Wagons roll! Introducing the Coke Hopper and Cattle Wagon...

LMSR 20 ton Coke Hopper Source Unknown

A very warm welcome to you all to this, the latest edition of The Engine Shed, your glimpse at the inner workings of the Hornby Development department.

What a busy week it’s been. The sun has been shining, the birds have been chirping and the postman has been bringing a plethora of treats to our door - two of which we have been waiting a long time to be able to show you.

In November last year, we announced the final of our new tooled items for 2016, the 20 Ton Coke Hopper Wagons and 10T Cattle Wagons and we were delighted this week when we unwrapped the bubble wrap to reveal the first shots off the new tooling for both!

Work began on the Cattle Wagon almost a year ago, with work beginning on the Coke Hopper in October last year after a trip to the National Railway Museum in York to gather the vital information we needed. It is unfortunate that no preserved examples of the wagons exist that we could have used for measurements, but we are fans of a challenge here at Hornby, so with the help of Paul Bartlett and by working through reference books, old modelling articles and the NRM archives, we were able to fine tune the design, with the real challenge coming in getting weight into the wagons. Therefore, the Cattle Wagon has been produced with a die-cast floor and the Coke Hopper a die-cast chassis.

SR 10t Cattle Wagon -  A brief history

Dia 1529 Cattle Van Credit Mike King

Appearing in 1930, the first Southern Railway designed standard cattle truck was a replacement for earlier wooden framed vehicles built to pre-grouping designs. The design of diagram 1529 departed from this traditional use of timber on cattle wagon underframes, by using an all-steel construction over a 10’ 6” wheelbase. Eight shoe vacuum brakes, with Maunsell brake gear and a handbrake between the wheels were new features of the design, otherwise they were essentially a rebuild of the former SECR designed vehicles.

Built to four orders from 1928, 1929, 1930 and 1937, the vehicles were constructed at Ashford, 249 being built in the number range 53629-53878 (except for 53845 which for some odd reason was never built) and 50 being built in 1939 in the range 53879-53928.

Dia 1530 Cattle Van Credit Mike King

In 1947, the design was updated under diagram 1530, in order to replace worn out stock. Plywood ends, internally reinforced with metal, replaced the planked end panels, with sheet aluminium being used on the roofs. The braking was also altered by Bullied, with the handbrake lever being repositioned to the extreme end of the wagon - reputedly to avoid the mechanism being clogged up by cattle dung!

With the decline of cattle transportation over the years, by Nationalisation these vehicles represented just 2.6% of freight stock in the region, however they did work right across it from Ashford, all the way to Exeter.

CAD for Maunsell Diagram 1529 10T Cattle Wagon

First shot off tooling for Maunsell Diagram 1529 10T Cattle Wagon

CAD for the Bulleid Diagram 1530 10T Cattle Wagon 

First shot off tooling for Bulleid Diagram 1530 10T Cattle Wagon

LMS/BR 20T Coke Hopper

DRG 70977

Originally built by the LMS under Diagram 1729 to Lot Nos. 552, 879 and 880, the 20T Coke Hoppers were built in two batches of 100. With wooden raves and ends over a steel body, split axle boxes and RCH buffers, further examples were built by various private owners, a total thought to be around 600 wagons.

A look inside - we've gone to great lengths to ensure the highest level of detail is achieved. 

At Nationalisation in 1948, British Rail inherited the 200 LMS and 600 or so private owner wagons and they continued in service through to the late 1950s/early 1960s before being withdrawn. With the design being as functional as it was, the first BR derivatives came from these early LMS wagons, the main difference being that they were fitted with plain front axle boxes, metal side and end raves and tie bars. Over the next ten years, over 2000 wagons were built to three different diagrams, with subtle modifications to the design.

CAD for LMS 20 Ton Coke Hopper Wagon

First shot off tooling for LMS 20 Ton Coke Hopper Wagon

First shot off tooling for BR 20 Ton Coke Hopper Wagon

A unique feature of this new release is that the Maunsell Cattle Wagon and the LMS Coke Hopper will come complete with split spoked wheels, which is something that we have never produced before. Having been aware for a while that wagons of this era and region had split spoked wheels, it was an opportunity not to be missed, the chance to add an extra little detail to our new tooling.

These new split spoked wheels will be available in the near future as a Spares items as well, enabling you to update your existing rolling stock with more accurate, highly detailed wheels.

So there we have it, work is ongoing on the wagons and we hope to have some decoration samples to show you soon! Be sure to let us know what you think in the usual places.

The Coke Hopper and Cattle Wagon are expected to arrive towards the end of this year and can be pre-ordered now from the website or your local Hornby stockist.

Adams Radials have arrived!

During the week, we were not the only ones to receive exciting packages, we’ve been hearing all week that model rail collectors all over the country have started to receive their Adams Radials – a product, that if you’re a regular reader of The Engine Shed, you’ll know all about and also know that, similar to the Class 71, it is a result of months of hard work. It is great to see how well they are being received and we’d like to thank everyone for their kind comments so far. More information about the development journey of the Adams Radial can be found in an earlier edition of The Engine Shed and we can’t wait to see your images soon! In case you missed it though, take a look at it running around our track below.

Well, that about does it for this week, thank you everyone for your kind words about the Class 71, it’s fantastic reading such great reviews!

Oh wait a minute, how could we forget? At the start of the year we asked you what you’d like to see more of in our Blog and many of you said you’d like to peer even further behind the curtain and get a glimpse at the manufacturing process of our models. Well, to wet your whistle for a future edition, any guesses as to what’s being painted below?

Let us know on Facebook, Twitter and on the Forum! Also, did you know that we're now on Instagram as well? Check us out, now there are even more ways of keeping up to date with the goings on here at Hornby HQ - why not find us on instagram and tag us (@OfficialHornby) with pictures of your new locos, or layouts?

Until next time…

Happy Modelling!

The Engine Shed Team

© Hornby Hobbies Ltd. All rights reserved.