LarryG's Wagon w.b.

[LarryG]

Two wagons weathered today although in fairness the bauxite van represents one quite recently outshopped...


The Insulated van has yer average weathering for a van used for perishable goods. According to one source, a BR design was not really needed. Later on they were used for ordinary traffic and some were repainted bauxite in the 1960's...

 

[LarryG]

Photographed to ensure the latest weathering fitted into the scenery....

 

[Heather Kay]

It's going to be a nice busy little goods yard.

 

[LarryG]

It's going to be a nice busy little goods yard.

No brake van yet so nothing can move haha.

 

[LarryG]

I am wary of some captions in wagon books with monochrome photos. Ex.Big Four pre-war wagons described as typical of all-wood wagons lacking paintwork is wrong. Pre-war Big Four wagons were painted and any that did not receive BR colours would still be in pre-war paintwork. As often as not, it had got darker and the ironwork rustier. The LMS adopted bauxite brown in 1936/37 and very small lettering for all wagons, so the sight of a bauxite wagon in early BR days was not necessarily an indication that it was 'fitted'. The LNER too adopted 'red' after the war. Unpainted wooden wagons with painted metalwork was a post-war austerity thing carried on by BR

A different tack was adopted for this elderly all-wood wagon. A greyish-brown was mixed for the body to represent 1936 LMS well-weathered bauxite brown, then some planks were brush painted with BR early wagon grey to represent repairs while others were lightened a little to depict unpainted repairs. This is the basic colouring onto which will go weathering....

 

[LarryG]

The next move was to brush a dilute wash of Precision Dirty Black over the body and solebars and wipe it off the planks so that it was left in the grooves and around raised detail. It was also applied to the strapping with a fine brush.....

 

[LarryG]

Finally the remainder was done with weathering powders while all screw heads were painted dirty black to represent rust at its darkest....



It is not really an ex.LMS wagon, as they had 'T' strapping on the ends and brake gear both sides. But to represent an ex/PO wagon, it would have had to have some residual lettering on it's sides. The missing brake handle also puzzles me but that is how it came. Varnishing the sides to seal the transfers has killed some of the rust on the strapping so it will be put back now....

 

[LarryG]

The last of my goods wagons was started just before dusk. A light coat of red-oxide plastic primer covered the private owner lettering before a coat of BR early grey was sprayed on. The chassis was brush painted indoors this evening using a mix of slightly diluted Precision Paints rusty rails and dirty black. It was easier than masking & spraying. Insignia is HMRS 'Methfix' and this wagon represents an a 1929-built LMS vehicle, though the end bracing should be 'T' angle...

To be continued...

 

[LarryG]

I deleted my previous post seeing as the experimental weathering was heading nowhere. So to continue, the wagon was resprayed BR grey this morning and is now weathered....


This is a general merchandise wagon and so I mostly used rust for weathering, unlike on coal wagons. Note rusty tops to the buffer housings where a thousand shunter poles had levered paint off over the years...

 

[LarryG]

One of the petroleum tank wagons was done this morning. It is one of the excellent Dapol tanks supplied in Esso class B livery with short catwalks which were fitted throughout the lives of the Esso owned vehicles. My weathering differed from previous wagons in that no thinned paint was used. Humbrol gloss varnish was applied in streaks and spots on the upper part of the tank and Humbrol AV0007 Dark Earth weathering powder plus Tiefschwarz No.5 Deep Black powder brushed into the wet varnish. It was then dabbed with a slightly damp tissue (containing white spirit) until I was satisfied with the appearance while working off a colour photograph.....


The chassis was sprayed with my usual cellulose weathering mix (much like sleeper grime) before going to work with powders. Rusty Rails enamel was brushed onto the brake blocks as well as the handbrake slide.....


Seeing how it fitted in with other weathered wagons on the layout.....

