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Cattle Wagons, Part I

James Harrison

Entry posted by James Harrison

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For the last few months I have been looking for a specialised freight train to model. I have, in the past, built a bogie fish van or two and had another gifted to me, so you might be thinking a fish train would answer the bill, but my understanding is that fish trains usually ran to 30 or more vehicles, just a little too long for my tastes and storage.

 

It was whilst discussing some alterations to an N gauge cattle wagon with a friend that I first found this image, courtesy Steve Banks' website.

 

cattle_guide_bri_j11_1667_1000_72.jpg

 

A bit more manageable, I think. The loco- yes, you can get those quite easily. The brakevan?- built one of those previously and got the drawings for an improved version. It's the cattle wagons that need a bit of thinking about.

 

So, having a look at what is available (and more importantly available on my budget of maximum £20 per wagon). The Bachmann ex-LMS cattle wagon- the framing is wrong. The Oxford LNER wagon- well there's the obvious issue of the sides being identical rather than handed, then the framing being of approximately the right pattern but the wrong material (angle iron rather than timber).

 

It did give me an idea though- the Dapol (ex-Airfix) kits. Well, I had one of those to hand (one I built many years ago) and offering it up to the drawing in Tatlow's LNER wagons book suggested that the overall dimensions were about right. Worth a shot?

 

eCaFevU.jpg?1

 

Well, this is what we're aiming at.

 

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And the starting point. First impressions? Overall dimensions are suitable, framing is about the right pattern but the wrong material, the doors are wrong and there are probably a multitude of little details that are wrong but would pass my 3' viewing distance yardstick. Better put in an order for a lot of plastic strip and sheet....

 

psuqvqE.jpg?1

 

To see some progress at an early stage the first thing I did was to build the chassis. This is a remarkably robust set of mouldings and went together quite well, once the flash had been removed.

 

BbHpZEB.jpg?1

 

Each panel of the body is an individual piece. Making for an easier job of the conversion- especially when it's all still on the sprues!

 

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First job is to cut away the excess strapping to the bottom of the body panels. We don't need it for these wagons. Then the angle iron strapping has notches cut into it at the joints.

 

uO0hqRn.jpg?1

 

Why would we cut those notches in? Because we're turning the angle iron into timber- a strip of 0.5mm square section plastic down each side of it to bulk it out. Don't forget to add the extra vertical to the top of the body panels. Then some plastic sheet into the corner.

 

Well, I managed to butcher two panels- leaving another pair to look at, and the ends, and the other five kits, but then the pink elephants told me to stop for the evening. I don't know where they went last night after I packed up but they weren't at the table this morning.

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chrisf

The Dapol/Airfix cattle wagon is based on the BR design vehicles, derived from GWR prototypes.  There is a Parkside kit for the LNER version as messed up by Oxford.

 

Chris

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James Harrison

I honestly thought the BR standard type was derived from the LNER large cattle vans.  Thanks for clearing that up! 

 

I've been doing the other body panels this evening and building up the basic body.  To my eye it looks about right- it's the doors that are going to make or break the model.  Not really clear on the drawing but more obvious on the photos (including the three in Tatlow's book) is that the bottom door- the one that hinges down- the boarding is flush with the other edge of the strapping.  The upper doors sit set back into it.  I'll need to think about how to do that.   

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