Midland D332

[IvoryGreen456]

Does anyone know of a suitable kit/scratch-aid etc. for a Midland D332?

 

Thanks in advance,

Jacob.

[Compound2632]

What do you suppose D332 to be? There is a gap in the surviving diagrams between D331, the one-off gun truck built to Drg. 3183 as lot 466 in 1899, and D333, the moderately numerous (for a special) traction wagons of Drg. 708, built 1887-97, mostly. 

[IvoryGreen456]

33 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

What do you suppose D332 to be? There is a gap in the surviving diagrams between D331, the one-off gun truck built to Drg. 3183 as lot 466 in 1899, and D333, the moderately numerous (for a special) traction wagons of Drg. 708, built 1887-97, mostly. 

The 40' bogie brake composites of Lot 69 as sold to the S&MR. 

 

Rolling stock isn't really a specialty of mine, apologies for being unclear.

 

Many thanks,

Jacob.

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, IvoryGreen456 said:

The 40' bogie brake composites of Lot 69 as sold to the S&MR. 

 

Rolling stock isn't really a specialty of mine, apologies for being unclear.

 

Many thanks,

Jacob.

 

Oh right, Drawing 332; diagram D263. These are carriages in which I am also very interested (as Midland vehicles, rather than S&M).

 

The Midland Railway Carriage & Wagon Committee minutes record, on 16 March 1911, the sale of two old bogie third class carriages at £125 each, two old bogie composites at £140 each, and two old passenger guard's vans at £69 each to Messrs R. White & Sons of Widnes; which is who the Col. Stephens Society website says the S&M got them from the following month.

 

Having looked very closely at the photo on the Col. Stephens Society website:

 

 

[Embedded link.]

 

I have to say that I think the identification of this composite (can't speak for the other one) as Drg. 332 is not quite right and in fact it is a better match for the rather elusive composites to Drg. 331, lots 17, 50,  and 58, 50 vehicles in all. These had three rather than two first class compartments, arranged T/F/F/F/T/Lug. (Note the widths of the blank panels between the compartment windows, also the luggage compartment looks too short, having only a single rather than a double panel between the double doors and the window of the adjacent compartment.) The window in the luggage compartment door is not original; in 1888 50 bogie composites were altered to brake composites by fitting the luggage compartment with handbrake etc.; carriages so modified had a droplight put in the left-hand door, so that the guard could see out; evidently this is one of those so modified. In 1895, 40 of the 50 Drg, 331 carriages had one first class compartment converted to third; in the photo we can see the "3" on the door of the compartment but one from the far end. These carriages were all built with wood-framed Pullman-style bogies but evidently these had been exchanged for iron-framed bogies by the time they were sold to Messrs White & Sons; presumably these were taken from other withdrawn carriages. [For all this, ref. R.E. Lacy & G. Dow, Midland Railway Carriages (Wild Swan, 1986) Vol. 1 pp. 79-83.]

 

I think those three sticking-up things on the edge of the roof are probably destination board brackets; the conversion to brake composite made these ideal vehicles for use as through coaches.

 

I don't know if you would count a drawing as a scratch-aid but Drg. 331 is in the Derby C&W collection at the Midland Railway Study Centre, item 88-D0175. I'm not sure if this one has yet been scanned but high-res scans have been made of drawings of similar carriages. It would be well worth getting in touch with Dave Harris, the Study Centre coordinator (contact details on the linked website). 

 

Please can I also direct you to my topic here, which I apologise does not (yet) contain any actual modelling:

 

 

Edited February 26, 2023 by Compound2632

[Wickham Green too]

10 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

... The Midland Railway Carriage & Wagon Committee minutes record, ..., the sale ... to Messrs R. White & Sons ...

Presumably not the lemonade guys !! 🍋

[Compound2632]

2 minutes ago, Wickham Green too said:

Presumably not the lemonade guys !! 🍋

 

Alas not - aerial ropeways and that sort of thing, rolling stock not a speciality: 

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/R._White_and_Sons

Evidently they were acting as agents for Col. Stephens; I wonder what connection he had with them? The Midland was selling off a lot of duplicate stock at this period but mostly to John F. Wake of Darlington, at first in partnership with the well-known wagon form R.Y. Pickering, later with E.E. Cornforth of Stoke-on-Trent; in 1919 Wake bought a batch of old carriages that he sold on to the Brecon & Merthyr Railway. The only direct sales of old carriages to another railway company were to the Midland & South Western Junction Railway and to the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway, both of which the Midland had a close interest in.

[Compound2632]

By the way, Jacob, Acton Burnell Castle is one of my very favourite English Heritage ruins, which I've visited from time to time ever since I was a small boy (we lived in Shrewsbury for a while around 1970).

[IvoryGreen456]

26 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

By the way, Jacob, Acton Burnell Castle is one of my very favourite English Heritage ruins, which I've visited from time to time ever since I was a small boy (we lived in Shrewsbury for a while around 1970).

Yes, it is quite lovely - especially on a nice day. Remarkably intact given the Parliament barn in close proximity.