North British wagon- solebar ironwork detail

[sir douglas]

hi, im currently working on an NB 8 plank but there is one thing i don't know about and not shown in photos or drawings from books. On the solebar, at the top of the left hand W iron (as your are looking at from either side) what would normally be a C shaped iron is instead a straight strap with bulges at the ends which i dont know if these are loops or hooks,

 

photo from an LNER wagon book

Edited February 13, 2021 by sir douglas

[Western Star]

I believe that the fitting is a double ended horse hook.

[Nick Holliday]

It would have helped if you'd highlighted the bit you were interested in, as your description was a bit vague, but I am pretty sure Western Star is right, it is a horse hook. There is no need for the C shaped piece of ironwork, as the solebar is steel, and the C is a washer plate for the bolts holding the axle guide, not required with a steel or flitch plated solebar.  On wooden framed wagons the horse hook was combined with the C plate, located, as here, only at the left hand end of a wagon. There are dozens of good photos and three drawings of the device in John Hooper's Irwell Press book.

[Compound2632]

I agree with my learned colleagues. The only thing I would add, which is admittedly not very relevant, is that the C-shaped washer plate used on wood-framed wagons is usually called a crown plate, the corresponding curved part of the axleguard or W-iron being the crown. I've never come across a term for the corresponding washer plates for what I believe are called the wings of the axleguard.

[DOCJACOB]

Might be horse hook but seems an odd position/shape to me from my limited NBR knowledge. 
 

Need to get books out and get back to you. 

[Compound2632]

I note that the Wizard Models kit NBRD097 for the D97 mineral wagon replicates this feature.

 

Looking through J. Hooper, Wagons on the LNER: North British (Irwell Press, 1991) I see that it is a standard feature, even on wagons with unflitched wooden solebars. In this case the top nut and bolt for the crown of the axleguard has its own washer. On some older wagons, there is an alternative arrangement of a bar bolted across the bottom of the crown plate, i.e. sharing its blots. There's no doubt it's a horse hook (I can't see why either its position or shape are odd.) It's certainly not a sheet tie cleat, as there's only the one of it and it appears on wagons where tie cleats under the side-rail are visible. 

[Nick Holliday]

Just for the record, a snippet from one of the drawings in Hooper's book, showing the horse hook in detail. 

[DOCJACOB]

Accept correction, been on books and was going to submit same image. Interestingly though horse hooks came in both inside and outside versions hence my shape comment. 
 

Position did vary as NBR Hopper Wagons had positioned centrally 
 

 

[sir douglas]

it is a wooden chassis and the other end does have a crown plate, but thanks for the info