West End Workbench

[Fat Controller]

David,

 

in the absence of a reply (as far as I can see) from any of the NER/LNER experts, I found this;

 

"1903 Westm. Gaz. 14 Jan. 5/1 We have ‘tranship’, or road-vans, specially appointed to work on branches and at stations where there is not the heavy traffic. These take goods from a certain starting-point to be delivered at a number of roadside stations."

 

The LNWR didn't call them the same but had NCPS vans with five compartments, each with it's own double doors, whereby parcels could be unloaded at specific stations or added for others designated destinations.

 

Jol

Other railways, such as the L&SWR, had combined brake/road vans, on a more modest scale than the rather large van shown. The concept may date from the late 19th/early 20th century, but I saw an example of the practice in service in 1980; it wasn't in the UK, however, but on SNCF at Digne in the Provençal Alps. The van had a small guard's compartment, and a much larger one for 'sundries' traffic. What was interesting was that goods space included a large scales (like those seen at parcels offices), so that the agent du train could create way-bills.

[scottiedog]

Road Vans (NER Dia. G4) were used to transport a number of small items, each consignment being of insufficient size to warrant a van or wagon on its own. They were attached to pick up goods with items being dropped off or collected at intermediate stations on the way.

Tranship Van (NER Dia. G6) on the other hand were employed between main distribution centres.

 271, 4 door, 15t Dia. G4 Road Vans were built and 146, 2 door, 15t Dia. G6 were built.

 

A larger (NER Dia. G7) 25t, bogie "tranship" van was also built, 100 in all, one of which was known to have travelled into GWR territory and is featured in one of the trains which runs on Pendon!

 

Tatlow's LNER Wagons Vol. 2 is the source of the above information.

[jwealleans]

Well thank you, chaps, that's saved me some typing. Soldering brake gear was dull, but it's all done now. I've started adding buffers (Lanarkshire Models) and axlebox/spring units (unmarked packet, may be ABS). Although I remember ordering enough buffers specially for these, I was short - must have pinched them for something else.

 

 

More brake gear and buffers when they arrive.

Edited October 26, 2018 by jwealleans

[grob1234]

Two different books, I suspect. You're looking in this book, which i think was his last?

 

I'm looking at this one which is much more useful for my purposes. It only covers the principal Gresley stock for the LNER, so no end vestibule or streamliner stock, but it's arranged by type of carriage and diagram. Knowing you're looking for a BTK(4) makes finding the diagram number and year of building very easy.

 

Year of building? Because after about 1934 underframes were welded rather than riveted and the trussing is different. But you knew that.

 

How did you know?! Yes I have the 'blue' version. I was going to say you must have Jedi like skills to be able to find things in the blue one. Its a shame the numbers aren't in a searchable database. I might have to add the more useful book to my list of provisional purchases.

 

I definitely knew about the underframes and trussing... trust me..... 

[jwealleans]

Back to the wagons...buffers from LMS were on the doormat within 48 hours - Dave Franks provides an excellent service for those who haven't yet tried his products. More bits of wire and the Mainly Trains etch followed and here we are with the first of the conflats pretty well complete.

 

 

For those who like to look behind the scenes:

 

 

Vac pipes from MJT, everything else from bits of wire.

Edited October 26, 2018 by jwealleans

[jwealleans]

Bit of a spot the difference for you first tonight - here's (I think) the same conflat as above, but the container has now been detailed:

 

 

Corner eyes are from Roxey Mouldings, everything else from different gauges of wire.

 

... and here with a bit of paint applied.

 

 

To keep myself amused in between these, here's a long GC open which came off Ebay - it had a very poor paint job and a daft looking plastic load stuck into it, which I think must have put people off.

 

 

Still needs door springs adding.

 

Sunday evening I was waiting for some paint to dry and fancied something different. We'd been talking about a GNSR brake van which some one had etched up earlier in the year and it just came to the top of my mind....

 

 

Two hours later I had a rolling chassis and a body perched on top. This evening I've added pretty much the rest of the etch and made up handrails.

