet in the 1990s and they gathered various unique adornments towards the end of their lives. Pure general though, as this example is adorned, is most useful for me - location agnostic but full of memories.


As is the case these days with all Farish models it runs impeccably. I’ve added the pipework and a few extra bits below the beams, as well as modified the couplings and the marker lights, so nothing jars. Weathering is my usual blend of washes, detail painting, dry brushing and airbrushing, all subtle yet bringing this otherwise boring grey finish to life with subtle tonal variation.

Sometimes these un-sung heroes are really the star of the show, certainly for my small shunting layouts they do the donkey work whilst the larger models just look pretty. I could and have made the case that every modeller needs a class 08, perhaps for you it could be one like this or another that chimes in with memories and nostalgia for your own experiences be they real or from books or video? Until next time, more soon… 





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Comments

  1. Simon Hargraves17 April 2023 at 07:11


    Hi James,
    That does look good!
    I've a green 08 to re-livery at some point, currently vacillating between grey and BR blue.
    While I prefer the grey, blue would be more typical of the late '08s/early '90s time period I'm modelling.
    A further possibility, and a bit more work, would be an 09 to better suit the "fringes of the SR" setting I currently have in mind but I'll make that decision later.
    One observation: I looked at your previous posts on 08s and it wasn't until I read the text that I realised that the loco in "Just one locomotive?" is actually 00, which rather bears out your comments on the quality of N gauge models nowadays!
    Cheers,
    Simon.

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    1. James H17 April 2023 at 08:11

      Does your green one have wasp stripes already? They're a pain to apply with the Fox decals, but do-able if you take your time. If not, Rails are selling the 'IVOR' bodies for £12, that's how I did mine, I reverse engineered an 009 project, and fitted an 08 body to a chassis I had in my collection! Good luck, an 09 sounds a good bet and you only need worry about some representation of the high level pipework. I'd suggest a scrap of styrene and some 0.3mm brass wire would do the trick...

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    2. Simon Hargraves18 April 2023 at 06:14

      Fortunately, the green 08 already has stripes; this was partly why I looked at repainting the main body as I felt it would be relatively simple to do. I can't remember which body style it is but will have a look at some point.
      I've also got a body in EWS livery kicking around somewhere, having robbed the chassis for 009 use. There's an excellent post from yesterday with several photos of Mainline blue 09 019 in action in 2005 at St. Blazey on the Railways of Devon & Cornwall group on facebook...it would be a great inspiration for a micro! 025 and 026 are both preserved fairly locally so a gricing trip to get some photos of pipework, etc. would probably be a good plan.

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    3. Simon Hargraves18 April 2023 at 06:17

      PS link to 09 019 post: https://m.facebook.com/groups/384010423010289/permalink/986852979392694/

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    4. James H18 April 2023 at 06:36

      Thanks Simon, the 09 seems a good choice for you. Masking the striping isn’t too difficult, just try and use the airbrush for the repaint as the paint applied by Farish is quite thick and obviously you can’t strip it AND preserve the wasp stripes. The Mainline 09 reminds me one I did in OO many years ago… https://paxton-road.blogspot.com/2010/02/gathering-of-gronks.html

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    5. Simon Hargraves26 April 2023 at 06:19

      Another potential 08 model I have is an unmade Kitmaster kit (given away by Nabisco, amazingly!), which must be around 60 years old...it would be quite fun to finish it in a 2020s livery...Freightliner/Genesee & Wyoming orange, perhaps?!

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    6. James H26 April 2023 at 06:23

      Now wouldn’t that be something!

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  2. Alan Sewell19 April 2023 at 12:24

    Hi James

    Meant to reply to your post on O8's. As usual the quality of the modelling/weathering is of a high standard and very atmospheric of the time.
    However to me they are not a favourite loco having replaced far to many real "industrial" shunters but at least they have kept rail use to plants around the country. I am not sure if I have ever taken a photo of one in industrial service. Will have to look and see if I did but the thought must have been repressed. Will send a copy if I find one

    Best regards
    Alan

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    Replies
    1. James H19 April 2023 at 13:05

      I don’t think I suggested they need to be a favourite, just that ‘every layout’ should have one - realistically they were everywhere, as mundane and omnipresent as the rails themselves. I do agree, I have no love for those in post-BR service if they ousted more characterful industrial locomotives, but they’re remarkable survivors. Thanks for the kind words about the finish.

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