Prototype At the end of the siding: the finer points of wagonry.

[AJC]

This is the first in what may be a sporadic survey of wagons in what might loosely be called preservation. These examples have ended up at the Yeovil Railway Centre at Yeovil Junction (well, actually the GWR's Clifton Maybank branch). These pictures were taken under the supervision of my father, a volunteer there and the area is not normally generally accessible. First is this LB&SCR open, S27884, formerly from the Isle of Wight (captured here by Paul Bartlett at York) and soon to return there where, with luck, it will be fully restored.



Despite appearances from below it looks fairly sound and most of the running gear looks in good order. The corner plates, however, are not but one nice touch is the only remaining paint, a shadow of the BR lettering, neatly rendered in Gill Sans.



Most of the remaining wagons were sourced from Avonmouth Docks of the Port of Bristol Authority, the PBA of the remaining brandings. These have been round the houses in preservation terms and I think may have spent some years at the East Somerset Railway at Cranmore, doing not a lot. With one exception (and I'll come to that in a bit) that broadly describes what they're doing now though this does mean that some original features remain. One example is this fabricated wheelset under an NRM-owned carriage truck which contrasts nicely with the cast open spoke wheelset on one of the other vehicles. This is the fabricated one:



And this the cast (the springs have been knackered for a long, long time):



More to come.

Adam

 

[unklian]

Nice pictures Adam. I find it increasingly frustrating that more and more preserved railways are shutting away stock like this. I know there might be health and safety issues sometimes but we enthusiasts are not so bothered about things all being tidied away. I was most impressed with the Bucks Railway Centre at Quainton's Museum recently, where a fair amount of stock restored and unrestored was all under cover and easily viewed.

I think I am right in saying that all split spoke wheels were fabricated, the corners look cast because the spokes and centres were 'welded' up with molten iron. It is a fascinating process and to think they must have made millions of wheels that way until they started casting the spoked centres in steel .

The first wagon 27884 was one of a group of four 'saved' from the Isle of Wight by BR in 1967. The others were brake van 56055, flat truck 60562 and covered van 46924. All historic vehicles and sadly neglected by the NRM. Lets hope they all get back to the Island and some proper preservation.

 

[AJC]

Thanks Ian - the flat, an open carriage truck - is at Yeovil Junction, indeed, the cruder of the two split spoke wheels belongs to it, and is reasonably sound (it needs a new solebar but is protected by means of a temporary roof; repairs should be on the agenda but getting suitable timber is a challenge). It arrived in the down side sidings at 'Junction over the national network, having been delivered to the up side! There's an LSWR gunpowder van too, but that wasn't convenient for photography. This is in good order having been repainted relatively recently, unfortunately in a completely fictitious red livery (someone copied what Dapol did). The collection of ex-PBA wagons may, or may not get restored. One, an ex-LSWR 8 plank, is in the course of 'restoration', in the guise of a representation of a Yeovil gas works vehicle. The reasoning being that this is 'local' (as was the LSWR - I would be surprised if the coal for the gas works came over the Southern rather than the Western!) I am not desperately impressed by this, as the work involves fairly drastic revisions to the structure of the extant vehicle which has lost its cupboard doors and had both timber and iron work heavily mucked about with.*

That said, in my parents' garage:



The planks for said wagon in primer. Whatever else this poor wagon may or may not be it will get properly painted using decent paint, multiple undercoats, topcoats and lettering. Mercifully, no one up there has the confidence to muck about with the brake gear.



Note the offset pivot and hole for the lifting link. The wagon has had an interesting life: it has acquired self-contained buffers and some very nice SECR-type axleboxes somewhere along the line while the wheelsets look barely used. To get some sense of the changes made, the floor originally had exposed ends and supported the side planking; no longer. The cupboard doors have (long) gone as have their hinges - the door retainers will have to be different as well - and the corner plates have had to be replaced. The quality of the work is fine, but what's being done is, well, hmm. That said, it ain't my wagon.



Adam


*Let's ignore the fact that Yeovil gas works only had wooden-framed vehicles to 1907 RCH spec' with independent brakes.

 

[unklian]

Nice work Adam, but like you say a shame it cant be put back to original form. Do you know what the vehicle to the right of 27884 is in the first picture ? It looks like the brake van 56055 .

 

[AJC]

Nice work Adam, but like you say a shame it cant be put back to original form. Do you know what the vehicle to the right of 27884 is in the first picture ? It looks like the brake van 56055 .

It's something very different - no LSWR brakes here. It's a BR-built Oyster (a lightweight Shark). It's not owned by Yeovil Railway Centre and the work it needs has to be negotiated. Nice little vehicle though.



Adam

 

[Overseer]

I agree with Adam on the split spoke wheels. Large numbers after about 1890 were cast rather than fabricated from wrought iron. There were two types, either cast in one piece, or separate cast triangle segments and hub. The assembled cast component version often have raised lettering cast onto the inside of the split spokes where it would be nearly impossible put it if not cast in segments. It is good to see wagons being saved but over restoration may not help future modellers or historian much.

 

[AJC]

It is good to see wagons being saved but over restoration may not help future modellers or historian much.

