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Tucking Mill


queensquare
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One of the main sources of traffic on TM is supposed to be rough timber, most of which is destined for the collieries further up the line for use as pit props.

 

I would have expected pit props to be conveyed on the railway as "finished" pit props semi-upright in open wagons. Forest felling almost inevitably produces quite a lot of pit prop diameter timber which is most easily handled in shortish lengths and hence is "finished" (debarked and sawn to length) where it is felled. Even today, it is quite common here to see huge stake-sided timber lorries conveying loads of pit prop sized timber (although god knows what they actually use them these day). The great lengths of timber conveyed on timber bogie lorries (the almost exact equivalent of bolster rail wagons although the road bogies are coupled only by the load and cables for the electrics) are almost always of a greater diameter than would be used for pit props.

 

Those wagons are really nice though, most fine scale 4mm modellers would have been proud to produce something looking that good.

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I would have expected pit props to be conveyed on the railway as "finished" pit props semi-upright in open wagons. Forest felling almost inevitably produces quite a lot of pit prop diameter timber which is most easily handled in shortish lengths and hence is "finished" (debarked and sawn to length) where it is felled. Even today, it is quite common here to see huge stake-sided timber lorries conveying loads of pit prop sized timber (although god knows what they actually use them these day). The great lengths of timber conveyed on timber bogie lorries (the almost exact equivalent of bolster rail wagons although the road bogies are coupled only by the load and cables for the electrics) are almost always of a greater diameter than would be used for pit props.

 

Those wagons are really nice though, most fine scale 4mm modellers would have been proud to produce something looking that good.

Hi bacasse, (sorry but I don't know your name), thanks for the comments. You are probably right about the pit props, I have some suitable wagons and pit prop loads I can use but there is a sawmill on Highbury and it's a good excuse to run traffic between the two.

 

Jerry

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A lot of the stuff you see stripped ready for use is coniferous softwood often thinned will still quite thin some goes for fencing posts for agricultural  these days.  I suspect the sort of stuff used on these trucks would be mature British Hardwoods Oak, Elm Beech which would have been taken to a large sawmill capable of sawing them into planks, beam etc.  The sort of stuff Jerry's traction engine and cart carry to bring the loads to the railway.

Don

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Hi Andy and Jerry,

 

Is this the pic? If so, it is my chemical pan wagon.

 

Nig H

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pic courtesy British Railway Modelling

post-12813-0-50982400-1452711757_thumb.jpg

Edited by Nig H
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Hi Nigel, thanks for posting the picture, that's the wagon.

 

I've finished and fitted couplings to the bolsters along with a couple of 3D printed opens which I'm very pleased with. The SDJR wagons use some transfers I picked up which look fine in the flesh but blown up the fact they are completely the wrong font is quite obvious. I shan't repaint these but will probably revert to hand lettering g in the future.

The observant amongst you will notice that none of the wagons carry the correct number, I simply use the most convenient grouping on the transfer sheet, in 2mm it really doesn't bother me.

 

post-1074-0-61658800-1452801119_thumb.jpg

 

post-1074-0-82378000-1452801162_thumb.jpg

 

Jerry

Edited by queensquare
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Lovely wagons Jerry. I like your attitude, to be checking the numbers on 2mm wagons would seem to be the height of pedantry.

 

Don

I agree, Don, but I still paint them on.  The other issue for me is that there is no known register of CR wagon numbers, so you just have to pick one at random from within the numbers allotted to that type of wagon or one from a photo.   :whistle:  Only a pedant is going to look up the numbers and comment!

 

Jim

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I agree, Don, but I still paint them on.  The other issue for me is that there is no known register of CR wagon numbers, so you just have to pick one at random from within the numbers allotted to that type of wagon or one from a photo.   :whistle:  Only a pedant is going to look up the numbers and comment!

 

Jim

 

I think you need to either use transfers or at least paint some squiggles that look like numbers although perhaps few of us would actually notice the lack of them. Quite often you think you have seen what should be there and no numbers could be better than oversized ones. You of course are free of any concerns with no known register of numbers there is no proof as I doubt anyone has a complete set of photos for any type of CR wagon.

I have always assumed the numbers ought to be visible as the RCH checkers would need to record the wagons.

Don

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My BR wagons have wrong numbers.  As Eric Morecambe might once have said, they have "the right amount of numbers but not necessarily in the right order".  It was whatever came off the sheets of Modelmeaster and/or Woodhead transfers most conveniently. I'm happy that there's something on the wagon that is tidy and looks right.  Previous attempts at hand lettering were miserable failures.  Good wagon transfers are a lifesaver. Being waterslide transfers, they are floated on and then sealed with Polly-S acrylic matt varnish.

