*****************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Wagon Loads
*****************************************************************************************************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************************************************************************************************
21 ton hopper and Coke wagon in use for transporting imported cider apples from
South Wales to Bulmers at Hereford, as seen here at Morfa Bank Sidings.
More mix and match between Parkside and Red Panda produced this late pattern BR Conflat A,
with clasp brakes and oleo buffers. The AF type container is from the Bachmann range, and
has been fixed in position before final painting and weathering of the model. The Conflat
A has been finished as B710206, again with the early 60s era in mind.
Reworked Dia 1/002 Lowfit wagon B452181 has had an Army Sankey one ton trailer added as a
load. The parts for this model came in the Airfix kit which also provided the basis of the
Mk2 short wheelbase Landrover on the layout.
A BR Lowmac ER complete with a RL chained and chocked. The T.A. unit photograph showed a
train of 15 Lowmac wagons, each carrying an Army truck.
This Highfit is being used for a pair of locomotive driving wheels, which haven’t seen
use in a while to judge by the rust!
The completed Conflat B project is pictured after fitting of the two AFP containers and
securing chains. B740304 was typical of the fleet, converted by BR from surplus early
examples of the Dia 1/461 Pipe wagon.
This Conflat A is made up of parts from Red Panda for the vacuum clasp braked chassis and
a Parkside PC52 for the body sides. These containers were secured at each corner using the
handed locking gear, which for this model are produced from 3D prints.
The five Coil Js have been completed by the addition of roped tarpaulin covered loads,
this one being B386077, fleet number ‘45’, is pictured ready for use on Canada Street.
The 55T Arm ET shown after the steel block load has been added.
Ex-GWR Bogie Bolster A ‘W107364’ has been pictured on the website before, but is now
earning its keep with a load of telegraph poles (= kebab sticks from the kitchen drawer)
for rural Northumberland. Maybe bringing the telephone to a few more isolated farms, or
making good the damage done by the winter of ’63?
Two for the price of one! Based on a photograph from 1973, the Dia 2/748 Weltrol MX has
been finished as B901021, with a de-railment recovery as a load. The wagon is a
conversion of the GWR ‘Crocodile H’ OO gauge model, while the 24,5T mineral body is
from the Parkside kit. Damaged wagon bodies are often pictured as loads on Lowmacs
and bogie well wagons in the BR era, but mostly loaded the right way up…..
Bolster C VB after a load securing chain came adrift. The model is based on the
Bachmann/Mainline GWR-pattern product, but has been adapted to the late-style BR build.
This makes use of the Cambrian kit for cast-steel bogies, and has changed bolsters,
buffers, and brake details. The rolled steel beam load is made from plastic sections,
finished with a blend of matt grey and silver metallic enamels.
An ex-GWR 'Conflat A' of 1947 with an insulated container. This wagon design continued
in production almost unchanged under BR, so makes for an easy conversion from the
Parkside kit. The main visual change is the chain shackle points as BR added more
positions down each side.
A modified Oxfor tractor on a Lowfit wagon.
A pair of Lowfits loaded with Invacars for Wibdenshaw. The sacks were made from the finest
weave hessian, and the string is one strand of a piece of suitably coloured fine cord
with the deck lashing rings replaced with wire versions.
This internal user Lowfit with skip was often spotted at Wibdenshaw goods yard, made by Paul James.
During the refurbishment of Pete Johnson's freightliner wagons, this open container was quickly
put into service to hide some lead weight. It was taken off the flat and given some basic
detailing by cutting out a few of the side panels and painting some of the stanchions.
This Bachmann Conflat A has been rescued from the scrap line and given some shackles to secure
the container, made from an etched brass mix of 51L and Roxey etchings. I can live with the
chunky chassis for now, and it will add some variety to a mixed freight on a quick turn-around.
Agricultural equipment by Oxford Diecast on Lowfits. The 'loads' have been sprayed red from a
rattle can with the tyres and other details picked out in black. Black edged paper strips were
then glued on with PVA and given a coat of matt varnish.
Lowmacs loaded with plant - a Matchbox bulldozer and an Airfix JCB. These loads were only meant to
be temporary, but 20 years later they're still hitching a lift.
Here's a Departmental Open and Lowmac loaded with materials for the next engineering job.
Even without a load, the blocks of wood and lengths of chain add another dimension,
as seen here on Keith Trueman's Lesney Park.
MXV ex-16 ton mineral wagons being used for scrap traffic. Small pieces of scrap plastic
held in place with diluted glue, then painted rusty colours when dry.
Here we see the gradual building up of the loads, each piece glued in individually. The
scrap has been built up over years and comprises kit spares, off-cuts from the layout
and any bits of likely plastic including the innards of several printers and the odd
scanner. Anything goes really!
And here are two almost finished rubbish loads. As can be seen everything from bin bags
to old pallets to old posters and signs, some seat cushions and even an old bike. After
a bit of toning down and weathering they were ready for traffic. Something a bit
different for the traffic to Morfa Bank Tip. Further details showing the construction
of removable loads can be found on the June & May 2020 update pages.
Large gauge tubes separated with wooden packing, in a pair of OAA wagons at Wibdenshaw.
A Lowfit converted for coil traffic at Shenston Road.
Warflat wagon loaded with Saladin2 armoured vehicles at Shenston Road.
Warflat wagon loaded with Saracen and Saladin2 armoured vehicles.
Shenston Road MDVs, built from the Chivers kit, with fine coal load using removable
rectangles of black foam rubber, as found in Heljan model loco box packaging.
There's quite a few wagons in the fleet that will remain empty, detailed with remnants
of the load they normally carry. As well as a fine sprinkling of coal in these 16 ton
mineral wagons, the bogie bolster E wagon decks carry blocks of packing wood, so an
empty wagon is never empty!
