Gresley corridor coaches - roof details

[Western Star]

Earlier this year I started a thread about the underframe details of the Gresley 61' 6" corridor coaches and there were many useful contributions from forum members, see here:-

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/topic/11911-gresley-standard-underframe-standard-fittings-go-where/page__p__105336__hl__%2Bgresley+%2Bunderframe__fromsearch__1#entry105336

 

Since then the research has continued into some of the prototypes so as to enable accurate models to be made from the 7mm kits by Just Like The Real Thing - and at this point I want to thank Mike Trice and Peter Dobson for there continuing contributions by way of information, drawings and photographs.

 

So on to the roof.... or rather the details of what goes where. Some of the contributions to the underframe thread were photographs of the torpedo vents, the water tank fillers and the overflow pipes; generally the captions to those photographs did not identify the coach type / diagram. The point has been reached with the models that work is now concentrated on drilling lots of holes for the roof fittings and this is where this thread is heading. Locations for the compartment vents is fairly easy since those vents are generally on the centre line of the coach and often marked on 7mm scale drawings of the prototypes... not so for the vents to the toilets where correspondence with Mike Trice has indicated that the toilet vents can be offset - indeed there is one drawing in Historic Carriage Drawings Vol. 1, by Nick Campling, where the toilet vent is drawn "off-centre".

 

Now my interests are for the diagrams D114, D115, D167, D175, D262 and the first question is... D114 and D115 are believed to have had offset vents to the toilet comaprtments - were there any offset vents for coaches to the D167, D175 or D262 diagrams?

 

Thank you, Graham Beare

[Western Star]

To continue with the topic of the roof details; here is a photograph from the "Gresley Underframe" thread, courtesy of Mike Trice. Around the water tank filler there are a number of pipes which have a shape like an "U-bend", the purpose of these pipes is said to be as an overflow from the water tank. I think that the pipes are likely to be overflows from the water tank, however, why are there three pipes on each coach? The third pipe on the far coach is hiding behind a torpedo vent, see second photo. And why do the pipes appear in different positions relative to the water filler cap?

 

Suggestions anyone?

 

 

 

The photograph below was not part of the "Underframe" thread, being sent to me, off-forum, by Peter Dobson. The copyright of this photo is not known, I shall be happy to acknowledge the photographer and/or remove the image if requested. As with the first photo we can see vents clustered around the water filler.... however, look at the right hand coach, where the roof meets the coach end. Here is another of the "overflow" pipes and the "u-bend" is significantly lower than the similar fittings around the water filler, this lower pipe cannot be an overflow to the main tank (gravity etc.).

 

Can anyone suggest a reason for this lower vent?

 

regards and thanks, Graham

 

[MikeTrice]

Not an answer as such, but some more information. The vents are connected to the toilet cisterns not to the tanks. So I would guess the number of vents and their location will vary depending on where the cisterns are located and how many there are. None of the drawings show vents into the main tanks, even those that fill via end pipes.

 

Regarding the first photo (100_2006) I can identify the vehicles as follows: furthest from camera is D186 no 56856 built 1938 by Metro Cammell, nearer vehicle is D191 43567 built 1935 at York. I believe the square base to the filler is incorrect and should be round.