I like building wagons and converting RTR ones to P4. I find it quite relaxing, in modelling terms. You can do as much or as little as you like in one sitting at the work bench.

I've also been reviewing the collection of OO wagons that I have. Since I sold 'Engine Wood' a few years ago, some of the rolling stock that I have acquired isn't really needed any longer, so some of it will be sold and a few items converted to P4, especially as they will already have been weathered.

Until recently, most of the P4 rolling stock I've built or converted for 'Callow Lane' has been done from scratch, in other words I didn't converted any of my existing OO stuff.

Now that 'Engine Wood' has gone to pastures new, I've realised that I don't need anything like as many 16t minerals in OO, but that I do need more in P4, so it was an easy decision to convert some of the existing weathered OO ones.

I've also been undertaking an extensive programme of fettling and converting a batch of mineral wagons for Re6/6. Most of these are Bachmann 16 tonners, although there is also a batch of 3 Accurascale bauxite 21 tonners in the mix.

When I speak of converting these RTR OO wagons to P4, I'm not talking about installing any fancy compensation or spring systems. I realised some time ago that provided the track is well laid and level and that the wagons is suitably weighted and sits '4 square' on it's wheels, then it should be sufficient to just fit the P4 wheels in the existing OO bearings.

When undertaking such conversions, I used to fit brass bearings to the RTR axle guards, which would normally ensure a very free running wagon, but I've since realised that the amount of mileage that these wagons are likely to clock up on 'Callow Lane' or Re6/6's layouts is so small, that using the existing RTR plastic bearings is quite sufficient.

All these conversions also end up being fitted with 3-link or screw-link couplings. I always use Smiths ones, because although the hooks are a bit overscale, they are considerably easier to use under exhibition conditions. For the last few years, I have also been fitting steel final links and using a magnetic shunters pole. I've found that this is a game-changer when using these couplings in 4mm scale.

Here are some photos of recent work. All the wagons shown have still to be weathered.

First off, a set of three bauxite 16 tonners for Re6/6, behind 'Lord Salisbury'. These have had brass tie-bars added between the axle guards.

With the Bachmann 16 tonners, it's necessary to remove a bit of plastic from the inside of each of the axleguards. This was accomplished using a Rolson rotary tool. The right hand side shows how much plastic is necessary to take out.

P4 wheels in place:

Here are Re6/6's Accurascale 21 tonners. These are really lovely wagons 'straight out of the box' and pretty straightforward to convert to P4:

The unfitted 16 tonners are slightly quicker to convert that the fitted ones, in that they don't require a tie bar or any vacuum pipes.

I'd already done this batch of (mainly) 16 tonners for Re6/6. Some of these are Bachmann ones, some are fettles Parkside kits:

There is now this set of 4 factory-weathered ones, currently in the process of being converted. I've noticed that the factory-applied rust patches are the same on each of the four wagons (!), so I will try to customise the weathering in due course:

I've also done a couple of conversions for myself, as I was getting tired of 16 tonners!

First of all, this Bachmann pipe wagon. In order to reduce the amount of fettling of the RTR brake gear, I have used 12mm Black Beetle wheels, instead of 12.5mm 3-hole disc ones. The P4 wheels pretty much fitted straight in, without any serious fettling required at all. The price of this heinous lack of prototype fidelity is that there are no holes in the (very slightly smaller) wheels, but once they are painted and weathered and the wagon is in service, I doubt that I will even notice.

'Callow Lane' was always conceived as having a pre-TOPS BR corporate blue operating sequence, so I also converted this Hornby SPV parcels van. This required a little more work on the brake gear. The 'D' end link on the screw-link couplings seems a bit long to me, but that is because I used Ambis steel links. I've almost run out of the excellent Exactoscale ones, which are no longer in production (if anyone has any Exactoscale ones for sale, please do let me know!):

At the moment, I've also converting an old MAJ van kit to P4, which was also part of the OO stock, but there are no photos at the moment, because it's resting on it's roof to enable the glue holding the lead weights to the underside of the chassis to go off.