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gswr 101

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islandbridgejct

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Very impressive indeed - good to see attention being given to genuine Irish prototypes. All too often repainted Hornby stuff is the best that's available.... Leslie's "Provincial" wagons, of course, are the exception to this - a very valuable addition to the "goods" scene.

 

I have a model built by an Inchicore worker in 1905 or so. I must take a pic of it and scan it. It's painted in the GSWR wagon livery (as seen in those photos above) of a very dark grey, almost black; much darker, even, than locomotives were!

 

Thanks jhb,

 

I'd love to see pictures of the Inchicore model, if possible taken outside from a slight distance (he said, getting picky.) Colours tend to look darker under artificial light. So far, all I've got to go on are Richard Chown's model's from Castle Rackrent http://highlandmiscellany.com/tag/richard-chown/, and a photo in Michael Baker's Railways of the Republic of Ireland, 1925-1975 showing two ancient wagons at Achill about 1934, still in GSWR livery, and looking very faded and quite light grey (plus your own comments on this site.)

 

What really strikes me about wagons of the GSWR, MGWR and DSER is the prevalence of outside, wooden frames, and the single brake shoe. These set them apart from mainstream English models, which mostly suit the period 1930-1960. I've seen pre-grouping English vans that are similar to the Irish ones. The other big difference of course is the large number of convertible or semi-covered wagons, which I'm trying to model here.

 

A thing I've been wondering about is whether these wagons doubled up as cattle wagons. Captions to pictures are a bit ambivalent. Looking at photos, there seem to be vans with removable upper planking, and I'm not sure if these are the ones that are converted to cattle use, or if it's the semi-covered with tarpaulin above the doors. Do you happen to know?

 

Thanks for the comments.

 

Alan

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Thanks John. I've nothing against styrene. In fact I started to build using it - but just thought I'd try something a bit different, and that I could print more easily. In fact the printing doesn't work perfectly, because the toner tends to come off the board when I cut and scribe it. I've been thinking of alternatives. I'm keen to make some wagons in brass too, and may do some more in styrene. I'll try and get on with these ones first.

 

Alan

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Thanks Kirley and Hunslet.

 

I don't find the process too time consuming. The main problem I've had before has been in accurate marking out. Using CAD and a printout eliminates all of that, and gives me a template I can cut straight from. My plan for a brass open wagon is to do a printout on thin paper and stick it to the brass with Pritt stick or similar, and score through from that. The reason for going for brass opens is to try to get a bit more weight into them. I'll see how it goes.

 

Alan

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  • 3 weeks later...

Tonight's progress - trial build of a brass open wagon. Underframe, floor and wraparound sides. Some errors already - in particular, I removed the bottom of the door on one side, oops - but I'll try assembling it anyway to see if it works out.

 

Wraparound approach probably still not a good idea, though it does save having to solder the sides back together, and there should be a frame at the corners anyway. Floor filing is a bit rough, but I may be able to smooth it out.

 

Overall, 0.2mm seems too narrow, so maybe I should go for a double thickness, or buy thicker brass sheet.

 

 

IMG_1548.jpg

 

Next night, soldering.

 

Alan

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And after half an hour's soldering - well, 5 minutes with the iron and 25 trying to get pieces cleaned, fluxed and into position, I'm reasonably happy with this:

 

 

IMG_1549.jpg

 

True, one side is a bit bendy, but that's the side I filed the door bottom off on anyway.

 

And the underframe doesn't quite fit - needs to be about 1mm smaller all round, so I'll have to fabricate another one.

 

Anyway, so far I'm at middling. The next one will be better.

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Alan

 

The 14' outside framed convertible wagon seems to have been the standard up to around 1914-15 when the longer Irish Railway Clearing House open and covered wagons were introduced & the GSWR developed the steel framed H van.

 

The convertibles were used to carry cattle or general goods traffic. Most companys did not have enough cattle wagons to handle the seasonal peak traffic from large fairs that could require 100+ wagons like Ballinasloe, Loughrea, Roscommon so convertibles were pressed into service.

