LNWR Dia. 88 Vans

[Wickham Green too]

37 minutes ago, RapidoCorbs said:

The WD built some very similar vans during the Great War. ...

Unlikely the War Department actually built any - they were busy doing other things ........... looks like this one might have come from the Gloster Wagon Co - though there's no certainty that ANY fittings are original.

 

 

Ludgershall ; 26/9/87

[Compound2632]

18 minutes ago, Wickham Green too said:

Unlikely the War Department actually built any - they were busy doing other things ........... looks like this one might have come from the Gloster Wagon Co - though there's no certainty that ANY fittings are original.

 

What @RapidoCorbs means, of course, is that they were built by the trade to WD order.

[RapidoCorbs]

1 hour ago, Wickham Green too said:

Unlikely the War Department actually built any - they were busy doing other things

 

Can't think what they may have been up to!

[Bucoops]

7 minutes ago, RapidoCorbs said:

 

Can't think what they may have been up to!

 

Dropping in on naughty neighbours?

 

[Wickham Green too]

15 minutes ago, RapidoCorbs said:

Can't think what they may have been up to!

Whatever it was, they went back later and picked up this little souvenir : -

 

Ludgershall ; 26/9/87

[MarkSG]

On 26/10/2023 at 13:32, rapidoandy said:

Doh! An error has meant the advert has been run early. Oh well!

 

Indeed a D88 van is coming.

 

Aaaaagh! Yet another model that I can't say I've ever really wished for, but would nonetheless fit in very nicely on the layout! So far, I've already got, or pre-ordered, at least one of more than half the wagons announced by Rapido - that's a massively higher hit rate than any other manufacturer. At this rate, I'm going to spend all my savings on Rapido wagons. And that's before we even consider the locos.

 

Ah well. At least I don't buy buses.

[Compound2632]

3 minutes ago, MarkSG said:

So far, I've already got, or pre-ordered, at least one of more than half the wagons announced by Rapido - that's a massively higher hit rate than any other manufacturer.

 

One does hope that they are not proceeding at such a rate as to saturate the market!

[MarkSG]

2 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

One does hope that they are not proceeding at such a rate as to saturate the market!

 

They're certainly in danger of saturating me!

 

I think, though, that Rapido have accurately identified a market sector that works for them. That is, primarily steam era prototypes that are neither so obvious they've already been done by other manufacturers nor so obscure that hardly anyone will want one. And that just happens to be the sector that I model. So a very large proportion of Rapido's announcements are of products which would suit my current project. I'm sure that there are DEMU modellers who feel the same about every announcement from Cavalex and Accurascale, for example (although Accurascale are now encroaching on my territory as well, which is worrying for my bank balance). 

 

Eventually, I suppose, that seam will start to run out, and maybe then Rapido will start producing models that I'm not interested in as they swing towards a different market sector. But in the meantime there are still a lot of steam era prototypes that haven't yet been done in RTR form. Some GER wagons and brake vans, for example, and maybe an E4.... 🙂

[The Johnster]

3 hours ago, Bucoops said:

 

Dropping in on naughty neighbours?

 

 

So as to prevent the naughty neighbours from dropping in on us, so entirely justifiable...

 

 

12 minutes ago, MarkSG said:

 

I think, though, that Rapido have accurately identified a market sector that works for them. That is, primarily steam era prototypes that are neither so obvious they've already been done by other manufacturers nor so obscure that hardly anyone will want one. And that just happens to be the sector that I model.

 

It plays very well to my 1948-58 timeframe as well, with the possibility of stock in both early BR and late big 4 liveries, LMS in this case.  They're pitching their prices about right for quality products as well, vfm and not far enough beyond the reach of this impoverished pensioner to be firmly aspirational, especially as Rails are discounting them just enough to tempt me (not that I need a lot of tempting)...

 

My wallet is as nervous as a hippie going through Customs!

[MarkSG]

Next question - of the three in early BR condition, does anyone have any information about where they were most likely to have been seen?

[Wickham Green too]

To be absolutely precise ........

 

 

 

 

 

........ absolutely ANYWHERE !

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, MarkSG said:

nor so obscure that hardly anyone will want one.

 

But, on the other hand, we know of another manufacturer who specialises in obscure prototypes; there being enough people around who lack our puritanical self-discipline!

[JSpencer]

Definately 2 of these I will have. Now thinking about a 3rd in either LNWR or BR livery....

