Golden Fleece 30

That looks very smart almost new. I have a couple of 6 wheelers and three 4 wheel WR ones but not in the condition of yours. So far I have not got around to cleaning them or sorting out the wheels.

Hi Tony, I take the floor out by undoing the 4 underframe clips in the solebars then the single link couplings are thrown away. The glass is removed and the clips holding it in position are thrown away too. The ends are left in place and the sides/roof washed and polished. The glass is washed and dried then glued back in place with Evo-stick. The floor and underframe are put back and the bogies removed. I glue on my own etched mounting plate and fasten Bachmann bogies to the coaches and away they go. If the paintwork is poor then the ends are taken off and the body stripped and re-sprayed etc as the two BR maroon ones. I have most of the various different ones I own on here but still looking for more even though I have too many for the layout already. I do try to keep away from the ones without the window vents where these are painted on the glass but do have some etches to use if needed to fit as well as new etched underframes if required. Kind regards Garry

Here is the 1st class sleeping car recently aquired. I have not cleaned or polished this coach as yet, this is straight from delivery but there seems to be a small dust mark around the window perimeters. Both sides have different amounts/sizes of windows compared to the 3rd class one earlier. Once stripped and cleaned I will decide on painting the compartment windows in the same shade as the toilet ones as these look brown too and may come off when being cleaned. There are a couple of small chips to touch up but nothing major. After that it will be the Bachmann bogies to fit then ready to couple up to a train. Still looking for LMS/BR maroon ones.

Here are the two Southern kit coaches I have obtained. These were the self assembly ones but minus seats. They are shorter than the normal Exley mainline coach and based on the shorter Suburban size. The green is a bit lighter and I would have preferred it to be like the older darker ones but I guess in the last years things like this changed due to supplies/availability etc. The roofs have no ribs on but do have the vents pressed out as usual, the older SR ones had the long arc shaped ribs. The open brake for some reason is missing its painted door handles and these are not even pressed out. Bachmann bogies are fitted as standard by myself. It has never ceased to amaze me with all these differences cropping up but it does make it interesting.

Hello Ben, I have no idea on accuracy, especially as most of their GWR ones are based on Stanier designs, but, I just like Exley coaches. These sleepers are different to the usual Dublo ones and they match the other Exley rakes for colour. Obviously the window design is not Stanier in this case so maybe it is correct? I have seen the other one and thought that was maybe second class example with windows close together giving 10 compartments compared to this which has 7 but the doors say Third on mine and what does look like First on the other one, maybe the Firsts had two windows per compartment? . I do know they kept changing styles etc, the Engineers saloons are one example but I have recently collected 2 SR unmade kits (now made and running) and these are shorter than the standard coach with the roofs having vents only and no ribs.

Here is a GWR sleeping car I have just aquired. I knew Exley made LMS ones which I have so far been unable to obtain but this is a nice little model and will do as a single coach added to a main line rake as and when required. This has been cleaned and polished up along with Bachmann Collett bogies fitted as usual. It does have a very small chip in the cream which will be left for now as I have not got a good mix together for this colour. The sleeping compartment windows were brown on the glass but this came off too easy when I was cleaning the glass so I repainted it with my own "Toilet" green/grey colour. The small black flecks in one window are on the outside and not where I missed painting inside. Now to look out for an LMS one (or two).

Here are 3 LMS Engineers saloons I have obtained and each one is different as the photos show. One coach has a different roof pressing pattern which is not reversed and has the vents spaced closer together than the other two. All 3 have different "frosted" glass panels and again all 3 have different numbers. The ends are all different, one has no detail although replacement buffers, the other 2 have the same end casting but one has wire replacements along with wire on the roof. One end has different sized windows. Was this all a factory fitted option/modification or by a previous owner as his one does have steps on the solebar and a wire handrail from the centre door. Please note none of these have been stripped, cleaned and polished like the previous posted coaches. One has already had Bachmann bogies fitted making it slightly higher.

