It is one of a pair of Langley Miniature Models brass kits for the 1876 Brown, Marshalls twins 17 & 18.
It shows 18 running as it was in 1988, the nominal year of the rolling stock for our original 009 layout Dduallt, when the FR's carriages had begun being repainted into the two tone livery.
It was a very plain colour scheme compared to the ornate Victorian liveries some of the Bowsiders are currently wearing, but arguably it did a little more for them than the all over red of the '70s, or even worse, the short-lived varnished teak livery of the mid '60s.
It was around this time that 18 was stripped of much of its panelling which means this model is somewhat inaccurate because, as you can see if you look closely, all the detail is there half-etched into the brass sides, although the livery does disguise it somewhat.
More of an annoyance is the positioning of the classification transfers on the doors. The words should really be in the panels rather than below them. But at the time , 20 years ago now, we only had some rather crude dry rub transfers to use which, even if it were possible to get them to sit in the sunken panels nicely, were fare too large anyway.
Better quality and smaller waterslide transfers are required in a situation like this.
Partly because of all these compromises, and also because our carriage fleet has expanded along with the FR's over the past two decades, 18 see less use on our layouts these days, and is usually confined to a role as a spare carriage rather than being marshaled in one of the core carriage sets.
Time for a nice new one?
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