For some of the even earlier wagon designs, such as the delightfully small ‘Chaldron’ wagons now available from Accurascale their size meant that there wooden ‘buffers’ were both lower and closer together than the ‘normal’ adopted buffer position. This meant that for shunting to easily and safely be undertaken the locomotives being used required additional buffering arrangements to be added.
This usually took the form of vertically mounted wooden blocks that were simply / crudely bolted onto the locomotive buffer beam.
B2 Peckett 0-6-0t ‘Leader’ fitted with the 247 Developments dumb buffers
My friends at 247 Developments have created 3D printed vertical dumb buffers available in sets of four either painted (£2.50) or unpainted (£1.00).
These can be simply glued to the buffer beam (I advise just removing any raised rivet from the buffer beam at the mounting position first) providing a dumb buffer solution in a matter of minutes at a pocket money price.
Even without the Chaldron wagons the additional dumb buffers add some further character and individualism to the industrial locomotive fleet.
247 Developments are of course also a great port of call for etched number and nameplates, SR Head signal discs and a wide range of locomotive, coach and wagon detailing parts.
Hornby 75T Crane legs
Continuing the 3D printed theme also new to the 247 Developments range are both short (£1.50) and long (£2.50) legs for the venerable Hornby Cowans Sheldon 75T Breakdown crane (similar to the one based for a while at Eastleigh).
The Engineering prototypes of the Accurascale SR Banana vans
The banana traffic through Southampton docks in the early 1930s had grown rapidly and whilst the SR had the 99 LSWR built banana vans these were not enough and resulted in the SR hiring suitable vans from the North Eastern Railway that also included some ex Great Central and Great Eastern Vehicles (see my post about the GER versions here).
Between August 1935 and February 1936 the therefore SR introduced 200 banana vans to Diagram 1478, numbered 50575-774. These were similar to the previous insulated vans (Diagram 1477), with the Southern ‘Power Brake’ arrangement with eight brake blocks, but had horizontal planking and fitted with steam heating to aid the ripening of the bananas.
D1478 (early version)
In December 1937, after the LNER had requested the return of all its vans that were on hire, a further 125 banana vans were ordered, To enable them to enter service quicker ordinary covered vans in construction were instead built as banana vans to Diagram 1479, numbered 50775-899. These had the same bodyside strapping and roof profile as the ordinary vans to give them a different visual look than the earlier D1478 vans.
The original SR livery of these vans was like the insulated vans of SR Stone body colour with red lettering
The Diagram 1479 (early version)
A slight difference in that the D1478 vehicles carried large SR lettering until 1936, before the SR switched to small lettered branding, which is how the D1479 vehicles entered traffic.
During the war some gained a red oxide livery, and in BR days were bauxite with a yellow spot indicating the van had additional insulation fitted. Most vans were taken out of traffic by 1958, those vans that remained in service found use in BR Departmental service, mainly being used as Fitted Heads and classified as Tadpole. Additional plating was also added to the top of the ends in later life.
The underside of the chassis
Accurascale have announced that their D1478 and D1479 models will feature details variations for both early and later (additional end plating etc.) versions of each van , a die cast chassis, brass bearings, three types of wheel (split spoke solid spoke and 3 hole disc), separate hand rails, grab handles, door handles, lamp brackets, vacuum and steam pipes, through pipes steam heating cock and full SR ‘Power brake’ gear along with turned metal sprung buffers.
ACC2045 D1478 Original SR Livery Pre-1936 triple pack-1
ACC2046 D1478 Original SR Livery Pre-1936 triple pack-2
ACC2047 D1478 SR Livery 1936 to March 1941 triple-pack
ACC2048 D1478 British Railways 1948-1961 triple-pack
ACC2049 D1478 British Railways 1961 onwards triple-pack
ACC2050 D1479 SR Livery 1936 to March 1941 triple-pack-1
ACC2051 D1479 SR Livery 1936 to March 1941 triple-pack-2
ACC2052 Mixed D1478/D1479 Transitional British Railways 1948-1950 triple pack
ACC2053 D1479 British Railways 1948-1961triple-pack
ACC2054 D1479British Railways 1961 onwards triple-pack
ACC2055 Tadpole mixed ex D1478-D1479 British Railways departmental triple-pack
ACC2056 Tadpole ex D1479 British Railways departmental triple-pack
A group shot showing the end differences.
Delivery is slated for Q4 2023, with decorated samples due in Spring of 2023.
These are often asked for prototypes, a good choice by Accurascale especially as they often ran in multiples at the head of Southampton goods trains, and will certainly be welcome on any SR/BRs South Western based model railway.
Some along with my older kit built versions will definitely be making an appearance on Canute Road Quay.
KMS Railtech have announced that they are in talks with Accurascale to produce the Class 73/9 locomotive in 4mm OO Gauge.
They are currently in the initial stages of the project and at this point are encouraging expressions of interest. If there is sufficient demand they would open up the project for pre-orders and delivery of the model would be expected 18 months later.
Pricing is expected to be £179.99 for DCC Ready and £269.99 for DCC Sound.
They are looking to initially provide two running numbers of each of the following liveries:
Caledonian Sleeper
GBRf
Network Rail
Proposed Specification:
Highly detailed OO/1:76.2 scale model
Heavy die-cast metal chassis
Separately applied etched metal and high fidelity plastic detail parts, including grab handles, aerials, steps, wipers, nameplates, crests and more
Scale width wire handrails
Full underbody tank detail with brackets and pipework
Bogies feature separate footsteps, brake cylinders, speed recorder, end brake rigging and very fine brake chain
Brake blocks on trucks (bogies) in line with wheels (can be moved for EM/P4 gauges)
RP25-110 profile OO gauge wheels
Fully sprung metal buffers, extra-fine factory-installed pipework and screw couplings
Correct height mini-tension-lock couplers with NEM socket as well as a fully detailed bufferbeam
Provided DCC ready [21Pin MTC Socket]
Every model includes PowerPack / Backup Power Capacitor Bank for up to ten seconds of power free running, flicker free lighting and continuous sound
Minimum Radius 438mm (2nd Radius Set-track)
DCC Sound Versions include:
ESU LokSound V5 DCC Chip
Customised Dual-Speaker Technology with:
Large EM2 Style Bass Speaker
Smaller ‘smartphone’ style cube for higher frequencies
High Performance traction, to include:
High-quality five-pole motor with two flywheels
Helical gears for maximum performance and slow speed running
DCC ready with PowerPack Super-capacitor for uninterrupted power and super low speed running
All wheel drive and all wheel pickup
Fully detailed Lighting Pack, including:
Directional lighting on DC and DCC
Fully functional Headlights per prototype
WIPAC light clusters with day and night-time settings
Separately switched cab lighting and illuminated, details driver’s console, auto off on movement
Switchable red tail lights
Accurascale’s Director of Product Development & Commissions, Patrick Conboy, said: “We are delighted to be working alongside KMS Railtech to produce the Class 73/9 in OO gauge. KMS are a young company with tremendous drive and ambition, and that is reflected in their decision to commission a high-spec model of these fantastic locomotives. The Class 73/9 dovetails nicely with our forthcoming Caledonian Sleeper Mk5 coaches, and together they will provide modellers with the means to recreate some of the most iconic present-day passenger services on Britain’s railway network.”
