In my previous post, I described modelling of some of the earliest wagons ordered for the GWR in the late 1830s. At that time, much of the railway was still under construction – the complete route from London to Bristol was not opened until 30th June 1841. Information on these early wagons is sparse, although we are fortunate to have several illustrations by J.C.Bourne, which are sufficiently accurate to indicate the main features.

 

Bristol Goods Shed – J.C.Bourne 1842

 

The late Eddy Brown went through a GWR Stock Account dated 27th.Sept.1840 with the proverbial fine tooth comb, to separate the goods vehicles into various types, depending on their descriptions and features such as Tare Weight. There were 61 vehicles, broadly described as ‘Luggage Wagons’, which he broke down into 5 categories, as follows:

 

• 2 x Small Box + 3 transferred to passenger stock
• 24 x Standard Box
• 20 x Standard Tilt
• 10 x Standard Utility
• 5 x 6-wheel Box

 

The first two categories were covered in my previous post, including the addition of canvas covers to some of the Small Box wagons to adapt them for use as Passengers’ Luggage wagons. Now it’s time to consider the other three.

 

The first 20 Standard Tilt wagons were a type that was to become characteristic of the Broad Gauge and continued to be used until many ended their lives on the Swindon Dump in 1892. Over the years, there were many variations in the style of the raised ends, between which canvas covers carried on hoops could provide a totally enclosed space. These wagons had many uses – for example, according to MacDermot’s ‘History of the GWR’, there were no dedicated cattle wagons until after 1853, the Tilt Wagons being used for this purpose.

 

[N.B. – I have previously modelled a later iron-bodied Tilt Wagon in an earlier post in this blog ]

 

Standard Tilt Wagons - 1840

 

Although no proof can be found for the 'standard' format having being adopted in these wagons, Eddy Brown considered that the later GWR method of over‑drawing amendments, such as the bonnet-like structures was probably used for this design.

 

I adopted this process of ‘amendment’ for my own models – re-using many of the components from my ‘standard’ Box wagon and adding new ‘bonnets’ and hoops.

 

My first step was to make a digital copy of my entire 3D model of a standard Box wagon. I then placed the model, in ‘Fusion 360’, over a ‘canvas’ image of the Tilt Wagon drawing from Broad Gauge Society (BGS) Data Sheet 403. This confirmed that all the major dimensions were virtually identical.

 

The most obvious differences were the ‘bonnets’ at each end, so I created these as new ‘bodies’ and deleted the previous drop flaps at the ends of my model. This is another advantage of creating my models as collections of individual parts – I do this mainly to make printing easier but it also facilitates changing individual parts for different versions. After drawing one bonnet as shown below, I used the ‘mirror’ command in ‘Fusion 360’ to create its counterpart at the opposite end.

 

My conversion of Box Wagon to Tilt Wagon

 

I used the ‘Pattern on Path’ command in ‘Fusion 360’ to create the planking running around the curved hood of the bonnet – I only needed to draw one plank and the software did the rest.

 

The chassis and wheels continued unchanged but longer springs were fitted to the Tilt Wagons, bowed to run beneath the axles. I created new axle-box assemblies by extruding from the ‘canvas’ in ‘Fusion 360’, then copied the design to replace the four boxes on my previous model.

 

Revised Axlebox with Underslung Springs

 

With these alterations, plus the addition of hoops to support the canvas tilt, I now had a new model as shown below (rendered in ‘Fusion 360’):

 

My 3D model of an 1840 Tilt Wagon.

 

Standard Utility Wagons - 1840

 

10 of these were built as another variant on the original ‘standard’ Box wagon, designed to be adaptable to a variety of applications. The body sides were reduced to 2’ 6” in height and the strouters were extended upwards to form an Enclosure rail, over sides & ends. The existence of these Utility Wagons is confirmed by J.C. Bourne's Litho, of Bristol Goods shed (shown above), which includes both covered and uncovered versions.

