BR Class 03 with Match Truck

[Sylvian Tennant]

Hi there again

 

A friend has off loaded me a Dapol Container flat (unpainted) to turn into a nice and reletively mucky match truck to go with his BR Blue class 03.

 

Basically I would like as much information as possible on area such as:

• Livery & variations
  
• Tools, equipment & general detritus carried on them
  
• Models people have done
  
• Pictures of the real things
  

Thanks guys

[steveb860]

Here is a couple of pic's of my generic representation. I havn't numbered it up yet, as i can't find anything suitable. Suggestions welcome!!

 

 

Also this thread on the Bachmann 03(not the recently resurrected one) has some useful info within. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/21942-Bachmann-00-gauge-03-is-out/

 

Hope this helps

Steve

[hmrspaul]

Assuming you mean a Conflat A, then I am unable to help - and I have very recently updated my site with all my Conflat A's. http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brconflata

I think they were rare as loco runners - Conflat L and chassis from demountable tanks were the main sources of such runners. However Cambridge Customs http://www.cctrans.freeserve.co.uk/products.htm Sheet BL41 mentions having one example.

 

Paul Bartlett

[keefer]

lots of photos of 03s here: http://80srail.zenfolio.com/p677527684

 

many with match trucks coded ZS* , various brake types.

i notice that if a vacuum braked one has been air piped, the two pipes sometimes lie across the top of the wagon

 

EDIT: more good pics at 53A models' flickr, inc:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blue-diesels/4757066330/in/set-72157624412501090

 

which seems to be a good 'match' for steveb860's model

[hmrspaul]

lots of photos of 03s here: http://80srail.zenfolio.com/p677527684

 

many with match trucks coded ZS* , various brake types.

i notice that if a vacuum braked one has been air piped, the two pipes sometimes lie across the top of the wagon

 

EDIT: more good pics at 53A models' flickr, inc:

 

http://www.flickr.co...157624412501090

 

which seems to be a good 'match' for steveb860's model

Good finds. Looks as if the Conflat A was used by Newcastle/Gateshead. TDB709234 (03063) is identifiable in both collections and 736237 (03371) in Dennis's. He also has Conflat As with 03066 and 03089 but I cannot identify the numbers. The others runners in his collection are Conflat L - some heavily modified - and Lowfit.

 

Paul Bartlett

[cctransuk]

Cambridge Customs http://www.cctrans.f...uk/products.htm Sheet BL41 mentions having one example.

 

Looks as if the Conflat A was used by Newcastle/Gateshead.

 

There was definitely an East Anglian CONFLAT A shunter runner.

 

I'd quote the number and allocation but I've cleared all my personal data from my work PC - I retire from my day job today !!!

 

Suffice to say that you'll find the transfers for an East Anglian CONFLAT A 03 runner on my transfer Sheet BL41.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood,

Cambridge Custom Transfers.

[rsv1000r]

Good finds. Looks as if the Conflat A was used by Newcastle/Gateshead. TDB709234 (03063) is identifiable in both collections and 736237 (03371) in Dennis's. He also has Conflat As with 03066 and 03089 but I cannot identify the numbers. The others runners in his collection are Conflat L - some heavily modified - and Lowfit.

 

Paul Bartlett

Conflat A were also used by Norwich/Kings Lynn TDB708135 was in use in 1977 with 03 081, these seem to have disappeared when the 03's were dual braked, as the pipes as you correctly say were layed across the flat floor of the Conflat L, something that presumably wasn't as easy to achieve with the A's as their timber floors were removed, now theirs something you don't see modelled!

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but of course these ex traffic vehicles weren't match trucks, but simply ran with the 03's & some 04's in East Anglia, simply beause the shunters wheel base was to short to reliably trip the track circuit

 

regards Nigel

[Rivercider]

Here is a picture I took at Lawrence Hill, Bristol on 6th May 1980.

Lawrence Hill pilot 03382 and runner TDB 709457.

The runner appears to be stencilled 'conflat A', TOPS code ZSV(?).

The equipment on the runner is a shunting pole, and a house brick,

the brick being either a makeshift scotch, or vandalism from the bridge in the background.

 

 

cheers

[rsv1000r]

Here is a picture I took at Lawrence Hill, Bristol on 6th May 1980.

Lawrence Hill pilot 03382 and runner TDB 709457.

The runner appears to be stencilled 'conflat A', TOPS code ZSV(?).

The equipment on the runner is a shunting pole, and a house brick,

the brick being either a makeshift scotch, or vandalism from the bridge in the background.

 

 

cheers

unusual still to be wearing traffic livery at this date, & it still has it's floor!

 

Nigel

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

I retire from my day job today !!!

 

 

That's good, more transfers then?

[hmrspaul]

I retire from my day job today !!!

 

Regards,

John Isherwood,

Cambridge Custom Transfers.

