West End Workbench

[CVR1865]

Lovely looking brit. I have the same model and they are wonderful, sadly mine took a dive off the edge, they don't bounce.

[jwealleans]

They are a lovely model and it looks the part on a rake of Bachmann Mark 1s.

I've been applying rivets to the Italian van and also fabricated (in almost every sense of the word) some brake gear. I have a diagram for this but it's so incredibly complicated and in the main invisible that I settled for some suggestive looking rods and pipes and left it at that. I now need to source some UIC buffers and arrange transfers.





The GN cattle van has had new end posts and I applied most of the rivet detail yesterday. Much of what I had stuck on before had fallen off so I made sure a coat of primer went on this time to hold them in place. The camera rather shows up my strapping as well - must be neater next time. This is now also stuck awaiting appropriate axleboxes/springs from ABS.

[jwealleans]

I have been quite busy working and travelling, so the ferry vans haven't moved on as quickly as I might have liked. I have also been building another 5 to go with the one shown above, which has slowed overall progress down as I've done a bit to each one in turn. Plus the one I started to build from the wrong drawing... anyway, it's all useful practice.

The original hasn't moved on very far - I've added securing loops and vac upstands and got the roof on, but it's really awaiting the transfers.





Buffers are from Andy Hart of the SNCF Society - guilty as I felt about removing some of the details from what were really nice castings, they do look the part now. The distinctive hole in the centre also had to go (hence the filler you'll see all over them).

I decided to try to get at least one moved on to about the same stage this weekend just to convince myself that I WILL have them done by Kidderminster. This is a very similar van to the first one, post war, with brakeman's hut.





Same buffers, axleboxes are a BR welded plate one from 51L with most of the rear details hacked off, springs left over from the milk tank project and brake gear, etc from (where else) the Mainly Trains LNER etch. This one awaits underframe fittings but I stocked up from Andrew H at Harrogate. She's now ready for a test flight on Monday night.

It has been a bit of a revelation researching these - how common they were at one time, how many shuttled backwards and forwards across the channel and how many countries we had direct links with in those pre-tunnel days. It makes fascinating reading.

[Frazmataz]

Stunning work there, great job!

[jwealleans]

After a weekend and a week of evenings of detailing and sticking on rivets (thank heavens for those transfers), the whole rake of vans is at the stage of needing roofs and transfers. I usually like to test run them before putting the lid on in case they need extra weight but I may have to forego that in the interests of having them ready for Kidderminster.



Two matchboarded ones from just post war. The one on the left has conventional axleboxes and springing (or will, when the springs turn up) while the one on the right has roller bearings and will have the curious double spring arrangement which most of the later builds of these vans had. Roller bearings are from an Andrew Hartshorne casting.



Another matchboarded one, this the one with brake cabin from back upthread.



The next development of the design - smooth sided (my Italian isn't good enough to tell you whether the sides are ply or aluminium). Again, roller bearings and the twin springing.



A variant of the above. I'm not sure when these doors started to be applied as the photo I based this one on is relatively recent. It makes a bit of variety in the rake, though and also makes use of the door of the Dapol kit.



The prototype, now awaiting some detail painting and the transfers. The livery is just great. Red stripes from an HMRS BR coach sheet.



Finally, for anyone who might like to have a go, this is how I did the undergubbins. The W iron units are Comet, wheels are Hornby 12mm disc ones liberated from under a coach somewhere. The V hanger units are also Comet, sold for coaches. Westinghouse cylinder is 51L, as is (I think) the vac cylinder. If it isn't it's Mainly Trains. The brake shoes are also Mainly Trains. The rest of it is wire and imagination. The more I see drawings of the brake gear on these things, the more of a mare's nest it looks to me.

[jwealleans]

Transfers have now arrived - a wonderful job by John Peck - so it's all hands to the pumps to get these ready for Kidderminster in a fortnight.

[mick b]

Excellent work, dont know anything about these vans. Did they have white buffers!!!???

Mick

[jwealleans]

Hi Mick,

White buffer housings - the rest of it was (will be) dirty black and metal. They seem to have been kept quite clean on all the photos I've seen, even on a fairly recent (1990s) picture of a life expired one.

From what I've seen the Italians were very quick off the mark into the cross channel traffic - the service opened in 1924 and I have a magazine article from 1925 showing some refrigerated vans built in Italy to the UK loading gauge which were already in service. They built between 2 and 3 hundred before the war and another few hundred to this basic design straight after it. When they then moved onto a newer type of vehicle (the one available as a kit from Dapol, in fact) they built over 2000. That seems to me to indicate fairly significant traffic.

From what I've read they were used to carry cheese and fruit, mainly to London markets although I have a photo of a rake of them in one of Cadbury's sidings. I have a BR photograph of Parkeston Quay showing at least 16 of them still in use in the early 1960s after the newer design was introduced (some of the new ones are also visible).

[52D]

One of the best models of rolling stock that i have seen on this site , well done.