 

[Dave Holt]

Hi Larry.
I'm very much enjoying seeing your wagon weathering photos - they look very convincing to me. I also was taken in by the b&w pannier hauled freight photo and was impressed that you were recreating an actual train, rather like the Crab hauled excursion, photographed passing Lees, that you did for me.
Excellent modelling, as always.
Dave.

 

[LarryG]

Two simple modifications to a Dapol wagon of 3 years ago. The first was to remove the end 'wooden' strapping and replace it with 'T' strapping made from Plastikard....


The other was to make a new end for the brake handles from scraps of brass...

 

[LarryG]

A brandnew BR goods brake van was put in the yard this morning after arriving from the south. The local Western Region goods guard, complete with pajamas under his over-clothes, was out surveying his new steed in the early hours before someone pointed out it carried no lettering and might well be destined for the L M Region! By 11am his worst fears were confirmed when it was attached to the Ruthin goods....



The WR guard should have known better because the last coupling link was steel. The LMR used magnetic shunting poles!

In fact, a friend emailed me last weekend to say he had put something in the post adding "I know you dont want it but it will tide you over". What a lovely gift and very kind thought. It is just the job. Dapol have gone over to using non-magnetic links so I have been busy going through all the wagons replacing all the last links with steel ones.

 

[Ianwales]

Hi larry

Is the ESSO tank the same one that Dapol do in the Air Ministry lettering, I always get a bit stuck as to what tanks and livieries are suitable for a 1947 era GW layout.

Ian

 

[LarryG]

I honestly can't say, as I have not seen all the liveries. I only know my 'silver' National tank was not suitable for pre-1962-ish and that the black Esso tank was okay for the 1950's. I tend to read up on my immediate needs and then promptly forget everything as soon as the next project comes along....

 

[simond]

I’m no expert here, but my copy of Tourret suggests that the big “Esso” lettering was applied to 20 and 14 ton wagons both before & post war.

Later wagons seem to have the ovals with inscribed “Esso”, and the one in Larry’s photos looks very like a photo in the book (plate 277) which is captioned “Esso 20-ton Class B anchor mounted wagon No 2672 built by CAMBRIAN in 1948”

HTH
Simon

 

[LarryG]

I’m no expert here, but my copy of Tourret suggests that the big “Esso” lettering was applied to 20 and 14 ton wagons both before & post war.

Later wagons seem to have the ovals with inscribed “Esso”, and the one in Larry’s photos looks very like a photo in the book (plate 277) which is captioned “Esso 20-ton Class B anchor mounted wagon No 2672 built by CAMBRIAN in 1948”

HTH
Simon

Another non-expert here Simond. Railway modelling is multi-faceted and I often end up researching things that I would not normally dream of doing. Two Dapol tank wagons were gifts and so I looked for a real Esso fuel tank that I could copy while applying weathering.

Dapol's livery looked to be an accurate version of a 14T Esso Class B. Photographed in October 1953......


Below is the actual photo I used while weathering the O gauge model. It is a different type of course....

 

[jonte]

In service, Larry, I suspect the cylinder would have featured more oil residue running top to bottom than rust.

Something like this:

esso oil wagon 14t - Google Search

 

[LarryG]

In service, Larry, I suspect the cylinder would have featured more oil residue running top to bottom than rust.

I realized that, so I copied what I had and added more black. The objective was to create caked on muck. The model looks the part and that's the main thing. Good close up views of wagons in the 1950's are hard to come by in colour. Most I have come across are from a much later era and are in no way representative of the years I am modelling. It's my own fault when I was there and never took photos.

 

[jonte]

I realized that, so I copied what I had and added more black. The objective was to create caked on muck. The model looks the part and that's the main thing. Good close up views of wagons in the 1950's are hard to come by in colour. Most I have come across are from a much later era and are in no way representative of the years I am modelling. It's my own fault when I was there and never took photos.

The only reason I mention it is because of my dalliance with American Rail-Roading, where every other item of stock seemed to be an oil tank car, resulting in many articles about producing the ‘leaky’ finish.

I appreciate that we may have our own ideas about the look we desire; I’m as guilty as the next in that respect.