John

 

Welcome to the best club in Britain!

 

Paul Bartlett

[keefer]

in the links i posted above, there seem to be a lot of the runners with scotches lying on top.

would these be used for loco/runner *or* for any wagons/stock that was being shunted?

[the penguin of doom]

I used the chassis from a Dapol kit - one of the vans I think - and cut the floor away to make it a skeletal frame. I'm not sure how prototypical it is, but it looked the part.

 

I'll see if I can find it and pop a picture on......

 

Cheers.

 

Sean.

[Sylvian Tennant]

Wow, some cracking feedback here. Cheers guys.

[Classsix T]

Picture taken at March depot when the yard was used for storage of redundant stock which shows to good effect the deck of the match truck. Note the main res. and main brake pipe cross over. How I wish I'd taken more!

C6T.

[mcowgill]

Picture taken at March depot when the yard was used for storage of redundant stock which shows to good effect the deck of the match truck. Note the main res. and main brake pipe cross over. How I wish I'd taken more!

C6T.

 

Excellent view, it shows a group of Conflat L wagons, these seemed to be the most common trucks accompanying 03s, at least in East Anglia. I think almost all the 03s at Norwich and Ipswich had these rather than anything else - one spent most of it's time out the front of my bedroom window near the old loco shed at Ipswich in the mid 80s.

 

The Conflat L is a very different beast to the Conflat A, I think Bill Bedford does an etched kit for it. The fittings on the floor locate the three small containers they carried, with openings in the floor under each container. There is a good write up of them in Geoff Kent's The 4mm Wagon part 3 and Paul Bartlett has a few photos at http://paulbartlett....io.com/conflatl

 

Older members might remember that Triang did a conflat L in 4mm & 3mm, bit it's not quite up to the standard of a Bachmann 03!

 

Martin

[Classsix T]

 

Excellent view, it shows a group of Conflat L wagons, these seemed to be the most common trucks accompanying 03s, at least in East Anglia. I think almost all the 03s at Norwich and Ipswich had these rather than anything else - one spent most of it's time out the front of my bedroom window near the old loco shed at Ipswich in the mid 80s.

 

The Conflat L is a very different beast to the Conflat A, I think Bill Bedford does an etched kit for it. The fittings on the floor locate the three small containers they carried, with openings in the floor under each container. There is a good write up of them in Geoff Kent's The 4mm Wagon part 3 and Paul Bartlett has a few photos at http://paulbartlett....io.com/conflatl

 

Older members might remember that Triang did a conflat L in 4mm & 3mm, bit it's not quite up to the standard of a Bachmann 03!

 

Martin

Yeh, I have a couple of the Tri-ang ones which were paired with the two Mainline/B'mann Piglets I have (with pick-ups on the wheels hard wired via "air pipes" into the loco).

Receipt of the more modern version of the 03 has meant the loco's are going, I'm unsure of what to do with the match trucks though! I have also just noticed there appear to be marker light units (same as on 08s?) bolted to the supports just above the buffer beam, c'mon Bachmann, you know it makes sense!

C6T.

[Fat Controller]

There were two variants of the Conflat L- one has chain pockets like the Conflat A, the other has low sides, which has caused some to be mis-identified as ex-Lowfits. My recollection of the Newcastle examples was that they were largely of this latter type.

I never worked out why the Conflat Ls had the square holes under the containers- certainly they couldn't have emptied the boxes through them, as they are at 45º to the doors in the container bottom. Perhaps they were to stop a build-up of spillage on the floors?

Brian

[Classsix T]

There were two variants of the Conflat L- one has chain pockets like the Conflat A, the other has low sides, which has caused some to be mis-identified as ex-Lowfits. My recollection of the Newcastle examples was that they were largely of this latter type.

I never worked out why the Conflat Ls had the square holes under the containers- certainly they couldn't have emptied the boxes through them, as they are at 45º to the doors in the container bottom. Perhaps they were to stop a build-up of spillage on the floors?

Brian

Probably to prevent puddles of rainwater creating a suction seal on the containers Brian.

 

C6T.

[HillsideDepot]

I have modelled the 'Bath Road twins' 03121 and 03382 and in doing so have collected a good number of photos of them, and in the main they seem to run (and indeed be stabled on Bath Road) with a 13t steel open (HYFIT/OHV), although the photo in this thread of '382 with a conflat proves that they did sometimes use these too.
 

Having recently acquired a copy of the 1980 Sectional Appendix under the heading 'Bristol (Temple Meads) Area' there is a special note:

 

CLASS 03 SHUNTING LOCOMOTIVE

A class 03 shunting locomotive must not be allowed to travel on the running line unless the special wagon is attached to the locomotive.

