BR cattle wagon
When I submitted a detailed reworking of this kit - a very interesting project - the repro department at Model Rail decided to change the kit's grey plastic (and the additional whitemetal parts) to white, same colour as the Plastikard in the areas that I rebuilt. This made nearly all the reworking invisible! In addition, the dark grey background I had used to help show all this was also changed to white. The result was an almost invisible white model on white.... Cock-ups in publication are not exactly unknown but this one certainly broke new ground!
Here, then, are the original pictures with descriptions of what they show. The original write-up is listed in the Articles Index (Model Rail, September 2003) and included two prototype pictures. I've added some more here.
1 - The modified sides and ends with opened-up slots and assorted infill of gaps and holes with Plastikard.
2 - The underframe with gaps cut out for the brass W-iron units (the blue lines show their centre-lines), and various improvements to the mouldings.
3 - Replacement parts for the underframe from MJT (above) and Masokits (below).
4 - Principal parts for the sides and ends fitted to the floor pan.
5 - The infill takes shape. The horizontal bars have also been fitted.
6 - The details are added: hinges, bolt heads and handrails.
7 - The underframe seen from underneath. The vac cylinder was from ABS, the lever, MJT.
8 - Almost ready for the paint shop and this time, the picture does show the combination of kit and scratch-built parts, plastic and metal.
A broadside view showing how well all the modifications have blended.
Cattle trucks in conventional use, loaded with cattle and coupled to the head of a fitted fast freight, behind 9F 92181 near Potters Bar, 2nd April 1961. The four cattle trucks are: ex-SR, ex-LMS, and two BR. Photo: RS Carpenter Collection
I close with a fresh picture showing cattle trucks on the WR being used to carry broccoli. 4083 Abbotsbury Castle awaits departure from Marazion with the 1.30pm Penzance-York Broccoli Special. Behind the tender is a mixture of BR and earlier cattle trucks. The two on the right are per the standard BR design (with three ventilation slots, for example - see the article for full details - the Airfix/Dapol kit was based on a variant). Photo: 9.4.60, R.C. Riley
Related articles:
Cattle traffic (all regions): is here.
Articles in the magazines (see the Articles index for more details):
MRJ No 87 - LNER Cattle Trucks - three different versions from the Parkside kit. Model Rail Mar 2003 - Cattle Traffic in LNER and BR days - historical overview. Model Rail Jul 2003 - Ex-GCR and NER based on whitemetal kits.
