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
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
