Ratio MR suburban coaches

[RThompson]

Hello everyone,

 

in the next few weeks i would like to make a start on building my 4mm scale Ratio Midland Railway Suburban coaches which are meant for the shropshire and montgomeryshire light railway.

 

wanting to replace the plastic wheels with metal versions, should they be 3'6" disc or mansell's like supplied? I can't quite tell in the photos for certain which type.

 

http://www.hfstephens-museum.org.uk/rolling-stock/rolling-stock-of-the-s-a-m.html

 

Also the buffers head on these are round rather than oval so what would be the best source for replacement buffers also for strength?

 

 

Regards Robert

[davknigh]

Robert,

 

Allan Gibson have what you are after; code ref 4968 & 4969, 13" early coach buffers long and short shank.

 

HTH

 

David

[brossard]

My experience has been that the bogies are extremely fragile. You might want to consider brass compensated bogies and using the bogie sides cosmetically. MJT(Dart Castings), Brassmasters and Bill Bedford (Eileen's Emporium) have these.

 

John

[Il Grifone]

The wheels appear to be Mansells in the photo. The tyres are the characteristic heavy type, although the photo is not of sufficient definition to be 100% sure.

 

It is unlikely that coaches earmarked for sale would have been received new steel wheels (though not impossible, of course).

[Poor Old Bruce]

Allan Gibson have what you are after; code ref 4968 & 4969, 13" early coach buffers long and short shank.

I see that the coaches in the reference link are shorter than the 48ft type from ratio. Do you intend to cut and shut?

 

The buffers would be bigger than 13" wagon buffers, I would suggest something like 18".

 

Edit - If this post looks odd, it could be my interweb link

[RThompson]

Thankyou for your replies everyone, it has been much appreciated.

 

I havn't had time to actually make a start as yet to be honest but that hasn't been a bad thing as its given me more time to ponder over them.

 

Yes these coaches appear shorter than the ratio version and do not match the ones in the photo, even the bogies look shorter, 8ft wheelbase?

 

Just been looking at the kit and it may be possible to cut and shut them, will take alot longer but means they will be more accurate and fit on the new layout better! plus they would be unique.

[Poor Old Bruce]

I think 247 Developments do a Midland 8ft bogie.

[Ravenser]

Just to resurrect this with some queries from another direction.

 

I'm currently building a pair of these (6 compartment brake , and all first - to be built as composite) , in an attempt to provide something vaguely suitable for my handful of steam engines to pull on the layout , at modest cost/ limited time (ie before I start my new job) . http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/343/entry-10942-time-slip-with-continuity-errors/     Nominal period for the steam is 1958 as this is the least worst fit for the rather motley assortment of stock. However the ex MR suburbans are actually a pretty good fit in terms of authenticity.

 

Consequently I need to finish them in post war BR condition, with electric lighting, not gas

 

This is some way outside my normal sphere of activity : in normal circumstances I'm a modern image modeller with ER leanings . Consequently I know very little about LMS coaching stock (or indeed prenationalisation coaching stock) and the sum total of my relevant reference is a copy of Historic Carriage Drawings Vol 2

 

I have ordered two sets of Comet LMS underframe castings (plus a third set for my Dapol 57' brake). I assume that the LMS would have fitted electric light, and used standard LMS bits? (The kits need every scrap of extra weight they can get so whitemetal castings are a boon) 

 

The questions are these:

 

- Would these coaches have retained the gas lamp pot on the roof between the torpedo vents? Or should I leave these off /remove them from the coach I'm rebuilding?

 

The Ratio kits appear to be based on the vehicles built for Manchester and Birmingham (10' bogies , 8'6" wide bodies) . Historic Carriage Drawings includes a late 30s  photo of 4 coaches built for the London area  three of which had been rebuilt as an articulated triplet by the LMS. I can't see lamp tops on the roofs - just faintly what looks like a round plate.

 

On the other hand a photo of the ex LNW corridor stock for which Ratio also do kits (and which I am also building) taken in 1934 shows lumps on the roof which have to be the gas light pots (and the Ratio instructions claim these LNW vehicles were converted to electric light from 1916). As Ratio provide alternative parts for the battery boxes and don't tell you to omit the lamp tops from the roof, I've fitted them to the ex LNW vehicles...

 

  

- Where do the battery boxes go? The photo of the London area MR vehicles shows them central , behind a horizontal section of trussing. Howver the Ratio kits do not have this kind of trussing - the trussing forms a triangle , with two sloping sections joining at a point. There are twin underframe ribs moulded on the floor pan at this point , which get in the way of fitting battery boxes centrally. I presume these ribs were present on the real underframes, and the trussing reflects them

 

So would I be correct in mounting the battery boxes to one side, where the gas tanks would have been?

 

 

Finally - this info may be buried in one of Coachman's threads , but a quick look hasn't found it:

 

What colour should the seating be? (Third and first) . I don't have any references for LMS upholstery colours , never mind MR.  (I presume by the late 1950s they would have been reupholstered at least once since building, presumably after 1923) . Someone suggested red (3rd) and blue (1st) might be appropriate