webbcompound Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 (edited) As a side project I'm working on a small 4mm scale layout/diorama depicting the work of the Royal Engineer Railway Units in Western France after Dunkirk. The first pieces to get anywhere near completion are vehicles of the 105 Railway Workshop Co. Two mobile railway workshops were operating in the Normandy and Brittany area and one of them was under the command of 2Lieut William Stanier, son of the LMS CME. The interiors of the workshop and the generator car are finished, next step will be the raised sides of the workshop van. Edited April 13, 2020 by webbcompound 13 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Cane Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 Very nice models. I have built this set of vehicles in 4mm scale, but just the much easier option of only the exterior. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webbcompound Posted April 14, 2020 Author Share Posted April 14, 2020 17 minutes ago, Tony Cane said: Very nice models. I have built this set of vehicles in 4mm scale, but just the much easier option of only the exterior. I thought about doing that, but since they probably spent more time in action (ie static) not being moved I went for the static option. I actually then realised that the open sides would be by far the most difficult bit as both the inside and outside would be visible. In the end I have settled on a three layer sandwich, with thin skins having the windows, and a thicker transparent side piece sandwiched between them to give rigidity. Are yours a display item, or are they running on a layout? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Cane Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 My set runs on a layout with permanent couplings between the vehicles. I will shortly be adding the fourth van to represent the 1944 version of the train for a new layout base on the exchange sidings for the Longmoor Railway at Liss. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Cane Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 While re watching some WWII railway videos the image below popped up, which may be of use. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webbcompound Posted April 16, 2020 Author Share Posted April 16, 2020 (edited) Excellent image. Unfortunately it shows that the fold down floor is NOT part of the side panel. The fold up side pael covers the fold down floor. Now I have to completely remake the sides, with all those windows. AArgh! Maybe I can get away with reworking them. It is worth a try. # Edited April 16, 2020 by webbcompound 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Cane Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 No, the sides do not overlap the floor drop down section. There are pins that come through the bottom section to hold it in place, and the upper side would not lie vertical if it over lapped. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burgundy Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 (edited) Out of curiosity, I tried googling 105 Railway Workshop Company and nothing comes up. It is also not listed in the list of RE units. Is there any more detail please? What were they doing in western France, did they get home, or did they end up "in the bag"? Best wishes Eric Edited April 16, 2020 by burgundy finger trouble 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 Fascinating! I was aware of the WW1 WDLR workshop trains, but not this later big brother. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Cane Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 A further image of the workshop with the sides raised. If you wish to see the original put HS5229 in the search on the Gettyimages web site. You can see the pins on the vertical angle iron roof supports, and the chains with the securing pins dangling down. The segments of the upper sides rest in the "V" of the angle iron, actually "T" shaped, the edge of this is visible when the sides are closed 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Darius43 Posted April 16, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 16, 2020 6 minutes ago, Tony Cane said: A further image of the workshop with the sides raised. If you wish to see the original put HS5229 in the search on the Gettyimages web site. You can see the pins on the vertical angle iron roof supports, and the chains with the securing pins dangling down. The segments of the upper sides rest in the "V" of the angle iron, actually "T" shaped, the edge of this is visible when the sides are closed Great photo with the “men from the ministry” wearing their bowler hats. Cheers Darius 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webbcompound Posted April 16, 2020 Author Share Posted April 16, 2020 1 hour ago, Tony Cane said: No, the sides do not overlap the floor drop down section. There are pins that come through the bottom section to hold it in place, and the upper side would not lie vertical if it over lapped. This is what I thought, but I was slightly distracted by the apparent colour of the lower section. I have shown the pins on the angle iron uprights, and the holes in the footboard. I need to add the short chains which fastened through the pins in the closed position, but which hung down underneath the panels when they were open. Alsohave the brackets to take the stay rods which hold the upper panels up. I have yet to make the rods. I have the photo of the top brass visit which is in a 1940 railway journal along with several shots of the interior. I found it in the NRM archive. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webbcompound Posted April 16, 2020 Author Share Posted April 16, 2020 1 hour ago, burgundy said: Out of curiosity, I tried googling 105 Railway Workshop Company and nothing comes up. It is also not listed in the list of RE units. Is there any more detail please? What were they doing in western France, did they get home, or did they end up "in the bag"? Best wishes Eric Mistyped it! Should be 155 Ry Wksp Co. No2 Workshop men were evacuated through St Malo. No1 Workshop was at St Nazaire. They are not listed amongst the units lost on Lancastria so should have got home. No1 was under the command of 2Lieut William Stanier, son of the LMS CME, so there may be some biographical info on him somewhere. He would appear to have survived the war as he isn't on the CWG lists. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium petethemole Posted April 16, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 16, 2020 Some info about them here: http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/155-railway-workshop-company-royal-engineers.46247/ The member that posted pages of the war diary apparently has more. If you joined you could contact him. The unit went to Persia/Iran to work on the rail route to Russia. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Clive Mortimore Posted April 16, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 16, 2020 This looks like an interesting project. It is nice to see something regarding the second BEF which is often forgotten. Everyone know the story of the BEF and Dunkirk but few realise while evacuating the BEF we were still sending troops ( the second BEF) to France to help the French via the Normandy and Brittany ports and then having to withdraw them quickly when the French surrendered. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moggs Eye Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 3 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said: This looks like an interesting project. It is nice to see something regarding the second BEF which is often forgotten. Everyone know the story of the BEF and Dunkirk but few realise while evacuating the BEF we were still sending troops ( the second BEF) to France to help the French via the Normandy and Brittany ports and then having to withdraw them quickly when the French surrendered. Back in the days when the British Army was essentially self contained and packed with specialists who could sort pretty much anything. There are still some specialist RE troops, mainly reservists I think, who have some railway capability. https://www.army.mod.uk/who-we-are/corps-regiments-and-units/corps-of-royal-engineers/65-works-group/ 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now