Southern Railway weed killing train

[Lord Nelson]

Somewhere in the thread on the Genesis and Hornby 4 and 6 wheel coaches are some photos of a 1937 SR weed killing train composed of a modified 6 wheel passenger brake and 6 old tenders. I thought this would be an interesting modelling challenge. Thanks to Tony Seal (ex 3mm Society) I was able to find some more prototype information and photos. The attached photos show my 4mm scale (OO) representation of the train. 

 

The van, as per prototype, is a modified SECR 6 wheel passenger brake van, with duckets at both ends, made from a Branchlines brass kit. The tenders are 4 ex-SECR O1 tenders and 2 ex-LSWR Adams tenders from Golden Arrow Productions resin kits. The build includes quite a few 3D printed items (e.g. pipe fittings, valves) produced by friends in the Risborough & District Model Railway Club (RDMRC).

 

If you want to see the model in the flesh you’ll find it on the RDMRC stand at Railex, Aylesbury on 27-28 May : http://www.railex.org.uk/

 

Roy

 

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2023 by Lord Nelson
Correcting auto correct!

[melmoth]

There's a good published photo of this train at Swanage in the late 50s (?) in BR livery somewhere, but I can't put my finger on it right now.

[Lord Nelson]

I think that is a later version - there were many. My variant represents the train in these photographs:-

https://twitter.com/TurnipRail/status/1357244251382439936?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1357244251382439936|twgr^062efe934e3bf4ea22eca2de435e50dc651e8272|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rmweb.co.uk%2Findex.php%3Fapp%3Dcoremodule%3Dsystemcontroller%3Dembedurl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FTurnipRail%2Fstatus%2F1357244251382439936

 

[Mallard60022]

Blimey, that's a good looking project.

Phil

[Mallard60022]

Don't suppose anyone knows what the late 50s early 60s version looked like, especially west of Yeovil area.

Thanks.

[Lord Nelson]

There are a number of weed killing train threads on RMWeb but unfortunately many (all?) of the photos were lost in the IT crash. A search of the web shows there was quite a lot of regional variation and post-nationalisation the Southern PLVs were a popular choice for the vans. Examples: 

https://blog.railwaymuseum.org.uk/a-weed-or-not-a-weed/

https://www.anistr.com/-/galleries/railway-images-galleries/photos-of-british-railways-1948-1968/br-coaches-and-wagons-and-other-rolling-stock#media_62343234-2652-4cda-a6d4-38002fc1caff

 

Roy