West End Workbench

[jwealleans]

Bit of progress now our visitors have gone home. F6 coming on - most of the details are there now, just boiler handrail, brake rigging, sandpipes and a few fine pipe runs and then I'll be cleaning up and trying to see what I've missed. This is the more interesting side:





I still haven't worked my current fascination with Private Owner wagons out of my system. The Oxford 'Rickett' wagon is one I find hard to resist, but you need some variations on a theme.



These are both Oxford - the one on the left renumbered, the one on the right repainted and lettered using Powsides transfers. These were an especially tricky set to apply as the shading was on a separate sheet to the letters. I spent a couple of afternoons over the Christmas holidays doing them. There are also no spare number or different tare weights on the sheet, so it was a bit of a disappointment.



Here the one on the left is Oxford with a London plank added, the one on the right is an Ian Kirk kit.

Finally the D. 1/112 mineral i put up a couple of weeks ago, now finished, weathered and loaded. This is still a fairly new wagon at the time the layout is set, so it's dirty but not too scruffy.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Nice set of pictures, Like the F6, but do you know where 'Ricketts' was based in London ??????

manna

[jwealleans]

I didn’t, but a bit of Googling turned up Bexhill. They were quite a large concern at one time. I’ll see what Keith Turton says tomorrow.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Thank you Jonathon, I never thought to Google them So I wonder if they would have come to Hornsey/East Goods, then gone down the Drain !!.

manna

[65447]

G'Day Gents

Nice set of pictures, Like the F6, but do you know where 'Ricketts' was based in London ??????

manna

See Bill Hudson's Private Owner Wagons, Volume 1 (Revised), Plates 86 and 87.

In 1930 Rickett, Cockerill & Co. Ltd., London claimed to be the biggest distributor of house coal in London and the Home Counties. Together with associated companies they owned approx. 180 distribution depots, 4,500 railway wagons, 500 horses, 140 motor and steam lorries and 1,000 road vans. Principal London locations noted include:

MR: Finchley Road, Kensington High Street, Peckham Rye and Somers Town;
LNWR: Devons Road, Camden and Worship Street (Broad Street);
GER: Mile End and Stratford;
GWR: Paddington High Level.

Were coal contractors and factors over most parts of the country, coal coming from Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire fields and also wagons travelling as far as Staffordshire, Midlands and S Wales.

Most wagons survived and passed into NCB ownership; one from the first batch seen at North Gawber Colliery, Barnsley, in 1978. Chas. Roberts, Wakefield, builder's plates appear in the two examples photographed, both have the slightly reduced height plank over the side door cut to 'London' dimensions - there being a premium rate payable for manually lifting coal over a certain height.

[65447]

I still haven't worked my current fascination with Private Owner wagons out of my system. The Oxford 'Rickett' wagon is one I find hard to resist, but you need some variations on a theme.

Locally, Moy was the East Anglian coal merchant - you really should have a few as there would have been a sales office at Framlingham...

[jwealleans]

There is an ex-Moy in the coal train.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Thank you for that, very interesting, amazing how some very big companies just dissapeared with the changing of time, who would have thought that ICI would vanish.

manna

[jwealleans]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHVldqHBHf4

[billbedford]

Eccentric Romfords? maybe you need some springs in there...

[jwealleans]

They're W & Ts, Bill and there's just one I can't get square on the axle. I am going to have to take it off and have another go, the rolling road was letting it flap all over the place.

[jwealleans]

A little more cleaning up, touch of filler under the dome and it's ready for paint. Please tell me if you see anything I've missed - I've already seen some more sanding operating rods on a photograph I found yesterday and the vent on the front of the cab might just need beefing up.

[65447]

Looking good Jonathan. My only comment is that the brake rodding looks to be too high and not quite straight...

[jwealleans]

Thanks, '47. The 'bit high' is determined by the Gibson brake shoes, which may be a bit generic. i've tweaked them down a bit. 'Not quite straight' is going to be a problem with this loco as it's very hard to pick it up without gripping (and bending) them. Something to be careful of.

[Atlantic 3279]

Less risk of the brakes fouling any unfortunate trackside projections above rail level anyway. If the rods were lower they'd been that bit more exposed to crushing by heavy handling too. Once the initial phase of hyper-scrutiny passes I doubt that many will notice the discrepancy.