The iron covered goods wagon, codename 'Mink', is a familiar, perhaps even iconic, feature of the GWR from 1886 onwards. Less well known is the small number of vehicles built with a standard iron mink body but passenger-rated running gear, akin to that of horse boxes of the time. Details can be found in the HMRS publication All About GWR Iron Minks by JH Lewis et al., which has a drawing and a couple of photographs.

 

Originally intended for use on branch line passenger services, they seem not to have been a great success in that role, with several being reallocated to other uses soon after being built. However, it seemed like a nice idea to build one for the Netherport branch, especially as it presented an opportunity to have an iron mink in red livery, as a counterpoint to my grey, 1904-liveried example. I also thought it would be good to build the Dean vacuum brake gear, which I haven't done before, as I have several more vehicles planned that need it. Most of all, the 3'6" wheels, 10' wheelbase, steps and clasp brake gear, all under a normal iron mink body, had a quirky appeal.

 

The starting point was an ABS kit, intended for use as a grounded van body:

 

 

 

The doors with vertical planking, as supplied in the kit, were a later modification, so I needed to make new doors to the original design. My initial plan was to cut the top off the cast doors and solder this to the side castings to make the lintel. Before assembling the body, I cut out the back of the solebars to accommodate the cast springs, which came from the Broad Gauge Society. I also cut away the metal where the vee-hangers needed to be, to get them closer to the correct position - otherwise they would be set back too far due to the thickness of the cast solebar.

 

 

Before assembly, I also drilled holes and cut the solebar flange away to fit the Slaters lost-wax cast step supports:

 

 

The sides and end castings needed a fair amount of fettling to get them to fit snugly, but once this is done the body goes together well. I used low-melt solder at the top and bottom of the corners to hold the body together while I checked alignment, then I soldered down the inside of the corners:

 

 

The springs are not exactly right - they are the correct length, but the shackles attaching the spring ends to the solebar are not quite the right design. The spring castings come with a tab at the top to fit on the back of the solebar, which went into the cut-out I had made previously:

 

 

I made the doors with plasticard and Evergreen plastic strip, with hinges from rod. The long bolt fastening the door and the handrails (a distinctive feature of this iron mink variant) are from wire, while the chains for the pins of the middle and bottom latches are twisted fine fuse wire. I decided at this point to remove the cast lintel and build it from placard as part of the door, as the cast ones were slightly uneven along their length once filed to the roof profile.

 

The plasticard lintels will be filed to profile later, once the doors are fitted:

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to make the floor detachable, with all the running and brakegear fixed to it, to make assembling the fiddly brake gear easier. The wheels are therefore mounted with inside bearings, using modified parts from the Broad Gauge Society.

 

I soldered two pieces of double-sided PCB inside the body, as mounting points for the underframe:

 

 

The axle guards don't hold the bearings, and are soldered to the inside of the body assembly, over the tab of the spring castings, which were filed back a bit to create a flat surface:

 

 

I soldered in the step supports. The castings are not completely straight and true, but can be carefully bent into the correct shape. I waited to do this until I added the steps and could get everything aligned in one go. There is a risk of breaking the castings by bending them too often.

 

 

The steps themselves are made of brass angle, with the vertical side cut down to the right height. It's all soldered together for strength:

 

 

 

 

The brass angle is too thin to represent the wooden steps of the prototype, so I used plasticard strip to build up the thickness. The strip was attached with cyanoacrylate glue:

 

 

 

The doors are not fixed at this point, just posed for the photos. I felt it was better to leave attaching them as late as possible, to avoid damage and improve access.

 

The axleboxes are ABS castings, with the tops modified to connect to the springs as per the prototype. They look a bit of a mess here, but a layer of thin plasticard will fix that:

 

 

A few more details - spring stops and document box added to the solebars, and holes drilled for the attachment of a horse hook, as well as the end vents fitted:

 

 

Axle boxes sorted:

 

 

The buffers are Slaters long GWR type, on packed-out bases as per the prototype. The holes in the headstock castings are much too big for the spigot on the back of the buffers, making it hard to get the spacing and alignment correct. I therefore used this rather comedic clamping arrangement while the glue dried:

 

 

So that completes the body and underframe - next time, the running gear.

 

Nick.