 

Resin casting from a plasticard master would probably be a quicker option than scratchbulding for building a rake of open wagons, most of my C&L coal wagons have a one piece resin body cast in a simple plug mould. Plasticard would be a better option for the master than brass to get a decent wall thickness, most of the earlier box style opens used min.3"planks or 1mm thick in 4mm.

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Alan

 

The 14' outside framed convertible wagon seems to have been the standard up to around 1914-15 when the longer Irish Railway Clearing House open and covered wagons were introduced & the GSWR developed the steel framed H van.

 

The convertibles were used to carry cattle or general goods traffic. Most companys did not have enough cattle wagons to handle the seasonal peak traffic from large fairs that could require 100+ wagons like Ballinasloe, Loughrea, Roscommon so convertibles were pressed into service.

 

Resin casting from a plasticard master would probably be a quicker option than scratchbulding for building a rake of open wagons, most of my C&L coal wagons have a one piece resin body cast in a simple plug mould. Plasticard would be a better option for the master than brass to get a decent wall thickness, most of the earlier box style opens used min.3"planks or 1mm thick in 4mm.

 

Thanks John.

 

p100 of Murray and McNeill's GSWR shows 3 wagons, convertible, open and open cattle, numbers 1387, 1445 and 2635, and they all seem to be 16 footers and they're all dated 1890-91. That's what I have to work from.

 

Baker's Railways of the Republic of Ireland at p83 has a convertible no 253 and a box van with removable slats no 1577 (looks like it converts for cattle traffic), and they both seem shorter, probably 14' as you say. They're at Achill in 1934, still lettered GSWR.

 

That suggests a changeover about 1890 with a lot of the earlier wagons surviving into the 30s, so I probably need both lengths.

 

As to method of construction, you're probably thinking, 'would he ever get on and just build the things' which would be a fair point, but I'm having fun with the various construction techniques, and there's some method to my madness in that a bit of practice with brass wagons is probably good before I take on etched brass carriages.

 

Also, I've an old Q Kits A Class and C Class and I never really liked resin as a material. Plastic is fine though, and probably ideal for wagons.

 

Thanks for the info about width. I've never actually seen a wooden wagon in the wild, and I'm surprised to hear they could be 3". I'd have guessed 2".

 

Anyway, I'll keep pottering here until my w irons arrive, hopefully about the end of the month. Must get some bearings or I'll be stuck again.

 

Tonight's work involved a redesign of the wagon floor, using stronger sections, but I can't complete it until I get the w irons.

 

 

Alan

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I think we should have triple entendres and quadruple ones. That'll sort the men from the boys!

 

 

I'd a triple entendre once. I could hardly walk for a week afterwards.

 

But it was worth it.

 

 

You need to be careful of those quadruple ones, jhb, they can increase exponentially on you and before you know where you are, things begin to get out of hand.

 

Mind you, if you're trying to separate the men from the boys, might I suggest you're on the wrong website?

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I couldn't show my face again without something to show for it, so after a weekend of procrastination - or just being too sh... fagged at the end of the day to start modelling, I knocked these up this evening based on the drawings for the brass version.

 

IMG_1551.jpg

 

IMG_1553.jpg

 

I was afraid if I didn't do something in styrene, John might start sending me sticks of rhubarb.

 

This is the drawing - bloody impossible to get Turbocad to do things in round numbers:-

 

gswr open3.jpg

 

Alan

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There might be some modelling up next.

 

I'm all out of double entredes, but I'm sure broithe will be along shortly to slip one in.

 

TurboCAD, the software equivalent of schrodingers cat. It works and it doesn't, all at the same time. There is bound to be an option to set the accuracy to a decimal point or two? That would drive me barmy. Styrene is the way and the light, and laminiations of several thin pieces are always better than a single thick piece. (What have i started....)

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Herewith, proof from Mr Broithe of how devious leprechauns are. They lead you to believe that underneath a rainbow there's nothing more than an oul crock of gold. Above is the proof of the REAL treasure they guard. The man driving that lorry is either in their pay, in which case I hereby issue a fatwa against him; or he is an unselfish hero, determined to wrest his precious cargo from their grasp. Wonder if he ever drove the Guinness & Fert with a 141 for IE.

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