Runner/match wagon for industrial shunter - any photos?

[Firecracker]

Right, I’m in need of a little prototype inspiration here. Recently acquired a Hornby Sentinel 0-4-0 shunter that’s been DCC’d by myself. However, it doesn’t like my point work. I have tried a stay alive, but it struggles to keep up at slow speeds. Cunning plan is add a runner with extra pickups, I’ve furtled my library and google to draw a blank on a prototype. Anyone got any photos of one out there in the wild? Ideally an industrial prototype, I’ve got dozens of photos of 03’s and 04’s with conflats. I do have somewhere a spare steelworks charging bogie (forgotten manufacturer, whitemetal kit) which if I can bash kaydees into might emerge.

 

To add a little info, the loco is running on a model of a fictional preserved railway (a runner is justified because I’ve assumed they use track circuits for detection in the station throat). Part of me says take the easy route and a conflat or low sided open, but I’d like to be able to point to a prototype.

 

Thanks in advance

Owain

[25901]

How about using a brake van or PW wagon if it's based on a preserved railway. The one we used years ago always seem to have a flat wagon coupled to it full of junk

[Firecracker]

Yes, that’s roughly what I’m thinking. It wants to be a flat, shortish. Here’s the steelworks bogie I mentioned above (whitemetal kit, not sure of make). I quite like it, I think I’ll end up swapping the buffers and it’s going to be fun to fit kaydees. Also with a lower floor, I can see this getting laden with tools and junk.

 

Owain

[vince minto]

hows about one of these 

 

barrier wagon at booths yard 29-2-2008

 

 

Cheers

Vince

[The Johnster]

You'd never get away with modelling that!

 

A preserved railway might use just about anything as a track circuit runner; the question is whether it would be using track circuits but there's no reason it wouldn't, and Rule 1 is justified anyway in this case.  Even a body-less wagon chassis might be pressed into service, but most likely is a lowfit or similar which can carry tools, bits and pieces, and be used for rubbish bin collection if needed as well.  

 

I'd suggest having it at the 'bunker' end of the Sentinel, where it will improve the driver's sighting of staff going in between to couple up.  Sighting isn't a particularly weak point of Sentinels, but there's no harm in improving it!

[Firecracker]

Right, thanks to all. In no particular order, I had thought of a GW shunters truck, but they’re not terribly common in preservation and the railway is based on a real (albeit not reopened) location in the NW, so that seemed to be pushing rule 1 a bit too far. With a bit of thought, I decided that they’d probably use something with as low a floor as possible, so stuff can be easily loaded (imagine you’re a volunteer and you’ve got 6 sleepers to shift. Find a driver, fire up the sentinel and get the bobby to allow you to trundle about in station limits, or manhandle them on a trolley? Then there’s the random stuff that might want shifting about, ladders, paint, materials for the latest building project, a mower to keep the line side under control, the remains of the tree that blew down over the winter...). Yes, it’s going on the short bonnet end, that was just posed to see if it worked. The wagon seems to be based on a prototype from Skinningrove, so it’s possible it could have survived and moved across the country. Also something like that with no apparent springing wouldn’t be suitable for use as anything other than a works wagon and I can’t imagine that sentinel would go fast enough for no springs to be an issue. Clarke kits does ring a bell, I’ve got another somewhere without the roll chocks, just got to find the little tinker. That wagon at booths might have to be modelled on general principles, I love it!

 

I’ve assumed the railway uses track circuits for detection because the south end of the station is single track (on a double track formation) with the second line forming the yard headshunt and access to the (offstage) MPD. Since the signal box is at the opposite end of the station and the track curves at the south end, I’ve assumed track curcuits for interlocking with the ground signal controlling the MPD exit and trap also the release of the ground frame controlling the yard entry (all based on Grosmont and New Bridge on the NYMR).

 

Anyway, thanks to all again.

 

Owain

[The Johnster]

You seem to be thinking along the right lines, Owain, track circuits because of movements out of sight of the box, and a low sided wagon for moving stuff about.  

[hmrspaul]

hows about one of these 

 

barrier wagon at booths yard 29-2-2008

 

BARRIER WGN CF BOOTHS 29-2-08.JPG

 

Cheers

Vince

i think that is a great example! Playing right into the "that would never have existed" crowd!

 

I've looked at my collection of internal users but can't find much to help   A possible https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/internaluser/eb300766f

 

there are several simply bodyless frames such as https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/internaluser/eeb94a18 https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/internaluser/eb112714d

 

Not from a private site, but Derby works had some unusual runners on BR mineral wagon frames https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/internal02xxxxlmr/e3d497a59 https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/internal02xxxxlmr/e3b288548    https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/internal02xxxxlmr/e212b1ed9

 

Just some ideas

 

Paul

[Nearholmer]

Don't steelworks use reach wagons to get the loco away from molten-metal cars? Thats one of the few 'industrial runners' that I can think of. Can't check, because my steelworks photos are nowhere to be found right now, but someone here will confirm/deny.

[Firecracker]

Thanks again - those photos of the Derby works stuff are very useful - don’t know why google didn’t throw those up in my searching.

 

Owain

[hmrspaul]

Thanks again - those photos of the Derby works stuff are very useful - don’t know why google didn’t throw those up in my searching.

 

Owain

Because Google can overlook Zenfolio as it is not part of the Google set of companies. I found them hard enough to find and I knew they existed!

 

This finds quite a lot of runners, but they are of many types. https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/?q=runner

 

There are quite a lot of the type of reach runner used at Scunthorpe mentioned by "Nearholmer" - for example https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/scunthorpebsccorus/e6da6a102  https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/scunthorpebsccorus/e60fe652d

 

Paul

[Nearholmer]

Those are exactly the ones I was talking about.

[Gordon A]

hows about one of these 

 

barrier wagon at booths yard 29-2-2008

 

BARRIER WGN CF BOOTHS 29-2-08.JPG

 

Cheers

Vince

 

What an interesting wagon. I wonder who built it if not Booths?

The chassis looks like it is a coach bogie.

The wagon at the near end has retractable coach buffers. It appears the buffers are pulled out, but I cannot see any saddles sat on the buffer shafts.

The body looks as if it could be a chopped off end from a coach with a draw hook equipped with a buckeye?

Also the shape of the buffer beam.

Interesting that the brake gear appears to be intact and that the wagon has been fitted with air pipes.

The upper section has been given a coat of primer maybe indicating that this wagon was not lashed together for a one off move.

 

Gordon A

[Mark Saunders]

What an interesting wagon. I wonder who built it if not Booths?

The chassis looks like it is a coach bogie.

The wagon at the near end has retractable coach buffers. It appears the buffers are pulled out, but I cannot see any saddles sat on the buffer shafts.

The body looks as if it could be a chopped off end from a coach with a draw hook equipped with a buckeye?

Also the shape of the buffer beam.

Interesting that the brake gear appears to be intact and that the wagon has been fitted with air pipes.

The upper section has been given a coat of primer maybe indicating that this wagon was not lashed together for a one off move.

 

Gordon A

 

It a the headstocks and part of the chassis mounted on a B4 bogie hence all the brake pipes and retractable buffers are intact . it is a well made conversion to produce an adaptor wagon for moving Buckeye only stock , EMU' being the main ones with non drop ones on intermediate vehicles.