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Seacow, Dogfish,........or both?!


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  • 2 months later...
  • 11 months later...

Forgot about this, but it seems I never gave further updates on the state of the train!

 

So, I did gain another open spoil wagon. Can't remember which type it is but it was in a Hornby box and was definitely air braked. I also gained another shark (Olive green this time), as there was a risk that my original may have received 'the Shenfield shark' treatment... but not anymore.

 

I also picked up some ballast load moulds for the seacows/sealions to finish them off.

 

THAT IS ALL

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Just a thought on ballast loads for hoppers.

 

While a part loaded bogie hopper Sealion/cow etc is OK provided the loading difference end to end is not worse than 3:1, and you would have seen them full one end and empty the other as a lot of the PW would not know or care about the 3:1 rule. (Was 2:1 for four wheeled wagons if you are wondering).

 

Four wheeled hoppers such as Cat and Dogfish should be either full or empty, as once you have started unloading them the stone leaving the hopper stops you closing the doors properly until the wagon is empty.

If you try this the hopper will be in a state generally referred to as cracked (as in cracked open just how you would want it when ready to unload, so on the word of command from the supervisor a slight turn of the wheel will instantly start the unloading.) The problem is that a cracked hopper in traffic will dribble ballast as it moves down the line, and being hit by two inch stones travelling at 40MPH is only funny to those watching. If such a wagon was spotted you got behind something fast, I have before now been tucked in behind conveniently located S&T location cabinet that sounded like the other side was being machine gunned, as the ballast peppered it.

 

The other downside of not being able to close the hopper doors was that if during unloading the driver stopped the train, the ballast would continue to drop out of the hopper which would end up sitting often derailed on a pile of ballast that all needed to be shoveled clear before the train could be moved again.

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  • 6 months later...

Forgot about this, but it seems I never gave further updates on the state of the train!

So, I did gain another open spoil wagon. Can't remember which type it is but it was in a Hornby box and was definitely air braked. I also gained another shark (Olive green this time), as there was a risk that my original may have received 'the Shenfield shark' treatment... but not anymore.

I also picked up some ballast load moulds for the seacows/sealions to finish them off.

THAT IS ALL

  

any pictures?

It was a ZBA Rudd :)

 

post-9147-0-84429200-1534677312_thumb.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...
On 23/12/2019 at 10:57, ess1uk said:

Great find.

 

hows the model rake?

 

It's not going to get any longer than this now as it's at the maximum length for a 'short' train on the layout. I think I've a 31 to go at the front (somewhere) instead of the 37 just to mix it up a bit. There's also loads for the Sealions that still need adding when I find which box they were packed in. 

 

20191224_110851.jpg.b2ccb6eae1d55f50b09eadc6bb0b124b.jpg

 

20191224_110855.jpg.77d85428e0141c2784e0b746d7c99855.jpg

 

20191224_110859.jpg.c8f338e26979829e79ffeb77ea992fe8.jpg

 

Undecided on whether to add loads to the wagons at the back or not. But overall, quiet happy with this :)

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  • 3 weeks later...
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58 minutes ago, Stormbringer said:

I  have vague memories of seeing a rake of seacows with a shark at each end. Having read this thread I have my doubts now.  Is this a possibility or a no no given the sharks habit of digging in?

 

Pete

 

No reason why not!

 

Sharks digging in is the whole point of their existence , badly set ploughs would be the problem.

 

The S&T considered them legalised vandalism as the number of times  AWS magnets were forgotten about!

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1 hour ago, Stormbringer said:

I  have vague memories of seeing a rake of seacows with a shark at each end. Having read this thread I have my doubts now.  Is this a possibility or a no no given the sharks habit of digging in?

 

Pete

It was quite common to see a 'Shark' in the middle of a rake of bogie ballast hoppers.

 

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7 hours ago, Stormbringer said:

I  have vague memories of seeing a rake of seacows with a shark at each end. Having read this thread I have my doubts now.  Is this a possibility or a no no given the sharks habit of digging in?

 

Pete

It might depend whether the hoppers were sealions (dual braked), seacows (air braked and vac piped), or a mix of both.  From a distance the types look similar.

The majority of the sharks were vacuum braked, so could run on the rear of a train of sealions (which were dual braked). A few sharks were vac braked and air piped so could run inside a train of seacows (which were air braked). A very few sharks were air braked and so could run in the rear of a train of seacows.

 

cheers

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19 minutes ago, Rivercider said:

It might depend whether the hoppers were sealions (dual braked), seacows (air braked and vac piped), or a mix of both.  From a distance the types look similar.

The majority of the sharks were vacuum braked, so could run on the rear of a train of sealions (which were dual braked). A few sharks were vac braked and air piped so could run inside a train of seacows (which were air braked). A very few sharks were air braked and so could run in the rear of a train of seacows.

 

cheers

 

In later life EWS fitted their remaining Sharks with air brakes that had been donated by condemned VEA’s.

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14 minutes ago, Mark Saunders said:

 

In later life EWS fitted their remaining Sharks with air brakes that had been donated by condemned VEA’s.

That's interesting knowing where the brake equipment came from. By that time I don't remember many sharks still in use on my part of the WR. DB993842 rang a bell, that was an air-braked one that I must have appeared in many TOPS train lists I produced.

 

cheers 

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