Boring Visually? (Part 2)

Yet Another fbb Bludner?

fbb was idly watching a YouTube about Newton Chambers car-carrying van when up popped the above picture, inserted into the video as an aside.

The commentary went something like this:- 

The Newiton Chambers car carriers ...

... were based on the Tierwag carriers introduced by British Railways in 1957 and modelled by Triang, later Triang Hornby.

So not a highly modified Mark 1 coach then? The commentary continued.

The Tierwag wagons were probably not used very much.

So fbb searched on-line and found a picture of a Triang car carrier like the inset part picture from the video ...

... but without cars. But, as we all know:

IT'S ALL ON LINE

So next, up popped a snap of a wagon, plus six cars ...

... and even one on a retro Triang layout!

Of course Triang was initially a toy train manufacturer, so it came as no surprise to see a picture illustrating a working car carrier.

Lo and behold, you could drive two cars into the central 'cage' and lower them into the well between the bogies.  The resultant working model was too tall to be realistic, but the idea was exactly the same as the visually boring Newton Chambers van.

Also, the YouTuber mentioned "plywood body sides"! but, surely, Mark 1 coaches had sheet steel panels!

Finally, after some diligent searching, this picture popped into view.

It is definitely British Railways (see the GUV as part of the train). It does not look like a precursor of Mototail as all the cars look the same. So fbb guesses that it was a demo for car manufacturers aiming to use the skeletal wagons for bulk car delivery.

Another picture is similar ...

... again with similar-looking motors on board. Petrol heads may be screaming at fbb's ignorance of 1957 car marques, but the concept does match the Newton Chambers wagons.

So not really related to Mark 1 coaches ... BUT ... did BR pinch the idea (or maybe Newton Chambers did) from the Tierwag design. Tierwag sounds very much like a German 'brand'.

And finally ...

... two "cheap'n'nasty" Triang plastic cars in the 'cage' that was slid up and down by a huge over scale human hand. But the kiddies loved it - until the cage broke or dad trod on one of the cars, crushing them into tearful oblivion.

Toy trains were such fun!

Two Versions!

Strange things happen in the model world.

Only 14 vans were ever made by Newton Chambers. They started life in BR maroon (below in model form) ...

... but are mostly pictured in BR blue and light grey.

Heiljan, a Danish company, offered OO models in both maroon and the later blue/grey as did EFE,  a Bachmann marque. It is the latter that provides pictures for thus blog. 

Some modellers claim that Heljan has more added detail, but fbb thinks that is due to different states of the vans' electrical and braking systems over the years.

But the detail is impressive if you concentrate on anything other than the 'tin box', the very plain body. 

The bogie are well detailed ...

... and painted. The van ends accurately model all the gubbins ...

... and match reality very well.

Although nothing opens --- Boo!

The 'windows' represent translucent plastic on the real thing so are just painted.

The model comes with the obligatory bag of bits ...

... which enables the owner to replicate the two different versions of on-board equipment during the vans' long life spam.

Would anyone watching the train trundle by ever notice?

"Do you realise that this particular van was uniquely fitted with a Gunter-Wurmbrand experimental generator and your model shows the standard BR pipe and cable combination?"

Modeller hangs his head in shame, weeps copiously and throws his car carriers in the bin to take up cross stitch instead of  OO trains!

Now there's  an idea!

But the paint and transfer job is exquisite.

fbb cannot read the small print, but it is there! (picture is not very high quality due to fbb's incompetence!)

For the record, you can buy Newton Chambers car carriers in N scale, but you have to buy three.

But whatever the scale and, despite the odd bits of detail, these tin box models are a bit boring; even on a layout big enough to run them!

  Next Variety blog : Saturday 11th April 

Boring Visually? (Part 1)

Boring Visually ... But ...

Some readers will be ancient enough to remember Motorail before it became Motorail, whereby cars were sometimes loaded on to bogie General Utility Vans fitted with end doors.

Two doors opened conventionally and a plate was lowered to fill the gap between vehicles. Generally a beefy BR employees drove the cars on and off as clearances were tight.  

Some services used flat wagons ...

... where motorists were usually guided on, trusted to do the driving themselves.

Specially designed car carriers were used in later years ...

... again with loading and unloading in the hands of Motorail staff. Note that these wagons each carried six cars, but a GUV or flat wagon could only manage three.

A further three car version was developed by "The Western" ...

... using side loading (as with Channel Tunnel shuttles), shown above on test. Below, a vehicle on display and not being unloaded!

There was, at one time, a huge range of Motorail services.

But in pre-Motorail days, someone at BR had a jackpot idea. They modified a standard carriage or GUV type to carry SIX cars!

The steel fabrication was undertaken by Newton Chambers of Chapeltown, near Sheffield way back in 1961!!   In fact, the vehicles were heavily modified Mark 1 coaches. 

STOP PRESS : The above highlighted sentence may be rubbish; utterly incorrect. fbb will expound further in tomorrow's  blog.

There wasn't much left of the originals apart from body framework and roof! Even the bogies were a special short wheel base design to give maximum space. Much of the original underframe had to be cut away ...

... and equipment relocated; because that is where two of the six cars would go. But how would they get there?

That was the clever bit.

Note that the top four are high up in the van, well above normal floor level but with no room for any ramp down to the lower deck at bogie level!

