O Gauge Irish Class A and Class B Tank Wagons

[DJ Dangerous]

Just received an email from Hatton's, announcing 35 ton Class A and Class B Tank Wagons from Heljan:

https://www.hattons.co.uk/directory/versiondetails/article?id=1109

There are currently fifteen Class B variants listed.

I have read here on the forum that many of the Irish tank wagons were ex-UK Class A and B wagons, but the shields / anchor strips running along the sides at the base of these Heljan releases look like the pre-1980's type.

I also understand that the longer Class A barrels were more common than these Class B barrels.

Several informative posts from @Mayner and other members here, here, here, here, here and here.

SSM used to do a detailing kit in OO Gauge which included the shields, but I get the impression that Des has retired, or is at least uncontactable this year.

That's a shame, as the shields probably could have been scaled up to O Gauge.

How many Class B wagons ran in Ireland?

 

 

Edited October 9, 2023 by DJ Dangerous
Spelling

[DJ Dangerous]

On further digging, Dapol do Class A Tank wagons:

https://www.hattons.co.uk/598261/dapol_7f_062_003_14_ton_class_a_anchor_mounted_tank_wagon_benzole_906/stockdetail

https://www.hattons.co.uk/598258/dapol_7f_062_001_14_ton_class_a_anchor_mounted_tank_wagon_british_petroleum_1000/stockdetail

https://www.hattons.co.uk/598260/dapol_7f_062_002_14_ton_class_a_anchor_mounted_tank_wagon_fina_155/stockdetail

https://www.hattons.co.uk/598262/dapol_7f_062_004_14_ton_class_a_anchor_mounted_tank_wagon_national_benzole_855/stockdetail

https://www.hattons.co.uk/598263/dapol_7f_062_005_14_ton_class_a_anchor_mounted_tank_wagon_regent_20/stockdetail

Hmmmmmmmmmmm...

[David Holman]

The Slater's RCH 'standard's tank wagon kit is one of the few prototypes to make it across the water (I think). It is however a challenging model to make & my own one is just a static model at the moment because the axleboxes are too tight to run well.

Edited October 9, 2023 by David Holman

[Mayner]

Most Irish tank wagons up to the mid 1960s were standard British RCH designs assembled by builders like Hurst Nelson and Charles Roberts not dissimilar to the Slaters O Gauge and Bachmann OO Gauge RCH wagons, the main physical difference between the Class A and B wagons was the discharge arrangement the Class A through a siphon pipe on top of the barrel and the B through a discharge pipe under the wagon operated by a hand wheel on the top!

CIE started building 'modern" vacuum braked tank wagons in the early-mid 60s for Foynes-Drogheda & Limerick fuel oil traffic for Cement Limited and later built small batches of tank wagons in the early 70s for Burmah (6 wagons) possibly general use and fuel oil traffic to loco depots and bus garages. 

The ESSO wagons were owned by ESSO Teo and were re-gauged type A & B Charles Roberts built ESSO tank wagons dating from the late 50s made redundant by the introduction of larger air braked wagons.

The majority of the older tank wagons were dumped/stored in the Sherriff St/East Wall Yard until the yard was cleared out during the early 2000s.

One interesting group of wagons similar to the Dapol Type A anchor mounted wagons formerly owned by Caltex/Texaco that were used on North Wall-Inchacore fuel trains into the late 70s early 80s.

Originally branded CALTEX they were re-branded TEXACO and ended up with the CALTEX lettering "grinning" through the paintwork an interesting lettering/weathering challenge.

Not great photos taken late afternoon late 90sThe Irish Shell Wagon is a late 1920s RCH Type A with silver body and red solebars

113 is one of the Anchor mounted Caltex wagons re-branded as Texaco. 

The Caltex wagon in the bottom photo is an older anchor mounted Class A design with a rivet3ed tank barrel possibly dating from the 1940s

Type A tank wagons originally had a horizontal orange? strip at mode barrel and black solebars, later changed to red solebars!

 

 

 

 

 

[warb]

[Joe Keegan]

15 minutes ago, warb said:

Photo taken at Inchicore works ?

[exciecoachbuilder]

3 hours ago, Joe Keegan said:

Photo taken at Inchicore works ?

Yep, at the side of the running shed in Inchicore works.

[exciecoachbuilder]

15 minutes ago, exciecoachbuilder said:

Yep, at the side of the running shed in Inchicore works.

For the life of me, I can't remember what the ULT maintenance abbreviation stenciled onto the side of the chassis means? ( It was stenciled onto both carriages and wagons).But what I can see from the photo, January 1975 was the last time the wagon got its "ULT maintenance"?

[WRENNEIRE]

Not the best pic 

[WRENNEIRE]

[RobertRoche]

4 hours ago, exciecoachbuilder said:

For the life of me, I can't remember what the ULT maintenance abbreviation stenciled onto the side of the chassis means? ( It was stenciled onto both carriages and wagons).But what I can see from the photo, January 1975 was the last time the wagon got its "ULT maintenance"?

I asked that question before and got the following answer: