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Renfe freight wagons in the 1980s


Geep7
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To scratch a modelling itch that I've had for a long time, I've decided to have a go at modelling Spanish Railways in the 1980's, or Period IV in modelling terms.

 

I've visited the Barcelona area at least once every 10 years or so since the mid-80's, and i'm pretty familiar with the passenger trains of the era, but I'm pretty much clueless when it comes to freight wagons. I only have 2 photos my Dad took in about 1985 as reference, 1 which shows a long train of ferry wagons in a siding at Blanes, and another of a freight headed by a Class 269 arriving at Estacio de França.

 

The plan is to start small, maybe a small end of branch station? I have a Class 440 emu on its way, plus a Class 269 in Mazinger livery coming as well, so really need to know what freight stock will suit.

 

Hope someone can point me in the right direction. Cheers.

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Hi Chris,

My last years of train watching in Spain ended at just around that time, say 1982 - when I was a mere stripling of 17!

Unfortunately, I was mainly interested in the different types of locos then and didn't even take many photos but from what I remember, there were all the usual suspects of typical European 2 axle and bogie vans, opens, flats and hoppers. A lot of stock could change axles/bogies at border stations so I'm pretty sure you could see DB, SNCF, FS etc etc wagons. As well as the fairly obvious Portuguese (CP) neighbours, you could also see wagons that ran to the UK (ferrywagons of various types), for the British types, see the British H0 scale society (http://www.british-ho.com/) website for suitable wagons.

As for native Spanish types, try looking through these;

https://mabar.es/en/

http://www.ibertren.es/en/

https://clubelectrotren.com/index.php/club/catalogos (As produced by Hornby International!)

 

I wish you well with this, Spain is a very interesting country to model and of course, there are quite a few Brits living there.

Cheers,

John.

 

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1 hour ago, Allegheny1600 said:

Hi Chris,

My last years of train watching in Spain ended at just around that time, say 1982 - when I was a mere stripling of 17!

Unfortunately, I was mainly interested in the different types of locos then and didn't even take many photos but from what I remember, there were all the usual suspects of typical European 2 axle and bogie vans, opens, flats and hoppers. A lot of stock could change axles/bogies at border stations so I'm pretty sure you could see DB, SNCF, FS etc etc wagons. As well as the fairly obvious Portuguese (CP) neighbours, you could also see wagons that ran to the UK (ferrywagons of various types), for the British types, see the British H0 scale society (http://www.british-ho.com/) website for suitable wagons.

As for native Spanish types, try looking through these;

https://mabar.es/en/

http://www.ibertren.es/en/

https://clubelectrotren.com/index.php/club/catalogos (As produced by Hornby International!)

 

I wish you well with this, Spain is a very interesting country to model and of course, there are quite a few Brits living there.

Cheers,

John.

 

Thanks John. That's the trouble I've got. Of the handful of photos my father took, they're either of units or locos, and I was about 8 or 9 when I first went, so I only have fairly vague memories. I'd not even realised that my first trip into Barcelona was probably on a Class 436 unit in green and silver, until I looked at one of the photos. I always thought my first Spanish train ride was on a Blue and Yellow Class 440.

 

I think my biggest issue is going to come from getting hold of the stuff here in the UK. I guess i'll most likely have to get a lot of it mail order from Spain (although a special trip across to Spain would be much nicer, I miss the cerveza and the food, and the weather.... however, maybe not right now under the circumstances).

Edited by Geep7
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Hi Chris, 

 

As suggested above have a look at what is available from Mabar and Electrotren and marked as Era IV as a starting point. Ibertren hasn't produced anything new for nearly 10 years and I'm surprised the website is still up. You can also try http://ktrain.es/ for a selection of wagons and Roco.

 

Bear in mind that a large number of wagons available for the Spanish market, particularly from Roco and earlier Lima models are what Spanish modellers call 'Renfritos' - they look like a Spanish model but aren't. These are usually repaints of German models in Spanish colours. For years this is what the Spanish market had to live with but things have got better more recently. Electrotren is also guilty of this often through the use of fictional liveries to produce something 'in the spirit of' the Renfe! 

 

In terms of prototype information, I would suggest you spend some time with google translate (if needed) on http://www.forotrenes.com/foro/ and https://www.listadotren.es/ 

 

I have a large collection of Renfe models, Era Vc in HO and one day hope to build a layout! Most of my models have been bought in Spain or from Ebay but Geoff at http://www.contikits.com/index.html has a selection of Spanish models available. Electrotren and Roco new release can be sourced though their UK distributors.

 

Happy modelling!

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Hi Chris,

 

You can check this issue of the Tren magazine for prototypes https://issuu.com/revistatren/docs/tren-12-esp-issuu. You would still see plenty of 2 axle freight cars in the 80s with both wooden and increasingly metal bodies. They have the Gbs and the Jfvc in Mabar and other shops. Bogie cars with sliding doors for parcels were also to be seen both attached to passenger express trains or in special parcel trains. There was a huge variety of tank cars, cement cars, platforms etc including some private (i.e. CAMPSA) and ancient examples equipped with vacuum brakes.

 

Hope that helps. It was in 1986 when I bought my first railway magazine, Trenes Hoy.

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Many thanks @Pagual. That issue is very useful. I'll have to see if I can get some of it through Google Translate.

 

I've spent the past few months reading through a lot of threads on Forotrenes in between working on my new Spanish layout. I've been gradually building up my freight fleet, mostly helped with the latest Electrotren JJPD release. I even made my first order from a Spanish model shop which included a couple of Mabar Gbs wagons.

 

My era seems to have slipped ever so slightly, and I'm now pretty much focusing on late era IV / early era V. I'll put an update on my layout thread at some point, but I'm quite happy at the moment doing quite a lot of research and collecting stock while I can.

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7 hours ago, Pagual said:

Great to hear you are making progress. JJPDs were very common in the late 80s. The 303 class shunters, green with yellow lines, were also a common sight at any freight terminal.

A 303 in green with yellow lines is on the list to acquire, but seem very thin on the ground. Only seem to be available in Original Green or the red and grey, which I believe only one 303 ever carried. I'll have to wait and see if Electrotren (Hornby) produce a new version of the Green with Yellow stripe, or I'll have to do a repaint.

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