Presflo early livery

[Guest Jack Benson]

Hi,

 

Whilst looking for images of goods working on BR(S), the Presflo hopper wagon was a surprise discovery amongst general goods trains, unfortunately most images were partial and b&w. What was the livery of the Presflo at introduction?
 

Any more information about these wagons would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you

 

Cheers and stay safe

[Aire Head]

Presumably as a fitted wagon they were just in plain Bauxite covered liberally in dust.

[Porcy Mane]

A large number of Blue Circle Presflo block workings originated on the Southern Region from places like Cliffe & Holbrough so seeing a few of them in rakes of wagons should come as no surprise.

 

Early Blue Circle Presflos were yellow with later builds being grey. BR Presflos were bauxite but comparing colour photos of ex works Presflos shows different manufactures interpretation of bauxite initially varied quite wildly.

 

A look through Mr Bartletts pics might be worthwhile.

[Wickham Green too]

3 hours ago, Porcy Mane said:

......... different manufactures interpretation of bauxite initially varied quite wildly. ....

..... maybe different film manufacturers interpretation of bauxite too !!?!

[Fat Controller]

3 hours ago, Porcy Mane said:

A large number of Blue Circle Presflo block workings originated on the Southern Region from places like Cliffe & Holbrough so seeing a few of them in rakes of wagons should come as no surprise.

 

Early Blue Circle Presflos were yellow with later builds being grey. BR Presflos were bauxite but comparing colour photos of ex works Presflos shows different manufactures interpretation of bauxite initially varied quite wildly.

 

A look through Mr Bartletts pics might be worthwhile.

A lot could be  down to how the painting spec was interpreted. It should be primer; undercoat and two gloss coats on steelwork, but I've known the second gloss coat to be skipped. 

Regarding Presflos in the New Forest and Dorset; Poole used to have two Blue Circle depots. One was next to the station, the other on the Hamworthy branch. Why this should be, I don't know. I have seen a photo (in R Hendry's 'British Railways Goods Wagons in Colour, I think) of a Presflo stopped at Brockenhurst for repair.  

[Guest Jack Benson]

Poole Town yard, I once spent part of a summer school holiday shifting cement bags - no H&S or age checks.  The image was part of Dad's Poole collection possibly late 60s, now obilterated by a flyover. Can't see any Presflos.

 

[spamcan61]

6 minutes ago, Jack Benson said:

 The image was part of Dad's Poole collection possibly late 60s, now obilterated by a flyover. Can't see any Presflos.

 

 

Wow, thanks for posting, lots of interesting details in that photo.

[Fat Controller]

2 minutes ago, Jack Benson said:

Poole Town yard, I once spent part of a summer school holiday shifting cement bags - no H&S or age checks.  The image was part of Dad's Poole collection possibly late 60s, now obilterated by a flyover. Can't see any Presflos.

 

Nice photo. I'd say the photo was sometime after the mid-1970s, as the Presflos have been replaced by air-braked depressed centre tankers. There's a good selection of Blue Circle road vehicles as well. There's not much other traffic though; the mixed bag of other wagons look to be on the 'Cripple Road', either awaiting repairs, or transporting supplies, such as brake-blocks and wheel sets.

I've done a fair bit of humping cement bags, as my knees and back will testify; we used to get them direct from Aberthaw, and they would still be hot to the touch.

[Porcy Mane]

2 hours ago, Jack Benson said:

Can't see any Presflos.

 

Plenty to be seen here:

 

https://flic.kr/p/VBYE9T

 

and here:

 

https://flic.kr/p/VBYFxK

 

Then there's this:

 

 

 

Also this:

 

https://flic.kr/p/cTjfg3

 

P

 

 

Edited June 13, 2020 by Porcy Mane

[Rivercider]

In a Southern Region West Country context I wonder if a single presflo in a general goods train might be heading to or from Delabole for conveying slate dust?

 

cheers

[cctransuk]

On 12/06/2020 at 12:22, Porcy Mane said:

A large number of Blue Circle Presflo block workings originated on the Southern Region from places like Cliffe & Holbrough so seeing a few of them in rakes of wagons should come as no surprise.

 

Early Blue Circle Presflos were yellow with later builds being grey. BR Presflos were bauxite but comparing colour photos of ex works Presflos shows different manufactures interpretation of bauxite initially varied quite wildly.

 

A look through Mr Bartletts pics might be worthwhile.

 

It has been stated in more than one authoritive publication that, where the working environment / load would be more aggressive, BR applied a more stringent painting specification to hopper wagons; eg. PRESFLO, PRESTWIN, COVHOP, etc.

 

This apparently resulted in a deeper, more maroon shade of bauxite, and this is borne out by ex-works photos from that period.

 

John Isherwood.

[Chuffed 1]

A bit late to the party but I remember taking an interest in Presfloes after buying my first Airfix kit circa 1966.

Going past the APCM at Stone Crossing Halt by then only the odd one was in yellow, most were grey but there was the odd bauxite one knocking around.

 

A few months later and there were no yellow ones anymore.

[Sabato]

Riversider Posted June 14, 2020

In a Southern Region West Country context I wonder if a single presflo in a general goods train might be heading to or from Delabole for conveying slate dust?

