Chicolate Variety (1)

It Started With Dapol

... announcing three private owner (PO) "chocolate" goods vans at a very reasonable price. In recent years there has been something of a Krakatoan explosion of PO wagons for model railway enthusiasts. Often they are painted in far more attractive liveries tan similar wagons owned by the railway companies.

They tended to be boring brown or grotty grey with just the comoany letters (GWR, MR, SR, LNER) by way of ownership indicator.

But a modern trend in model goods wagons is for fake PO wagons; trucks that never existed in the real railway world but which are avidly collected by wealthy elderly enthusiasts because "they look attractive". But you need some knowledge and skill to choose the right liveries if you want you goods train to be genuine.

So How Genuine Are Dapol's Models?

Well now, we all know Cadbury s Dairy Milk, that Bastion of Britishness with its iconic blue wrappers and a glass and a half in every bar. The wrapper hasn't changes in years!

Oh, it has changed quite a lot. In fact the first wrappers were nearer to purple than blue!

This would make Dapol's wagon just right for authenticity.

Bournville was the brand for dark chocolate (fbb's fave) ...

... which perfectly matches Dapol's other Cadbury livery.

Bur first, a bit o background from a q Birmingham railway web site.

In 1861, John Cadbury's sons Richard and George had taken over 'Cadbury Brothers of Birmingham,' then based in central Birmingham at Bridge Street.

Noticing the development of the Birmingham Western Suburban Railway, the Cadbury Brothers began a search for land on which to develop a factory. At the time, their milk was delivered on canal barges ...

... mainly via the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, while their cocoa was delivered either from London or Southampton via railway. 

Hence they were looking for a junction of canal and rail.

In 1878, the company acquired the Bournbrook estate, comprising 14.5 acres of countryside 5 miles south of the outskirts of Birmingham, right next to the new Stirchley Street station. They renamed the Bournbrook estate to the French-sounding Bournville, and opened the Bournville factory in 1879.

In 1893, George Cadbury bought 120 acres of land close to the works and planned, at his own expense, a full-sized "model£ village which would 'alleviate the evils of modern more cramped living conditions'. 

By 1900, the estate included 313 cottages and houses set on 330 acres of land. As the Cadbury family were Quakers there were no pubs in the estate.

Part of the works included an extensive network of railway sidings ...

... some circing through the main block of factories.

Tracks alo ran alongside the Worcester and Birmingham canal, so both goods inwards modes were available. To get to the wharf, a bridge was necessary over what became the Cross Country main line between Bristol and Birmingham.

Thus, all fbb has to do is to scour the interwebnet for pictures of real full sized Cadbury's wagons and see if the livery matches. While he is searching diligently, he also needs to consider an open wagon painted yellow!

Then there are model coal hoppers in yellow ...

... or a very strange un-Cadbury blue!

But. hopefully, we can find at least some of these resting peacefully in the long-closed sidings at Bournewille.

In the meantime, we might choose to enjoy a selection of Cadbury products which fbb has never heard of.

Apparently they are manufactured for the Australian market but are due to arrive in the UK soon.

fbb simply cannot wait for a Dairy Milk "Perky Nana" bar. Too right, Sport. Were's the fbb hat with the corks?

Meanwhile ...

Confused.com?

Is Variety Dead?

Not really. fbb had four topics planned for today's variety blog BUT as he delved deeper into the topics he found that there was far too much fascinating (?) material to cram into a combined blog. So today's planned "Variety" will now be spread over several days!

 Next Chocolate Variety blog : Monday 29 April 

Saturday Variety

Crystal Peaks Contact Problems

Crystal Peaks is a small (by today's standards) shopping mall, part of the Mosborough "new town" development on the south eastern edge of Sheffield. It is not unpleasant but its emporia are definitely in the lower leagues of retail quality. 

There have been a couple of contact problems recently and fbb does not mean phone or internet connectivity.

Approaching from the north ...

... there is a left hand turn leading to the extensive car parks.

... while the buses have their exclusive bit of road leading to the bus station. 

The car park access road is crossed by a couple of very solid footbridges taking pedestrians from higher land to the north across to the delights of their retail therapy.

Sadly, they are not designed for double deck buses to pass underneath.

... as one newish First Bus discovered a short while back.

The contact was significant! 

Quite why the driver went that way is unclear; but fortunately the top deck was lightly loaded and only three received non life threatening injuries.

It is worth noting that there are no advance warning of impending disaster,

More recently a potentially much more serious contact occurred at the Crystal Peaks bus station,

The local talk is that a T M Travel driver was taken ill at the wheel as he manoeuvered. The result was goodbye to at least two of the shelters.

The bus suffered as well.

fbb thinks that the vehicle was ex Lothian Buses SN61 BCE or SN61 BCX ...

... seen below in undented glory at Sheffield Interchange.

And Another Bridge

This time at Garforth station, east of Leeds. The station was equipped with a beautiful  historic NER footbridge ...

... well modelled by Hornby.

Alas, today's desire for full accessibility requires lifts to be br available and the existing bridge could not be altered, hence a full rebuild.

Notwork Rail are calling the replacement a "Beacon Bridge" although fbb did not quite grasp the subtlety of the name.

Apparently the design of the top of the lift towers makes them look like a "beacon".

Of course it does.

In a quiet moment of contemplation, your aged blogger does wonder what qualifies a station for a footbridge with a roof?

fbb's Axminster "local" was provided with a lid ...

... but then, so was the previous incarnation.

Perhaps you only get a covered footbridge if the old one was covered?

And another thought? Why are so many of these newly installed footbridges different in design? Are the innards (lifts and motors) the same? If not, won't maintenance and repair costs be unnecessarily high?