I have just received a few Exleys in very good condition but surprised at their build style and or livery as these are different to any others I have. The two "modern" Stanier coaches are the wooden floor ones but the lining is early LMS with Yellow/Black/Yellow around the windows. They also have wire fillers fitted on the roof. Were these standard models produced or painted specifically like this for a customer? The single coach has the new last style separate floor with plastic underframe but with a one piece shell, that is the sides and roof are all one. The windows are still glass and the seats are glued to the base as opposed to a separate channel. The window style is different to other coaches too. The remaing two coaches are constructed as per the single one with folded tin base, plastic underframes and glass but have yet again different window styles, different lining and, all three are different lengths.

Hi Random, The finish is what drew everyone to Exleys I think before the fact they looked better than any other model of the day, and still do. The gloss was as straight from the can thankfully as paint gloss seems better than varnish gloss. The paint running from edges is always an issue especially if a primer is not used. I doubt I will get to make an EMU as not enough "scrappers" come about. I only have 6 but always on the look out for more.

Here are a couple of Southern railway suburbans in very good condition. These are based on the LMS ones with the guards ducket but have the eliptical rainstrips instead of the cross ribs. Unlike the 2 restaurant cars where the SR one does not have the pressing above the doors these do. The glass has been cleaned and replaced and they are now waiting for some Bachmann bogies to be fitted before placing on the layout. What does show up is where the paint tends to flow away from the raised pressings, this is more noticeable with certain colours than others. I missed the hair on the right hand end of the top one coach, it is not a scratch.

Griffin, here is another GWR info sheet that states some Maroon coaches did not have lining above the windows. Look at the last paragraph of the 1956 timeline. http://www.gwr.org.uk/liveriescoach1948.html

That is interesting information. I am going back to the mid/late 70's when I was doing some old Tri-ang suburbans and as I was working at the carriage works in York I got my friend, a signwriter in the paint shop there, to find out and this is what he told me. If "brighter" Crimson, more like red, then no lining at all but if the darker Main line shade of maroon then below windows only. He also got me a tin of genuine BR maroon but it was too dark for models as you cannot scale colour down, if I remember it looked okay in the tin but was too dark on a 4mm coach. Here is some of that paint along with a full size transfer he "aquired" for me along with some gold size before explaining how to fix it. I still have another somewhere and a North Eastern one although the last time I saw them they were badly cracked.. The drawer these were in was full of them but officially the foreman was told to destroy them but he was really against that sort of thing so "hid" them which was a good job. From what I heard though when he retired they all went "missing".

Here are 2 more "scrap" suburbans this time repainted in BR maroon. As these were ex GWR (without the guards ducket) I gave them Western region pre-fixes. From what I understand suburbans did not have the black and yellow above the windows, that was used on main line stock only. The right hand coach is not mounted on its bogies yet and is a little high as I am waiting for some more bogie mounts. This time because I stripped the coaches the door relief does show up although better when closer. Still another couple to do.

Here is a repainted GWR suburban coach. I have 3 or 4 badly damaged ones, mainly paintwise, so thought I would ry a Blood and Custard livery on them. Unfortunately I thoght about painting each side of the black and gold line so instead of stripping I rubbed down the original colours. This resulted in some of the door relief disappearing but I did not want to put black lines on, hopfully the impression is still there from the door handles etc. I will strip the next one to see if the relief shows up better, also a thicker coat was put on as it was brush painted in stead of spraying. I did hand paint the door handles to keep away from using lining tape etc. The "Blood" is a nice rich colour but the flash has softened it a little.

With reference to Ramdoms mention of the GWR Restaurant car here are photos of both sides. The glass is still waiting to be removed and cleaned and odd bits touched up on the bodysides. The bogies on this coach appear to be more GWR but they will still be changed for Bachmann ones. It is a pity Exley used the LMS style windows as I thought it would have been relatively easy to use two top vents instead of the four.

Thanks for the info Random. Yesterday I received 2 Restaurant Cars as per photos. One in LMS livery and the other in SR livery. There are 2 distinct variations, one as Random says the roof with ribs on the LMS one and full length rainstrips on the SR one, but, the LMS one also has pressings above the door windows. These coaches were very dirty and have cleaned up well. One side of the SR has had a few little touch ups this morning having tried to mix a green to suit. The LMS needs a scratch doing when I can get a reasonable match. What was different to others is the bogie fastening, this time a tinplate and card strip with 2 pressed protrusions to support the bogie. For some reason these were length ways which had the coach rocking so I have turned them 90 degrees to prevent this. Both coaches now have Bachmann bogies fitted.

