Southern Railway Ferry Wagon Buffers - A new Fetish...

[The Bigbee Line]

I seem to have developed a 'Buffer Fetish', firstly in respect to the projection of buffers on fitted and un-fitted vehicles.  then it was 'droopy buffers' and their elimination.   The most recent has been the diameter of the buffer face.....

 

So when looking through books I always dwell on a nice pair of buffers, so before this turns into the script for a 'carry on' film. I will get to the point...

 

When the Dover - Dunkerque Train Ferry was opened in the 1930's the Southern Railway converted some 'ordinary wagons' for running to Europe via the Train Ferry.  Looking at various pictures and referring to the excellent book - An Illustrated History of Southern Wagons, Volume Four, I think the 'ferry wagons' were fitted with larger diameter faces and at the same time the projection was increased to account for the screw couplings fitted (They seem to have been Vacuum fitted at the same time, with a through pipe for the Westinghouse Air Brake)

 

30 unfitted Dia.1379 opens were converted for Ferry use and given Dia.1387, 12 Ton Open Goods.  Apart from buffers, the changes were addition of Vacuum Brakes, axle guard tie bars, an AB through pipe, safety chains, two lamp irons and inscriptions (lettering) to suit the Ferry Use.

 

This a non Ferry buffer                                                        This is the Ferry version

 

                

 

 

20 unfitted Dia.1388 opens, 20 Ton Open Goods, followed, the test says they were converted from Dia.1379. 12 Ton Open Goods. Were these really converted from these or maybe they were converted from Dia.1936 20 Ton Minerals?????  Apart from their provenance, the modification included the addition of Vacuum Brakes, an AB through pipe, safety chains, two lamp irons and inscriptions (lettering) to suit the Ferry Use.

 

Both types were fitted with sheet bars before nationalisation.

 

The Southern Railway also converted 100 12 Ton Vans for Ferry use,  100 unfitted Dia.1428 were converted to Dia.1430.  Apart from buffers, the changes were addition of Vacuum brakes, axleguard tie bars, an AB through pipe, safety chains, two lamp irons, additional side vents and inscriptions (lettering) to suit the Ferry Use.

 

This a non Ferry buffer                                                        This is the Ferry version

 

           

 

Other than the size of the buffer head, it is interesting that they converted 9' wheelbase rather than 10' wheelbase wagons.  I wonder what the logic was of that decision....

 

Any pictures or information on these would be appreciated, especially if they lingered into the early 1960's...

 

On the Ferry Wagon subject, there were other vehicles fitted for such work; LOWMAC, CARFIT C, RECTANK, WELTROL, CATTLE..  What others had fittings to enable Ferry use?

 

[Fat Controller]

Ernie,

This was on the Barrowmere site:- http://www.barrowmoremrg.co.uk/BRBDocuments/BRFerryVehiclesIssue.pdf 

I wonder why they had to put a specific interdiction on the Hungarian bogie van to stop it being sent to Trimsaran...?

[The Bigbee Line]

Brian,

 

Thanks,

 

Browsing the pages made me quite nostalgic.  In my time as an Inspector in the 1980's I had to check out an import load on the Rectank.  It was a nautical buoy of some kind if I remember rightly.  No pictures taken which is a real shame.  It wasn't big enough to qualify as an 'Exceptional Load' just being signed off as 'Load Examined'...

 

Best regards

 

Ernie

[The Johnster]

On a visit to a friend who was studying (as far as I could tell what he was studying was young women) in Paris in 1973, after a night on the town, we walked back to his flat in the northern suburbs on one warm summer night, having 'dined well but not wisely'.  The long straight road that we made our much less straight path along ran parallel to and on the west of the Nord main line (this is a part of town you definitely wouldn't want to be walking through at night nowadays!), and we passed an extensive area of carriage sidings separated from us by an annoying, view blocking, high wall.  They're probably all gone now.  

 

After a while we came to a gate which offered a view inside.  There was the eclectic selection of SNCF passenger stock you'd expect from the period, covering a period of perhaps 30 or 40 years, but the prize contender, near the gate, was a Southern Railway 'ferry' PMV, identified by the anchor, branded 'Not To Work Between Kensington Olympia And North Pole'.  

 

A moment of true and unadulterated bliss!  The sheer surreality of such a thing!  Wonderful!

 

 

 

[SteveyDee68]

Stumbled upon via an RMWeb search engine result, and hoping the author might be able to restore the missing images.

 

Steve S