 

 

 

 

Other than cleaning up and straightening that ducket, this will now have to wait until I see Andrew Hartshorne at Spalding to pick up castings.

Edited September 22, 2018 by jwealleans

[grob1234]

Very nice. Your rolling stock collection must be vast!

[Barry O]

I may have a loco to go with the GNSR brake van. Looks very nice.

[jwealleans]

I don't know about vast, Tom - I've seen collections which make mine look very insignificant. I do have a fair bit, but I find building stock very relaxing.

 

I have a 3D printed GNSR van to finish making up as well. Maybe I should do that to go with the BV.

[31A]

Was the GC long open wagon a kit, then?  I think there's a picture of one in the original 'Tatlow' and it's always interested me as it looks like a predecessor of the LNER (and BR) tube wagons.

[jwealleans]

It's a Dan Pinnock kit, Steve. It is now held by the Great Central Society and available from them last time I heard, although they were producing limited batches which may have sold out by now.

 

There were two builds of these, the one I'm doing here and a through piped version (otherwise identical, I think).

[31A]

Thanks Jonathan, that's interesting.  I'm afraid I rather lost track of the D&S range as it expanded!  An interesting wagon to model, anyway.

[Fat Controller]

Was the GC long open wagon a kit, then?  I think there's a picture of one in the original 'Tatlow' and it's always interested me as it looks like a predecessor of the LNER (and BR) tube wagons.

'Pipe', rather than 'Tube', and probably intended for cast-iron pipe traffic from Staveley works, which was served by the GCR and Midland.

[31A]

'Pipe', rather than 'Tube', and probably intended for cast-iron pipe traffic from Staveley works, which was served by the GCR and Midland.

 

Thanks; I realised afterwards that I'd meant to write 'Pipe'    .  I thought somebody would put me straight! 

[Worsdell forever]

Thanks; I realised afterwards that I'd meant to write 'Pipe'    .  I thought somebody would put me straight! 

 

Unless - http://image.made-in-china.com/43f34j00jZmTPenILQoc/PP-Pipe-Fitting-Mould-PP-Drainage-and-Sewage-50mm-90-Deg-Elbow.jpg

 

Sorry, I'm off...

[jwealleans]

The cntainer wagons had a trip out yesterday as I joined some other members of Ely MRC at Tony Wright's Little Bytham layout, which I shamelessly used as a test track. I'm pleased to report that they ran very well, just one wobbly wheelset to correct.

 

Here the prototype wagon passes under the M&GN hauled by Keith Barker's J69.

 

 

I also took an almost completed LSWR bogie bolster and Smallbrook Studios brake van to complete the short train.

 

 

As part of the visit I took with me a NuCast Y5 which I've been finishing off for Keith. I hadn't posted it up anywhere in case he saw it in advance, but here it is as completed.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm hoping Tony will post some better pictures in due course, but here it is on Little Bytham, where after some minor attention it ran very well.

 

 

 

My thanks to Tony and Mo for their warm welcome and hospitality.

Edited September 22, 2018 by jwealleans

[PenrithBeacon]

David,

 

in the absence of a reply (as far as I can see) from any of the NER/LNER experts, I found this;

 

"1903 Westm. Gaz. 14 Jan. 5/1 We have ‘tranship’, or road-vans, specially appointed to work on branches and at stations where there is not the heavy traffic. These take goods from a certain starting-point to be delivered at a number of roadside stations."

 

The LNWR didn't call them the same but had NCPS vans with five compartments, each with it's own double doors, whereby parcels could be unloaded at specific stations or added for others designated destinations.

 

Jol

Thanks for that, Jol. IIRC there is an example of one of these at Pickering on the NYMR and I have often wondered what it was used for. Now I know, thanks.

 

Presumably they were used for the larger items that wouldn't fit into the passenger brake or were too heavy for the passenger brake but needed the enhanced protection that a van afforded.

 

Regards

[jwealleans]

The van at Pickering (below) is a Stores van, to diagram H3. It was part of a train which toured the NER bringing supplies of consumables to stations. There's another in very poor condition at Beamish.

