Cravens coaches - position of battery boxes and dynamo?

[Mol_PMB]

I'm planning to backdate one or two of my Murphy Cravens coaches to mid-1960s condition (pre-TL). 

I'll need to add battery boxes and a dynamo, as well as removing the 'TL' suffix on the numbers and adding '2' class digits on the doors. I might also need to move the existing electrical boxes on the underframe.

I'm trying to establish exactly where the battery boxes and dynamo were fitted. 

I've found two drawings of Cravens coaches but both are from the 1980s after the battery boxes and dynamo were removed.

Clear pictures of Cravens at this time are quite hard to find, and almost all of the good photos I've found show the same side of the coach. Those photos I have found indicate that the battery boxes may not have been exactly in the middle, and may have been offset differently on each side.

Can anyone add to this list of photos of Cravens in the 1960s or early 1970s, ideally with a clear picture of the battery boxes on the side where the toilets are at the left-hand end?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53570887020/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54251543369/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54251291186

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53506934639

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53570446756

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53508098127

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54778615908

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54250396782/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/152343870@N07/40489229454

https://www.flickr.com/photos/152343870@N07/39422633514

https://www.flickr.com/photos/152343870@N07/39393192790

Irish Broad Gauge Carriages (Coakham) p.44

 

I'd also be interested to know how many of them carried the '2' class digits - certainly up to 1519 but maybe more? They seem to have been removed by the late 1960s.

 

[flange lubricator]

2 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

I'm planning to backdate one or two of my Murphy Cravens coaches to mid-1960s condition (pre-TL). 

I'll need to add battery boxes and a dynamo, as well as removing the 'TL' suffix on the numbers and adding '2' class digits on the doors. I might also need to move the existing electrical boxes on the underframe.

I'm trying to establish exactly where the battery boxes and dynamo were fitted. 

I've found two drawings of Cravens coaches but both are from the 1980s after the battery boxes and dynamo were removed.

Clear pictures of Cravens at this time are quite hard to find, and almost all of the good photos I've found show the same side of the coach. Those photos I have found indicate that the battery boxes may not have been exactly in the middle, and may have been offset differently on each side.

Can anyone add to this list of photos of Cravens in the 1960s or early 1970s, ideally with a clear picture of the battery boxes on the side where the toilets are at the left-hand end?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53570887020/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54251543369/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54251291186

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53506934639

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53570446756

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53508098127

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54778615908

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54250396782/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/152343870@N07/40489229454

https://www.flickr.com/photos/152343870@N07/39422633514

https://www.flickr.com/photos/152343870@N07/39393192790

Irish Broad Gauge Carriages (Coakham) p.44

 

I'd also be interested to know how many of them carried the '2' class digits - certainly up to 1519 but maybe more? They seem to have been removed by the late 1960s.

 

There are  one or two in the O'Dea collection if you zoom in on this one you can see the Dynamo .

Holdings: New Craven coach, Inchicore, Co. Dublin. :: Library Catalog

[Mol_PMB]

3 minutes ago, flange lubricator said:

There are  one or two in the O'Dea collection if you zoom in on this one you can see the Dynamo .

Holdings: New Craven coach, Inchicore, Co. Dublin. :: Library Catalog

Excellent - thank you!

I’ve been searching again myself and also found this one showing the battery boxes on the ‘other’ side:

https://flic.kr/p/2pxWHhK

I’ve ordered some cast battery boxes.

The rather dusty secondhand model needs dismantling and a good wash, new numbers and class designations.

Also regauging, kadee couplings and some passengers. Maybe lighting? 
 

[flange lubricator]

Here is another showing the location of the boxes they were converted very soon into the TL scheme judging by the dates.

 

[Mol_PMB]

Excellent - that’s very helpful, thanks. 
I agree they were prioritised for TL conversion in the early 1970s. 
I have 4 of the BnT Cravens, all secondhand and none pristine, so since they need a bit of fettling anyway I thought I’d do a 1960s version. 
1515 (which I have two of) is the victim and will become 1508. 
I might decide to do the same with 1149, which needs a replacement interior too. 

[flange lubricator]

1 minute ago, Mol_PMB said:

Excellent - that’s very helpful, thanks. 
I agree they were prioritised for TL conversion in the early 1970s. 
I have 4 of the BnT Cravens, all secondhand and none pristine, so since they need a bit of fettling anyway I thought I’d do a 1960s version. 
1515 (which I have two of) is the victim and will become 1508. 
I might decide to do the same with 1149, which needs a replacement interior too. 

If your going to run them with a Dutch van of that period they also had Battery boxes as built  they were only steam heat vans Generators were added .

 

[Mol_PMB]

My plan is to run* them with a 4w tin van for heating, hence the need for batteries. 

I’ll keep the others in early 1980s condition and eventually they can have a Dutch or BR van, or a BSGSV. 

In both cases they can be marshalled with Park Royals of the period.
 

*When I say ‘run’, I really mean ‘pose in the display case’ because my half-finished 21mm gauge layout is a freight line that never saw a Cravens coach! 
But one day I have ambitions for something a bit bigger.