4mm An EM Workbench: Mini-Signwriting (rough)

[AJC]

The Butler rectangular tank wagon is lovely - why do I never see anything like that on 'that' auction site?

You may be interested in one of my recent wagons which is also from the Slaters kit. I found a Ted West photo of this wagon taken at Yeovil Gas Works in 1948 and Dragon Models did the dry print lettering for me a few years ago - I have only recently got around to putting it together. The cover for the replacement tank manhole was salvaged from a damaged Bachmann tank wagon and I replaced the buffers with sprung buffers from Lanarkshire Models. I replaced the running gear with MJT W-irons and Wizard axle boxes and springs as mine also had running issues as first built. The tar deposits are done according to Martyn Welch's Weathering book and look satisfyingly 'sticky'.

Gerry

View attachment 146021

As it happens, I was back in Somerset for a few days the other week and dad had borrowed a collection of HMRS journals from Yeovil MRG which yielded (among other things) a piece on the wagon fleet of Roads Reconstruction by Mike King. This included what must be the image you mentioned, but also this, of T. 4 in the fleet, also at Yeovil gas works. It's a funny looking thing, and much older than T 11 - the image is included here for reference (happy to remove it if there are any objections, Ted West's copyright reserved here):



Could I resist making a model? No. I happen to have a Slater's chassis for something in the drawer, of early RCH spec' and that's fairly close, but, at 15' 6" over headstocks still a bit long, going on the relationship between the W irons and headstocks so I trimmed it bac to 15' which seems more or less bob on, in proportional terms. So far I've built the tank from 60 thou' and made a start on the end bracing and tie rods along the top an we're already on the detailing. I'll worry about the lettering later...



A characterful little thing, isn't it?

Adam

 

[Gerry Beale]

That article in HMRS Journal is indeed where I first came across the Roads Reconstruction (1934) wagons. I was able to get prints of the Ted West photos from Mike King and used them to do my model. T4 is a very interesting wagon and I am sure will make a lovely model - please do keep us updated on progress. Have you had any luck with the lettering transfers yet?

Gerry

 

[AJC]

The fleet develops and grows. Having bought transfers for one of Butler's tanks before I stumbled upon the hand-lettered beauty, I thought that I might as well build a wagon to put them on. It's only when you look closely at the Chas Roberts works pictures (here: Search results for: 'butler') carefully that it becomes apparent that these tanks are quite different to the Slater's kit.

1. They're much bigger. Why? Well apart from being heavily lagged, which makes them wider and taller.
2. The chassis is to 1923 RCH spec', which is also longer and wider than the 1907(?) spec' of the Slater's kit.
3. Oil axleboxes (per 1923 spec')
4. I have no idea how the tanks were constructed, because you can't see them under the lagging, so it's not clear whether the wagons in the pictures were new builds or rebuilds. The cladding plates are riveted onto a framework but are evidently light sheet - there's a lip around the top which suggests that the tank top was inset - there is evidence of a relief valve and catwalks on top.

So the obvious starting point is one of the many models of an RCH 1923 spec' mineral. I found a 5 plank for the purpose which is good, because this comes with a narrower solebar which means the body mouldings will not be wasted: in time I'll just put some etched W irons under it. Here's a comparison between the two:



All dimensions guestimated from known figures (solebar depth, mostly). The original tank has yet to be weathered. As for T. 4:



It's coming on. I have to add lots of boltheads and fit diagonal stay rods, along with sundry other details, before priming and adding transfer rivets. @Gerry Beale - No luck with lettering transfers - I may have to draw up/commission some (which would commit me to my own model of T. 11, I suppose).

Adam

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Just as a thought @AJC - is it worth looking for lettering decals/transfers available in other modelling fields e.g. lorry, traction engine, circus and/or even military.

 

[AJC]

Just as a thought @AJC - is it worth looking for lettering decals/transfers available in other modelling fields e.g. lorry, traction engine, circus and/or even military.

Already on my mind, Dave (as are the HMRS PO alphabets - I’m perfectly capable of adding shading and they’re in the ball park of acceptability). That’s a little way off yet, and I really should be wiring the layout rather than building yet more wagons. Focus? What’s that?!

Adam

 

[Overseer]

Already on my mind, Dave (as are the HMRS PO alphabets - I’m perfectly capable of adding shading and they’re in the ball park of acceptability). That’s a little way off yet, and I really should be wiring the layout rather than building yet more wagons. Focus? What’s that?!