It might be a right miss match but like most "mass" production items some things have to be used on different projects just think about loco chassis's from Tri-ang and Dublo. At least tExley put a better looking roof on the Southern stock. As for bogies, all the whitemetal ones were very, very poor and most did not run so I am in the process of replacing them all with Bachmann ones. Even the recent new ones do not run as I would like and they are getting replaced too but I will keep these later plastic ones. Although the Collett ones are the same wheel spacing as the Mk1's they look wrong under the Suburbans so those will have new Mk1's on.

Here are some more 00 variations. I have put the BR maroon brake on to compare with Randoms, his does not have the guards ducket but mine has and there is no indication of ever having LMS on the sides. The GWR open 3rd has its acetate windows dropping (as has a few of these new coaches) which will need fastening back in position. It also looks to have shrunk a little too. The GWR suburban brake is to compare with Randoms as this is a different shell to the LMS one. The Royal Mail is in need of a good restoration but I am not keen at the moment. What I do not like is the acetate pick-up net and may fabricate something better one day. The LMS full brake is in need of a good cleaning but it is how it was bought.

Very nice, especially the Tourist coach. Were these 00 or 0 or both gauges?

Hi Ian, those two were photographed together to send and show 2 people what the difference was. They were (and still are) trying to sell the 57' foot one with Exley 6 wheel bogies on as a genuine 12 wheeler, not surprisingly I did not get e reply from either. I did measure and convert the two that I have, the Restaurant being about 1 1/8" longer, to confirm this as well but they are hoping for a mug to pay £200 + for one. Cheers

Does anyone have a list or catalogue of all 00 Exley's made? It is so I know what to look for myself as a couple of recent adverts for Exleys have been either non Exley or a couple have been advertised as 12 wheel Buffet cars but to me I thought all the 12 wheelers were on the longer 69' Restaurant or sleeper cars. These two both do not look right and are only 57'/59' vehicles as they are stood on top of other standard coaches.

Here are 3 SR and 3 GWR coaches. The full brake for both has the same window pressings but the roof of the SR is in Southern style with the shallow arc rainstrip. The SR ones will need a little touching up but that is to be expected as they look well used and were quite grubby when I received them a couple of days ago.

Until this week when I found this site I did not know much about Exleys apart from what I saw with the ones I had. Until yesterday all the others had a mixture of different types of whitemetal bogies and an assortment of wheels. The 12 wheeler did not have any bogies and I bought some of Ebay and was disappointed to find they seemed short in length hence putting the Hornby ones on as in the photo. Was that Peter Denny in Long Eaton you bought from? One of yesterdays collection had £2 on the box so quite a lot later although it did include postage. I have no idea what Anbrico parts look like so don't know if any of there parts were fitted. I would have liked WR and not GWR but have never seen any at anytime and only one other Blood and Custard but that was too dear in my opinionas I will not pay over £30.

I have read with interest this section on Exley coaches as I am a great Exley fan. I was surprised to read that the BR maroon coaches were relativly uncommon, my first set of 7 were BR maroon bought second hand in 1968. I had gone for a job interview and ended up with my mother taking me to the managers house that night to buy these. Until about 5 years ago that was all I had then I have bought a few of Ebay including another 4 BR maroon ones. I aslo managed a Royal Mail, a few GWR main line, Engineers saloon and 12 wheeler in Blood and Custard as per photo. In the last few months I was lucky to win 4 LMS suburbans and a set of 6 SR green vehicles. What has pleased me is after winning a new and unused WR coach a few days ago and I went to collect it, I asked if there was anything else and was told 18 more all new and unused in original boxes. Some of these had never even had the tissue paper opened. With all these there is a wide range of construction methods as previously mentioned. I have to say I have (and in the process) of fitting modern Bachmann bogies as these are all free running, Even the new 18 with plastic bogies are not as good at running as metal wheeled with pin point bearings are. I will add other vehicles later.