bbishop

So I spent today wandering around the show looking for Phil! On the way there, I saw an Elizabeth Line train pointing east at Stratford = labelled Reading via Shenfield. Keep well all, Bill

Lurk, I have my doubts. I think a pukka sign would be "By Order" of some functionary. Bill

Noting GDB's attendance at Nescot, I thought of taking my first aid kit, then remembered the exhibition have St John Ambulance in attendance - actually an Advanced First Aider. So he will be in safe hands. Phil, look out for the scruffy git with a 'tache and a yellow hi-viz. That's me. Bill

So with a German Spur Null layout (and a second under construction) I'm an enthusiast for DCC. But I also operate on Southwark Bridge, an LSWR terminus in P4. The down driver sits about 20 feet from the platform starting signals but has a repeater panel advising him there is a train to drive. He has a copy of the timetable, so knows which platform the train is in, and he is an LSWR enthusiast and tell an M7 apart from a T1. But which M7? Because there are 10 of the little blighters on the layout. Definitely an agreement for an analogue layout! So it is "horses for courses". I think Tony's moan is that those of us who use DCC should at the very least be able to fit a chip or wire a layout. Bill

Guys, I've realised we haven't heard from Mike for a day or two. Do we know of a reason? Is he visiting Richard Montgomery? I'm visiting the Nescot and Romford shows on Saturday and Sunday respectively. Who might I meet? Bill

Spats? Radio 3 is normally preferred, but can suffer from lengthy Lieder or chamber music concerts, or (worse) Opera. I cannot cope with an 18 stone soprano belting out Mimi. The worst time is Saturday evening with Radio 3 indulging the Mimi lovers and Classic FM "at the movies". And I'm dependant on the radio in the garage. Pah! Meanwhile I wedged the food container between the black and green bins. Avoided Reynard's depravations, but eminently missable by the operatives - but not today. Keep well awl, Bill

Hoping the Hill of Strawberries is less panic stricken. Some interesting shouts today; the last one just before I X-rayed, which lasted for more than two hours. I was first on scene to a rather chaotic scenario and was later thanked by the neighbour for "just sorting it out". Actually the neighbour was pretty impressive and I suggested she "google" Community First Responders - she would be good. I have a problem. The food waste goes in a small bin, with a handle that locks the lid when it is upright. But Reynard has worked out how to open the lid and distribute the bin's contents around the garden. And the council collect the food bin at 6:30am, which is a bit early for a pensioner to be getting out of bed! Any ideas? I'm listening to the Classic FM top 300. Down to the last five; my problem isn't with the music (albeit Anton Bruckner won't win) but with Suchet's utterly smarmy voice. Keep well all, off to don medical gloves to recover Reynard's scatterings, well after the Vaughn William piece, Bill

Jamie, Given the speeling mistacked in your recent posts, your hand eye co-ordination seems to be affected. I wonder why? Off to a Good Friday service on Whitfield Mount (look it up), than rattling a tin for the Stroke Association in Lewisham. Back much later, Bill

Evening awl, So I'm away for the day and you lot advance us several pages. Away tomorrow, so probably another late night catch up. Keep well, Bill

I attended a cardiac arrest this morning, spending some time on the chest. After several shocks, the patient began to breathe and was bundled off to hospital. So I now have an improbable five out of seven. Bill

I saw photographs of two black holes yesterday. One is 500 million trillion km away, the other is in SW1. Off to Hampshire later, so off site for a couple of days. I can sense your relief. Bill PS:- I got my Lord's dates last night; my first game is the Royal London final on 25 May.