Adam

Adam
I have a font which looks like it will match the lettering so should be able to set out the lettering quite quickly. Let me know the dimensions of the tank side and I should be able to put it together and print the transfers.
Fraser

 

[AJC]

Moving on with the detail that makes these things so interesting. Strapping, stays and boltheads in the case of Butler's tank. I'm probably ready to start on detailing the top now:



More stays, safety loops and dozens of bolt heads on T. 4 (I've straightened the brake lever guide):



Adam

 

[AJC]

Finished one of the two. This is the insulated William Butler tank and it's quite eccentric, in some ways, with features of 'normal' cylindrical tanks, including a pressure relief valve, steam inlets and, catwalks. The latter are presumably a function of the cladding and, as modelled are a bit speculative but add an interesting visual contrast to the earlier T.4 (and the Slater's kit). It's quite chunky - about the size of the SR 8 plank in the background.



On the ends you have the steam lance inlets but not a whole lot more, a bit fiddly to do from wire and tube but they're a good solid representation.



Side on the most significant details on this rather slab-sided thing are on the solebar and below. The ownership plates are a bit crude, but there's no way I was going to get a set custom-etched: they're just 5 thou' strips on a backing sheet of 15 thou' with some fuse wire around the edge.



Not too bad, I think.

Adam

 

[AJC]

Well, that was too straightforward, wasn't it? After the last round of pictures, Steve Carter (who occasionally contributes to EM Gauge 70s) got in touch with the inevitable additional information. Tourret's big book of railtanks (revised edition) has the photograph of Butler no. 64, (with accompanying text) which he claims was one of two (73, being the other, both built 1932). As we shall see, this is a deduction based purely on those works photos. There is also a drawing by E.B. Trotter and a photograph of Bristol and West Tar Distillers number 74 which is clearly to the same design. Coincidence? No.

William Butler & Co. divested themselves of their tar business in 1952, passing it to - and you may be able to see where this is going - Bristol and West Tar Distillers. I found this simply by the application of Google: Archaeology online: William Butler and the Coal-Tar Distillery at Crew’s Hole - Bristol Museums. So number 74 was certainly an ex-Butlers vehicle and the batch size greater than two since it seems probable that the number series was retained by the new company.* So the Trotter drawing is helpful, and shows that I have the dimensions more or less spot on, but it proves me wrong about the walkways! What this shows are slats set in groves on cross members, probably a bit like this:



Obviously this now needs a bit of patch painting and different lettering - the Butler wagon I've already got is being rehomed...

Adam


* Can we prove this? Probably. How? [Note that this isn't a criticism of Tourret, simply demonstrating the limits of what he published - and the scale of the job looking at just one wagon, part of one, small, fleet].

1. I could access the GWR/BR(W) PO wagon registers, not that anyone, in anything I have read cites an archival call number. These registers can be found with a bit of digging: I found the Midland Registers easily: Search results: "Private Owner" midland | The National Archives). They're not at the NRM (which does hold lists for the GER, NER, LMS, M&GN - and other minor railways - LNER, MS&L/GCR: https://www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/sites/default/files/2018-03/Technical Archive List.pdf). Not sure about the Southern - will have to talk to Mike King or John Arkell at the HMRS - a handlist of these records would be a really useful thing to be publicly available, with all the appropriate call numbers included (If it is, please tell me! EDIT - the answer may well be in Cliff Edwards, Railway records: a guide to sources (PRO, 2001) - it's readily available for a quid or so: I've ordered a copy).
2. EDIT - had I read the NRM file properly, I'd have seen that the GWR Register is at York: it's arranged by plated weight and consists of files C&W/PO/GWR/1-9.
3. The relevant Chas Roberts records survive at York: Charles Roberts & Co Ltd, railway wagon builders | The National Archives (though the HMRS have the photos and some of the drawings). I think we may reasonably assume that Tourret did not consult these.
4. For completeness there are surviving records from the Bristol and West Tar Distillers with Bristol Archives: Bristol & West Tar Distillers Ltd | The National Archives and (company records, probably not helpful here, at TNA: Bristol & West Tar Distillers Ltd | The National Archives).

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Nice work, @AJC Adam - both in the physical, and the educational. Your dayjob is showing . I love a bit of research, me. And what you've dug up is very interesting, and adds to the subject for us lesser mortals.

Thanks again

Cheers

Jan

 

[AJC]

Nice work, @AJC Adam - both in the physical, and the educational. Your dayjob is showing . I love a bit of research, me. And what you've dug up is very interesting, and adds to the subject for us lesser mortals.