 

I have been wondering what a "chemical pan" wagon was so it's instructive to see the photos and Phil's explanation. My first thought was that it's something to collect Elsans en-masse.

 

Mark

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Those of us who model the BR era are lucky in that there is such a good range of transfers from the likes of Fox, Modelmaster, Cambridge Custom Transfers, etc. that getting the right number is simply a case of snipping the right bit of the sheet out. Trouble is that the information is also more easily available to those who delight in telling you about all the mistakes in your models!

 

I've always been advised to work from prototype photos, so unsurprisingly the few completely finished wagons I do have bear a remarkable resemblance to photos in books in my library or to the increasingly large collection of photos I seem to have.

 

But at the end of the day, it's up to each one of us to decide what he/she is happy with.

 

Andy (packing his modelling toolbox up ready for the St Albans exhibition).

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 "Trouble is that the information is also more easily available to those who delight in telling you about all the mistakes in your models!"

 

would they would be the same people who never produces any models?   :sarcastichand:

 

as for wagon numbers I once spent two weeks lettering a wagon with transfers individual numbers and letters was it worth it yes would I do it again no  wagons and coaches now get "easy" numbers 

 

Cracking wagons Jerry put my own efforts to shame 

Edited by nick_bastable
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.....  wagons and coaches now get "easy" numbers 

Early CR wagons had the number painted on the solebar.  Once Drummond introduced number plates on wagons  - which was the only place on the side where numbers appeared after that - they were also painted on the ends, except for on end doors.

 

Anyone taking the trouble to study my CR wagon fleet would find that there are a lot of 1's, 4's and 7's in the numbers, while, like hurricanes in Hertfordshire, 6's,8's and 9's hardly ever happen!   :no:

 

Jim

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Had a great day at St.Albans on Sunday with Tucking Mill. Particularly enjoyed tying myself in knots on the wharf! It's a great little extension to the layout. 

 

post-1467-0-68927800-1453125061_thumb.jpg

 

Great to meet some fellow RMWeb members again also. 

 

Tom. 

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Jerry - I very much enjoyed "your" edition of MRJ and obviously the wharf article. What's the baseboard size of the wharf section?

Thanks Chris. The wharf is a whopping 25" x 12", which bolts on the end of Tucking Mill. This increases by about 18" with the addition of a cassette deck/fiddle yard when out on its.

 

If you want to see the layout in the flesh we are at the Leamington show this weekend.

 

Jerry

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Thanks Chris. The wharf is a whopping 25" x 12", which bolts on the end of Tucking Mill. This increases by about 18" with the addition of a cassette deck/fiddle yard when out on its.

 

If you want to see the layout in the flesh we are at the Leamington show this weekend.

 

Jerry

I'd love to Jerry, but the 400 mile round trip is a bit off-putting and I have an appointment on Saturday with Kerr Stuart 4415...however I am determined to see Tucking Mill et al in the flesh one day.

 

I was interested in the size because I'm toying with a first 2mm project (something small, obviously) and although I knew it was small it has a great spacious look to it. That's just about the size I was thinking of and I have a few ideas for a similar-sized space, but Neil Parkhouse's new book is on its way to me as we speak so I might have a few more soon.

Edited by chrisveitch
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I'd love to Jerry, but the 400 mile round trip is a bit off-putting and I have an appointment on Saturday with Kerr Stuart 4415...however I am determined to see Tucking Mill et al in the flesh one day.

I was interested in the size because I'm toying with a first 2mm project (something small, obviously) and although I knew it was small it has a great spacious look to it. That's just about the size I was thinking of and I have a few ideas for a similar-sized space, but Neil Parkhouse's new book is on its way to me as we speak so I might have a few more soon.

If the Neil Parkhouse book is one of the two colour albums he's done on the forest of Dean you won't be disappointed, they are fabulous and full of wonderful inspiration for a small project.

 

Jerry

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If the Neil Parkhouse book is one of the two colour albums he's done on the forest of Dean you won't be disappointed, they are fabulous and full of wonderful inspiration for a small project.

 

Jerry

 

It's Vol.2 "Forest of Dean Lines and the Severn Bridge" - I have great expectations.

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Just a quick note to say thanks again to Jerry and Kim for letting me loose on TM for a very pleasant Sunday at Leamington. With Tom's guidance, I fared quite well in the 'learner pool' (wharf end) and I'm now a convert to shunting, uncoupling and generally not running around in circles....!

 

I left (again) harbouring all manner of finescale thoughts.... limited for the time being to GWR railcars and short lengths of track, but who knows where they might lead.....

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