Tag Archives: Great Eastern Railway

Canute Road Quay, Rolling Stock, Techniques, Workbench, Workbench Witterings

Workbench Witterings#15 Going bananas with a Great Eastern flavour

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It is not often I post about a new Great Eastern ready to run model but this post is about the latest Oxford Rail Great Eastern Railway 10 ton banana van, confused? Read on…

In fact, along with some information courtesy of friend and SR coach and wagon guru Mike King, 100 of these banana vans were transferred to the Southern between 1933 and 1937, along with 225 of LNER origin.

The GER Banana van edges into the shot of an LSWR insulated van. Picture courtesy and copyright M King

The reason was the transfer of banana traffic from Hull to Southampton in 1933 and a return to the Royal Albert Docks in 1937.
The numbers of the ex-GER vans, (I believe to their  Diagram 72) were 632822-632921 and they kept their LNER wagon oxide livery but had “SR” applied in the usual position, over a painted patch but with “NE” in small letters in lower Right Hand corner of each side. The return of these wagons was requested by the LNER on 24/11/37. We have not seen any evidence of SR diagram numbers, but no doubt there was one allocated.  Mike has kindly provided the prototype images seen left.

A GER banana van is shunted by ‘Normandy’ at Southampton

The first shows the right hand end of GER van 632849 at Southampton Docks in 1936 with the painted patch under the ‘R’ and the small ‘NE’ lettering. The second image shows van being shunted by “Normandy” at Southampton Docks in September 1936 so the justification for having at least one on Canute Road Quay is all too obvious.

Oxford rail have released their  OR76BAN001 Oxford Rail GER 10t Banana Van number 632882 in LNER wagon oxide livery, so I  thought it would make a quick and easy livery adaptation. With a cost of only £16.95 at retailers such as Kernow Model Rail Centre this van with its level of detail, especially the underframe, is very good value for money.

The Oxford Rail GER 10T Banana Van out of the box
The nicely detailed underframe noting the two plain brake levers

The only error on this particular model is that it has a plain brake level on both sides, instead of having a Morton Clutch type lever on the [edit] side adjacent to the vacuum brake cylinder, the incorrect plain lever would in fact be taking the brakes off when the lever was pulled down!
Ironically I understand that the OR76GEGV001 Oxford Rail GER 10t Covered Van version has two Morton Clutch style levers!
I have therefore replaced the incorrect brake lever, on the side adjacent to the vacuum cylinder,  with an etched version obtained from Wizard Models.

The van is pretty light and only weighs 30g which is under my preferred approx. 45g for a van of this size. Easing a small screwdriver between the bodyside and the chassis side allows the body to be removed to add some additional weight inside it.

Masked up ready for patching
SR Decals added, brake lever removed

To amend the livery I simply masked around the original NE letters and painted with Precisions Paints P952 ‘Light Brick red’ as when tested I found this to be a better match to the Oxford Rail representation of LNER wagon oxide than the Precision Paints P67 LNER Freight wagon oxide which was much darker.

Normandy in her slightly later guise shunts the finished GER Banana van with an SR Diagram 1478 version at Canute Road Quay

I then applied standard ‘S’ and ‘R’, and the non common user ‘N’ on the bottom plank from HMRS Pressfix SR Wagons transfer sheet 13 and the small ‘NE’ from HMRS Pressfix LNER wagon transfer sheet 12 to complete the relettering.

All in all, despite having to replace the brake lever this has been a quick win addition to the wagon fleet, although it awaits some weathering, for Canute Road Quay and will be something Southern Railways wise slightly different…

Canute Road Quay, Making Quay Changes

Making Quay Changes #1 Moving Eastwards

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Although my usual modelling genre, as regular readers will know, is the Southern Railway between 1946 and 1949, however due to Canute Road Quay having very few visual references to either period or location (yes there are a couple, but hey…) it allows me to change the location and era with different rolling stock, vehicles and details.

No. 7128 in LNER Wartime livery with full skirts sits on the shed.

I have deliberately left the vehicles and other details such as crates, sack stacks and oil drums etc. loose, this enables them to be both be moved around, to give some variety in photographs, and or replaced with other items to different periods.

No. 7126 in LNER lined livery with no skirts

This is the first in a series of ‘Making Quay Changes’ posts with the Canute Road Quay being transported to either a different location or era or both.  In this case we have stayed in my usual era but moved Eastwards, to perhaps the docks of Ipswich or Yarmouth  utilising the lovely Model Rail magazine limited edition ex Great Eastern Railway J70 class 0-6-0 tram engines (or Toby’s if you prefer).

The pair together

The J70 share the quayside with a Peckett W4 class and an Andrew Barclay, modified Hornby and Hattons models.

The locomotives were manufactured on behalf of Model Rail Magazine by Rapido of Canada.

The pair again at the Quay

They are such delightful models featuring: a coreless motor, options of fully skirted or unskirted, open or closed window and front doors and the distinctive cow catchers; I could not resist the urge to purchase a couple!

The two J70 models I have represent a version still with full side skirts and one with the skirts partially removed.

No. 7128 simmers in front of the quayside offices

I have also varied the front door and window positions, fitted crew members and lightly weathered.
I feel the weathering really brings out the details of these models and tones down, my possible only criticism of the model, their out of box very bright orange woodwork finish.

No. 7128 shares the quayside with a Peckett W4 class (modified Hornby)

This weathering has followed my usual practice of layers colours including: brake dust, dirt, rust, soot etc. via different processes of: drybrushing, washes and airbrushing along with cleaning some areas with a cotton bud but leaving the dirt in the crevasses and corners.

No. 7126 meets an Andrew Barclay (Modified Hattons model)

The J70 class designed by James Holden was a more powerful version of the earlier Y4 0-4-0 tram engine designed by T.W.  Warsdell and 12 were built at the Great Eastern Railway’s Stratford Works between 1903 and 1921.

A last view of Nos. 7126 and 7128 together

During their lifetime, the last being withdrawn in  1955, the J70 class were used at: Ipswich Docks, Yarmouth, Colchester Hythe Docks and of course on the iconic Wisbech and Upwell Tramway for which they gained their most fame.

I hope you enjoy this slightly different post, I apologise to the die hard Southern Railway / Region readers for this post being of Great Eastern / LNER content, but worry not, I will make amends in the next ‘Making Quay Changes’ post with Canute Road Quay back at its spiritual home of Southampton Docks but a different era, but what will it be…?