RMweb Gold colin penfold Posted March 13, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 13, 2012 Hi all! I have a Bachmann conflat A which is depicted with a planked floor. At the NNR gala this weekend they had a real one newly restored in their demo freight train. It had a big, deliberate looking hole in the centre of the floor with hinged sections of planking on either side. I assume this is simply Bachmann being pragmatic, given that the hole lets you see loads of underframe detail. As this would be under the container mostly I'm not too bothered. I'd be interested to know about the hole, and also confirmation of whether the conflat A was capable of loading two containers side by side as well as one centrally. I'm sure I have seen photos of this in action but the hole makes me doubt myself due to the safety implications of loading the two containers. As an extra query - when these were unloaded, did the wagon sit in the yard while the container was emptied by the recipient or were the containers craned off for unloading to free up the wagon. How long was the recipient allowed for unloading. Lots of questions - thanks in anticipation Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stuartp Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 The ones in Paul Bratlett's collections where the floor is visible seem to be intact. The exceptions are the Speedfreight conversions where the whole floor was removed as the container sat in corner pockets. http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brconflata/h1f05097e#h1f05097e I wonder if the hinged bits are the chain pocket lids and they just haven't yet refitted the rest of the floor ? As for unloading - either could be done. Not all goods yards had a crane capable of lifting containers, and it was not necessarily the case that the loading and unloading arrangements were the same at each end. There is no reasion why the container could not be craned on at one end and unloaded in the goods yard attached to the wagon at the other, or vice versa. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 I assume this is simply Bachmann being pragmatic, given that the hole lets you see loads of underframe detail. As this would be under the container mostly I'm not too bothered. Conflat As have a full planked floor, this is why all preserved examples come with a caution, you need to be careful what you are looking at because you don't know what has been done in preservation/departmental service. Yes, they will carry 2 A containers back to back. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmrspaul Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Conflat As have a full planked floor, this is why all preserved examples come with a caution, you need to be careful what you are looking at because you don't know what has been done in preservation/departmental service. Yes, they will carry 2 A containers back to back. I agree, be wary of the conservationists, they aren't as careful with historical accuracy as modellers! Anyway, lovely picture of how to unload a container on a wagon in the current (March 2012) British Railways Illustrated page 264. Very modellable. Paul Bartlett Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyC Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 You might find this document from the Barrowmore Group interesting http://www.barrowmoremrg.co.uk/BRBDocuments/Booklet_BR20427_Issue.pdf. It states that unless they're going to be loaded/unloaded on the wagon when two type 'A' containers [exluding AF and AFU types] are loaded on one conflat they should be placed door to door for security reasons. Jeremy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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