Thanks again

Cheers

Jan

Thank you, Jan! No one’s a lesser mortal, I’m just trying to show my working: there’s no end of published work of wagons but almost none of it is properly referenced so it’s a struggle for those of us who don’t know the records - I’m more at home with the medieval Chancery and Exchequer - but who do know how archives work to find stuff.

It’s partly because much of the legwork was done a while ago; partly because it’s a hobby for people; that means private collections with attached value, financial or otherwise. Sometimes, frankly, there’s an element of gatekeeping. You get the latter everywhere of course.

The result is that we end up leaning on secondary texts and repeating assumptions and assertions as fact. Sometimes - as here - they hide the full picture.

One thing is certain: there’s invariably another document and the best way to find it is to publish what you know!

Adam

 

[AJC]

Just a quick snap before it heads off to a new home: William Butler's no. 57. A slightly impressionistic model, but a nice take on the Slater's kit.



I hope the next owner gets the same enjoyment out of using it that I have from detailing and weathering the thing.

Adam

 

[AJC]

A bit of light COVID isolation reading (thanks @Simon).



Adam

 

[AJC]

A light project which leans into a heavier duty one for the future. The tender shown below is a Bachmann one for a N which will (once I've built it) be hung on the back of a Rebuilt River. The rest of the N will be either borrowed (boiler, some fittings) or sold on (chassis), but that's probably not going to happen all that soon though there is a suitable SE Finecast chassis ready for the purpose.

Because the Bachmann frames are too close together for EM, I've replaced them with an etch from Mainly Trains via Wizard Models and axleboxes from RT Models. A new coal space, lifting brackets, fire iron brackets and water softener hatch complete the modifications. The mixed wheelsets have some prototypical provenance but boil down to wanting to use what I had rather than buy more bits in. Will anyone notice? I doubt it. Here is an example, however:

St. Mary Cray Junction. 31826 & works train. 14.12.58 by Roger Joanes, on Flickr

Will the loco be finished before @Stevers completes his? Not a clue.





I am quite pleased with the pipework on the back - the valve handle for the steam heat pipe is a 2mm scale handrail knob. Yes, the coupling should be shackled from the hook (and the front one will be), but there are limits to my commitment and I had several assembled screw couplings ready to go.



Adam

 

[Tim Hale]

Although not the same, this was based on a standard DJH U. The chassis is SEF generic SR 2-6-0 by the late Alastair Rolfe, tender by Bachmann.
Sorry to butt in.

​

 

[Duncan Chandler]

Very nice, where did you get the TIA filler from?

 

[AJC]

Very nice, where did you get the TIA filler from?

I knocked it up from a bit of tube with a lid from 10 thou’ with a 5 thou overlay. RT Models do a casting from the Albert Goodall range but I forgot to add it to my order. That said, once I worked out what it should look like it was a 5 minute job.

Adam

 

[AJC]

Another loco' project. This is - fairly obviously - an LSWR B4, a Dapol body with a SE Finecast chassis. B4's are notorious in model form for the 'challenging' clearances. Obviously, there's the usual crosshead/coupling rods conundrum and in this case we're dealing in fag paper stuff, especially with the connecting rods and the end of the slidebars, but clearance is clearance and the chassis runs. Steps are a work in progress, but I can see that I'm beguilingly close. Once that's done, it's the final detailing: brakegear and sandboxes. I can then paint it black and start inventing excuses to run a Plymouth Friary engine on a Somerset-based layout. It's more plausible than 'Brighton Works', but not much. A railtour?



Adam

 

[Tim Hale]

On Saturday 20 March 1948 B4 83 was noted at Dover, the B4 book by Kingfisher Press has a photo of the loco at the docks.
The logic is simple, if a B4 can be found so far off the 'reservation' then Podimore isn't such a stretch, no doubt shedded at Yeovil Town?
BR

 

[AJC]

On Saturday 20 March 1948 B4 83 was noted at Dover, the B4 book by Kingfisher Press has a photo of the loco at the docks.
The logic is simple, if a B4 can be found so far off the 'reservation' then Podimore isn't such a stretch, no doubt shedded at Yeovil Town?
BR

The Dover harbour railway was a haunt of small engines - Ps and B4s included. I think hire to the quarry company is the most likely answer - I have so many industrials that I fear unreliable motive power is going to be a constant 'excuse'... The branch pick up is well-within bounds, too, but probably pushing my luck.

The railtour - a double-header with Brighton Works, I think; they're geared the same and have the same sized wheels so that should work - and of course there was the well-known instance of 30096 performing a gentle trundle the long way around Southampton and Winchester (quite an interesting route, the more so because much of it is still possible: The Railtour Files).

Adam