Roads Reconstruction T4
AJC
Western Thunderer
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
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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