Times They Are A'Changing

Here is Haymarket, Sheffield in the 1950s when trams ruled the road and motor buses were an annoying intrusion!

The single track lower right was the end of the Castlegate turning loop for the service to Rotherham where single ended trams were in use.

Roll on to the mid 1960s when fbb was arriving at Sheffield Uni.

The trams are gone but the Atlantean is only just making its mark. A few tram track remnants are still visible after the accelerated closure plans were completed in October 1960. Note the hoardes of people in this popular shopping area of the city.

And today?

Empty! Many of the hoardes have decamped to Meadowhall shopping paradise, Haymarket is effectively one way up the hill for buses only and there are a lot fewer buses to make their way on to the city centre stops.

Changing for the better?

Bill Bodge & Fred Fudge Once More

fbb's model railway mentors have been motivating the old man to make progress with a project not directly linked to actual modelling.

It never really works - using sellotape as masking tape! The dark grey paint is a bodge as well. fbb did not have enough "proper" paint so added some dark grey to a pottle of polyurethane varnish. From a distance is looks a bit like shiny metal.

Possibly?

Anyway, peel off the sellotape and underneath ...

... is a right mess.

So touch up the black ...

... and carefully overpaint the bits that should be white.

And, from a distance of a few hundred yards, it is beginning to look like what fbb intended.

It is a bodge; but these things  change over time and spending huge sums of money on something that may need changing in a few months is poor use of limited financial resources.

But, as a disgraced entertainer was wont to ask, "Have you worked out what it is, yet?"

Indeed it is the VERY tentative beginnings of a control panel for the Peterville Quarry Railway.

There will soon be four electrically operated points remote from a central control position PLUS there are already five separate feeds of power to the track which really need to be switchable, on or off.

Hence the need for a control panel - of sorts.

Or fbb could have spent a small fortune on a "proper job"!

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 28 April 

Wolf Cub Mystery

Wolf Cub Weird Connections?

fbb used to be a Wolf Cub, carefully adjusting his woggle and chanting "dib dib dib" with enthusiasm and vitality! He even managed to win a few badges but cannot remember what they were.

The UK version of the wolf ...

... and her cubs caused a bit of worry at Brighton Station recently as she had set up shop under a shed quite close to the side rail electrified lines.

Where is this supposedly public transport blog going? 

Well, what seems like a decade ago, fbb ordered a tank wagon for his collection.

The manufacturer was Dapol and the wagon was an "Air Ministry" 14 ton tank used for various petroleum products including aviation fuel. The name may tell you that the full sized wagons were a wartime construct, the first arriving in 1939,

The majority of these tank wagons were built by the Air Ministry between 1939 and 1944 as Class A wagons for aviation fuel, being 17ft-6inch long on a 10ft wheelbase fitted with RCH either side braking and split oil axle boxes. The tank was 7ft-2inch diameter containing 4275 gallons saddle mounted with two small platforms on the top of the tank. 

In a move to confuse old people (like fbb) TEN different model versions were offered ...

... and when fbb checked his pre-order list on-line he found he had ordered THREE at different times.

Confused.com!

Thankfully Rails of Sheffield accepted fbb's plea of insanity and reduced the order to one, this one!

fbb was intrigued with the name and liked the livery. The "stone" base colour with the red line was an early attempt to allay the railway companies' health and safety concerns. Tanks painted thus would contain highly inflammable products and could be highly explosive. So the red line was a warning.

The model is due in "May or June" but fbb was already VERY intrigued.

Lobito is Spanish for "small wolf" or maybe "wolf cub" being a derivative of "lobo". So how come a UK fuel company is named after a little wolf?

The Cheshire address was authentic but a search on-line found scant evidence of this company.  But there is some!

Not fat from the refinery address is a filling station and tyre fitting garage at Holywell ...

... but nowhere else was there a UK version of the name - and anyway the video shows the establishment selling Esso fuel.

And so to a wider search!

Lobito is a town in Angola ...

... which looks quite pleasant.

Lobitos is also a small community in California ..

... which warrants very little information c/o Google.

But a district in Peru looks a little more hopeful.

Slowly the truth is unravelled,

Peru's importance in the early 20th century oil industry is clear from this picture of a Lobitos oilfield from back then.

So, probably, Lobitos succumbed to the global aspirations of Esso and ceased to exist, almost certainty pre WW2 or immediately post WW2. But the brand had a dynamic logo (?) ...

... petrol pumps ...

... and oil cans!

There is even a picture of a lorry for road deliveries.

Sadly we can no longer buy "wolf cub" petrol anywhere in the world ...

... pause for plaintive howling from petrol heads! 

But fbb (and others like him) can have a tank wagon to remind them of Peruvian lupine fuel!

Of course, fbb will report (excitedly?) on his new tank wagon when it arrives; but he can be certain it will have far better detail than his 1939 Hornby Dublo 3 rail model.

Dapol definitely offers intricacy and quality in response to more pennies from the fbb piggy bank. (Approx 3,780 pennies RRP!!) ...

... but fbb is paying nearly £6 less. (He hopes!)

Air Ministry 14 ton tank wagon

Specification

Extremely detailed and accurate 

     body shell and chassis 

Many separately added  fine details,

       including separate platforms 

       and ladders

NEM coupling 

Finely profiled wheels (front and back) 

Full sprung chassis

      a first for OO Gauge RTR models 

Superbly applied livery 

Three link chains supplied in accessory bag   

Incidentally, "Power" tank wagons were never green in reality. They would have been in the red stripe standard livery until that scheme was abandoned, colours as illustrated on this Bachmann model of a different prototype.

P.S. The Wolf Cub picture at the head of this blog is NOT a sweet 10 year old fbb! It was sourced from an internet postcard. fbb always wore specs!

 Next Variety blog : Saturday 27 April