An update on wooden mineral wagons.
Firstly, this one — made by Leslie Forrest/Windsor Models — repaired last year:
I said at the time (post #311) that I believed this wagon to be from the Sherwood Section railway belonging to Norman Eagles. I have now found the coal load that came with the wagon and which I had forgotten about:
Home made, clearly. I have no idea what has been used to represent coal, but it certainly isn’t real coal. Anyway, underneath it says:
So the wagon is definitely ex-Sherwood. Provenance established.
Next, this wagon by A.W.H. Pealling, repaired early in 2024 (see post #57 et seq.):
My only Pealling mineral wagon — until now. I have just acquired another one:
A few interesting points about this one. Only the solebars are wood. All the rest of the bodywork is laminated card. Post-WW2 Leeds Model Co. (LMC) alloy wheels one of which is disintegrating. Also LMC alloy buffers, the very elongated heads being a device to prevent buffer-locking on small radius curves.
Although in generally excellent condition, I shall have to give the wagon replacement wheels. The back-to-back on the LMC wheel-sets is too wide for Bassett-Lowke points, and one wheel is falling apart. There appears to be enough room between the W-irons for fitting Bassett-Lowke post-WW2 wagon wheels. Also the whole wagon body is twisted. I can’t correct this but if I make a snug-fitting (but removable) coal load I can probably hold the body square to allow the wagon to be run.
I’m pretty sure the Pealling Stephenson Clarke wagon was made pre-WW2. The Fox wagon I would date to the 1950s or ‘60s. I’m fairly confident of that because it was offered for sale along with about 15 other Pealling wagons several of which had dates painted on the solebars. The dates ranged from 1952 to 1966. Most of the wagons had bodies entirely built of wood and card, in the usual Pealling style. However, for some of the wagons Pealling had used a post-WW2 Hornby tinplate wagon chassis, added detail, and built a wood/card body on top. A couple were enhanced LMC Bakelite wagons. One looked to be based on using two Triang Big-Big Train mineral wagons to produce a GWR 20-tonner. The collection of wagons as a whole show great ingenuity by a commercial rolling stock builder using what little 0 gauge was otherwise available to produce excellent models. Curiously, several of the wagons in the collection were unfinished, specifically without lettering. It seems unlikely they were sold in this condition, so I wonder if these remained in the maker’s possession, but have somehow now emerged on the market.
I have bought an open merchandise wagon, a covered van and the Fox mineral wagon from this collection of Pealling’s work. That will do for me. A representative selection from the work of a well-known and much-admired wagon builder.
These Pealling wagons will look entirely in keeping mixed with Bassett-Lowke’s post-WW2 wooden wagons, but add variety.
There is one other important point about these Pealling models. Virtually all my wagons are contemporary with the prototype represented. And nearly always the model is of one the latest, most modern types of wagon, or at least in the contemporary livery. In the ‘30s and before, modellers generally wanted an up-to-date railway following the latest exciting developments on the real railways. But these Pealling wagons from the 1950s and ‘60s depict vehicles from a past era. They demonstrate the emergence of historical railway modelling as a much more mainstream activity.
Martin
PS Most of the Pealling wagons referred to above are still being offered for sale over the Internet, but not identified as Pealling by the vendor. They should go to a good home! If anyone wants to know how to find them, please PM me.