The two 'lower deck' cars were driven on first and positioned in a two vehicle 'cage' in the centre of the van. The cage had a 'roof' which formed a section of the floor for the top deck once the 'cage' was lowered into irs well.

Obviously all lower deck cars had to be lowered in place throughout the train before the upper deck was loaded.

The main terminals had fixed ramps ...

... but the original departure sidings at Caledonian Road ...

... made use of a wagon with ramp attached!

Here is the portable ramp in use for the short-lived Motorail service at Okehampton ...

... with a somewhat anxious driver wondering where the precious family limo was being stowed!

But the resultant trains were hardly interesting to look at!

You might think that any such service would not arouse the excitement juices of a typical railway modeller with very few layouts having space for a realistic length of Motorail train.

But Oxford Rail offers a splendidly detailed 'car flat' priced at around £40. 

Revolution Trains will allow you to run a set of four 'cartic' wagons at £160, but ...

.. they do come as a set - you can't  buy one!

So we have to assume that there are modellers who run scale length Motorail trains on their layouts.

You would need lots of OO model cars to fill the open wagons.

But with Newton Chambers TCV vans ...

to be continued ...

  Next boring blog : Friday 10th April 

The Most Boring Railway Wagon?

We Don't  Like 'Boring'!

The salt wagon wasn't boring; it was rather splendid as the above from Rapido Trains.

When fbb was a lad, he craved for a Saxa salt wagon for his model railway. Hornby Dublo sold one but it was too expensive for the lad's limited pocket money budget. Anyway, whilst it was coloirful, it was printed tinplate and not very realistic.

A later version, branded SD6, was much better but still too pricey.

But, if you want to learn about specialist wagons on the real railway, you can start you exploration in the on-line sales lists of model 'manufacturers'. (They don't make anything; they are all made in China.)

Here is a gunpowder van, rare on the real railway but often to be found trundling happily round even the smallest layouts.

Oxford Rail has recently issued various versions of this. ...

... a rare wagon designed to carry heavy machinery. 

Then there us a recent 'Prestwin' cement wagon, 'produced' in exquisite detail, at an exquisite price (?), by Clark Rail Works.

Oxford, again, has announced a crane and match wagon set, seen below in unpainted form.

fbb could go on ...

... and on ...

... but you get the idea. Specialist models which were rare on the real railway are being sold to detail-loving elderly railway modellers at high prices and hoped-for high profits!

But the real railway, in the good old days, used an awful lot if very boring, very ordinary wagons.

There was the five plank open wagon ...

... the all-steel mineral wagon ...

... and the general purpose goods van.

In their desperation for 'something different' modellers are buying "private owner" rolling stock ...

... often just because they look pretty.

Another growth industry is for fake names on wagons.

They are not cheap.

So fbb got to thinking about what would be the most boring piece of rolling stock to add to his Peterville layout; which would also be the most boring on the real railway.

What about a BR 'standard' bullion van?

BR had a contract to carry gold between various banking institutions and, as gold is heavy, a large vehicle was needed to spread the load. The van also carried security guards ...

... so one compartment plus the usual 'facilities' were retained when the vehicles were converted from ordinary passenger coaches.

Certainly such a model would be visually boring and lacking opportunities for "exquisite" detail, both internal and external.

As far as fbb knows, there has never been a ready-to-run model of a bullion van available.

But fbb thinks he has found something more visually boring visually than even a bullion van!

Bewildering Display of Bus Designs

Richard Rosa's book (£15 - available on-line) begins with a thorough survey of buses that were available pre 1904.

He lists them in date order with the caveat that their first few...

... never carried any paying passengers!

Buses on the rest if the list were used 'in service'.

He then goes on to look at the various models in turn - making for a fascinating and detailed read. The snippets below are offered as a taster and not necessarily in the order Mr Rosa has used! There us much more than these few extracts! 

The Gillet steam omnibus, operated by the Motor Omnibus Syndicate Limited.

And with a top deck roof - untold luxury!

British Motor Syndicate Limited : British Motor Company Limited

Thus was a petrol engine vehicle with seats next to the driver and in limited top deck accommodation.

Straker Steam Omnibus (experimental)

fbb guesses that the top deck 'windscreen' is not to protect from the gales of forward motion, but to divert smoke and red hot cinders from the chimney!

There is a contemporaneous advert for a Straker Omnibus or lorry.

Again, advertised with a lid!

Bromley Motor Car Company Limited

Surely one of the first midibus routes; to the fleshpots of Catford Bridge!

And we are only at page 28 of 212 with loads to read so far.

More in due course.

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Easter should be a Christian Festival celebrating the fact of the empty tomb. There should be no argument. Everyone, at the time, accepted the fact that a dead body was no longer there. Even those who illegally killed Jesus accepted that fact.

But then the question arises as to what happened to the body?

The easiest way to dispel the idea of Jesus' resurrection would be to produce a body. Nobody even tried!

Did Jesus appear in physical form to many different people in many different circumstances? Did he cook ... 

FISH

... for some night fishermen? The accounts are utterly plausible and from eye witnesses recorded very close to the event. They are not triumphalist; they are rational reports from people who struggled to believe their own eyes. 

You couldn't make it up!

Yet, they are reports from people who remained frightened that they would be next in the anti-Jesus purge. They spent much of their time behind locked doors, in fear and in prayer for their safety.

Hardly a good recipe for a great world religion!

They will be watching out, waiting in fear and wondering about their future for seven weeks!

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 Next boring blog : Thurs 8 April