 

It does not specify what that wagon is, nor what is special about it. However it does match the time period of the photo of '382 and its conflat. The 13t steel opens appear to be traffic wagons (and several different ones), whereas the few photos I have with the conflat show it as a departmental, TDB numbered, vehicle. Is that the only thing 'special' about the wagon? Or is there something less obvious which I have missed? And does anyone know when the conflat replaced the various open wagons?

 

Thanks.
 

[JeffP]

That's some thread revival, batman....

 

Any chance of seeing some of the pics?

[br2975]

There is also a photo dated 12/07/1979 somewhere on t'interweb of a recently ex-works 03382 (it left Swindon Works late May 1979) at Lawrence Hill with a BR 21t 'Plate' as a runner.

.

Another on-line shot shows the loco at Lawrence Hill coupled to a BR 20t Brake Van.

.

I suspect the 'Conflat' may have been the 'special wagon' referred to but anything to hand that was fitted/piped may have been utilised as and when ?

 

Brian R

[The Stationmaster]

in the links i posted above, there seem to be a lot of the runners with scotches lying on top.

would these be used for loco/runner *or* for any wagons/stock that was being shunted?

 

They all seem to be with passenger station pilots - which no doubt explains their presence (dealing with and stabling vehicles without handbrakes).

 

 

I have modelled the 'Bath Road twins' 03121 and 03382 and in doing so have collected a good number of photos of them, and in the main they seem to run (and indeed be stabled on Bath Road) with a 13t steel open (HYFIT/OHV), although the photo in this thread of '382 with a conflat proves that they did sometimes use these too.

 

Having recently acquired a copy of the 1980 Sectional Appendix under the heading 'Bristol (Temple Meads) Area' there is a special note:

 

CLASS 03 SHUNTING LOCOMOTIVE

A class 03 shunting locomotive must not be allowed to travel on the running line unless the special wagon is attached to the locomotive.

 

It does not specify what that wagon is, nor what is special about it. However it does match the time period of the photo of '382 and its conflat. The 13t steel opens appear to be traffic wagons (and several different ones), whereas the few photos I have with the conflat show it as a departmental, TDB numbered, vehicle. Is that the only thing 'special' about the wagon? Or is there something less obvious which I have missed? And does anyone know when the conflat replaced the various open wagons?

 

Thanks.

 

 

That's very interesting as originally there were no problems with 204hp dieseel shunters (as they then were) operating track circuits on the WR - I wonder if the runner might have been required for another reason (or did Bristol m.a.s. results in some awkward track circuits?)

[Trevellan]

I've posted this image on another thread, but am repeating here in case it is of use. The wagon is the TMC limited edition model. It may not be accurate, but to me is a reasonable representation and looks the part. All I have to do now is weather the 03...

 

[HillsideDepot]

JeffP, on 19 Dec 2013 - 10:09, said:

That's some thread revival, batman....

 

Any chance of seeing some of the pics?

 

Jeff,

 

the pics have been 'harvested' off the web, but here are a few links:

 

Wooden open http://www.flickr.com/photos/35476094@N04/8497947533/lightbox/

OHV, stabled at Bath Road http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidhayes/6128661654/lightbox/

OHV moving around Bath Road http://railphotoprints.zenfolio.com/p426458760/h10D67258#h10d67258

Standard brake van http://bristol-rail.co.uk/wiki/File:D2121-1.jpg

SPV Plate (as mentioned above) http://www.flickr.com/photos/bristol-re/6272803356/in/photolist-ayiKU1-f9iL7g-8jSV4N-byn142-gi3wdW-7GqPHP-aVPsz6-e9Mto3-hwXBXP-asDQBm-aWEjNe-dDM1ax-atLHxW-bCzwuV-7ZtAdc-bCqAub-dKhrtF-8Ry6EX-9cLo5d-dK8gYm-8rm9Jr-akv4zy-fvCG5H-99EnfM-cFY77N-cXGkLA-gwhaxD-9S6JiJ-czwsB5-9DvM7p-9bx5b7-dRSvof-dUbSLp-hHGPog-9S2YvX-gRqCPo-fb8H1M-9KPoTK-dzTsv9-avHZSK-cCmTvL-fo1oQM-7C3y4j-eDwnh2-adkcYh-9JVbgE-9ZYm5E-i9kRLg-gHTtCy-irrHTB-8Awovd/lightbox/

Hybar at Fry's Keynsham http://bristol-rail.co.uk/wiki/File:03121keynsham.jpg (this one could be part of the train, but other pictures of similar workings show just box vans behind mainline locos so I assume its the 'special' wagon.

Wooden open http://bristol-rail.co.uk/wiki/File:Lawrence_Hill2.jpg

Wooden open again (perhaps these were as common as their steel sided brothers) http://bristol-rail.co.uk/wiki/File:Barton_Road2.jpg

 

Thanks for the replies, it all adds to the picture.