Hence the photographs. Dad didn't start the project so it's a question of making the best of an unfortunate job. There are, however, some steel framed vehicles of similar type and vintage in the collection (though I think these are probably ex-SECR rather than LSWR). More on these later.

Adam

 

[AJC]

In fact, here we are. A pair of vehicles in a more advanced state of decrepitude. These, I think, are SECR in origin, not that any of them have plates or much in the way of original fittings. The PBA had quite a few of these: SR open merchandise OWV ZGV ZGO ZVR KSV | PBA59252 ex SR 7pl open merchandise Internal user @ Avonmouth Docks 80-09-08 � Paul Bartlett w



So, note the LNE-pattern axleboxes, cast, 8-spoked wheels, missing top doors and knackered springs. Relict adaptations from PBA service include the bent steps mounted on the headstocks and the brackets for a ladder on the ends themselves.



No floor, as such!



The bent brakegear is the result of inadequate care taken when lifting the thing, though I'm not sure whether a strop or forklift was responsible.

The other wagon of this type is rather more decrepit, but most of the steelwork remains.





Note the split spoke wheels and more usual split oil axleboxes.

Adam

 

[steve1]

When such far gone vehicles where is the line drawn between 'restored' and 'rebuilt? Could it stray into 'Trigger's Broom' territory?

steve

 

[AJC]

When such far gone vehicles where is the line drawn between 'restored' and 'rebuilt? Could it stray into 'Trigger's Broom' territory?

Steve

Not really, or at least, not in these particular instances: wheels, brakeblocks and to an extent, axleboxes, were consumables and would be changed periodically. Planking was renewed as required too. The reason that most of these vehicles have survived this long is the steel frames and ironwork. Contrary to what many modellers want to believe, these changed very little and only extremely rarely resulted in a complete change of appearance/function. All these vehicles are, more or less, as they were built. The planking on 27884 has been with that wagon since at least the time of its last (and probably only) BR repaint, on the Isle of Wight c.1950 and probably an awful lot longer.

My issue with the rebuild under way is that it does something that would not have happened in service: the removal of top cupboard type doors and all evidence that they were ever there, wholly new door catches to a different pattern (the originals survived), the structure of the floor has been changed completely and the appearance will be very different, representing a wholly different sort of vehicle, a coal wagon rather than a general merchandise vehicle. Worse, it won't look that much like the wagon it will purport to represent (it's the wrong length and has a steel underframe for a start). Now the construction of these things is such that the changes could be reversed, but they probably won't. Pity, but there it is; it's 'just a wagon'.

Adam

 

[AJC]

An update from dad, this time concerning self-contained wagon buffers, of an SECR/SR type (this is an SR example, dad tells me) as fitted to the much abused SECR open. It was decided a bit late in the day to remove the wagon buffers to free them up. Much brute force later all 16 nuts came off, a 6ft pole was required on some and a lot of persuasion on the last one to get it to come free off the studs. Two of the buffers freed up easily, the other ones have been cooked to free the rust up as can be seen below.



Something that dad hadn't realised up until now is that the spring actually bears against the headstock: we thought self contained meant it was retained within the housing!

This is true, however, of the Peckett (ex-British Aluminium, now named Pectin after a spell at the Bulmer Railway Centre) which has a nice helical spring contained in the body. As part of its ongoing repair a new one has just been fitted with its British Aluminium label still attached.

Hope this is of interest,

Adam

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Nice pictures Adam. I find it increasingly frustrating that more and more preserved railways are shutting away stock like this. I know there might be health and safety issues sometimes but we enthusiasts are not so bothered about things all being tidied away. I was most impressed with the Bucks Railway Centre at Quainton's Museum recently, where a fair amount of stock restored and unrestored was all under cover and easily viewed.

Hi Ian,

While I agree broadly with what you say, I would like to note that members of the (less well-informed, shall we say? ) General Public are in the habit of popping up all over the place. In shunting the Toddy yard, I had several close calls with folk who walked across the line that we were shunting in, and thought that their safety was Iour responsibility. Then there was the photographer using one of the locos as a backdrop for his En Plein Air capture of young ladies clothed in very little...

Sadly, I think deferring to H&S is the best option, here.

Cheers

Jan

 

[AJC]

Hi Ian,

While I agree broadly with what you say, I would like to note that members of the (less well-informed, shall we say? ) General Public are in the habit of popping up all over the place. In shunting the Toddy yard, I had several close calls with folk who walked across the line that we were shunting in, and thought that their safety was Iour responsibility. Then there was the photographer using one of the locos as a backdrop for his En Plein Air capture of young ladies clothed in very little...

Sadly, I think deferring to H&S is the best option, here.

Cheers

Jan

In this case, the site does also border Network Rail property, the South Western mainline and the ex-GW route to Weymouth. None of these wagons are exactly shut away, they're just at the bottom of the site away from the running line. One of the reasons the grass is cut short is to allow for access. In any event, it's only good manners to ask (and to put a quid or two in any collecting tins that might be on site).

