magmouse

Yes, although the only Micas shown in ABT that overlap with the broad-gauge period have ventilation slots in the 3rd plank down, which we don't see here. Micas also don't seem to have the additional overhang to the roof where the door is, which we see in this photo. The text with two words, one on each door, could possibly read "MEAT VAN", though, which would fit with being a Mica. As we know, ABT isn't great on the earlier periods, so just because the wagon in the photo doesn't have an exact fit in the book, doesn't mean it's not a Mica. [phew, that's a lot of negatives...] Yes - and I think the corner plates are asymmetric, with the two arms of the 'L' shape bracket different lengths - these are then alternated as they go down the corner. This wagon also has a two word inscription on the door - the load and tare weights written in italics? It looks like the number on the bottom plank to the right of the door. More wagon mysteries.... Nick

The position of text on the steel ballast wagons in the large GW period varied quite a lot, but typically included "PT. WAY" in letters around 4-5" high, and some kind of working instructions in smaller letters (e.g. "Return to ..."). I suspect we have here the running number under the G, load and tare in italics under the W, "PT. WAY" on the top of the middle panel, and instructions at the bottom. Nick.

I see what you mean - no apparent flange to the bottom of the solebar. Wooden would also explain the deeper curb rail than seen on the steel types. Is is a pre-diagram type, not described in ABT? We know that book isn't good on the earlier stuff. Based in the livery the photo is 1904 or later, so it could be an early type. Or, if the photo is post 1923, the wagon could be inherited from another railway - though that seems unlikely given the presence of a round-ended 3-planker. Are there any other clues to the photo's date? Nick.

Thanks, Mikkel - more books to buy! I am not convinced by Atkin’s suggestion that the wagon is wooden or has dumb buffers, but there is something odd about it - it doesn’t seem to quite fit any of the diagram P types I am aware of. Nick.

Thanks, Jason, that’s very helpful. Nick.

I am working on a 7mm scale GWR guards van, using the PECO kit as a basis. I am adding working lamps, which raises the question of whether there should be any light inside for night-time operation. Passenger guard's compartments had lighting (oil, gas or electric, according to period) but as far as I know goods guard's vans did not - at least, there was no built-in lighting provided. Did guards use portable lamps, of the hurricane/Tilley variety? Or something else, or nothing? Any information gratefully received - thanks. Nick.

I'm half way there: Just need a PW brake van... However - there is something odd about the ballast wagon in the photo. The curb rails look very deep, with the drop door hinges above the bottom edge. I can't see a diagram number that quite looks like this - P4 has the bottom of the hinges aligned with the bottom of the curb rail, and P5s have the hinges just below the curb rail (more accurately, they don't have a curb rail at all, being steel floored). @Mikkel - do you have the figure number for the photo in Freight Wagons and Loads? I couldn't find it in there, but that may be my poor looking skills (a source of regular complaint by my late mother, and more recently by my wife, both able to find things in a moment I have spend 15 minutes looking for). Nick.

Actually, it was the meeting of the S7 Group at Albury, where you would of course be most welcome. Given your previously expressed concerns about being press-ganged into joining the senior service scale, though, you might want to approach with caution! Nick.

Thanks, Mike - that means a lot given the high standards you set for the rest of us. It was great to meet you yesterday and see some of your superb wagons in real life. Nick.

Thanks Chris - glad you liked it. Nick,

Thanks, Mikkel. The paint is an automotive red-oxide undercoat, from Halfords. Where I had to repaint the inside, I used Revell matt 37 enamel, which is a close match. The colour then gets pushed about a bit with the oil paint - my palette includes Indian red and yellow ochre, as well as black, white and burnt umber. With that mix I can go towards pink, orange, or a darker, richer red. In the case of this wagon, I did that a bit on the inside, but not much on the outside, where it is mostly greys, warmed up with a bit of yellow ochre and burnt umber. Nick.

Thank you - I am pleased with this one. I’m getting to grips with the artists’ oils for weathering, and liking the results. Using the brass for the axle box covers also worked well, I think. Nick.

