West End Workbench

[jwealleans]

The late Geoff Goslin's book Vernon mentions is a good overview with some nice shots. It only (inevitably) covers certain areas and traffics. For general wagon pictures Bob Essery's books are always worth picking up - he has a knack of finding outstanding pictures and although his bias is LMR he does cover all regions.

John Hayes' book on coal wagons also has some excellent pictures as do all Geoff Kent's volumes.

I've found that train list, here it is:

Recorded by Roye England in a refuge at Knighton Crossing, 5-8-33.

Train engine 'Bulldog' 4-4-0 No. 3382.

LMS open, empty
GWR outside framed van, 25" letters
LMS open loaded with wooden boxes.
LMS standard van
GWR tall Fruit A No. 59885
PO Coal wagon, London merchant, loaded.
GWR (ex-Cambrian) open, empty
PO open 'United Stone Firms, Bristol'.
PO Coal Wagon 'Evan Davies'.
GWR brake van, new paint, in transit from Swindon
2 PO Tar wagons
2 GWR Creosote wagons Nos. 80990 and 14717
GWR Grain Hopper wagon (V20)
LNER box van
LNER (ex GNR) open loaded with barrels
GWR cattle wagon
GWR open wagon with huts etc.
LMS (ex LNWR) open loaded with sacks
GWR flat wagon with container
GWR (ex Cambrian) van
GWR Iron Mink
PO wagon 'Spartarmacadam' loaded with crushed stone
GWR 4 wheel Macaw, empty
2 GWR bogie Macaws loaded with lattice girders.
BP Petrol tank
GWR Macaw C, empty
GWR Macaw B loaded with iron rods
LNER bogie goods van
3 GWR opens each loaded with a container
SR van
SR open wagon loaded with slabs of cream coloured stone
GWR open C loaded with a farm machine
GWR open, vac fitted, loaded with a container
2 GW opens sheeted over a bar
LMS (ex Midland) open loaded with crates
LMS ventilated van
GWR wooden loco coal wagon, empty
GWR iron loco coal wagon loaded with ash
GWR brake van.

[2002EarlMarischal]

That it fascinating - what a variation! Almost anything and any combination goes then!

Interesting one-off PO wagons too!

Thanks very much for that.

[2002EarlMarischal]

EM,

I'm aware of a book that was published a while ago entitled "Goods Traffic of the LNER." I don't have a copy but you might like to try it:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Goods-Traffic-L ... 117&sr=8-1

Regards,

Vernon

Many thanks Vernon, I'll try and pick up a copy.

[jwealleans]

I think you have to try to give as much context as you can to the train. It's obviously 'internal' (not running to another company's metals) if it's delivering a newly painted brake van. 45 wagons, of which 27 GWR (60%), 6 LMS (13%), 3 LNER (6%), 2 SR (4%), 7 PO.

If you remove the PO wagons and just look at the spread of company wagons the figures are GW 71%, LMS 16%, LNE 8%, SR 5%.

The commonly quoted figures for the number of Big 4 wagons are LMS - 44%; LNER - 33%; GWR - 17%; SR - 6%, so there's clearly a heavy local bias which is what you'd expect. 70% of the wagons are open (we all have too many vans) and (I'm making an assumption here) quite a few of the opens either weren't sheeted or weren't sheeted such that you couldn't see what they were carrying. Quite a few containers and many of those in opens rather than flats (which again is what you'd expect in the early days of that traffic).

Other than these very specific and isolated examples one of the great things about modelling goods is that there's almost no way anyone can tell you you're wrong, unless you're running PO wagons in the 1960s or airbraked stock in the 1920s.

I'm wondering whether I have another of these consists now as I had a recollection that there was a GW cattle van with no roof on its way back to Swindon for repair somewhere in the train.

[2002EarlMarischal]

Very interesting statistics - thanks!

It does allow the LNER modeller to have a few "foreign" wagons that he likes.

[jwealleans]

I seem to have been quite busy what with one thing and another and of course the weekend at Telford having my eyes opened to what O gauge modellers get up to. However I brought one or two things back which will appear on here in due course and I have made some progress with what I have on the bench at the moment.



Quad is lettered (they don't seem to have had 'quad' on them unless anyone's seen a photo I haven't) and had the brake wheels added. A bit of tweaking of the chains and load and it'll go back in the box.



I had to repaint the NB gunpowder van as I managed to spray some of the sides as well as the roof after I riveted it. The sides and doors on the GN one are done but I have run out of MJT W irons so it's probably stuck until I find some more. Buffers are a North Eastern pattern - perhaps a bit long but they look like the originals. Axleboxes will also be North Eastern - I have a pack from 51L which if turned upside down look just like the ones on my photo.



CCT glazed and roofed. The roof was a pretty poor fit - I'm afraid they often are on these kits - so what I've tried this time is soldering a longitudinal brass strip from end to end and loading that with Araldite as well as the edges, to see whether that holds it down against the body properly.

[Atlantic 3279]

I believe I once saw a method used by Steve Banks to deal with coach roofs that were a poor fit, on poorly supported / poorly stiffened brass sides (the kind with no top lip or ledge), especially if the gutters on the roof weren't much good or were not represented. He soldered small brass angle to the tops of the sides, with the "upstand" of the angle outboard to represent the gutter and to "close off" from view the actual joint between the roof and the side. The roof, with entirely plain edges, then sat neatly and securely in the recess between the gutters.

