Author: rloades109

Thank you to Matt for the articles on signwriting. A very useful reference for those of us looking after and modelling heritage rolling stock. For this weeks update, I’ve gone back to the Vehicle in Profile series to look at what is the longest wagon in our fleet – a Salmon.

Built to an LMS design, the Salmon was built between 1949 and 1961 to 15 different lots. In that time many sites and companies built them including Head Wrightson Ltd, G R Turner and British Railways at Derby and Wolverton. The designs started with diagram 1/640, which had LMS style bogies with an independant ratchet handbrake on each bogie (shown in the picture below). There was a wooden floor down the 62ft length of the wagon with 5 bolsters. Early on Salmon were found unfitted or fitted with a vacuum through pipe.

Later designs of Salmon had  Plateback bogies with a wheelbase of either 5ft. 6in. or 8ft. These still had oil axleboxes so were limited to 50mph. In the TOPS era these were classed ‘YMO’. In the 1980s some of the fleet of Salmon were overhauled and had air brakes fitted, with extra tie down points added for ratchet straps. These became YMA or YMB depending on whether they retained the vacuum through pipe or not. In the late 90s two wagons were fitted with roller bearing bogies. A further 125 wagons were converted. The conversion didn’t result in a speed increase for the wagon, but bought about reliability improvements. For those remaining in service further conversion work was undertaken in 2009 to add 3 bolsters to the wagons to simplify the loading of track panels. The bolsters would locate the track panel on the wagon laterally and longitudinally. These conversions received another TOPS code, YKA, and another fishkind name; Osprey.

Our Salmon is the sole survivor of the LMS designed batch. Numbered DB996000 is was the very first Salmon built by BR to the LMS design. It was built at Derby Litchurch Lane works in 1949. Not a lot is known about its service life, but this wagon ended up as an internal user with the number 024717. It served at the very works it was built at as a vehicle to move items around the works. We don’t know exactly when it was confined to the works, but the earliest sighting on departmentals.com puts it at Litchurch Lane in 1985. It served in this role until 2014, where it was donated to us by Bombardier Transportation.  Soon after it had arrived various accoutrements were ground off and a floor added using used sleepers cut in half down the length. With a pad exam and oil up of the brake gear it was released to traffic and has remained available ever since.

Thank you for reading! We hope everyone is keeping safe and healthy at this time.

Last week, we published a profile of the Grampus wagon, a versatile 20 ton capacity engineering wagon. Our next Vehicle Profile covers their one of their replacements; the Rudd.

With design of the Grampus and other engineering wagons becoming unsuitable for the change in working methods, replacement wagons were converted from stored HTV coal wagons to varying designs. These use the Fishkind names of the Tope, Clam and Rudd. Of note to us are the Rudd design, of which we have 3 examples.

• DB972018, converted at Marcroft in 1990 to design ZB001A. In its past life it was HTV B429632 built at Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon in 1958.
• DB972608, converted at CC Crump in 1991 to design ZB001A. Its HTV number was B429763 built by Hurst Nelson in 1957
• DB972681, converted at CC Crump in 1991 to design ZB001A. It was HTV B424802 built in 1957

The Rudd name initially appeared in 1987 on converted Grampus of which one (DB984194) is preserved at the Nene Valley. These conversion retained the Grampus’s single skinned slab doors but had rebuilt with non-removable ends and air brakes.

The Rudd named was later reused on a design had the same three doors per side, fixed ends and air brakes as the Grampus based conversion, but had stiffer ends and a different design of door which made them less susceptible to damage by mechanical loading equipment. The doors on the Grampus are heavy and require 2 or more people to lower and raise them. The Rudd doors, while arguably heavier, can be opened and raised by one person; benefitting from the use of door control equipment. Using the door control equipment also meant the ‘bangers’ fitted to the underframe wouldn’t require fitting removing a potential for trapping hands.

Of the 3 designs intended to replace the likes of the Grampus, and other similar engineering wagons, the Rudd lasted the longest primarily due to their air brakes, while the Tope and Clam retained Vacuum. By 2005, an estimated 2 Tope remained in traffic, with 3 Clam. By contrast, 278 Rudds remained in traffic until 2008.

Back to our Rudds, like our Grampus they remain fit for use and their turn in the restoration queue remains behind the wooden bodied vehicles in the mixed freight.

Grampus are 20 ton multi-purpose engineering wagons, designed by British Railways and built between 1951 and 1961. The design is based heavily on the earlier GWR all steel Tunny (which we also have one of) and Starfish, with ends similar to the Southern region Lamprey. Grampus had a 20 ton capacity and as such had 10″x5″ axle boxes. Our fleet show a variety of variants of these. Most of these wagons were built unfitted, though few were vacuum braked. Our fleet, naturally follows this model, with six being unfitted, and one being vacuum fitted. Details of our fleet are below.

Grampus are built with three drop down doors and two removable cast iron stanchions per side. Across the end of the wagon there are two removable planks on the end, which can be stowed in pockets under the end of the wagon. The end of the wagon also has a drop down door to allow wheeled vehicles to roll from one wagon to another. These make the wagon very versatile, able to be loaded and unloaded by hand and able to take loads over the length of the wagon.