 

These wagons, less covers, were notable for being given over to ‘Goods Train Passengers’, later referred to as 3rd.Class Passengers. Seating was probably arranged with 9 cross Benches 24" apart, seating 6 persons on each, resulting in a loading of 54 persons per wagon.

 

Little modification to the ‘standard’ Box wagon was needed to create my model – narrower top planks and an additional rail. The axle boxes were fitted with underslung springs, as on the Tilt Wagons, described above.

 

My 3D Model of 1840 Utility Wagon (uncovered)

 

I also created 3D views of my models, with the hoops and a canvas tilt cover in place:

 

Two of my 3D models with Hoops and a Canvas Tilt cover

 

 

6-Wheel Goods Wagons – 1840

 

These 5 wagons were substantially larger than the 4-wheel designs and set a pattern that persisted throughout the Broad Gauge period of the GWR.

 

Initially, their field of application was rather limited, because they were too long to be turned on the small wagon turntables that were commonly used, in the early period, at stations and depots for moving stock between tracks – using a mixture of horse- and man-power.. Several of these wagons were adapted for the use of Goods Passengers, for whom seating was provided by 11 cross benches, set 24" apart, each seating about. 6 persons, giving 66 passengers per wagon.

 

Following an accident at Sonning, in December 1841, the Board of Trade report expressed concern that passengers were thrown out on impact. The recommendation was that the sides should be raised to at least 4’‑6" height and this modification was soon applied. It was also recognised that the boxes over the central wheels created a problem with centrally placed drop-flaps. Replacement of these flaps with doors, between the wheels, was another of the modifications in adapting these wagons for passenger use.

 

Further modifications were required later, as a result of the 'Railway Regulations Act 1844', which required “carriages protected from the weather and provided with seats”. The GWR anticipated this change in 1842, by amending the original drawings of these 6-wheel wagons with superimposed outlines of ‘seating and roof’ additions

 

BGS Data Sheet 120 contains an account of the timeline leading up to the building of these ‘Parliamentary’ carriages. This account indicates that the GWR started operating ‘Goods Train Passenger’ services, once the line had reached Reading in 1840. Before that, contractors had offered places to ‘passengers’ in regular goods wagons!  The term ‘3rd class passenger’ only appeared later, after the line was completed through to Bristol in May 1841. After this date, new 6-Wheel Trucks were ordered specifically as 3rd class Passenger vehicles, with sprung buffers and sides raised to 4’-6” height.

 

I have previously created a 3D-printed model of one of these 3rd class ‘Parliamentary’ carriages, described in an earlier blog post, and shown below:

 

My 3D-printed model of a 3rd-class ‘Parliamentary’ carriage

 

For my model of a 6-wheel goods wagon, I decided to re-use the chassis design from my earler model, then add a body based on the original low-sided design of 1840.

 

My 6-wheel BG chassis from a 3rd-class Carriage

 

I re-used the ends designed for my Utility Wagon, described above, and lengthened the sides to fit the 6-wheel version. I also re-used the strouters and buffer beams from the shorter version. By drawing on these earlier designs, I did not need to make any completely new parts for the following model:

 

My 3D Model of 1840 6-wheel Wagon (uncovered)

 

That completes my set of models of the wagons originally ordered for the GWR. It took a while for the Board to realise the potential revenue to be obtained from good services, on what they had originally conceived as a passenger railway. As a result, a crash programme of orders were raised, intended to increase the wagon stock to 250 vehicles by the time the line opened through to Bristol.

 

This rapid expansion led to ‘revised’ versions of all the types of wagons described above. According to the BGS Data Sheets, new wheels were fitted with refined open spokes and the suspension springs were deeper in form, but, overall, the bodies and frames remained the same.

 

In addition, some new types of wagon were ordered for specific types of traffic. These included Sheep Trucks, and wagons for coke and coal. These will be the subjects of my next post.

 

Mike