Changing Mk1 B1 bogies to B4’s or Commonwealth.

[TravisM]

I’ve acquired several recently released Hornby Mk1’s and I assume the one’s not fitted Commonwealth’s are fitted with B1’s.  I’ll need to  swop out the bogies on several of them to either B4’s or Commonwealth’s.  Are they easy to change or a proverbial pain in the a**e?

[Hilux5972]

They are easy to do. Can’t remember if they are push fit or screwed on but there’s no wires or anything connected for lighting so piece of the proverbial p**s to do lol

[RP82]

I dont think B4s were all that common under mk1s. It depends on the period you are modeling. Off the top of my head some SO did, with the FK and BCK were most likely to have them, I'm sure someone will be along with a more comprehensive list soon.

Edited February 15, 2021 by RP82

[TravisM]

1 hour ago, RP82 said:

I dont think B4s were all that common under mk1s. It depends on the period you are modeling. Off the top of my head some SO did, with the FK and BCK were most likely to have them, I'm sure someone will be along with a more comprehensive list soon.

I’m attempting to model the Scottish Railway Preservation Society Mk1 excursion set as I saw it in 2019 which was primarily running on Commonwealth and a few on B4’s

Edited February 15, 2021 by jools1959

[adb968008]

If they are the current, post 2016.. they are push fit / pull off.

You can assemble the whole coach from bits to boxed in under 90 seconds.

 

20 an hour, 200 a day, whats a daily chinese wage ?

Edited February 16, 2021 by adb968008

[The Black Hat]

On 15/02/2021 at 22:40, RP82 said:

I dont think B4s were all that common under mk1s. It depends on the period you are modeling. Off the top of my head some SO did, with the FK and BCK were most likely to have them, I'm sure someone will be along with a more comprehensive list soon.

 

If hes modelling the current scene there's quite a few running around happily with them. 

[The Black Hat]

On 15/02/2021 at 17:17, jools1959 said:

I’ve acquired several recently released Hornby Mk1’s and I assume the one’s not fitted Commonwealth’s are fitted with B1’s.  I’ll need to  swop out the bogies on several of them to either B4’s or Commonwealth’s.  Are they easy to change or a proverbial pain in the a**e?

Its a fairly simple swap. Silver Fox do some and are available from sellers on a well known auction site. Simply unplug the clip of the one thats in... then paint springs / pipe etc on new B4 and then attach to coach. 

Hope that helps. 

[RP82]

17 minutes ago, The Black Hat said:

 

If hes modelling the current scene there's quite a few running around happily with them. 

Thanks, I'm not all that clued up on the 2005-present day coaching stock scene. It's a out of my preferred modelling era.

[The Johnster]

A lot of mk1s were running around on B4 bogies in the 70s and 80s, in fact it was rare to see B1s in regular service.  There were sets of coaches for excursion, charter, and relief work that were largely unrefurbished, with original B1 bogies, filament bulb lighting, and wooden internal partitions, restricted to 75mph running. 

 

Catering, Sleeper, and some first class were mostly on Commonwealths, and there were sets of open firsts for the Wolverhampton and Hull 'executive' all first class trains that were used for charter work as well; these were also on Commonwealths.  But most mk1s in normal service at that time were 100mph rated and on B4 bogies.  B4s also appeared under the Bournemouth electrification 4TC sets and the Swindon Inter City class 123 dmus.  Post Office stock was fitted with them as well, AFAIK at the time it was painted in blue/grey. 

[ThaneofFife]

seems many here know what a commonwealth bogie looks like but i've often wondered how the name came about given that most others are a mix of letters and numbers like BT10 or B4. 

[acg5324]

IIRC the name comes from the American steelworks or foundry that first produced the design.

[robertcwp]

On 21/02/2021 at 12:27, acg5324 said:

IIRC the name comes from the American steelworks or foundry that first produced the design.

Historically it was Commonwealth Steel Company of Illinois. English Steel Castings, as then was, I believe obtained a licence to make a version of the castings suitable for use on BR. Although heavy and expensive, the bogies proved to be very durable and enabled regular 100 mph running on the East and West Coast main lines before the B4 became standard with the introduction of Mark 2 stock. The B4 was a BR Swindon design and around 1.5t lighter per bogie, as well as being cheaper to make. A trial batch of B4s was fitted to around 25 Mark 1s and lots of others, mainly firsts and catering cars, gained them later, with the heavy duty B5 version on catering cars and sleepers. RUs had a B4 at one end and a B5 at the other.