[57xx]

So the LMS grey livery... Does "pre 1936" mean:

1923-1929 grey

1929-1935 grey

1935-1936 grey 

 

🙂

Edited October 27, 2023 by 57xx

[RapidoCorbs]

Grey

[gwrrob]

9 hours ago, RapidoCorbs said:

Grey

 

SWMBO informs me there are 50 different shades apparently.

[No Decorum]

42 minutes ago, gwrrob said:

 

SWMBO informs me there are 50 different shades apparently.

Lucky old you!

[Compound2632]

10 hours ago, RapidoCorbs said:

Grey

 

Unless you are really insisting on representing a vehicle on its first day out of the paint shop, any shade of grey darker than light grey will do. 

[Buhar]

The range of variations planned is very welcome, though some are pretty subtle. I have ordered three from my local shop. The D1666 also generated three sales from him and I'm now assessing which RCH 1907s I want. I suspect that may be more than three, although Mike said he's not intending to stock too many of the range as a good number are far from local.

 

I hope my buying locally registers with Rapido in some way that encourages them to continue with developing models of accurate, interesting wagons.

 

Alan

[Mike_Walker]

This example was at Wallingford a couple of years ago but I think it might have been scrapped since.  I was told it was ex-Royal Navy.

 

[Compound2632]

A highly complementary statement by Mike Williams, the doyen of LNWR wagonistas, in response to a photo of undecorated samples on the LNWR Society Facebook Page, which I take the liberty of quoting in full:

 

"Very nice. I can see both canvas and steel roofs; hand brake and through piped; early and late axleboxes; early and late buffers (early buffer is on the van with late axleboxes but suspect that will be corrected); and the LNWR or LMS doors, short and long cantrail plates; orignal and LMS replacement bufferbeams. They've done their homework and gone to a lot of trouble."

[MarkSG]

47 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

A highly complementary statement by Mike Williams, the doyen of LNWR wagonistas, in response to a photo of undecorated samples on the LNWR Society Facebook Page, which I take the liberty of quoting in full:

 

"Very nice. I can see both canvas and steel roofs; hand brake and through piped; early and late axleboxes; early and late buffers (early buffer is on the van with late axleboxes but suspect that will be corrected); and the LNWR or LMS doors, short and long cantrail plates; orignal and LMS replacement bufferbeams. They've done their homework and gone to a lot of trouble."

 

Just out of interest, which is early and which is late when it comes to axleboxes and buffers? And is there an early/late distinction with the different types of roof, as well?

[Zero Gravitas]

2 hours ago, Mike_Walker said:

This example was at Wallingford a couple of years ago but I think it might have been scrapped since.  I was told it was ex-Royal Navy.

 

 

Never mind the van - just look at the backs of those wheelsets. I've never seen anything quite like that before (or have I just not been paying attention?)

[Bucoops]

11 minutes ago, Zero Gravitas said:

 

Never mind the van - just look at the backs of those wheelsets. I've never seen anything quite like that before (or have I just not been paying attention?)

 

I have on model wheels but never realised it was prototypical!

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, MarkSG said:

Just out of interest, which is early and which is late when it comes to axleboxes and buffers? And is there an early/late distinction with the different types of roof, as well?

 

See LNWR Wagons Vol. 2 (Wild Swan, 2011) to which Mike was a major contributor. But I'm sure Rapido have a copy - they would be very unlikely to have got this far without, and also, I suspect, without making use of the resources of the LNWR Society's Study Centre at Kenilworth. 

 

But from a very quick peruse of that volume, there appear to have been three types of LNWR axlebox fitted to these wagons, though the flat-fronted type that is similar to the LMS standard axlebox seems to have predominated in later days. The early buffers have a long plain guide; the later buffers - I think an LMS-period replacement - have a heavier, ribbed guide. I suspect these are self-contained, enabling the buffing leaf spring behind the headstock to be dispensed with. These replacement buffers also often but not always come with a replacement square-ended headstock, lacking the quadrant cut out of the ends that is so characteristic of LNWR vehicles. 

 

The metal roof was a development of later LNWR days; I can't immediately see that it was a modification retrospectively applied to earlier vans. The timber roof came in two styles, either flush with the body end or overhanging to be flush with the end pillars.

 

This was a numerous diagram built over a considerable period, with design changes during that period and then numerous modifications in later days, so a real tour de force for Rapido. (Any Midland wagon of the period would be trivial in comparison - plug, plug!)

 

No doubt if they sell well there will be the possibility of later issues covering some of the variations not covered by the announced range.

Edited October 28, 2023 by Compound2632