This diagram P4 ballast wagon was an eBay purchase, cheaply bought as a 'fixer-upper'. It's built from the PECO (ex Websters) kit, and the original builder had made a reasonable job of construction. The paint finish wasn't great, with a fair amount of dust in it, and the brake gear was smashed: The first job was a good clean up, and remove the broken brake gear and couplings - the buffer rams had to stay in place, as the retaining parts on the rear of the rams were very firmly glued on. I scraped the paint back on the main panels, but decided a full paint strip wasn't needed. The wheels needed changing for S7 ones - with these kits, they will spring out of the axleguards, though you have to bend them quite a long way so it is a bit nerve-racking. With the destruction complete, it was on to rebuilding and detailing. For me, the things that give the wagon its character are: the riveted body platework, which the kit does very nicely the door retaining pins with their chains, which are rather anaemic on the kit the large wooden door bangers the axle guard covers, which the kit omits - more on those later. I did the new door securing pins and chains as follows: I took a length of 5A fuse wire and folded it round the shank of a suitable sized drill (the diameter the ring needs to be). The ends were secured in a pin vice and twisted to form the chain, with the wire still around the drill. Slip the wire off the drill and release the pin vice, and you have a ring and chain. The securing pins were made from brass wire, about 0.3mm diameter. One end was bent over to form the loop at the top of the pin, and before tightening, the ring of the chain made in step 1 was put into the loop. That gives you a pin-ring-chain assembly. The pin was held in place on the wagon side with a length of the fuse wire folded over and the two ends put into a 0.5mm hole drilled in the wagon side. A drop of thin CA glue (Rocket 'hot') applied on the end of a bit of wire holds the assembly in place. This is definitely the fiddliest part of the whole operation. The 'chain' was formed into a loop so it looks like it is hanging down, and the lose end put into another 0.5mm hole and secured with CA glue. Repeat another seven times... I fitted one at this stage to make sure it worked as planned, but left the others off until later, to avoid damage to them. The door bangers provided in the kit are OK, but suffer a bit because the draw angle required to release the parts from the mould goes across the width of the bangers. They therefore look oddly unsymmetrical when looking at them straight on. Also, the original builder had glued some of them on not quite straight, so I decided to remove them all, square them up with a file, and re-attach them. I also noticed, looking at prototype photos, that the bangers have shallow holes drilled in them, corresponding to the rivets on the door strapping, so that when the door drops down the contact area isn't just the rivet heads. I decided to drill these holes once everything was assembled, so I could position them correctly relative to the door rivets. The prototype photos show that when built, GWR ballast wagons had sheet metal covers over the axleguards - a very distinctive feature. Later photos don't show them, so they were presumably removed at some point. Checking as many photos as I could find, I was fairly sure that for my 1908 period, the wagon should have the covers - and in any case, how could I resist such a characterful detail? Working from photos, I drew up the covers in CAD. The drawing was printed at the correct size on a sticky label, which was stuck on to four pieces of 5 thou brass sheet, previously sweated together: I cut out the outline with a fine fretsaw blade: I left a large 'tab' at the top to make it easier to make the fold where the cover attaches to the bottom flange of the solebar - it is much easier to made the bend this way then try and get an accurate bend parallel and very close to the edge of the material. The label was removed with white spirit, and the four pieces separated and cleaned up: I folded up the pieces in the vice, and trimmed the top flange to size: The part that goes over the axle box is made by bending the main piece to form the sloping top and short front edge. The sides were from scrap etch, chosen to be the same thickness as the saw cuts. They were cut oversize, soldered in place, and filed back to make a neat final assembly: I did a dry assembly to fettle the covers to fit - I made a mistake and glued the door bangers on first, and had to cut away parts of the covers to accommodate the bangers. It would have been better to do it the other way around. I numbered the covers to ensure they would go back in the right place, as each one needed slightly different adjustments. The brake gear was rebuilt using the kit brake shoes and hangers, and WEP and Ambis components for the vee hanger, push rods, and lever. The brake lever guard was my usual combination of the ratchet from the Ambis component, and nickel silver strip bent to shape. After a waft of etch primer on the not-yet-attached metal parts, the final assembly got me to a physically complete wagon: A coat of paint always brings things together, revealing any blemishes but also giving confidence that perhaps it will be OK after all: Lettering was from a sheet of HMRS pressfix transfers, which had the 'PT WAY' text I needed, but which I find difficult to get aligned accurately. I had to get a new sheet to do the 'PT WAY' on the ends as you only get one pair on the sheet, so I bought methfix this time, which allows adjustment more easily. The lettering isn't strictly accurate - the 'PT WAY' should have the characters all the same size, not a larger P and W. The lettering is generally slightly too big, and as a result there is no room for 'To carry' that should precede '8 tons'. There should also be the word 'Construction' on the ends, in italics. These observations are based on a photo of a diagram P5 - I haven't found a photo of a P4 in pre-1904 livery, so I can perhaps get away with these inaccuracies... I don't really have a need for a ballast wagon at Netherport, so, after some discussion: I decided to load it with sand being delivered for the sand boxes of locos and brake vans. The gradient inland away from the harbour at Netherport is steep, so it is important sandboxes are well filled before departure. The shape of the load was formed with a layer of thin corrugated cardboard followed by some cat litter, glued in place with diluted PVA and moulded to shape. As this was an experiment, I put cling film in the wagon first, so I could remove the former if the cat litter didn't work out: The result was OK, but it took a long time to dry and shrank considerably, so I am not sure I would use the cat litter again. Before gluing the load in and adding the 'sand', I did some initial weathering: With the former in place, I could add the sand. This was made using a product called 'Terrains Sandy Desert Acrylic' by AK Interactive - it's aimed mainly at military modellers for dioramas. I used a variety of tools to put it in place, with my biggest concern to get the edges to look natural, and keep it off the sides. I failed to keep it off the sides, and the edges took a fair amount of fettling, adding additional material to fill slight 'sink holes' and scrapping off material that had got in the wrong place. As a result, the inside of the wagon sides were rather scratched - the acrylic sand medium also seems to soften the paint quite effectively, which didn't help. I ended up repainting the inside of the wagon, being careful to keep the paint off the sand. With some final weathering, including the repainted insides, the wagon was complete. The weathering was mainly done with water-soluble artists oil paints, plus some weathering powders. Nick.

I love the undulating track formation in that first photo. The cows gathering at the gate are also a delight. Nick.

There was an earlier grease-lubricated box of type ‘K’, so I assume the OK type is an oil-lubricated replacement for that. Possibly there was a patent, to justify the logo? The grease boxes also had a logo in some cases. Nick.