Farish wagon M318256 steel or wooden floor?

[csiedmo]

Hello all,

 

According to the farish past products document, they have produced wagon M318256 twice, once with a steel floor (377-027A) and once with a wooden floor (377-054).

Do we know if the floor of the prototype was modified during its lifetime, or if one of the models in error, and if so which one?

 

(I see that Dapol have also used this running number for their O gauge wooden floored wagon)

 

Ta,

Ed

 

[DavidLong]

Ed,

 

The wagon is assumed to be based on LMS diagram D1666, a 9' wheelbase 5-plank wagon with a wooden underframe. The LMS built 54,450 wagons to this diagram so it would be impossible to say that none of them were ever fitted with a steel overlay to the wooden floor but it never gets a mention in any of the books that I have. Essery in An Illustrated History of LMS Wagons certainly doesn't mention it. I would say that it would be highly unusual for any merchandise wagon to have a steel floor. Even the LNER/BR steel-bodied highs had a wooden floor. The only wagons that I am aware of that had any sort of metal attached to the floor were some of the GWR/BR China Clay wagons. This was either done to protect the wooden floor from the damp clay or to make the clay slide out more easily when it was tipped from the end door into a ship.

Actually, the more serious error, having looked again at the model photos, is that the Farish wagon has wooden end stanchions whereas D1666 had the steel T section variety. The only other interpretation is that the wagon is actually based on one that has been produced by a private builder but is then unlikely to have an M prefixed number. All in all a bit of a mystery!

Here is a picture of a real D1666: http://www.lmssociety.org.uk/topics/wagons.shtml

 

David

[petethemole]

Bachmann have also done their 5 plank wagon with this number. The wagon is actually a RCH private owner pattern. Some were built with steel floors for the road stone trade. Cambrian do a kit of it.

[DavidLong]

Bachmann have also done their 5 plank wagon with this number. The wagon is actually a RCH private owner pattern. Some were built with steel floors for the road stone trade. Cambrian do a kit of it.

Thanks for confirming what I suspected that it was a contractor build. In that case, isn't it incorrect to give it an M rather than a P prefix to the number.

 

David

[petethemole]

Wagons of this type that hadn't been pooled during WW2 were taken over by BR and numbered in the M series. They've been discussed before on here. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/33799-Bachmann-wagon-prototypes/

[csiedmo]

Wagons of this type that hadn't been pooled during WW2 were taken over by BR and numbered in the M series. They've been discussed before on here. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/33799-Bachmann-wagon-prototypes/

 

Aha, so the upshot is that the other re-issues of the Farish steel floor wagon 377-027B and 377-027C are in the correct M36xxxx range for road stone wagons, but this one ought to be a wooden floored one.

Thanks a lot chaps!

Ed