Hornby LBSC Railway 20 Ton Brake Van

[markyb208]

Hi All,

 

A friend of mine is building a ficticious layout set in the early 1960s  located somewhere on the former LBSCR . I have two of the Hornby LBSCR 20 ton brake vans in LBSCR grey. Can anyone tell me how long these brake vans lasted before being scrapped please, and if they made it into the 60s, what colours they were painted?

 

I've had a look round on the web, but so far I've not been able to find much out.

 

Regards,

 

Mark

[Graham_Muz]

Mark

 

The Hornby LBSC Brake van is based on the 11 to LBSC diagram 50 that were built during 1923 similar to those produced in 1922 but with steel lower sheeting rather than fully planked sides. They became SR Diagram 1576 and certainly some lasted in to British Railways days although some were converted to departmental / ballast use.

They would have either stayed in faded SR brown, Red Oxide (SR departmental) or possibly might have ended up in BR Grey or BR departmental liveries. 

[Dunsignalling]

During the 1930s, seventeen of these vans were heavily rebuilt into ballast train brakes, leaving fourteen unaltered of which two were withdrawn before nationalization. The rest gradually disappeared through the 1950s leaving just one, referred to in Southern Wagons Volume 2 as follows:

 

"the last survivor in an unrebuilt state" [i.e. as per the Hornby model, my italics] was transferred to departmental service in April 1960.

 

A reference to the steel covering on the lower sides (in the caption to Plate 52) implies that it might have been a later addition. However, Graham's post indicates that the vans exactly as modelled by Hornby were even rarer than I thought

 

John

 

Edited in response to extra light shed in Post 2

Edited May 4, 2016 by Dunsignalling

[markyb208]

Graham/John,

 

Thanks very much for the replies. I rather thought if they did survive that long, they might have ended up in departmental liveries. I obviously need to see some photos of these brake vans, if only one made it unrebuilt into departmental use, then I'll have to have a think about what I do with the other. It's not my period of modelling, I've owned the two Hornby ones since the 80s when they were released as part of a project which was abandoned. I now model BR D & E in the sectorisation livery period. I'm a member of the EM Gauge Society, so I'll ask around if anyone has the book i need to look at.

 

Regards,

 

Mark

[peter204]

I was just about to ask the same question!  So my thanks as well for the replies above. 

 

Think I might add the sheet sheeting at the bottom (presumably a thin sheet of Plasticard would look right?) and paint in departmental livery.  How high up the side did the sheeting extend?

 

Regards, Peter 

[Steamport Southport]

Photo here may be of use.

 

https://twitter.com/salopianlyne/status/1173691526968414210

 

 

 

Jason

[peter204]

Thanks for that Jason - the photo is really useful. 

 

I assume from the caption to photo in your link that, prior to 1960, DS55907 would have been S55907 and would probably have been in freight grey.  Since my original post, I've discovered that Hornby did a version in BR grey, numbered S55926.  But I'm going to go with your 55907.  

 

Repainting it also gives the option of filling in the unsightly holes where it all clips together!

 

 Thanks again for the info,

 

Peter

[peter204]

13 hours ago, peter204 said:

Since my original post, I've discovered that Hornby did a version in BR grey, numbered S55926. 

 

...... and one numbered S55908.

[Guest Jack Benson]

Two pictures of a Diag 1576 brake, normally to be found at the end of some 40t hoppers.

 

Thank you Graham M for filling in the detail, I found this useful table online.

 

StaySafe