Putting the Brakes On

The latest rolling stock acquisition for the railway: a 25 ton ex-SR 'Queen Mary' brake van.  These were built in the thirties, with some lasting until at least the eighties.  Indeed, I can recall seeing them in departmental use toward the end of their lives, working on track maintenance trains, (one or two could often be seen in the sidings as you entered Bristol from Bath, along with a lot of other, mainly condemned, freight rolling stock).  Unlike most other brake vans, these tended not to wander too far from ex-SR metals during their BR lives - as can be seen, this one is marked 'Not for Common Use', indicating that it shouldn't leave the region.  In reality, some had even more specific markings, adding 'For Use Only Between Southampton Docks and Nine Elms'.  Which was hardly surprising, as their main use was on fast fitted freight trains - hence the fact that they were mounted on coach bogies rather than the four wheeled chassis normally found under brake vans. 

I've long wanted a model of one of these distinctively Southern vehicles, but the Bachmann model, even second hand, always seemed to go for ridiculously high prices.  Recently, however, I found no less than three of them on eBay at much more reasonable prices.  One was in departmental livery, another in Network South East livery, putting both of them outside of my period of modelling.  Although I don't mind the odd anachronism on my layout, this third one in appropriate BR livery turned up.  Whereas the other two were 'Buy it Now' items, this one was an auction, but with a low starting price.  Incredibly, (it seemed to me), although the auction was ending soon, nobody had bid on it - so I bid the asking price and won it at a lower price (including postage) than either of the 'Buy it Now' alternatives.  It seems that you can still, sometimes, get a bargain on eBay.  As received, it is actually in pretty good condition.  Not perfect, but more than acceptable.  It even came in its original box.  At some point I might even be able to post some video of it in action.