Adam

 

[AJC]

It's time for the big(?) reveal. Dad's handiwork is complete and a much abused SECR open has emerged as Yeovil Gas Works no. 25. Seen here with one of the pair of resident Fowler diesels.



Here's a close-up:



Beautifully finished but still wrong. Never mind, it's done now.

Adam

 

[Steph Dale]

Adam,

I kinda know what you mean. But it's only paint and it's rather lovely to see freight stock so well looked after.

But next time we'll go for the proper SECR livery eh?

Steph

 

[AJC]

Adam,

I kinda know what you mean. But it's only paint and it's rather lovely to see freight stock so well looked after.

But next time we'll go for the proper SECR livery eh?

Steph

No Steph, it isn't just paint and if it were I wouldn't be remotely bothered. What's been done is this:

• The doors and side sheeting have been completely altered: the side sheeting should sit on top of the floor planks with ends exposed, for example.
• The top cupboard doors have been removed, with all evidence of their hinges and fixings lost.
• The iron uprights flanking it have been cut about accordingly and - to be fair - new material welded in
• The drop door has been completely replaced with new clips made (actually, this has been done quite well, to be fair).
• Consequently, the pair of door springs that were present have been replaced with a single, central one.

To return it to SECR condition (SR, BR or PBA condition, being more or less identical) would take a lot of effort by people who knew what they were doing. It would require complete replanking and substantial new metalwork to get back to the physical (obviously it wasn't in good repair) condition it arrived at Yeovil Junction. What we have is the uPVC window with plastic fascia in a late medieval timber-framed cottage treatment. The wagon had survived in service and in abandonment in more or less original condition; the coupling links may well be replacements and the disc wheels certainly are but that's about it. It's all be quite well done, but has fundamentally changed the character of the thing in a way which is extremely difficult to reverse.

I appreciate the work and have some sympathy with the intention behind it - wanting something 'Yeovil' and that's fair enough*- as dad does, to an extent, but being versed in the thinking behind curatorial practise and conservation policy (as well as being more interested in wagons than locos) I'm not in a position to condone it, undeniably pompous though I know that is. Still, 'tis done and at least I have recorded what has been done and thanks to dad, the paint job it carries is an awful lot better than would otherwise have been the case.

Adam

* Though this wagon is longer, taller and of wholly different construction to the original Gloster C&W 6 plank they've based the work on.

 

[Steph Dale]

Oh blimey; I sit corrected and understand your pain. I find as I get older I'm falling more into the 'conservation' than 'preservation' camp, although I recognise that there's a place for the latter too.

There were a good few wagons in the various Bristol docks (assume that's the PBA reference you gave) and I guess that relatively few were preserved. Thankfully the preserved Bristol Harbour Railway seems to appreciate the context of its current operations; or at least it does to this largely untrained eye.

Steph

 

[AJC]

Yes , it's an ex-Port of Bristol wagon, probably sold out of service to them in the mid '50s as replacement vehicles with AVB became available. The Bluebell have one just like it, more or less (though I haven't thought to ask dad what the wheelbase is): Bluebell Railway Wagons - South Eastern & Chatham Railway 12 Ton 7-plank Open Goods Wagon No.16194

I agree that it's a tricky balance: let's face it, these vehicles have no purpose, as such: you can't carry passengers in them (7 planks are a bit big for that!), why bother to put coal in them when really it's easier to keep it on the floor? There isn't exactly any merchandise use for them on just over a quarter mile of track so they're essentially decorative. The Yeovil Railway Centre isn't a museum in any meaningful way and nor is it particularly a business so really, this is just another toy in the box. Much like a lot of model railway clubs in that sense; very few of the chaps up there actually know an awful lot about railways, but they do like trains and playing with something full size is what they enjoy. That isn't a problem, but a thing that is, keeps people active and engaged and that's good!

Adam

 

[Steph Dale]

I understand those sentiments are part of the operational scenarios of most of the preserved railways. That's one of the nice things about the Bristol Harbour Railway - you ride in wagons that might well have been regular vehicles for the area although most, if not all, now have seats and vacuum brakes.

It's coaching stock which gets me enthused or depressed depending upon where I am. It also means most preserved railways are a little dull as the Mark 1 remains almost ubiquitous. But it does mean that places like the Bluebell, KWVR and KESR are all that more special when I get the chance to visit.

Steph

 

[Mike W]

I agree with you 100% Adam. The sad truth is that, for reasons you have explained, there is no money in, nor money for, wagons. Many are rotting away and will be destroyed by "preservation" societies, most of whom have to run a business in order to finance their existence. Vehicles that are used day to day also need to be maintained and stripping out unique features, replacing with standard parts is common sense - business sense that is.

Also, when they do undertake a restoration/rebuild, many have little knowledge of the real vehicle and are unwilling to carry out basic research, believing that the public won't care and just be pleased that the vehicle has been saved, calling us "rivet counters" in the process. And 99% of the public agree.

A few have conserved and carefully restored carriages and wagons, but not many. And the moral of the story for us modellers is never, ever to trust any preserved vehicle to be an accurate source of information unless you already know a fair amount about it. I could give several examples but probably this post is long enough anyway.

Mike