Prototype What is this wagon?

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
This prototype has me stumped as to origin... not interested in either location or how the wagon got to where it is now. Van or open wagon? Private owner or railway company? What was this wagon when first built?

harrison cam A.jpg

Photo courtesy of Robin Gilchrist (Basingstoke & NH MRS).
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer
Not that it caries much weight (no - don't go there), I think the axle box cover shows:
HARRISON & ???? LIMITED
ROTHERHAM

Other than buffer housings, there doesn't seem much else to offer any clue as to its origin or intended use.
Wonder what flux the maker used…...
 

AJC

Western Thunderer
Not that it caries much weight (no - don't go there), I think the axle box cover shows:
HARRISON & ???? LIMITED
ROTHERHAM

Other than buffer housings, there doesn't seem much else to offer any clue as to its origin or intended use.
Wonder what flux the maker used…...

Harrison & Camm - there's not a whole lot left is there? I'm not sure when they stopped building wagons, but the iron underframe must have been unusual. Where is it?

The Vintage Carriage Trust wagon survey doesn't have many: Railway Heritage Register Wagon Survey Project and most of those came into preservation ex-RNAD.

Adam
 

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
In view of the amount of rust, could it possibly be a Slater's product?
'We' are not taking this seriously.
I think the axle box cover shows:
HARRISON & ???? LIMITED (of) ROTHERHAM
You are correct, see photo below.

harrison web B.jpg

I get the impression that the axlebox cover might be brass/bronze/gunmetal.

You have followed the same line of thinking as me.

Railway Heritage Register Wagon Survey Project - most of those came into preservation ex-RNAD.
As I read the entries. Interesting that this example is on a site associated with the RN and may have got there via the RNAD.
 

Mike W

Western Thunderer
Its obviously an oil axlebox and 10in x 5in is a very large journal, especially for such a small wagon. So must have been built for very heavy loads - maybe 20 tons or even more? and maybe not as old as first assumed?

Mike
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer
Mmm.

Was your non-interest in the location or how-it-got-there perhaps a deliberate to put us off the scent?

1. Seaside location seems likely from over-modelled rust effect
2. Mention of Harrison & Camm being associated with Royal Navy leads to link with Royal Arsenal Railway (book the RA Rlys by Smithers)
3. A trip to the library (end room) yielded info that H&C had supplied substantial quantities of 18" gauge wagons to RA
4. A std gauge proof sled (big wagon for mounting & testing naval guns) has been preserved at Fort Nelson, Hants
5. Fort Nelson has a big outside display area looking remarkably like (if not identical to) that in your photo

smiley-sherlock.gif
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer
A trip to Orkney was on the cards anyway, but a visit to the Scapa Flow Centre is a must for the naval history element (ok,ok - and the crane...).

Has this wagon deteriorated significantly since the site opened, or is the one in this image a second identical wagon?
Note extant brake gear etc, but the frame/buffer housings are identical, so could be the same one post-oxidtion.
Scapa Flow1.jpg

There's a nice rail crane on site too!
Scapa Flow Crane.jpg

The oil tank rear left is now an exhibition room - wonderful example of re-purposing (or whatever the new word is)!
Scapa Flow Exhibition Room.jpg
 

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
A trip to Orkney was on the cards anyway, ... a visit to the Scapa Flow Centre is a must ...
Excellent, a volunteer.

Full chapter and verse are required plus, in best WT tradition, a complete photographic essay sufficient to satisfy the various and diverse historians / academics / nit-pickers that inhabit this virtual world. By the way, you can look at the other, non-railway, exhibits.
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer
Well thank you. There does appear to be significant 'stuff' to see on the islands in regard to naval history.

Over the last 10 years a much younger relative would often dive on the Scapa Flow wrecks (the scuppered WW1 German fleet) - the story of how scrap merchants spent years recovering metal from underwater is an interesting one.

I can confirm there are two identical wagons at this site- one has brake gear missing on one side (your wagon), the other looks pretty tidy.
Headstock of your wagon is/was stencilled ROYAL NAVY.
Scapa F.jpg
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
the story of how scrap merchants spent years recovering metal from underwater is an interesting one.

I read somewhere this may be due to the quality of the steel produced for the vessels at that time then was better than the quality of steel produced later.
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer

Rob Pulham

Western Thunderer
I read somewhere this may be due to the quality of the steel produced for the vessels at that time then was better than the quality of steel produced later.

It's actually more interesting than that, they still recover odd bits and pieces especially from the engine rooms because since the second world war it's one of the few sources of steel that isn't irradiated and it's used for surgical instruments - presumably being deep under water has prevented radiation from the many atomic bombs that have been set off since the war from affecting the steel there.

I too have dived the High Seas fleet and spent a lot of time between dives at the museum on Lyness. Although it looks to have been developed significantly since I was there.
 

Mike W

Western Thunderer
Al very interesting, but are we any nearer to answering the original question - what was this wagon?

Mike
 
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