Thanks for the input. The main objection is to the use of "acquire". I worked as an investment analyst and we ensured that business cases recommended that equipment be acquired. This meant that a decision on purchase, rent or lease could be made, without having to resubmit the business case. However I will change my wording. Now for the translation! Bill

Come off it, John, given the presence of the "F******" word! Anyway the only figure of interest is the contribution to Party funds. Bill

A hippo pretending to be a pixie, the mind boggles ..... Bill

Is anyone called Richard Montgomery? Bill

Jamie, are we a grandfather yet? Keep well all, Bill

which is why I used the word "acquired". agreed, I actually meant design, and will change my draft, which is why you are peer reviewing. yup, but I'm deliberately keeping things simple, so no change. Bill

Remember that I'm asking you to spot howlers, I am keeping the story as simple as possible. I've completely ignored topics such as wagon livery. Part the third ..... 3 WAGON DESIGN – Many companies built POWs, but two companies dominated the market – Charles Roberts and the Gloucester Co. They had different designs. Earlier I mentioned that the RCH produced specifications. Three of these are relevant. The RCH 1887 specification permitted some flexibility of design for 8 ton and 10 ton wagons. The CR and Gloucester designs developed over time. The RCH 1907 specifications effectively took the two companies latest designs for 8 ton, 10 ton and 12 ton designs. Other companies had to adopt these designs, most choosing the CR design. Finally the RCH 1923 specification adopted only the latest CR design for 12 ton wagons. I have excluded hopper wagons from my story. Remember they were prevalent on the north east of England. Mineral wagons were different to general goods wagons. They had to be strong, because the coal was tipped into them at the collieries. So the top planks were often the length of the wagon, with the side doors less than the full height of the wagon. However some locations required end tipping or unloading by gravity. But remember our coaster? A colliery wagon transported the coal from the South Wales collieries. The coal was end tipped into the coaster, which steamed across the Bristol Channel, before the coal was unloaded by crane into the wagon of a factor (possibly Renwick, Wilton and Dobson). So factors and collieries acquired wagons with side, end and bottom doors, although it was very rare for a wagon to have two end doors. Merchants liked wagons with side doors only because they were stronger and cheaper. But there were often second hand bargains….. LIFE, ETC – Mineral wagons had a tough life. They probably survived for more than 20 years but accidents could shorten their lives. But some merchants would treat their wagon as a family pet! Few 8 ton wagons survived until 1939. Some merchants had strange numbering policies, such as even numbers only, or numbers ending in “7”, or year of acquisition (eg 1910). MODELS – Your starting point could be the Gauge O Guild website, look at Products, then Traders’ Websites. Dapol make ready to run models but frankly I am not a fan. POW Sides and Slaters make painted kits. Peco (Parkside Dundas), Furness and Slaters make unpainted kits. The Slaters range is very comprehensive, however Peco make steel underframe wagons, which became common in the 1920s. You will observe descriptions of wagons on the Slaters website. The Gloucester kits represent wagons built only by that company. You may assume that other builders produced a wagon that was similar to the CR design. I have emphasised that there was flexibility so these kits are only a representation of the actual design. However British modellers are not concerned by the variations. But builders adhered closely to the RCH 1923 specification. POW Sides often paint a Slaters kit. Slaters are plastic kits that are assembled with a solvent (eg 2-butanol). There are brass parts that you must score and fold. You can strengthen the folds with solder. Lost wax castings (eg buffers) must be carefully drilled out, especially buffers in order to retain the spring. You will need hand tools and a soldering iron. POST HISTORY – The Government requisitioned most Private Owner wagons at the start of WW2 and the wagons were never returned to their owners. They were very run down by 1945 and most 10 ton wagons were scrapped. British Railways 16 ton steel mineral wagons gradually replaced the RCH 1923 wagons. They were painted grey but many of them appeared to be unpainted. One was unlikely to see a wooden mineral wagon after 1963 on British Railways. BIBLIOGRAPHY – these books are useful, mostly available from second hand dealers: British Goods Wagons from 1887 to the present day – R J Essery etc., published in 1970! Private Owner Wagons, Volume 1 to 4 – Bill Hudson Private Owner Wagons from the Gloucester RC&W Co. – Keith Montague Private Owner Wagons, Collections 1 to 13 – Keith Turton Private Owner Wagons – various regional collections by various authors.

