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exGWR parcels traffic


Guest Jack Benson
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Guest Jack Benson

Hi,

 

What exGWR Non Passenger Coaching Stock vehicles were in regular use for inter-regional parcels traffic in the 50s?

 

Thank you

 

JB

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All of them still extant, so bogie siphons, Collett and Hawksworth BGs, Monsters, Pythons, Damo, Fruit D, possibly some Churchward era vehicles in very early BR days, and postal vehicles if you include those as NPCCS.  Liveries would be the last one painted on each vehicle (der...), and NPCCS goes a long time between overhauls, so a variety of shirtbutton, 1942-7 austerity, the early 1948 BR version of austerity with gill sans lettering and numbering, and BR unlined crimson.  BGs would be in passenger liveries, the rest in GW brown or BR crimson.  

 

Some Siphon Gs and Hawksworth BGs were built by BR and of course these never carried any GW livery.

 

BR livery changed to maroon from crimson in 1956, and lining was applied in 1959.  No Dean era AFAIK, and no 4 or 6 wheelers, though these could be seen in departmental use.  Dean 4 wheelers as per the Ratio kits lasted until 1953 on miner's workman's trains in South Wales, but these are not NPCCS.

 

Most of the above types lasted into the 60s, Collett and Hawkworth BGs into the 70s in blue livery and some of the BR built Siphon G's in newspaper traffic circuits to the 80s.

 

Post nationalisation, all NPCCS not specifically branded to a service could be seen anywhere on BR, whatever their original company, so for a 50s layout you can mix and match companies, liveries, and types quite freely.  The Southern's PMV 'Ashford' vans were very common everywhere.  BR GUV and CCT types did not appear until the later 50s, '58 I believe, and most were built post 1959 in lined maroon livery except for some green GUVs for Southern Region.

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Guest Jack Benson
2 hours ago, The Johnster said:

All of them still extant, so bogie siphons, Collett and Hawksworth BGs, Monsters, Pythons, Damo, Fruit D, possibly some Churchward era vehicles in very early BR days, and postal vehicles if you include those as NPCCS.  Liveries would be the last one painted on each vehicle (der...), and NPCCS goes a long time between overhauls, so a variety of shirtbutton, 1942-7 austerity, the early 1948 BR version of austerity with gill sans lettering and numbering, and BR unlined crimson.  BGs would be in passenger liveries, the rest in GW brown or BR crimson.  

 

Some Siphon Gs and Hawksworth BGs were built by BR and of course these never carried any GW livery.

 

BR livery changed to maroon from crimson in 1956, and lining was applied in 1959.  No Dean era AFAIK, and no 4 or 6 wheelers, though these could be seen in departmental use.  Dean 4 wheelers as per the Ratio kits lasted until 1953 on miner's workman's trains in South Wales, but these are not NPCCS.

 

Most of the above types lasted into the 60s, Collett and Hawkworth BGs into the 70s in blue livery and some of the BR built Siphon G's in newspaper traffic circuits to the 80s.

 

Post nationalisation, all NPCCS not specifically branded to a service could be seen anywhere on BR, whatever their original company, so for a 50s layout you can mix and match companies, liveries, and types quite freely.  The Southern's PMV 'Ashford' vans were very common everywhere.  BR GUV and CCT types did not appear until the later 50s, '58 I believe, and most were built post 1959 in lined maroon livery except for some green GUVs for Southern Region.

Hi,

 

Just spotted this excellent thread

 

JB

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If you're building in 4mm - there is good news and bad news for the Lima O33 Siphon G (often available second hand)

 

Bad news:

The bogies are wrong - different types were fitted to different batches and many were changed later on - so a dated photo is important (or access to the book about Siphons by Jack Slinn).

The vertical planking is only correct for a few of them - and the only photo I have found of the Lima planking Siphon has a different brake gear / underframe details

 

Good news:

If you can live with the planking issues - they were the most numerous Siphons in your timescale - so you can have a few of them

Variants -  convert to O59 by adding roof shell vents 

If you are very brave, convert to M34 (parcels) by adding roof vents and covering / replacing most of the louvres

There is a BR built version with shutters at the bottom - there used to be a conversion kit? This makes it an O62. 

 

Regards

Will

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1 hour ago, WillCav said:

If you're building in 4mm - there is good news and bad news for the Lima O33 Siphon G (often available second hand)

 

Bad news:

The bogies are wrong - different types were fitted to different batches and many were changed later on - so a dated photo is important (or access to the book about Siphons by Jack Slinn).

The vertical planking is only correct for a few of them - and the only photo I have found of the Lima planking Siphon has a different brake gear / underframe details

 

Good news:

If you can live with the planking issues - they were the most numerous Siphons in your timescale - so you can have a few of them

Variants -  convert to O59 by adding roof shell vents 

If you are very brave, convert to M34 (parcels) by adding roof vents and covering / replacing most of the louvres

There is a BR built version with shutters at the bottom - there used to be a conversion kit? This makes it an O62. 

 

Regards

Will

Sadly, the masters for the conversion kit for the O.62 (originally manufactured by Blacksmith) ended up with Coopercraft. 

The bogies on the Lima model are BR1, which are not shown as fitted to any of the real ones. The most popular bogies seem to have been the 7' and 9' H/D types. Simply changing these makes a heck of a difference. Whatever the issues with the side planking, they're better than scribing them by hand; I've done that, and made the louvres. I didn't have much of a social life....

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As has been said, the Lima Siphon G has B1 BR bogies which are completely incorrect.  The later GW and BR built Siphon Gs had 9' heavy duty bogies, and these can be obtained from several sources as they are fitted to several RTR coaches and available from Stafford Road Works as 'plug in'Shapeways 3D prints, which have the advantage of being printed with dovetails for NEM couplers.  I have used these on my 'worked up' Lima Siphon G, which also has new turned brass buffers, Dart Castings IIRC and Hornby standard 14mm wheels; it runs beautifully and I intend to buy better gangway connectors for it.

 

 

 

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Guest Jack Benson

Hi,

 

Stafford Road Works - sorry but never heard of them and Google merely results in warnings about traffic problems, do you have a link?

 

 

Cheers

 

JB

 

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A clip from my early attempts at stock butchery. I bought one from the well known auction site for about a fiver including postage in those days. You can still pick them up for a similar price.

 

1537910386_SiphonG(1).jpg.4ec83195c3e49e82de6d7d193c920e9b.jpg

 

It is sitting on Bachmann Collett bogies, has Comet GWR square shank buffers and was coated in weathering powder on unperfumed matt hairspray.

Not your ultra-accurate stuff but looks fine on the layout in a rake of similarly treated stuff like a Stanier BG, Fruit D, SR PMV, LMS CCT, etc.

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Guest Jack Benson
1 minute ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

A clip from my early attempts at stock butchery. I bought one from the well known auction site for about a fiver including postage in those days. You can still pick them up for a similar price.

 

1537910386_SiphonG(1).jpg.4ec83195c3e49e82de6d7d193c920e9b.jpg

Not your ultra-accurate stuff but looks fine on the layout in a rake of similarly treated stuff like a Stanier BG, Fruit D, SR PMV, LMS CCT, etc.

Thank you,

 

That is exactly our approach to modelling and much appreciated.

 

cheers

 

JB

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