Looking forward to seeing Sherton Abbas again and the new coaches.

Brian

Veery nice. I must make more 6 wheel stock . 

What a sight, Dave, they are beautiful. With layouts like yours we can see what it was like. Of course it wasn't always summer, etc, but there must have been moments like this nonetheless.

The U14 is one of those six-wheelers that could have been a four-wheeler (perhaps it even became one, can't remember). Which makes me wonder why six wheels were chosen in the first place. Better riding?

Morning Dave, 

Just stunning and a lovely addition to a lovely layout. 

Rob. 

9 hours ago, Brassey said:

This all looked great at the Manchester show.  Might be worth a trip to York now just to see the new coaches.

Thanks🙂 Hope to see you at York!

7 hours ago, Mikkel said:

What a sight, Dave, they are beautiful. With layouts like yours we can see what it was like. Of course it wasn't always summer, etc, but there must have been moments like this nonetheless.

Thanks Mikkel, One of the joys of railway modelling is we can model the weather we like, consequently it’s never rained in Sherton Abbas although it has snowed a couple of times😀

7 hours ago, Mikkel said:

The U14 is one of those six-wheelers that could have been a four-wheeler (perhaps it even became one, can't remember). Which makes me wonder why six wheels were chosen in the first place. Better riding?

 

Good question! I’ve no idea why such a short coach needed a six wheel chassis, my Diag U4 1/2nd composite is more or less the same length and manages perfectly well with 4 wheels. You’re probably right about aiming for better riding, but the improvement didn’t justify the expense so later coaches only had two axles.

6 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

Morning Dave, 

 

Just stunning and a lovely addition to a lovely layout. 

 

Rob. 

Thanks Rob🙂

superb as usual Dave. I have some kits on order but they never seem to arrive.

Don

13 hours ago, MikeOxon said:

These look wonderful and well worth the time spent on them 🙂

Thanks Mike🙂

13 hours ago, MikeOxon said:

The GWR seem to have adopted 6 wheels from the earliest broad gauge days, even for some types of wagon.  After the initial problems they had with poor riding on Brunel's first design of track, I suspect they were anxious to obtain the smoothest ride possible.  The centre wheels were removed from several carriages later in the 19th century.

Yes they did seem very keen on six wheelers around the 1880s, but by the late 1890s four wheelers seem to more prevalent. Your thoughts regarding them wanting to avoid the rough riding on Brunel’s track make complete sense, the “modern” narrow gauge track would have minimised the problem, negating the need for three axles on the carriages.

13 hours ago, MikeOxon said:

Do you use any special techniques to enable these 6-wheelers to negotiate curves and points?

The kits provide Cleminson suspension where the leading and trailing axles can pivot slightly and the centre axle can move laterally which allows the coaches to get round tighter than prototypical curves.  This all works beautifully until you add the tie bars between the axle boxes, which would lock the whole thing solid! To get round this I soldered some fine brass tubing behind the centre axle box and cut the tie bar in half. The tie bar is then fixed to the axle at either end of the coach, but allowed to slide in the tubing behind the middle axle allowing the desired movement of the Cleminson suspension to occur.

11 hours ago, Donw said:

superb as usual Dave. I have some kits on order but they never seem to arrive.

 

Don

Thanks Don🙂  That’s annoying about your kit order, I’d give the owner Julian a ring, he’s a helpful chap and I’m sure would want to sort this out!

5 hours ago, drduncan said:

Dave,

 

very nice indeed! Now you have this new passenger train, you’ll need a loco….time for  that River class?

 

Duncan

Thanks Duncan🙂  You’re quite right the River class was always the plan to pull this rake of coaches, it’s next on this list unless I get distracted by a rather lovely LB&SCR family saloon that’s in the kit stash!
 

BW

Dave

Absolutely worth the wait - superbly-finished vehicles.

On 08/03/2024 at 07:02, Mikkel said:

The U14 is one of those six-wheelers that could have been a four-wheeler (perhaps it even became one, can't remember). Which makes me wonder why six wheels were chosen in the first place. Better riding?

14 hours ago, wenlock said:

Yes they did seem very keen on six wheelers around the 1880s, but by the late 1890s four wheelers seem to more prevalent.

I believe it was the case that a four wheeler gave a better ride than a six-wheeler. I think the earlier use of three axles and later conversion to two had chiefly to do with journal, bearing, and lubrication technology. In the 1870s and 80s, the weight of these carriages was too much for four of the bearings of the time, but by the 90s, larger journals were being used with better designs of oil axlebox. Compare Churchward's 70-footers with four-wheel bogies, built at a time when other companies were putting carriages a few feet shorter (but possibly heavier) on six-wheel bogies. 

Back in the late 1870s, when Clayton was first building bogie carriages on the Midland, a decision was made that in future, all new carriages would be either bogie or four-wheeled but that didn't last long. A large number of 28 ft and 29 ft carriages built in the first few years after Clayton's appointment as four-wheelers were converted to six-wheelers in the early 1880s. 

Apologies for introducing the Midland but it's not so far OT - it seems to me that Clayton must have initiated the style of panelling used on these Great Western carriages shortly before he left Swindon for Derby, where he introduced essentially the same style. So one suspects other details of construction were related, too.

25 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Absolutely worth the wait - superbly-finished vehicles.

Thanks Stephen🙂

27 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I believe it was the case that a four wheeler gave a better ride than a six-wheeler. I think the earlier use of three axles and later conversion to two had chiefly to do with journal, bearing, and lubrication technology. In the 1870s and 80s, the weight of these carriages was too much for four of the bearings of the time, but by the 90s, larger journals were being used with better designs of oil axlebox. Compare Churchward's 70-footers with four-wheel bogies, built at a time when other companies were putting carriages a few feet shorter (but possibly heavier) on six-wheel bogies. 

 

Back in the late 1870s, when Clayton was first building bogie carriages on the Midland, a decision was made that in future, all new carriages would be either bogie or four-wheeled but that didn't last long. A large number of 28 ft and 29 ft carriages built in the first few years after Clayton's appointment as four-wheelers were converted to six-wheelers in the early 1880s. 

 

Apologies for introducing the Midland but it's not so far OT - it seems to me that Clayton must have initiated the style of panelling used on these Great Western carriages shortly before he left Swindon for Derby, where he introduced essentially the same style. So one suspects other details of construction were related, too.

No apologies needed for mentioning the Midland, it’s all useful, interesting and relevant information!

BW

Dave

On 09/03/2024 at 15:47, wenlock said:

Thanks Duncan🙂  You’re quite right the River class was always the plan to pull this rake of coaches, it’s next on this list unless I get distracted by a rather lovely LB&SCR family saloon that’s in the kit stash!
 

BW

 

Dave

This is the problem with the LB&SCR, it's always there in the wings, waiting for the next opportunity to lure innoncent men away from their chosen company.

A family saloon is a nice excuse though. Must give that some thought, thank you.

10 hours ago, Mikkel said:

 

This is the problem with the LB&SCR, it's always there in the wings, waiting for the next opportunity to lure innoncent men away from their chosen company.

Yes I could very easily be led astray!

10 hours ago, Mikkel said:

A family saloon is a nice excuse though. Must give that some thought, thank you.

Happy to help!😀

I rather fancy the idea of a posh family arriving at Sherton with their entourage in the family saloon, accompanied by a horse box and carriage truck.  I’m sure the family would want to visit Farthing while they are in the area🙂