Part the second ..... 2 THE PLAYERS - The smallest player was the TRADER. Probably he owned a horse and cart, to deliver to the householder. He might purchase the coal from the next player up the chain, the MERCHANT. He probably had an office in the station yard. He would sell to the trader or directly to the householder. He would purchase from the colliery and had to transport the coal from the colliery to his siding in the station yard. He might acquire wagons to transport coal from his chosen colliery to his siding. Many merchants used their wagons for advertising, with their name, address and telephone number painted on the side. If the colliery was in Nottinghamshire and the merchant in Kent, then the wagons would mainly travel between these counties. However the merchant might not have wagons and could use a FACTOR to transport the coal. Some factors were also merchants. Again some factors only delivered to certain parts of the country, eg Moy concentrated within East Anglia. The final player was the COLLIERY, which had their own fleet of wagons, with which they could deliver to the merchant. Anthracite was a special type of coal, mined in South Wales, with a low arsenic content. It was used by food and drink manufacturers, including breweries, and often travelled in wagons owned by the anthracite colliery that could be seen anywhere in the country. Most railway companies only transported coal for their locomotives, but I will identify some exceptions later. TRAFFIC – On the main lines, coal was transported in mineral trains and general freight transported in goods trains. However we often model a branch terminus, where the freight and mineral traffic was amalgamated in the “pick up goods” train. So freight and mineral wagons would be seen in the same train. I mentioned there were exceptions. The North Eastern Railway had a monopoly of coal traffic, using their own hopper wagons, so very few Private Owner Wagons would be found in that part of England. Earlier I mentioned that West Country coal was transported by coaster to a port and the onward transportation was mainly by a factor – often in Renwick, Wilton and Dobson wagons. My third article will consider models and provide a bibliography.

Gentlemen, Thank you. I have already amended my draft, which I shall post here in three sections. Remember, the target audience is a German O Gauge modeller, who is tempted into the British scene. So I must present a simple and coherent story, and I still have to translate into German! So part the first ..... 1 HISTORY – The very early railways allowed anyone to operate trains. Chaos! So the railway companies provided the locomotives but the Government permitted the use of privately owned wagons. So the history of Private Owner Wagons starts in about 1845 and ends in 1939, when the Government acquired them at the beginning of WW2. However, very few people model before 1880, so that is when our story starts. GOODS – Many goods were transported in Private Owner Wagons (eg oil, petrol, chemicals, stone, clay, coke) but I shall concentrate on coal. TRANSPORTATION Road – horse and cart, lorry (local delivery) Canal – cheap but slow. Coaster – cheap, but at least two transhipments. Used for riverside industry (electricity and gas production) or when quicker than rail ( to Cornwall). Railways – the rest. ORGANISATIONS – The Board of Trade (BoT) regulated the railway companies and determined standards for wheels, buffers, brakes etc. The railway companies created the Railway Clearing House (RCH). A responsibility of the RCH was the provision of specifications, to satisfy the BoT regulations, but also to define how the wagons were built. We can use shorthand, so RCH 1923 is the specification implemented in that year. I will write later about the users, specifications and models.

Gentlemen, Thank you for your replies. The fact that none of you answered my question probably means that the question itself was wrong. I am very aware that the wagon builders (especially Charles Roberts and Gloucester) developed the design of POWs between the RCH specifications. In effect, the RCH specifications were playing catch up with actual practice. So the Slaters kits are representative of what was actually happening, so I shouldn't get too hung up in attempting to tie them into a specific specification. I shall amend my draft and publish on RMWeb in the next day or two. Bill

Gentlemen, I know it is a long way from ER, but perchance could you look at, and if possible comment on, my Private Owners thread in "Modelling Musings & Miscellany". Thanks, Bill

Best wishes to Beth and Jamie. Get back safely. Bill

William actually broke his collar bone in the fall, consequentially dying of pneumonia. By the by, the nag was called Sorrel. Bill

Affirmative. Bill