Caledonian Railway Association Forum

Good evening all,

Thank goodness the weather has broken. Ive checked out my modelling desk today to ensure it still works and actually made a start on some modelling to get back in the mood.

Something simple, easy and quick. A wagon chassis/body swap.

Modelling in the BR period has the great advantage of the amazing amount of highly detailed RTR models available. Weve never had it so good. Over the years Ive picked up quite a few locos and wagons which are not up to todays standards. Some are replaced and sold off whilst others, wagons, can be updated by fitting of new Bachmann chassis. Whilst the latest couplings, wheels and brake gear are not everyones cup of tea, theyre OK for me and far superior to some of the offerings of old. The amazing thing, and one discovered today I didnt know, is that quite a few wagon bodies from the same mould have been passed from maker to maker. The one that immediately springs to mind is the 24T Ore Hopper which has appeared at least under Replica Railways, Dapol, Mainline and Bachmann old and new labels in countless guises.

Todays victim was a Dapol ventilated box van B870074. A quick searched revealed this is actually a Dapol B26 Meat Van. The body is not three bad but the chassis wheels couplings etc are very crude. Turns out that the body is identical to Hornby R6185 Meat Van, Ive already re-chassised a couple of these so no learning curve. The Bachmann chassis transforms these Hornby's.

Dismantle both wagons. The Dapol chassis is discarded, once ½-doz are done, theres a ready market on ebay as a job lot, raise a few £s. The body has its locating lugs removed, the four sprues inside are shortened with side-cut pliers enough not to obstruct the transplant floor.
The donor today was a Bachmann LMS grey boxvan. Again the body will await brothers and be sold on. Couplings, pockets and wheels removed and set aside, the floor has two thick pieces of plasticard Mekpak'd over the 2 body securing holes and a piece of circular infill plasticard Mekpak'd in the recesses same place to give the coupling pocket S/T screws plenty of bite. A pilot hole drilled where needed. The former securing towers are part of the discarded body. A strip of .75x2mm plasticard down each side to fill the gap, allow Mekpaking to bond body and chassis and prevent the body warping inwards. I found that the strapping on the ends of this body which are quite fragile were fractionally longer than the chassis so 4 packing pieces of .4x1.5mm Evergreen were gently sanded to fit the gaps and glued in position. A quick coat of Humbrol matt black on solebars and headstocks to cover the LMS grey and final assembly. Brake cylinders still to be fitted.
Adds a bit of variety to the van train and an extra model which not everybody else has.

Ive no idea whether the maroonish colour is accurate, doubtful, or how accurate the finished products are, especially in regard to makers plates and other details, but once a batch is ready, these will be weathered down when the maroon will become less apparent. Once a rake of assorted mixed freight wagons is on the move, its doubtful if anyone will notice any inaccurracies.
Sadly miss the exhibitions and swapmeets where suitable donors for body and spare chassis can be picked up relatively cheaply.

Job done in both senses. The donor on Bauxite Hornby body is a GWR grey chassis still to be matt blacked.

So back to some serious modelling this weekend I hope. I hope everyone else is gearing up for the season.

P

Now for some bedtime reading, TTL which came today.

Thanks, Paul.
I knew that certain moulds changed hands, but the amount of changing was revealing. Indeed the moulds for the Model Wagon Company and the various fittings of Caledonian wagons have been through a few hands.

Your comment on preparing for a winter's modelling is beginning to look ever more necessary. And your description of the wagons is well worthwhile.
I would appeal to everyone to share, as you and some other notables have done, their work and experiences on this Forum or the pages of The True Line in the course of the winter, or for some furth of Scotland, summer.

JIm S

Hello Jim,

I attach two photos out of interest. All of the Iron Ore Hoppers here seem absolutely identical bodily down to the last detail and measurement, even the mould flash marks. But it does raise one question, is the current Dapol 4F-033-012 etc identical to these offerings and the current Bachmann production and are they coming out the same mould or is there more than one mould?? The Dapol and Mainline have the same running numbers, both re-chassised with current Bachmann ones, and the Replica has a chassis marked Bachmann Hong Kong.


This is the reason for the Iron Ores. I think they worked up to DL steelworks in Motherwell, anyone confirm the trips?? but nonetheless theres a 9F, none too common, on 20 IOs plus Brakevan and a BR Std 4 Tank assisting at the rear. Neither loco identifiable but the 4 will have to be either 80005 or 80045 if the date is correct and loco allocated to Beattock. Its a Bill Anderson shot. Very low res. Presumably these would have been a stronghold of WD 2-8-0s and 2-10-0s from Motherwell, Hamilton, Grangemouth etc as Stanier 8Fs were equally rare. There was a handful of early BR4s including the now preserved 80002 allocated to Beattock in 1961/2, mainly from Glasgow, surplus to electrification?, but strangely they returned after a couple of years. There was also a couple of others in 1966 but they only stayed a few months.
This train is causing me a lot of anguish. Firstly the wagons appear to be BR bauxite, fitted, but Im sure Ive seen similar shots of unfitted grey wagons, can I lay hands on them ....... These are far more readily available so grey for now. 2 rakes required, one empty and one full!
But I have a couple of other quandaries.
Firstly, the ruling gradient is around 1 in 75, did this continue over the viaduct? and, more to the point, do I reproduce it exactly in 4mm? I will have to run a few tests on the performance of certain locos to establish capability before incorporating anything on baseboard.
Secondly, banking, I suspect that a Fairburn or BR4 behind a rake of relatively light 4 wheelers is going to lead to problems and derailments. So do we have a number of un-motorised bankers which will simply be the last vehicle in the train and add to the load?? And how do we return an unmotorised banker back to shed for the next shove? Probably identical duplicates of the same number, one motorised and one not. Although I am aware that sometimes the bankers would return coupled in 2s and 3s or attached, on Saturdays, to the single coach and loco "Siege", to save paths.

This winter hopefully will see completion of CR Dwelling House and the row of 4 CR cottages. I am also going to rebuild the first double cottage, I will post an article about this (disaster) over the weekend.

Plan then is to start looking at baseboards and sketching on lining paper what we can fit in and where and working out heights of embankment and road.

Also started is an article Working with Plasticard which I will endeavour to finish as soon as possible.

P

Hi Paul

If the load was iron ore then Dalziel wouldn't have been the destination as there was no ironworks there. More likely to have been Clyde Ironworks or Ravenscraig. But the iron ore destined for there came mainly from General Terminus or later from Hunterston.....

Alan

Just had another look at the photo: from the colour of the load, maybe it's not iron ore but limestone. Ravenscraig's supplier of limestone was located near Shap - you could see the lime kilns from the M6.

Alan

Hi Alan,

My knowledge of steelmaking is very apparent!

Thanks for the info though, very interesting. So the iron ore probably wouldnt have come over Beattock then ....this has got me thinking as somewhere Im sure Ive got at least one shot of unfitted wagons with the usual rectangular black IRON ORE in the centre.
But in confirmation of the Limestone load, theres a cracking shot on Flickr here bound for Ravenscraig with 20 on. Bauxite wagons although this might not always have been so. Note the double humps in both photos. Mustnt let the digging for photos take precedence over a modelling weekend.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/holycorne ... Br-27CR6hY

P.