Jump to content
 

LNER engineering vehicle queries


TechnicArrow
 Share

Recommended Posts

I'm hoping this is a good place to post, but feel free to move it if it isn't.

 

I recently picked up one of the Corgi Trackside Ruston Bucyrus Skimmer excavators. I'm halfway through building a mechanism to make it function, and when finished it will be used to load ballast spoil into wagons, either from the trackbed or a stockpile. The model I bought is in LNER livery, with the side proclaiming:
"LNER Engineer's Department

Return To Per. Way Works Doncaster"

As a midlander/south-westerner, I know very little about the LNER. Although the www.LNER.info site has been very useful, I still have two questions that internet research has been unable to answer. 

 

1. Is the livery of the Ruston Bucyrus 19-RB accurate? 

Did the LNER actually own and use these machines, or is this just Corgi fiction?

 

2. What rolling stock would the LNER have used for moving spoil? 

What wagons would be used, bearing in mind these machines were built from 1937 onward? The layout is likely to depict a yard scene rather than a main line.

Link to post
Share on other sites

1.      Sorry, I haven't a clue !

2.      I don't think there was such a thing as a purpose-built / rebuilt spoil wagon in the UK until, perhaps,  the '70s - so spoil would have been loaded in any open goods or ( maybe ) mineral wagons that were to hand ........ though there might have been dedicated rakes of superannuated vehicles put aside for the purpose.

Edited by Wickham Green too
  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, TechnicArrow said:

1. Is the livery of the Ruston Bucyrus 19-RB accurate? 

Did the LNER actually own and use these machines, or is this just Corgi fiction?

 

2. What rolling stock would the LNER have used for moving spoil? 

What wagons would be used, bearing in mind these machines were built from 1937 onward? The layout is likely to depict a yard scene rather than a main line.

 

For a a skimmer, it would probably be relatively low sided wagon.

 

My BR-era model is an authentic face shovel on a departmental machinery wagon.

 

image.png.551486e706e359ca84834b3a855a1ce9.png

 

image.png.158c10b2c1f8d47a29af1473c1e9dab7.png

 

image.png.f54ade932ecf00109df7ffb588109860.png

 

image.png.710429adbff4add2b42c7af88ab70f8f.png

 

image.png.906f7856e51b2c6a1a0c335eac8f59c2.png

 

 

John Isherwood.

Edited by cctransuk
Link to post
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

 

 

I think the GWR had specialised "starfish" 10T spoil wagons, with their design then incorporated into the BR Grampus wagons (or something like that). But in the absence of any specialised LNER vehicles, I'm probably going with 13T steel open wagons.

 

@cctransuk That's a very interesting model! Whilst not quite what I was after (I'm looking for spoil wagons rather than machine wagons, since the excavator is now attached to a large mechanism block),  your photos do at least confirm that BR had them - and since production of the 19-RB started back in 1937, the LNER may well have done too.

 

Thank you both! 

Link to post
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, TechnicArrow said:

 

I think the GWR had specialised "starfish" 10T spoil wagons, with their design then incorporated into the BR Grampus wagons (or something like that). But in the absence of any specialised LNER vehicles, I'm probably going with 13T steel open wagons.

Each of the railways had such low sided vehicles described as 'Ballast Wagons' and I wonder whether some at least were intended for spent ballast ........ in which case the LNER's Bogie Ballast, Rail & Sleeper wagons might fit the bill ( dia.7, 57, 71 & 99 ).

 

Nice new steel open wagons would be an unlikely choice - drop sides would be a near essential.

  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, TechnicArrow said:

 

I think the GWR had specialised "starfish" 10T spoil wagons, with their design then incorporated into the BR Grampus wagons (or something like that). But in the absence of any specialised LNER vehicles, I'm probably going with 13T steel open wagons.

 

@cctransuk That's a very interesting model! Whilst not quite what I was after (I'm looking for spoil wagons rather than machine wagons, since the excavator is now attached to a large mechanism block),  your photos do at least confirm that BR had them - and since production of the 19-RB started back in 1937, the LNER may well have done too.

 

Thank you both! 

The GWR, SR, and LMS all had purpose-built ballast/spoil wagons. The GWR had a range from 10t to 20t capacity, built from the late 19th Century, the SR had 14 and 20t ones, and the LMS had 12t ones.

I remember the spoil tip at Patchway/ Filton in the 1970s- wagons were unloaded by dropping sides and ends and either driving a angle-dozer along the deck, or by using a Ruston-Buckyrus 'skimmer' to push or pull the load off. The R-B was finished in the R-B house co;ours of maroon and cream.

  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, TechnicArrow said:

 

 But in the absence of any specialised LNER vehicles, I'm probably going with 13T steel open wagons

 

 

Very unlikely, at the period you're talking of these were new, and built for express goods such as the "Scotch Goods"

 

For spoil, when Grampus type wagons became available these were often used for spoil. Otherwise, and even late into BR days, old redundant goods wagons transfered to Departmental stock would be used.

Revenue service stock were not generally used for Departmental work

So, for late '30s I'd suggest probably pre-group goods wagons with departmental markings

Edited by Ken.W
  • Agree 1
  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

I feel I should share the model that's triggered this query! 

The corgi shell has been bodged a bit and fixed to the mechanism block, built using Meccano. 

Two concentric tubes and a thread in the middle pass from the base and through the tracks - the outer tube is fixed to the superstructure, the inner acts as a spool for the bucket cables and the thread passes over the top pulleys to the boom. 

_20200817_185253.JPG.74ad367f1529e2b60c8a890af0c82d67.JPG

 

It doesn't quite work perfectly yet; the plastic boom isn't heavy enough to lower when the thread is slackened, and the bucket cables like to twist themselves up. But the the slewing works well and I'm pleased with the bucket emptying mechanism - although not true to the prototype, the back of the bucket is hinged and normally held shut by elastic. When the bucket is pulled to the tip of the boom, a fixed thread from the base of the boom pulls the flap open and it discharges. I'll make a video when the rest of it works. 

 

Now back to the wagons! First off, thank you all for your replies, they're all interesting and helpful. 

 

@Wickham Green too that's an interesting wagon I'd not come across before - but I feel it will be rather too large for whatever micro layout I build around this excavator. And as for steel and dropsides, see below. 

 

On 16/08/2020 at 12:39, Fat Controller said:

I remember the spoil tip at Patchway/ Filton in the 1970s- wagons were unloaded by dropping sides and ends and either driving a angle-dozer along the deck, or by using a Ruston-Buckyrus 'skimmer' to push or pull the load off. The R-B was finished in the R-B house co;ours of maroon and cream.

 

Thanks for your reply! It's very good to know these machines were in fact used, at least for unloading spoil.

 

@Ken.W Thanks for your response. My idea was that steel wagons would be used, given their typically higher loading weight would be suitable for the fairly heavy ballast/spoil. But in their absence I guess I'm looking for pre-grouping as you say - probably low sided to prevent loading over their weight limit, and/or with dropsides.

  • Craftsmanship/clever 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, TechnicArrow said:

.....the plastic boom isn't heavy enough to lower when the thread is slackened....

 

Try putting a spring wire between the jib and the body - so that tension is needed to raise it, and the spring lowers it.

 

John Isherwood.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...