 

In the early '70s,  I saw and photographed a single Presflo in Wadebridge goods yard. In my memory it was fairly black in colour, or was that just slate dust? It was branded to carry slate dust, and at the time I wondered if it was intended for use as sanding material on diesel locos. Subsequently discovered it was bound for places up country for making 78 records, finishing rubber, and some was even  exported to India. 

 

By the time I saw it I believe the dust came by road to Wadebridge to be loaded into the Presflos.

 

The photo? Ah, well, I was using a pocket sized pre-war Zeiss, and when I got back to where I was staying the camera was not on my person. Somewhere on the four mile  cross country walk it had slipped from my pocket. It pains me even now to think about it.

[cctransuk]

51 minutes ago, Sabato said:

Riversider Posted June 14, 2020

In a Southern Region West Country context I wonder if a single presflo in a general goods train might be heading to or from Delabole for conveying slate dust?

 

In the early '70s,  I saw and photographed a single Presflo in Wadebridge goods yard. In my memory it was fairly black in colour, or was that just slate dust? It was branded to carry slate dust, and at the time I wondered if it was intended for use as sanding material on diesel locos. Subsequently discovered it was bound for places up country for making 78 records, finishing rubber, and some was even  exported to India. 

 

By the time I saw it I believe the dust came by road to Wadebridge to be loaded into the Presflos.

 

The photo? Ah, well, I was using a pocket sized pre-war Zeiss, and when I got back to where I was staying the camera was not on my person. Somewhere on the four mile  cross country walk it had slipped from my pocket. It pains me even now to think about it.

 

Many (all?) of the dedicated Delafilla / slate dust PRESFLOs were the ex-ICI salt wagons and, as such, were still painted in ICI Transport Blue; (virtually identical to BR blue). It is likely that, by that time, they had become darker as a consequence of the slate dust load.

 

CJI.

[Mike_Walker]

15 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

Many (all?) of the dedicated Delafilla / slate dust PRESFLOs were the ex-ICI salt wagons and, as such, were still painted in ICI Transport Blue; (virtually identical to BR blue). It is likely that, by that time, they had become darker as a consequence of the slate dust load.

 

CJI.

Does that mean the Kernow limited edition bauxite Delabole slate Presflos are wrong? 

[cctransuk]

4 hours ago, Mike_Walker said:

Does that mean the Kernow limited edition bauxite Delabole slate Presflos are wrong? 

 

I did say many (all?).

 

CJI.

[hmrspaul]

7 hours ago, Mike_Walker said:

Does that mean the Kernow limited edition bauxite Delabole slate Presflos are wrong? 

This has been discussed before, Kernow have a photo that shows one in freight stock red. 

 

Paul

https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/presfloslate

[Hal Nail]

Rather than start a new thread, I'm looking at presflos, as built up to mid 60s, so generally a shade before many of Paul's photos, although I know there are a few on there.

 

Were the parallel shank type buffers more prevalent originally and Oleos are replacements or were different batches built with either type?

 

Certainly the older photos I've seen are the parallel shank type but it's only a handful and Bolster Es were new with Oleos in the early 60s when some Presflos were being built.

[hmrspaul]

10 hours ago, Hal Nail said:

Rather than start a new thread, I'm looking at presflos, as built up to mid 60s, so generally a shade before many of Paul's photos, although I know there are a few on there.

 

Were the parallel shank type buffers more prevalent originally and Oleos are replacements or were different batches built with either type?

 

Certainly the older photos I've seen are the parallel shank type but it's only a handful and Bolster Es were new with Oleos in the early 60s when some Presflos were being built.

Straight shank Oleos came about 1957 but the main use, for reasons beyond reason, was on single bolsters. 

What the more conventional hydraulics came a bit later. So batch by batch wagons had improved buffing. And, of course, the roller bearings were also a late use for these wagons, with back dating of the earlier batches which had plain bearings when new. Plenty of early photos of Presflos are around. And there was no consistence batch for batch on what they were called - BULK CEMENT, PRESFLO etc. 

As mentioned the privately owned ones were different, as were most of the ICI twin tanks as transferred to Delabole. 

 

And yes they had an extra layer of paint, so being a 'stronger' red at the end - reds being impossible colours to reproduce accurately anyway. 

 

Paul

[Hal Nail]

16 minutes ago, hmrspaul said:

Straight shank Oleos came about 1957 but the main use, for reasons beyond reason, was on single bolsters. 

What the more conventional hydraulics came a bit later. So batch by batch wagons had improved buffing. And, of course, the roller bearings were also a late use for these wagons, with back dating of the earlier batches which had plain bearings when new. Plenty of early photos of Presflos are around. And there was no consistence batch for batch on what they were called - BULK CEMENT, PRESFLO etc. 

As mentioned the privately owned ones were different, as were most of the ICI twin tanks as transferred to Delabole. 

 

And yes they had an extra layer of paint, so being a 'stronger' red at the end - reds being impossible colours to reproduce accurately anyway. 

 

Paul

Thanks Paul.

I've got a couple of Ellis Clark ones and looking to tweak them slightly just for variety reall. I had forgotten about the axle boxes until your reminder.