Coal yard untidiness, complete with a junk cab from a lorry. A use perhaps for a kit that fails to please, although I suspect that unlike British Railways, the GWR might have objected to piles of other people's scrap on their property.

WAGONS

I've extracted most of this data from the work of Essery and Rowland.  I presented most of this information earlier in the month but some people have already forgotten it.

Freight Wagons - it took perhaps three years for BR wagons to appear in any numbers so my starting point is 1950, when the percentages of company wagons was LMS 44%; LNER 33%; certain other railway 17%; SR 6%.  Then wagon building was cyclical and the LMS built many thousand open wagons in the 1920s to replace the D229 (o D299?) wagons inherited from the MR; meanwhile the SR barely built a wagon between 1923 - 29. 

Wagon building was disrupted by WW2 so a good proportion of company stock  would need to be replaced by 1960.  I'm going to say 50% but would be happy to see a better figure.  So perhaps 50% of wagons would be BR in 1960, so halving the percentages of company wagons given above.

Then somewhere between 80 -90% would be vans or containers, less than 10% opens, way less than 10% specials.

Mineral wagons - the huge majority would be either 13 ton wooden wagons or 16 ton steel wagons.  13 ton would be mainly 7 or 8 plank and marked E, M or (the great majority) P.  16 ton would be marked B, with a tiny number of M (I run an LMS D2134 wagon!).  At some point there were more 16 ton than 13 ton, I reckon this happened in the late 1950s, again happy for someone to provide a more precise date.

So how are freight trains made up?  I accept there will be differences between fast and slow trains, but I shall keep things very simple.  If one analysed every train running through (say) Little Bytham for a week then the figures should be close to those expounded above.  But individual trains will not agree with these figures.  Four consecutive trains of 25 wagons should have a total of 3 SR wagons.  But they won't - they could have zero or they could have six or more. Almost purely random.

So the same arguments apply to the model of Little Bytham.    Tony is culling wagons that are "wrong".  But the wagons that are "right" should not be run in statistically precise trains, it's not how the railways were operated.

Bill

Evening all,

I was asked over on Western Thunder how I went about my weathering. In response, I put together the below. Images have been featured on here but were lost back in 2020 so my apologies for the duplication for some of you. 

This then is what we started with...an Ex-GWR open from Minerva. I gather there were issues with the brake gear etc but that didn't, and still doesn't concern me.

I was quite taken with the colour of the interior and rather than repaint in various greys, white etc to simulate aged wood, I decided to leave as was and add a bit of contrast.

First job was a light blast over the underframe and body with Humbrol Dark Earth No.29, applied baaway of an aerosol. I don't possess an airbrush and this was the only paint applied to this wagon.

After this, all other weathering was using Humbrol weathering powders which were sealed with Humbrol matt acrylic varnish, No.49.

This is an example of my usual tool kit for this sort of job.

Note* This is a later image. I did not use the masking tape or the dark rust colour. Later photos will include the kit I actually used at the time.

I decided to start with the interior. As I say, I decided to leave the base colour rather than repaint.

I worked, plank by plank, initially using dark earth, sand, and white weatgering powders. The contrast between planks was gradually built up.

You can see the "tool kit" in this photo.

Also used was a bit of iron oxide then smoke which was applied over all the colours, picking out the gaps in the planks.

I just carried on until it looked okay.

Hi 
Iron oxide and rust was added around the various bolt heads and streaked.

Once happy, the interior of the wagon sealed using a light dusting of the matt varnish.

I then created a bit more contrast by rubbing the individual planks with a 4mm fibre brush. A bit more powdering, a bit more varnish and a bit more fibre penning until it looked okay and it was left.

Next stage. The exterior.

I decided to distress the joints in the planks and a dental spikey probe was drawn along the moulded gaps in the planks. An occasional wiggle, as well as the odd...ahem..slip...gave a less uniform appearance.

After this, black weathering powder was dabbed into these gaps. I then added iron oxide powder to the iron work in a haphazard fashion. Wheels are tackled at the same time.

After this, I started adding smoke powder to the whole wagon.

This toned down the rust and lessened the effect of the black.
I also added iron oxide to the springs and underframe, dark earth applied over the top of this toned it down. Black on the axle boxes and "grease points" of the brake gear as well as smoke here and there. Basically working by eye.

Then, once happy the powders were sealed with a light dusting of matt varnish.

Once dry, I then took a fibre brush and removed the weathering in varying degrees, plank by plank. Vary the pressure and you'll provide a bit of contrast to the colour of each plank. If more contrast is required, add a small amount of white, streaked along a plank and work it in.

The fibre brush will also provide a grain effect as you go.

Further rust was added using iron oxide, rust and a tiny bit of sand was added to the iron work and bolt heads, streaking downwards where felt necessary. I also highlighted some of the boltheads and chains with a HB pencil.

Again, once happy, a light dusting of matt varnish seals things in.

The last stage is flicking a large make up brush over the iron work. This will apply a burnished effect to the plot and highlight the texture of the powders and varnish.

And that's that....




Rob

Here are a few photos of the stages in loco weathering. In this case, the victim was Hornby's Peckett B2 "Westminster".

These photos deal with the body only. Sadly the photos don't follow each step but I'll try to fill in the blanks. 

As started....

I'd already decided Westminster was going to be quite distressed. Therefore the starting point was adding rust, especially around the tank filler. Prior to this, the loco was sprayed with matt varnish to act as a key. Iron oxide weathering powder was used to apply the base rust. Now, I would use dark rust.

Now, you may see there is some white on the body. This is "blooming' from the varnish. I didn't prepare the aerosol properly and I suspect I either hadn't shaken it enough, the can wasn't warmed ( I normally stand in a bowl of warm water until just before use ) or it was a damp day........or a combination of all three.

Next, pre-shading was added to the loco using black weathering powder. I applied this to the rivets on the tank and seams to the bunker etc.

Some black was added to the tank top as well. Rust was also added to the roof.

The bodywork was then coated in smoke weathering powder. This helped to mute the iron oxide. 

Also added is dark earth, applied mainly to the lower cab sides, bunker base and the underside of the saddle tank. This loco was weathered before I started using a quick blast of dark earth no 29 areosol, something I would now start with. The loco body would now be sprayed at "stage 1" from below to create a dusty appearance to these areas.

At this point, a light dusting of varnish was applied, to seal the work thus far.

I wanted a faded appearance to the paintwork. This was done using sand weathering powder applied in small quantities to the areas to be faded. I decided to work in "panels".

Sand powder, like white will go a long way so only use a little at a time, adding more if you don't arrive at the desired effect first time.

This stage takes time as you work from the centre of the "panel" out. This creates a lighter centre and dark edge..........or it should.

Additional work was done to the rusty areas using a bit more iron oxide, rust and a few specks of sand. 

You can also use a bit of white on the panels for extra contrast but it needs careful use to avoid it jarring.

Once happy, a final light dusting of varnish was applied. 

And this is how it ended up.....

Rob