Bogie Bolster Wagons

[StevieB]

These don’t appear to have been very common in Ireland. What British model would be best to use?

Stephen

[Wexford70]

12 hours ago, StevieB said:

These don’t appear to have been very common in Ireland. What British model would be best to use?

Stephen

Have you a photo @StevieB?

[StevieB]

Does this help?

 

Stephen

[DJ Dangerous]

Mangey looking 121 around the 01:40 mark!

[jhb171achill]

On 30/12/2020 at 3:07 PM, DJ Dangerous said:

Mangey looking 121 around the 01:40 mark!

Yes - they got very scruffy in that livery. It was too light to be remotely practical - and when the 121s were new they were still surrounded by steam engines when on shed....

As our good American friends might say, “go figure”!  La Grange, Illinois, had almost totally done away with all steam when the 121s were being painted pale grey and yellow!

Edited January 2, 2021 by jhb171achill

[jhb171achill]

On ‎30‎/‎12‎/‎2020 at 10:38 AM, Wexford70 said:

Have you a photo @StevieB?

These wagons were indeed uncommon in Ireland, as were all bogie wagons of any sort prior to the 1970s.

The few bogie flats we DID have - I have seen a pic of a MGWR one somewhere, though it could be a relic of the Bretland train. I don't know what the Midland used it for, and I don't know if there were more than one. The GSWR had some sort of bogie flat too - again, I'm unaware of any details but I saw a pic of a bogie once!

The GNR had the bogie Guinness vans - again, very few in number and confined to one specific traffic. There were at least two cariations of the design.

The closest I can see to anything that ran here is this, but it's VERY much a "two-foot-rule" job. Paint it grey and put "G  N" or "G  S" on it, or a tiny "flying snail", and you're good to go: https://www.dapol.co.uk/shop/oo-gauge/wagons-OO-Gauge/OO-Gauge-Bogie-Bolster-E

This Bachmann one is NOT even remotely close to anything Irish: https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/1157802238?iid=203210768422

Now, there's a difference between wagons WITH bolsters and those without! The Dapol one above has them attached, but something tells me they look entirely wrong for Ireland. Without any clear knowledge of any regular sort of use for a beast like this, it's impossible to know whether the few bogie flats had them at all, or were even suitable to fit them to.

If we look at the GNR grain bogie currently under restoration at Whitehead, we can see the short-wheelbase bogies which were similar to what I saw under the Midland one which lurks in my past memory. Also, they were short body length - something between 30ft and 40ft, I guess. Among Cyril Fry's models there is a bogie flat also, I think of GNR origin. The bolsters are very much smaller than in the Dapol model.

With the museum closed at the moment, I'm not sure when I'll next be in. I do have a few bits of work to do there, but they are not urgent nor in the public eye, so I don't know when that will be, but I will post pics of this model when I can.

The County Donegal Railways had one at least, as well.

Really, in all reality, in modelling goods trains pre-1970 anywhere in Ireland, broad or narrow gauge, and going WAY back, one can take it as a rule of thumb that roughly half of all non-passenger stock are four wheeled goods vans of all sorts of types. Of the remainder, it may safely be assumed something over half of them in cattle trucks, and the rest open wagons.

In the last 15 years or so of loose-coupled goods trains, the cattle wagons began to vanish like snow off a ditch, and were seen on fewer and fewer lines, so a 1960s goods train will be mostly vans - possibly 65% - and opens. As will be appreciated, tank wagons were also very few and far between, and entirely absent from many (or most!) routes.

[jhb171achill]

Re. the GSWR bolster: Check out (online) the Father Browne collection - there's a pic of it at 11.90.25, though how to isolate that one out of 75000 images is beyond me!

[NIRCLASS80]

I am not sure but was the cable ploughing equipment mounted on one of these wagons?

 

[jhb171achill]

3 hours ago, NIRCLASS80 said:

I am not sure but was the cable ploughing equipment mounted on one of these wagons?

 

No, that’s a well wagon. Different beast entirely.

[Mayner]

The cable plough was mounted on an ex MGWR War Surplus 40T-60' bogie well wagon 3409m not unlike the Triang R118 bogie wagons https://www.ebay.com/itm/HORNBY-TRIANG-R118-BOGIE-WELL-WAGON-OO-GAUGE-green-boxed-excellent-/164163017816.

The original bogies appear to have been replaced with BR Ridemaster style bogies during the conversion to a cable plough.

The MGWR bought two batches of Leeds Forge bogie rail wagons 1106-9 in 1921 & 3401-7 for use with the Bretland train in 1924

There is a John Langford  photo of GSWR 0-6-0T 201 hauling at least two bogie bolster wagons on a West Cork p.w. train in Ernie Shepherd's Cork Bandon & South Coast Railway book.

The wagons have wooden floors with 4 bolsters with short stakes probably intended for carrying 2-3 tiers of rails.

Both the MGWR & GSWR? rail wagons are quite different in appearance to the Bachmann & Hornby bogie bolster wagons.

 

[jhb171achill]

On 4/1/2021 at 6:19 PM, NIRCLASS80 said:

I am not sure but was the cable ploughing equipment mounted on one of these wagons?

 

No, that’s a well wagon. Different beast entirely.

Very important to make the distinction between a WELL wagon, as shown above with equipment on it; and BOLSTER wagons, which were flat wagons.

Neither were common and neither were used much. In particular a well wagon would almost never be in any sort of routine traffic; such vehicles were mostly used in maintenance.