Nick Lawson

@Compound2632 Thanks for your information. I agree about the lack of clear pics. I couldn't find anything to show a mod, but thought it possible that I'd missed something. Reassured, I will follow the supplied instructions!

Thanks for the pics Bruce

MR Clayton 6 wheeled arc-roofed carriage stock of the 1880s was built with brakes fitted only to the end wheelsets. While building an old Slaters kit, I noticed that the instructions contained the statement "Note that on these vehicles the centre wheels were not originally braked"; implying that they, or some of them, had received brakes on the centre wheels at a later date. 

Does anyone know whether this actually happened, and if so roughly when?

On 22/12/2020 at 12:28, Compound2632 said:

The best information I have found on these is in C. Northedge (Ed.), LNWR Wagons Vol. 2 (Wild Swan, 2001). These are 40 ton Warflats of the Parrott type, of which, as you say, 250 were built by Leeds Forge in 1918 to Ministry of Munitions order. The LNWR purchased 25 in 1921 and others were bought by other companies, including the Midland (at least 17). There's no mention of any in NER stock in P. Tatlow, LNER Wagons Vol. 2 (Wild Swan, 2007).

 

Not to be confused with the 35 ton Rectank wagon, mostly built at Derby, though some at Swindon, Newton Heath (or possibly Horwich?) and by the NER; of which 40 were sold to the NER in 1921. Midland D1095, LNWR D109, NER Diagram A18. 

 

I wonder if Parkside have confused the two? Anyway their kit appears appropriate for the Midland Warflats (as is the Bachmann model) unless it is based on a WW2-built example - I gather there were some differences but the only detailed drawings I have are of the WW1 examples.

@Compound2632 Thanks for the bigger picture info above. My question appears to be at least partly answered satisfactorily in that RJE's "mystery" wagons are indeed these Warflats, acquired by the MR post WW1. (Modellers of late MR take note!)
   
On the NER front, NERA's "Diagrams of wagons vol 2" reprint includes a quad bolster dia. D7 which looks generally right  (although compared to a parkside model the drawn bogies are longer wb - 5'9" - and wheel dia larger -3'5").  Confusingly D7 is rated at 45T rather than 40T. North Eastern Record vol 2 then adds that "forty five ton quadruple bolster wagons, Dgm D7, were purchased after World War 1. These had been built by Leeds Forge with their slightly fish-bellied style of plate solebars."

The A18 35 ton rectank wagons look very different with trussing underneath. North Eastern Record says of them: "thirty five ton bogie rectank wagons were purchased after World War 1 (Dgm A18) for carrying heavy machinery. The NER had designed and built them for the Government." Given your info about other construction, the NER may have designed them, and they may or may not have acquired examples they had actually built!

Thanks again!

Apologies if this has been asked before:

R.J. Essery's Midland Wagons Vol 2 p82-83 illustrates a 40T Bogie Bolster wagon, which he describes as “something of a mystery”. They didn't have a MR diagram, but LMS doc implies they had been Midland wagons. Of the four known numbers, one, 335958, had a 1918 Leeds Forge builders plate.

Aren't these essentially the same as the WW1 government contract wagons built by Leeds Forge, 30 of which were subsequently absorbed by the NER; and which have been the subject of a Parkside kit for many years?