GSR Drewry Inspection Car

[jhb171achill]

Somewhere, at some stage, there were comments here about modelling on of these. In the hope that it's of help, this is a pic my dad took, I believe in or about 1942, as he prepared to board it to go off and peer at track, or the underneath of a culvert or bridge somewhere. I don't know where it is, though if anyone here does, please advise! the GSR had several of these. For modellers, they were painted maroon with black chassis and roof. Lining, perhaps obviously, was paleish yellow, with yellow lettering shaded in red  as per GSR norm.

The GSR had several including one with the same body but narrow gauge wheels - this spent much time on the C & L, where Senior used it once to inspect the track. CIE inherited them, and at least a couple lasted into the 1960s, being replaced by those yellow Wickham things, two of which grace the rails at the Downs of Patrick. In CIE days they wore the dark green livery (never repainted in the lighter carriage shade), but I have a vague recollection of seeing one, or something like it, at one time in what looked like a varnished finish. I could be completely wrong on this, but I wonder if one was ever re-panelled and perhaps re-panelled in plain varnished sheeting of something like marine plywood?

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

That's something I have never seen, fairly unique I suppose, lovely photo.

[jhb171achill]

19 minutes ago, Gabhal Luimnigh said:

That's something I have never seen, fairly unique I suppose, lovely photo.

They only had about half a dozen of them........... and, of course, they weren't out'n'about every day of the week.

Presumably, if one was prepared to sacrifice chassis accuracy, a two-foot-rule-compliant one could be made up out of plasticard on a motor bogie from a diesel loco or railcar..........

[Westcorkrailway]

1 hour ago, jhb171achill said:

Somewhere, at some stage, there were comments here about modelling on of these. In the hope that it's of help, this is a pic my dad took, I believe in or about 1942, as he prepared to board it to go off and peer at track, or the underneath of a culvert or bridge somewhere. I don't know where it is, though if anyone here does, please advise! the GSR had several of these. For modellers, they were painted maroon with black chassis and roof. Lining, perhaps obviously, was paleish yellow, with yellow lettering shaded in red  as per GSR norm.

The GSR had several including one with the same body but narrow gauge wheels - this spent much time on the C & L, where Senior used it once to inspect the track. CIE inherited them, and at least a couple lasted into the 1960s, being replaced by those yellow Wickham things, two of which grace the rails at the Downs of Patrick. In CIE days they wore the dark green livery (never repainted in the lighter carriage shade), but I have a vague recollection of seeing one, or something like it, at one time in what looked like a varnished finish. I could be completely wrong on this, but I wonder if one was ever re-panelled and perhaps re-panelled in plain varnished sheeting of something like marine plywood?

There was also a Black and Tan liveried one it seems. 

[jhb171achill]

1 minute ago, Westcorkrailway said:

There was also a Black and Tan liveried one it seems. 

Correct. That one was previously green, and as far as I am aware it's the only one which ever got the black'n'tan livery. I've no idea how many were green - again, possibly only one. I'm aware that one kept GSR maroon well into CIE days, but I do not know the details.

[KMCE]

5 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

there were comments here about modelling one of these

Worsley Works do an etch for the narrow gauge version of the railcar, however you only really get the sides and ends and is not really up to developing into the broad gauge version, I did my best but eventually gave up.  I did want a model of the railcar though, so decided to go down the 3D printed route.  It was reasonably successful, however these are quite small railcars, the prototype coming in at 23' 6" over headstocks & to put that in context, the DSER 6-wheel goods brake van is 20' over headstock. 

Being mainly windows and seats they don't lend themselves well for motorisation.

This one runs with a 3V motor, High Level Gearbox, RC decoder & a small LIPO battery - given the wheels are only 10mm, it gives an idea of the limited space.

Never got round to finishing the brakes though!!

Ken

[Tullygrainey]

That’s a real charmer! Beautifully finished too, brakes notwithstanding

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

55 minutes ago, KMCE said:

Worsley Works do an etch for the narrow gauge version of the railcar, however you only really get the sides and ends and is not really up to developing into the broad gauge version, I did my best but eventually gave up.  I did want a model of the railcar though, so decided to go down the 3D printed route.  It was reasonably successful, however these are quite small railcars, the prototype coming in at 23' 6" over headstocks & to put that in context, the DSER 6-wheel goods brake van is 20' over headstock. 

Being mainly windows and seats they don't lend themselves well for motorisation.

This one runs with a 3V motor, High Level Gearbox, RC decoder & a small LIPO battery - given the wheels are only 10mm, it gives an idea of the limited space.

Never got round to finishing the brakes though!!

Ken

Lovely model.

[jhb171achill]

Had forgotten about the Worsley etch, right enough…. probably easy enough to put together…. had a look at their website, though, and can't find it. Maybe they've stopped doing it?

Power bogie an issue, of course, as you suggest!

Edited January 13 by jhb171achill

[Mayner]

Studio Scale Models produced a more modern version of the Drewry Inspection car that fits on a Tenshodo or Black Beetle motor bogie

 

[jhb171achill]

21 hours ago, Mayner said:

Studio Scale Models produced a more modern version of the Drewry Inspection car that fits on a Tenshodo or Black Beetle motor bogie

 

Saw that only just now! Would that motor bogie suyit the GSR one? What do the wheels look like close up - hard to make out from that photo?

[Mayner]

I replaced the Black Beetle power bogie wheels with smaller Lowmac wheels. I don't know if Steam Era models still manufacture Black Beetle power bogies. 

Tenshodo appear to produce a 24.5mm wb bogie with 10.5mm dia wheels (approx. 2'7")  which should be suitable for a small inspection car. https://www.scalelink.co.uk/acatalog/Sundries---Motor-bogies.html

[Garfield]

Interestingly, I recently saw a photo of one of the ex-GSR Drewry inspection cars painted in Black & Tan livery. Up until that I had thought their final livery was green with Flying Snails on the sides.

[Westcorkrailway]

13 minutes ago, Garfield said:

Interestingly, I recently saw a photo of one of the ex-GSR Drewry inspection cars painted in Black & Tan livery. Up until that I had thought their final livery was green with Flying Snails on the sides.

Yes I saw the same photo and also thought the same

 

photo (c) dermot Hopkins 

[jhb171achill]

One ended its days on CIE apparently still in faded GSR maroon, albeit with the letters "C I E" where "G S R" had been. Another got CIE green. Maybe more than one did. The black'n'tan one above may well have been the green one repainted.

[Horsetan]

On 13/1/2024 at 11:16 PM, Mayner said:

Studio Scale Models produced a more modern version of the Drewry Inspection car that fits on a Tenshodo or Black Beetle motor bogie

 

What is IR's current inspection vehicle - the one that looks like a flying Portacabin?

[LNERW1]

On 5/2/2024 at 10:22 AM, Horsetan said:

What is IR's current inspection vehicle - the one that looks like a flying Portacabin?

I think so- saw it on the Cobh line last October on a school trip to Fota Island.