It was the development of the bogie, the four wheel (sometimes six) truck at each end of a long body, that revolutionised railway coaches from the early 1900s. Using the Great Western Railway as an example, we can see how the change took place. Instead of just four wheels ...
... the bogie coach could be longer and would offer a smoother ride with better springing and would take less time to marshal into a long train - less couplings to do up!
Adding a side corridor made it possible to move around inside the train, thus toilets for all, refreshment cars and easier access for ticket collectors.
Until then, staff had to shimmy along the outside footboards with understandable danger if the task was undertaken at speed. Bodywork became steel sheeting on a wooden frame ...
... with, perhaps, the ultimate in luxury being the eight GWR "super saloons" built to supplant Pullman Cars and put in service in 1937.
The much more mundane British Railways Mark 1 ...
... was steel framed and steel bodied. The early Mark 2 coaches looked much the same ...
... but they were of "integral" construction with the body "tube" replacing a conventional chassis. Sadly, painting one chocolate and cream (as above) did not make the sows ear of a modern carriage into the silk purse of a traditional GWR beauty!
For railway modellers on OO, bogie coaches were the norm from the very early days. The quality was poor - Hornby Dublo simply printed representations of windows on the bodyside ...
... and Triang's first efforts were, to say the least, disappointing.
fbb remembers the bowed coach roofs on his first rake of three very well. They soon went into the bin!
But, even in recent times, if you wanted to model a heritage train with four wheel coaches, you only option was to make up a Ratio plastic kit (quite tricky and expensive if you messed up) ...
... or, demanding even more skill, solder one up from an etched brass kit.
Even if you possessed such ability (fbb didn't and doesn't) you still needed more dexterity to paint the models and get them looking really nice. (fbb, even less able!).
Triang-Hornby produced a four wheel three compartment coach in various "old" liveries of which fbb quite liked the GWR version ...
... but no way was it ever "authentic"!! Some clever enthusiasts were quite good a creating four and six wheel vehicles ...
... out of Triang clerestory bogie coaches.
But it was a huge amount of work to make them look good; including building a six wheel chassis.
But suddenly all this has changed. Hattons, model retailers of Widnes, annouced a huge range of four- and six-wheelers under the generic title of "The Genesis Project". The models are not of any specific prototype but will pass muster on any layout where the creator is not too pernickerty about 100% accuracy.
Remember OO is 4mm to the foot scale, but with an incorrect narrow gauge track of 16.5mm, rather than the utterly accurate 18.83mm. So the whole shape of the train is an inaccurate compromise.
Here is a "rendering" of two of the GWR set of coaches.
At £30 a pop, they are not cheap; but they do look very fine. fbb will be tempted.
Of course, fbb's first O gauge toy train had four wheel coaches ...
...but today's serious "O" modeller will be excited by an announcement from Rails of Sheffield. In concert with Dapol, the company is producing some accurate models of real coaches, ready to run.
They are not cheap, but have all sorts of techy stuff on offer ...
... and there, tada, is our Isle of Wight restored example just waiting to be manufactured, painted and sold to an eager "O" gauge enthusiast.
BR Mark 1 coaches are available ready to run from Heljan at a little over £150 ...
... and Darstead at about £180.
As usual we need to remind our non modelling readers that all these beauties are no longer aimed at the kiddies. These are toys for wealthy boys!
But they are gorgeous!
Of course, fbb does have two four wheelers for his layout ...
Hornby's latest "old coach" excursion is part of its "Steam Punk" range. Effectively they have added assorted bits of plastic to their standard product.
But where are the cog-wheels, fbb hears you cry?
Hornby will sell you a pack of coggage ...
... to stick wherever you want! No suggestions, please.
What is really horrific about this range of joyous nonsense is that Hornby have resurrected an old brand name which they own.
Wenman Bassett-Lowke (1877 to 1953), undoubtedly the father of model railways in the UK ...
... will be spinning so fast in his grave that he will appear at speed in the Antipodes.
Anyway, fbb is off to brasso his binoculars and brush his bowler ...
... before purchasing some steampunk stuff for Peterville!
Maybe not.
P.S. If you do not understand "steampunk" as a genre, please don't try. It is really very, very silly - but much enjoyed by its adherents.
Sadly, you have missed the Whitby gathering.
Mask-erade Madness
Here is a live commentary exponent pictured exponing and commentating on the York Sightseeing Tour.
Does anyone really believe that his visor is protecting anyone from anything, except perhaps the wearer from a pigeon/seagull with loose bowels? Even if he were wearing it correctly, those vicious little viri, whether attached to water droplets or free-ranging in the air, will whisk happily round the edges of the plastic, either out or in!
But he has tipped his "protection" upwards so he can use his microphone. And he is in the fresh air, air being swirled around by the aerodynamics of an open top bus.
Who is conning whom about what?
Next book review blog : Thursday 20th August
*fewer couplings
ReplyDelete