Wagons......
Laurence had problems with the snow, so just Stephen and Geoff.
Stephen unpacked his rake of wagons and discussions ensued regarding the latest assembly tweaks. Geoff provided four more axles to enable him to finish the underframes of the last ore wagon and the new tar wagon. The rake of eight mixed ore wagons (four flat top and four arched top).
Geoff was in full production, working on his underframes. A total of ten wagons is currently planned - eight for a working train and two for spares/variety. So far, there are still nine bodies awaiting card detailing and bolt heads (just 140 bolts per wagon Geoff!).
Stephen had experimented with the supplied brake gear and had fitted it on both sides. However, Geoff had planned to just fit brakes to one side, so Stephen will remove his superfluous gear. As Geoff worked, a pile of 'cropped' V hangers accumulated and a quick test showed that they could be refitted on the solebars in the correct relationship to the brake pivot. Furthermore, the brake handle and hanger also fitted well, albeit an offset will need to be applied to the handle.
Stephen's second 'in-progress' tar wagon with newly fitted underframe, wheels and couplings. Bolt heads and lid details required. Although smaller than their standard gauge equivalents, both tar wagons probably need ladders to access the lids.
Both tar wagons outside the workshop.
Concerned about the weight of the wagons, a check was carried out and both wagons would have weighed-in around 3-3.5 tons, i.e. less than the 4 ton of stone the open wagons will take. But how did they get the tar out?
A lot of discussion took place regarding how the wagons are to be finished:
Colour - Halfords grey primer is perfect for the undercoat, but it's also growing on us for the final colour - TBA. And what about the underframes - should they be different? Geoff intends to paint one wagon in ex-factory condition, with black metalwork.
Lettering - Stephen had assumed that wagons would be 'Private Owner' status, with 'Worton Court Minerals' on the side, but Geoff had assumed plain, with just numbering. The GVT had a mixture of simple GVT lettering and the PO Ceiriog Granite Co. railway wagons, so perhaps we could do the same. Then there's how the lettering is applied. We ruled out hand painting, but apart from some proprietary decals, bespoke seems the only option, as homemade 'white' decals do not appear to be possible. Research and decisions required.
Loads - John had used heavily applied, light-coloured weathering on his stock, but we don't know exactly what it represented. As we weren't terribly keen on the effect, we decided to create our own story. Worton Court has a quarry, but what is it producing/transporting and, more importantly, what colour and size are the 'lumps'? Research over lunch disappointingly provided very little photographic information of typical loads. Descriptions gave more detailed information e.g. sandstone used in construction was often shipped in slab form, but granular material loads were more appealing. Crushed granite and limestone was used in road, railway and general construction in specific sizes such as 14/19mm chippings, 38/50/63/100mm for drainage and groundwork, 150-200mm gambion fill etc. Mixed sizes i.e. graded to dust were used for load-bearing ground situations.
However, all this depends on the crusher location. Assuming that the crusher was 'further up' the line, producing a range of products, we could use any of these sizes. Alternatively, we could select the largest size, to be in the process of being transported down to the crusher, close to the final distribution point. Some experimentation with different materials should help us to decide.