 

 

 

The bogie Road Van had double side doors and roof doors. I believe these worked regular diagrams between major goods transhipment points. Under the LNER some did go into general goods traffic.

 

Edited October 26, 2018 by jwealleans

[jwealleans]

I spent a lot of last week lettering containers and much of the weekend securing them, so tonight it was time for a test run. I've got four of the eventual six more or less complete. I've also lettered the GC open while the transfers were out.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2018 by jwealleans

[jwealleans]

Last of the securing chains attached this evening. Before I paint everything black, here's a look at how I did it and the parts used.

 

 

Chain is from Ambis, CL40 40 lpi. Turnbuckles are also Ambis, ref. CS2. The ring is bent up from .33 wire round a drill and cut off then soldered closed once the turnbuckle is inside. All the bits are attached using very thin copper wire which I took out of an offcut of mains flex. There's a loop on the ring at the bottom of the turnbuckle with a long tail twisted up on it. That goes through a hole in the wagon floor and is then pulled taut while a drop of cyano is applied to hold it. Once it's set then the eyes on the corners of the container can be bent gently back to make it all fully taut. The idea and direction for the bits came from Mick Moore, whose article in MRJ 177 is well worth a read.

 

I've also added the chains to the LSWR bogie bolster some of you may have seen on Tony Wright's thread. These are Roxey components and Slaters chain secured in a similar way but allowed to fall and spread as if an attempt has been made to stow them but a bit of a half-hearted one.

 

 

All these now await weathering in due course.

Edited October 26, 2018 by jwealleans

[jwealleans]

Following on from the Road Van query on the previous page, here is one of the bogie examples.

 

 

G7 Road Van, another of Danny's. The thing is basically built as you can see, but now needs the strapping adding and then the whitemetal castings. The instructions suggest doing the strapping while the sides are in the flat, but I think it's less likely to be damaged this way. It also means I complete the soldering before I get the cyano near it.

Edited September 22, 2018 by jwealleans

[Barry O]

very nice JW.

[jwealleans]

Cheers, Baz. Right, we're about there after another good session at the bench.

 

 

Roof needs to be attached and detailed, bit of general cleaning up and it's into Red Oxide with it. I've added the works plates and the curved one over the handbrake wheel, they aren't in the kit. Curiously there are no coupling plates either, so I'll have to find some of those.

Edited September 22, 2018 by jwealleans

[jwealleans]

Roof is now on and the sliders fitted. One of them has not cast properly so I may ditch that and make up my own from Evergreen strip. Just the lath and canvas doors to make up now.

 

 

Continuing the NER theme but back to my own stock for Grantham, a 4 wheel CCT. Someone pointed out to me that one of these ran regularly in the Scotch Goods in the 1930s. It is visible in a number of photographs I've seen, so we shall be having one. I've had the kit, by Roger Chivers, for a long time via Ebay and it went together pretty much completely on Friday night. It's a nice little thing and like most of that range, it's a shame they're not presently available.

 

 

Today has been finishing and detailing. I've replaced most of the castings. The axleboxes are 51L NER wagon boxes mounted upside down. The springs are from the kit. The buffers are also 51L NER wagon ones - the supplied ones were cut down in the same manner as the bogie CCTs and these vans had smaller, round buffers. Brake bits from the Mainly Trains etch and bits of wire.

 

 

On the end I've added latching to the end door, lamp irons, bottom door bumpers and the vac and steam heat pipes. There was no roof in the kit so one has been made and is curing.

 

Finally I found some GN axleboxes while looking for something for the CCT so I added them to the GNSR brake van.

 

 

The springs should be on J hangers, but I had to really scrutinise the photos to see that and I reckon with the stepboards on and painted black it'll be very hard to tell, so I left them as they were. This only needs buffers sourcing now and it can be finished off.

Edited September 22, 2018 by jwealleans

[jwealleans]

Bit of a stock fettling session on Grantham today: just a couple of shots of recent workbench items:

 

Conflats heading south from Aberdeen or somewhere similar.

 

 

4 wheel CCT, now with roof, being tested in the same train.

 

Edited October 26, 2018 by jwealleans