The Claptowte Railway puts the brakes on

[David1226]

The Claptowte Railway needed two Brake Vans for its freight services. The first brake van was built about eleven years ago. It was a conversion of the LGB Toytrain caboose, using a conversion kit sold at the time by GRS (no longer available). I used a few extra odds and ends, such as handrail knobs and wire. I took no photographs at the time so cannot show how the conversion was done. Below is a stock photograph, downloaded from t’internet, to show the base model which was the starting point.



The kit included a new roof, new balcony ends, guards duckets, etc. The work involved, in common with many of GRS’s so called kits, required a fair degree of modeling skill. Many of the parts were little more that various pieces of plastic sheet that all required cutting and shaping . With hindsight there was nothing in the kit that could not have been created from scratch or purchased as an accessory. There have been various updates to the finished model over the years, the addition of lettering, changing the wheels for Al Kramer metal items, the addition of maker’s plates.








David

 

[David1226]

I have just completed a second brake van. This was based on the Toytrain van with balcony.





This was also converted with the aid of the appropriate GRS kit (again no longer available), that was purchased some years ago with this conversion being pre-planned, albeit it has taken me many years to get around to it. Here again, there was nothing in the kit that could not be replicated by using plasticard and bits purchased from GRS, and again it is not a conversion for someone without some modeling skills. Extra bits were the handrail knobs and wire and Al Kramer metal wheels.






One little embellishment, that I was quite pleased with, was the addition of a shunter’s pole. I experimented with a short length of brass handrail wire, filing and bending it to shape. I was pleased with the result and went about replicating it on a longer length of wire. My intention was, having formed the head, to cut the wire to length ( a standard British Rail shunter’s pole measured 66 inches with its hickory handle) a paint it accordingly. I had about four attempts and every time I went to make the bend, the whole thing snapped off. In frustration I went back to the prototype, cut that shorter to represent the metal end, filed on a tang and superglued it to a wooden kebab stick. This was then cut to length, forming a genuine miniature shunter’s pole with metal head and wooden pole. After that performance, I think it will probably remain a one off.





The finished result, after a visit to the paint shop. For some reason there seemed to be a disproportionate amount of painting required for this model.









This model actually completes the rosta of Claptowte Railway freight wagons. Now I have to crack on and construct/convert the fleet of thirteen assorted bogie passenger vehicles.

 

[trammayo]

Complete transformation/s - lovely jobs.

 

[mike]

just 1 question.. how meny kababs...fantastic ,the finished van lloks great

 

[PhilP]

just 1 question.. how meny kababs...fantastic ,the finished van lloks great

that's a bit like asking 'how many coffee stirrers' you 'need' in (insert name here) coffee shop..

 

[playmofire]

Great work and an excellent addition to the line's rolling stock.

 

[ge_rik]

Another lovely looking addition to the fleet. I do like your attention to detail, Inspires me to start titivating my goods stock which is often lacking in detail.

THIRTEEN bogie passenger carriages??? Blimey, your railway must be popular with the local populace.

Rik

 

[maxi-model]

Nice bit of modelling. Even better in the flesh as I seem to remember. Max.

 

[David1226]

BREAKING NEWS..... the rain stopped long enough for the sun to break through and for the Brakes to take a break in the garden. Phew....after that I think I need to put the brakes on myself and take a break....now where did I put the Kit Kat ?










David

 

[owlpool]

a fine pair
when I saw the last pic [first] I wondered how an 8 wheel van would get around LGB R1 / 2
then I looked on down, silly me
nice to have individual and authemtic looking brake vans

 

[David1226]

 

[PhilP]

OK, OK..
They are all very nice!

Now, who has found a new Photoshop effect then?

 

[38thfoot]

really enjoyed your series of wagon conversions; can i ask what motive power you are using? is it similarly Anglicised LGB, live steam or scratch built?

38

 

[David1226]

Hi

I now have 8 locos, 4 steam, 4 diesel. These are more than adequate for my needs and I do not anticipate acquiring any more at this time, but as Sean Connery said, regarding the Bond films, 'Never say never'. All the diesels and the Corpet Louvet are chipped. The Stainz and the two U Class are currently analogue but I have decoders to fit, once I work out how to do it. I run them with LGB MTS III. At the moment they are all untouched but will mostly be modified to a greater or lesser degree to impart 'a continental, modified in a British workshop' feel. The biggest difference will be the application of a corporate livery, which will be BR green, to create a fleet appearance. All the locos will sport brass name plates, the steamers named after female members of my immediate family, the diesels after the male members. Once I get started on them I will open a thread on the Claptowte Railway locomotive roster. Due to other commitments, it's been some time since I have picked up a modelling tool or paintbrush, but I am determined to get back to it. Every time I go to a model railway exhibition I say to myself 'I should be doing that'. I the meantime here are some photos of the roster.







David

 

[merlin]

Excellent conversion and thanks for pointing me in the direction of what to do with one of those vans, I have two which rarely get used but I do need a third brake van. The other two brake vans are scratch built bodies, one on a PM chassis with an extra veranda at the other end and the other on a chassis taken from a toy (1/24?) wagon. There is another van but this is the brake cum tool van for the PW train and is completely scratch built (over 30 years ago now) apart from the wheels, coupling loops, and buffers; it even has a working hand brake, totally impractical, but amused me to make it so at the time.

The US wagon chassis mounted BV fresh out of the works.


The PM based van in service.


The PW train van in service

 

[David1226]

The management of the Claptowte Railway have initiated a training scheme whereby certain key personnel, with the emphasis on train guards, have received the necessary training to be certificated first aiders. The outcome is that all guards on Claptowte Railway are now fully trained. To that end all guard's vehicles on the line, that is all goods brake vans, all passenger brake coaches and the Engineering Department converted brake coach, have all been equipped with first aid boxes.

The first aid signs were created by downloading a free sign from t'internet, shrinking it to a suitable size, duplicating it in numbers by cut and paste, then printing on white card.

Brake Vans No1 and No3 signed up to the scheme.





David