[rob]

I'll second that-I was aware you were working on these but I'm delighted to see how they have worked out in the meantime-unique and eyecatching wagons exquisitely modelled,I'm quite jealous of the skills shown here Jon!
Rob

[jwealleans]

Well, thank you both for your kind words. I have to say that I've surprised myself with the way these have turned out, although you always see more faults in your own models than anyone else seems to. I deliberately picked a relatively simple prototype as a first attempt although again there are always far more details and variations than you first imagine. I think the ice cream van livery and those fabulous transfers also help the effect.

I've now got the full set into a condition suitable for running. Weathering will have to follow after the Kidderminster show.



The two more modern diagrams show the roller bearings and double springs I mentioned earlier. One also has a plug door salvaged from the Dapol kit. I'm not sure when this variation was actually introduced, but as it was standard on the 1957 vans (which the Dapol kit represents) my logic is that this was a trial conversion. The photo I have of one thus fitted is undated.





Finally not an LNER vehicle but one which I'm sure a few of us have looked at; the Parkside GWR horsebox. This went together in an evening and a bit in a hotel room and apart from a bit of filling on the corners makes up very well. There was an MRJ article on building one this month which was very useful and I've done my usual replacement of handrails with wire and extra brake rigging. I have photos of them as far east as King's Lynn so my conscience is clear as far as Thurston goes.

[Robpulham]

Sorry Jonathan, you have answered my RMWeb question here and they look superb on both forums!

[jwealleans]

Well, it has been a while. Quite a bit has flowed over the workbench in the last couple of months so here are some of the current projects.



Milk tanks. I'm still trying to pin down the right livery for these but in the meantime the conversion continues. This is a couple of weeks old and the strapping has now been applied.



The main project at the moment; two German 'Saarbrucken' covered vans. These were built in the late 1920s as a reaction to the opening of the Harwich-Zeebrugge ferry route by the LNER/SBAFB. While researching these I came across the little snippet that 39 of them were trapped in this country at the end of the war and some were requisitioned as dormitory vans for the armoured trains which patrolled the east Anglian coast for a while. They're certainly a contrast to the 17' 12 tonners we were building at the time.





This has been built for a club colleague - largely as supplied, although MJT and Comet parts have been used to improve the detail. I replaced the moulded brake gear on the end with wire.



This has come to me for a new gearbox as it was running too slowly to be used. I've fitted a Comet two-stage 38:1 in place of the 50:1 which it had before. It's not often I get one of these on the bench - it's an old K's kit, still with the original wheels and valve gear (but not motor. Funny, that).



Lastly, a project for Thurston. I have a photo from the Dr. Ian C Allen collection of 61834 hauling a rake of Continental vans which we thought we'd try to recreate. Two K3s therefore came my way to renumber and weather, one of these to become 61834. Now, 61834 was a right-hand drive loco, while the Bachmann one is LHD. Above are the component parts of the loco and you can see where I've removed the steam pipe and filled the holes. It's easy enough to do - the reversing rod has to be cut off and stuck on on the other side. You'll need a small washer (about 14BA) to go on the side of the smokebox where the steam pipe enters it. I have also moved the reverser to the other side of the cab. There are a number of other improvements which can be made which I'll enumerate next time I post a picture.

[jwealleans]

The two K3s now well on the way and really only awaiting touching up, weathering and coal.



61970 hasn't had a great deal done - additional pipework around the smokebox, removed the AWS reservoir (on the other side), lifting holes in the front frames, replacement fire iron holder half way along the coal space. Screw link coupling on the front (the rear will retain the Bachy coupling). Smokebox, running plate and cab roof painted with a mix of Humbrol 33 and Gunmetal and cab roof and smokebox have also been matt varnished. I have fitted the extra Bachmann detailing bits to both locos as well.



61834 has had all of the above plus removal of the tender vac tank, screw coupling and additional lamp iron on rear of tender, change of driving position as already discussed and removal of the front buffers - this loco had Spencer-Moulton ones. The close up above is a bit harsh but hopefully you can see the lubricator pipework I've tried to represent and the picking out of the lubricator handwheels in brass. While you have them in bits the backhead is easy to paint up as well and makes quite a difference to the cab interior. I still need to straighten the steam pipe and make a new reversing rod - the other one pinged off into oblivion last night. As it's to some extent hidden by the lubricator on this side it's less crucial than I thought.

As someone else has pointed out, the cab windows on 61834 should be more arched than the GS ones shown here. You'd need to fill some of the Bachmann windows in at the top then file in a new shape and replace the beading.... or cadge some of the SEF etched sides from someone who's built their kit and make up a new cab between those and the Bachmann bits.

[jwealleans]

Winding up for Hartlepool show, when I hope to have some of this completed: German vans now making progress and one is almost ready for the paintshop.





They make quite a contrast with this SR van which is around 10 years younger.



Ex-GN cattle van is also almost complete and has since been topped off.