Being a truly versatile wagon, they could carry sleepers, ballast and chippings. In the era of the steam loco, it carried loco ash away from depots for re-use elsewhere. However in more modern times, with mechanised loading machinery, the wagon’s single skin steel doors, wooden floors and removable end planks made them susceptible to damage. The later Rudd and Clam wagons suffered with this less as they had much stronger doors (though Clams had no doors), solid ends and steel floors.

All but one of our fleet have had steel floors fitted in place of wood, and where doors have been damaged, particularly at the top, we have tried to straighten them as best we can. Doing this means the doors shut correctly and can be retained by the pins. Ours stand ready to be used, receiving regular maintenance awaiting their turn in the paint queue. As they are all steel, they do stand the weather better than any of the wooden bodied wagons we have in the fleet which take the priority in the queue. Join us next time for a profile of their successor, the Rudd.

Up next in Vehicle Profile Series we have coach very important to us, and is very much missed. The coach formed the base of our operations since 2011, and has all the usual mess facilities needed for us to work on the wagons of the fleet.

The Yellow Coach – ADB977107 (Sc21202, E21202)

The vehicle we refer to as the ‘Yellow Coach’ was built in 1958 at Metro Cammell in Washwood Heath, Birmingham as 21202, a Mk 1 Brake Composite Corridor [BCK] coach to diagram number 171, as part of lot number 30425. It was converted for use at a Breakdown Train Unit (BTU) staff coach in 1983 at Slade Green being fitted with BR Mark 3A ex.EMU trailer bogies. The modifications undertaken as part of its BTU role included:-

• additional heating
• additional lighting
• kitchen area
• sleeping compartment with four bunks
• mess area with large tables
• office compartment
• water heater
• washing area

Re-classified as QVA and renumbered ADB977107 it was then transferred to Eastleigh where it was used in the breakdown train until the mid 1990s. The coach continued in breakdown train use moving to Crewe. Finally after moving to Wigan the coach had fallen out of use by 2010 and was stored at the Wigan Disposal. From there it was bought on the 23 July 2010 by Nick Tinsley, and subsequently moved to the GCR. It resided in the sidings at Quorn for many years, providing a base for the Quorn Wagon & Wagon group. In 2019 with the condition of the body deteriorating, and requests from the railway to tidy up the yard, the coach moved to Rothley where it is receiving much needed body repairs, electrical system modifications and interior restoration.

Below are some diagrams of the layout of the coach, in service as a BCK, when converted to breakdown train use and now, in preservation.

Carrying on with our Vehicle Profile series, we have a vehicle you have already seen plenty about. Test Car 2 is currently in use as our mess facility while ADB977107 is receiving bodywork attention. We have previously opened the Test Car at Galas, something which we plan on doing again, though it currently remains to be seen when that will be. Thanks to Dave for pulling the summary together for Test Car 2.

TEST CAR 2 – ADB975397
This special coach was built in 1962 at Wolverton Works as 35386, a Mk 1 Brake Second Corridor [BSK] coach using Commonwealth bogies as part of lot number 30699. It was transferred to the Department of Mechanical & Electrical Engineers [DM&EE] at Derby in 1974 and renumbered ADB975397.

For the next 35 years Test Car 2 was used primarily for slip/brake testing, which was the preferred method of assessing the brake stopping distance performance of new or modified rolling stock. This test method allowed the brake stopping distance of a vehicle to be measured independently and not influenced by other vehicles coupled in a train.

The layout of the interior of the coach was adapted specifically for this role including the installation of:-

• a Perkins 3-cylinder 20-kVA diesel generator,
• 240v electrical installation, a distribution panel and shore supply,
• test instrument racks,
• large table top area,
• on-board instrumentation systems,
• slip-coupling,
• oleo buffers,
• specially modified air and vacuum brake system,
• large drop-down gangway door window,
• inward opening access doors,
• test gauges,
• heating,
• lighting,
• an underframe mounted 90-gallon fuel tank,
• 10 bar air compressor with 150-litre air reservoir,
• workshop area,
• battery chargers,
• secure storage for the instrumentation cables,
• a kitchen with cooking facilities,
• re-sited the toilet compartment,
• additional body-end windows.

During its working life as a test car, ADB975397 is estimated to have been used in excess of 450 occasions for slip/brake testing. It remained at the Derby based Railway Technical Centre until its withdrawal in 2008; Test Car 2 was then moved to the Old Dalby Test Track in 2011 and stored by Serco until it was secured for preservation in 2016 by Matt Baker, and moved to the Great Central Railway. The decision was made by the Quorn Wagon & Wagon Group in 2018 that the unique Test Car 2 would be retained as a test car in preservation, unlike so many similarly preserved test coaches that have been re-converted for passenger use. The restoration work has been undertaken by the Quorn Wagon & Wagon Group at the Quorn & Woodhouse station yard. The interior layout retains the ambience of 1990s testing life whilst display boards provide visitors with an insight into the history of this Test Car, including details of how and why slip/brake testing was carried out.