Fat Controller

J 6264; possibly rock salt from Over and Wharton?

i was trying to be kind....

The real thing wasn't very clear after a couple of months in service......The underframe leaves a little to be desired.

There are precedents for white/ light coloured roofs on relatively recent wagons. Firstly, a batch of Vanwides were built with translucent glass-fibre roofs. The material was 'honey-coloured', though rapidly becoming dirty. Secondly, a number of VDA were given white-painted roofs for traffic from Rowntree's chocolate traffic from York and Gosforth to depots nationwide. Someone misread the painting instruction, and painted a solitary wagon in all-over white... Looking at your photo, I've just noticed the brake lever is at the wrong end.. Such a pity that they make such a fine job of things such as those securing chains on the doors, only to make a pig's ear of other things

It's one of the prototype scrap wagons built by Standard Railcar; the production ones had more (and beefier) vertical and horizontal bracing. About two hundred wagons were built or converted. Later EWS bought them; those still running have been rebodied, and are coded SSA. Most work from Trostre to Port Talbot with scrap.

The one in the photo is the 4-wheel prototype prototype for the bogie ones built fot Thompson's and Boothferry Council. I don't think it ever ran commercially; was it at the Cricklewood exhibition? My apologies; squinting allowed to see the presence of two bogies on the side-tipper

Thanks for posting that, Brian. Just had a look at the site dedicated to Swansea Docks. There are some shots of Shochood Bs as late as 198 at King's Dock.

What period are you looking at?? The timber merchant was at South Dock, which was also where the fishing boats docked. The company was 'Gregors'. I don't think there was any traffic from there after the early 1860s. 'The impressive 'Weavers' building dealt with imported grain. It's definitely worth looking out for a copy of 'The Red Dragon...', which has a lot of large format photos of traffic around the Dock Lines. This link might be of interest:- http://www.swanseadocks.co.uk/ Mike mentioned the Queen's Dock oil terminal; my father was fre-watching on the nights of the Swansea Blitz, when the the tank farm was hit by bombs. He said it was light enough to read by , and that was twelve miles away, in Lllanellii.

To which add:- Duffryn, King's Dock and Duffryn warehoses (tinplate stores for SCOW. As well as the three warehouses in Swansea,, the Burry Works in Llanelli was also converted. There were a pair of scrappies on the Swansea Valley line, whilst Llanelli had the Bachelor Robinson tin and steel recovery plant.

You might find it hard to credit, but SNCF have installed a 'green wall' outside their national Control office at Gare d'Est. Now, what's the French for Rosebay Wllow-herb?

I did about ten of them, using Jouef bodies; the bodies were from 'Model Irish Railways', who had a lot of bits from Jouef's short-lived Irish factory.' I also did a pair of the longer type using Elecrtrotren covered hoppers. Sadly, this was one of the types that didn't make it into the Hornby International range.

,VB' is 'Voie et bâtiments' ie ' Civil engineers' stock. Not sure about 'MT'; Material et Traction'? The UIC might have a lexicon on their site

It could be that they're talking about water from heavier downfalls of rain, in conjunction with inadequate drainage.

What wagons are being used to transport the segments?

As well as newspapers, Siphons saw use in carrying fresh fruit and flowers. The fold-down shelves were useful for this. The flower traffic lasted into the 1970s. Many survived in to the early198s; some even gained ETH plugs and sockets.

Brings back memories of the Steve Bell cartoons of a group of penguins with a Reliant 3-wheeler, acting as 'flying pickets' during the Miners' Strike..

'Branchlines' may do something

There was a variation on the 'Paddy Train', where passengers would travel in wagons attached to a commercial goods/coal services. This happened on the various lines around the Llanelly, Burry Port and Kidwelly area. It was all concealed from the Board of Trade' Inspectorate, who 'put the tin hat on things' by making an unannounced visit just as a 'shoppers' special' arrived at Burry Port. The BP&GVR directors were compelled to buy some coaches, and carry out the bare minimum of works to be allowed to convey passengers. Somehow, neighbouring the L&MMR avoided the rigmarole by treating the collier's wives as company employees.

At least some of the Avonmouth traffic was conveyed in containers in the late 1970s. Two 'half-height 20' boxes would be loaded into Boplates. There's a photo in a Trevor Mann book. I remember seeing one when travelling to work on the wonderfully-named 'Smoke Lane' in 1977

There was a daily working into the late 1970s, possibly later, that might be of interest. A Nottingham-Crewe working each morning worked forward to the passenger platform within Crewe Works. It was apparently run for the carriage of North Staffordshire Railway employees who had been displaced by the Grouping, about 50 years previously....

The preserved lines tend to run fewer trains, and less frequently: do any run weekday services outside high days and holidays?

I would consider using some etched W-irons, available from MJT and others. They are intended for those fitting compensation, which you might find useful

Mainly rebodied BR 21-tonners, but the third and fourth ate on LNER-designed type chassi, with the high brake-levers

My recollection is that the 'Shellstar'-liveried wagons had curtain sides, unlike the hinged doors on those examples seen in the 1970s.

Emergency services training? Eurotunnel had a couple for that, as did the Fire Services' place at Moreton in the Marsh.