Photos needed of BR/GWR van 146336 which is at Didcot

[geoff_nicholls]

I'm building a GRS kit of a GWR/BR ventilated van with a plywood body. The instructions are a bit vague about the underframe and brakes. does anyone have any photos of the one at Didcot no 146366?
Also, I guess it wasn't that colour in real life?

 

[AJC]

These all - I think - had 4 shoe Morton brakes with vacuum brakes so a picture of any GWR plywood van should get you what you want. For example:

GWR Vans - includes specialist designs

GWR Vans - includes specialist designs

BR livery would have been red oxide with black underframe, obviously the GW livery was dark grey all over like everything else, but with the small letters. I'm a bit hazy about the precise details regarding lettering size since it's not my period. Hope that helps?

Adam

 

[jjnewitt]

Here's a photo of the wagon in question:


These vans had standard Moton brakegear. Both the GWR and BR built fitted and unftted versions. The fitted ones had Morton 4 shoe brakes and the unfitted 2 shoe. I imagine most, if not all, of the unfitted examples were vacuum braked in the mid fifites. I don't have the numbers of the fitted and unfitted vans to hand but going by the by the buffers this van was built unfitted and vacuum braked around 1955.

This is what the 4 shoe version of the Morton brakegear looks like from below:

And an upside down one of the underframe without body:

The unfitted vans in BR days would have been grey of course.

Justin

 

[jjnewitt]

Looking at the photo of the prototype again it appears that it's gained a replacement brake lever guard at some point. I'm almost certain it wouldn't have been built with a pin type. Hadn't noticed that before.

Justin

 

[AJC]

Looking at the photo of the prototype again it appears that it's gained a replacement brake lever guard at some point. I'm almost certain it wouldn't have been built with a pin type. Hadn't noticed that before.

Justin

So it does - the sub-headstock vac' pipe hints that this van may have been retro-fitted with vac' brake since Swindon tended to use the upright type on fitted goods stock. What date is that one Justin? I assume from the W irons that it's a BR build but they could have been replaced at some point too.

Adam

 

[jjnewitt]

A quick look through a Larkin book reveals that it was a very early BR build in 1948 to a GWR order, diagram V37 and was built unfitted.

Justin

 

[AJC]

Cheers, Justin!

Adam

 

[markjj]

I'm building a GRS kit of a GWR/BR ventilated van with a plywood body. The instructions are a bit vague about the underframe and brakes. does anyone have any photos of the one at Didcot no 146366?
Also, I guess it wasn't that colour in real life?

Don't rely on GRS wagon kits being anything like the real thing Geoff. I had a dabble in Gauge 3 a few years back and brought a few of their kits. I don't think anything was more than a vague resemblance of the real thing unfortunately. I don't think much has changed today either.

 

[Mike W]

Don't rely on GRS wagon kits being anything like the real thing Geoff. I had a dabble in Gauge 3 a few years back and brought a few of their kits. I don't think anything was more than a vague resemblance of the real thing unfortunately. I don't think much has changed today either.

Oh dear. I have never bought a GRS kit so can't give an opinion, but please don't let that alone put you, or anyone else, off Gauge 3. I like to think that our Gauge 3 kits are as accurate as we can get them.

 

[geoff_nicholls]

I am aware of the limitations of GRS kits. Their use of pre-cut styrene and a standard range of whitemetal castings for all wagons has led to compromises on strict accuracy for reasons of economy. (The GWR van is a scale 6" too short, I've placed the pre-cut styrene sides and will fit extra sections in the channel frames) But that is what Triang, Hornby and LGB have done, and the gauge 3 market is much smaller.
With a bit of care, accurate and robust models can be produced from these kits, you can see them on most of the gauge 3 exhibition layouts.
Without GRS, I would not have considered migrating to gauge 3.

And thank you all for the photos, they have been a great help.

 

[markjj]

Oh dear. I have never bought a GRS kit so can't give an opinion, but please don't let that alone put you, or anyone else, off Gauge 3. I like to think that our Gauge 3 kits are as accurate as we can get them.

I think your kits are first class and in a different league Mike it's other people's offerings that put me off Gauge 3 a few years back.

 

[hrmspaul]

The Didcot one would have been built unfitted and is listed for vacuum braking in the instructions issued in November 1956. Looking at some other conversions they do appear to have received the GWR style ratchet brake guide unlike the Didcot one).
If BR built it soon after nationalisation it will have been in GWR grey, the new colours weren't introduced for a while and then unfitted stock was to have grey for steelwork and woodwork unpainted. This altered reasonably soon for vans, but not for open wagons.

Paul

 

[geoff_nicholls]

thanks, Paul. I found 060637 on your website, which looks just right as it has the buffers I've got.

 

[unklian]

I am sure the eagle eyed on here will spot a few things wrong, but here is a GRS van built a while ago, but not by me . Not too shabby I'd say !

 

[geoff_nicholls]

Q E D, as we used to say in maths at school.
That PO wagon looks interesting as well, is that a GRS kit?

 

[unklian]

The PO wagon is one of Mikes, the Toad brake van is GRS though

Cheers Ian

 

[geoff_nicholls]

Despite some door detail, and the roof being missing, I took advantage of the fine weather to give the van a first coat of primer.
A thank you to JJNewitt for the Morton brake gear graphics, it helped avoid mistakes.
The GRS kits don't require a huge amount of skill, or a fully equiped workshop, they need care, patience and determination. I'm hoping to have it finished, but finished or not, it'll be on the Lea Siding layout at the IWEMRC exhibition on the 22nd.