[2512silverfox]

Graeme & Johnathan - I agree with Graeme (and Steve Banks) and do this on all my coach roofs including those which I have built from Kirk kits. Not only does it look neater but it also (in most cases) obviates the necessity of fixing the roof to the body.

Nick

[jwealleans]

I'm a devotee of that method as well and in general all my brass coaches are done that way. I use the angle to solder the roofs on as I much prefer to build coaches to split at the solebar. In this case the builder had done some work to make the roof fit but only one way round (fair enough) and only if pressed firmly to the body. Hence the idea of having a glue line along the ridge as well as round the edges. I'm going to take the elastic bands off this afternoon so we'll see how successful it's been.

[Atlantic 3279]

I suspected that I might be mentioning a technique already familiar to you, but "Sid's" law states that if I hadn't mentioned it, then you would really have needed to know about it!

[Blink Bonny]

Ay up!

45 wagons behind a 4-4-0? That's some load! And the variety is surprising. However, the Railway Companies tended to regard Company wagons as common user, only returning them quickly once they developed a fault.....

The singleto PO coal wagon is the biggest surprise.

And jwelleans, your wagons look very good indeed. I wish I could build wagons that well!

[jwealleans]

Cheers, BB. I'm fascinated by wagons.... but then I'm often told I should get out more.

Speaking of wagons, these are almost done....





They can await the next outbreak of weathering on the bench. The slightly blotchy paintwork on the CCT was accidental, on the gunpowder van less so. Once weathered over it adds a bit of extra variety to the finished vehicle so I'm happy to let it go at this stage.

It was nice to get the soldering iron out again last night; this was last on the bench last October having in the interim been down to Ely to have the Sprat and Winkle couplings fitted. Not altogether successful as the fitting then interfered with the body/solebar separation and so the coupling had to come off again last night. However we know they work and I have a model to copy to reinstate it so all is not lost.



I fitted the internal partitions last night. You can also see where I have followed the very sound advice given by Nick and Graeme back upthread and used brass angle along the line of the cornice. In this case the plastic roofs supplied are a pretty good fit and so they will be what is used.

[jwealleans]

I've been photographing this to illustrate for Peter's (PGBerrie) benefit - and anyone else interested - how I did the unpainted wood on the opens on the previous page. In fact it hasn't worked as well on this example which is equally if not more informative (I hope). The subject is an LSWR 6 wheel sleeper wagon which I am making up from a resin body supplied by Gramodels and which will run on the Corfe layout at Ormesby. RMWeb readers will have seen it before.



The interior of the wagon is painted with Humbrol 29. 110 works just as well (slightly darker).



The floor is then given a wash or light brush with differing shades of grey. Heavy drybrushing or straightforward painting with poorly mixed or unstirred paint, or just using insufficient paint on the brush and spreading very thinly, gives the effect you want. The underlying wood colour is visible through the paint. For extra subtlety you can precede this step with different shades of 29/110, mixing cream or brown with it to lighten or darken.



After that, the whole thing is given a wash over with the same shade of grey - 106, in this case - to give a more uniform shade. Don't be alarmed if it looks a right horrible mess at this stage.



This is where it started to go a little wrong. The next stage is to slap on a thinned coat of weathering mix - 62, 64 and 27004. In this case I was finishing off some old pots and the 62 has come out much stronger than the others, giving more of a light brown cast to the whole thing than I'd like. Not irredeemable, just irritating. This wash also had some talc mixed in with it. This can be added afterwards but if you put a small amount in with the paint you get a little texture to the dirt. I only do this to the insides of wagons.



Once this mix is thoroughly dry, you can lightly rub over with a burnishing pen to cut back through it and show the grey or the underlying wood underneath. After that, give it a rub with a cotton bud: apart from texture, the other reason for using the talc is that when scrubbed with a cotton bud it goes shiny, as used and weathered planks do. The 27004 in the weathering mix does the same and you get a slight patina on the finish.

I need to put the above into daylight to decide whether I'm happy with it, but if not I can mix up a darker wash and throw that over it to tone down the light colours. Then scrub and polish again until it looks acceptable. The photo has brought out the lighter shades too strongly - the LMS 1 plank above it looks fine to the eye and in daylight.

Oh, and the reason for not doing the whole floor?



Edit: I looked at that wagon again yesterday and decided that it was all a bit too khaki. Last night it got another wash, this time primarily 27004 with a small amount of 62 and 106 added. That went into the airing cupboard overnight and this morning had a firm rub over with a cotton bud. I think it looks much better.

[PGBerrie]

Thanks for the photos! I'm now looking for a suitable wagon where I can try it out myself.

Peter

[jwealleans]

My pleasure, Peter. I look forward to seeing how you get on.

I've been quite busy the last little while but I have managed to make some progress with the GE brake. I found a bit of a problem with this in that my mate who fitted the S & W couplings had used plastic packing, which was never going to survive the rest of the soldering and had also positioned the paddle over the top of the body fixing screws so I couldn't get it apart. So off they had to come.

While I contemplated that little problem, I cracked on with the bogies and underframe, which is about where we are now.



Then I had a good look at the coupling and worked out how to do it. The goalpost is easy and just solders through the buffer beam. For the paddle, I made a shallow U shaped bracket which locates under the body fixing screws. The paddle swings on two brass lace pins which are soldered into the bracket. It all has to be close enough to the floor to clear the bogie - there isn't a lot of room there. However it does seem to work, thankfully.