Workbench Witterings #27 – What a load of… well… loads

With the recent influx of excellent open wagons from the LBSC 5 plank D1369/64 from Kernow Model Rail Centre to the wide range of SECR / SR and other railway company wagons from Rapido Trains UK I have spent some time personalising them with some light weathering (using my usual techniques) and adding a variety of loads.

It should be noted that specific railway company wagons would turn up anywhere across the county and rarely would you see a a goods train or a goods yard,  however remote, made up completely of one railway companies wagons. For example there were more LMS diagram 1666 5 plank open wagons, as produced by Rapido Trains UK,  built, a staggering total of 54,450 wagons, more than the total number of goods wagons of any kind built by the Southern Railway!
Every model railway goods yard should have more than a couple!

For mineral carrying wagons I sometimes use homemade loads, usually a piece of polystyrene cut to be a snug fit inside the wagon to raise the top of the load to the required height, then covered with a suitable load such as real crushed coal or various types of ballast / stone glued on with PVA.

However,  I more recently purchased some nice pre-made loads from an Ebay seller Wayne Jacobs of Oxfordshire that are correctly sized for specific manufacturers of Ready to Run open wagons, including Dapol, Bachmann and Rapido trains UK, including the latter’s range of RCH 5 and 7 plank  private owner wagons. They  look great, fit well, arrive promptly and so are highly recommended (no connection other than a satisfied customer).  

For other typical open wagon loads, I have turned to an old favourite of cast loads from Ten Commandments  who also have a wide of load types available.

I use their range of generic wagon loads of boxes, barrels and planks etc.
They arrive unpainted but take acrylic paints nicely, without the need to any primer, which allows for a range of variations of colours and tones to be use easily and quick drying.

I tend to such a job as a batch production line, or for that matter other modelling or weathering these days,  on a Saturday afternoon whilst listening to to the commentary of The Gulls playing football, yes they do sometimes…).

Often in wagon loads of the period when loaded used straw as packing to fill any gaps and protect the loads from any movement, prior to be covered with a sheet (tarpaulin).

I represent the straw in the wagons shown I used Noch 00416 meadow grass field mat, as I happened to have some about, although the longer static grass fibres could also be used.
I teased the mat into tuffs, strips and fibres then glue them around the loads which creates a pleasing, and not often seen modelled, effect.

Even the same cast load multiple times when used in different styles of wagons along with the careful use of colours and tones can look like a variety of different loads.

Modelling Tips & Techniques

To view an index of modelling techniques, most of which can be found in my Workbench Witterings,  Talking Stock,  and A View From the Line posts please see my Modelling Tips and Techniques topics page here.