Highland Railway Ballast Wagon

HR 8 Ton Ballast Wagon Type J diag. 23 

My starting point for this model of a Highland Railway two-plank drop-side ballast wagon was a Lochgorm Kits' four-plank open wagon kit. The wagon sides were thickened to scale by using a spacer between the inner and outer walls, the hinges and strapping were cut from strip then shaped and soldered on in the flat, both inside and out, before the wagon was assembled.

The black dots you can see on the ironwork of the wagon body are Archers' Surface Details resin rivet transfers which seem to have adhered reasonably well to the nickle silver strapping, those that came off I stuck back on with varnish. The trick I employed when using them was to place the transfer dry on its backing next to the hinge or strap and then wet it and slide the rivet strip into place. The undercoat should help fix them too, I intend to use Halfords' Acid 8, which doesn't seem to have any adverse effect on them.

The wagon is fitted with Peter Drummond's patent each-side brake mechanism, so there's a handle on the other side as well, though no brake lever. Safety chains are fitted too so the model must date between 1896, when Drummond took office as the Highland's Locomotive Superintendant, and 1900 when safety chains were dispensed with.

The wagon is number 2525, though the wagon plate is not ready yet. I've drawn the artwork for the plate which will be scanned, sized and printed then glued to a backing and cut to shape. However the printer's out of ink and I'm waiting for a delivery, which is slow at the moment.

All the pictures I've seen of these wagons have buffer housings with a cast stop on top for the wagon end to drop onto. I could find no commercial casting for this type so I made my own by soldering a block of scrap white metal onto each housing then drilling them and shaping them with a knife and files. You'll need an Antex White Metal Master soldering iron for this job and some ultra low-melt solder. And of course solder the buffers to the wagon body first before adding the stop.

Underneath from the rocking-axle end

This view of the un-prototypical underside shows the cut-aways in the rocking-axle tray that have been made to allow the sprung draw-hook and buffers to operate. The transverse rod links the handles of Drummond's patent both-sides brake gear.

HR Passenger Tank Progress

Cab interior and backhead detail

My aim is to finish the sheet metal work first before adding the castings to the model. The brass backhead seen above is made from an etched fret supplied by Lochgorm Kits, it awaits fittings from LGM's 2-24 Drummond Backhead set. Though there is no drawing nor other direct evidence for the backhead fittings I believe they must have been fairly standard ones, much like those of the Loch class, for which there is a drawing, though adjusted to fit a smaller prototype. There is an inner front spectacle plate, to which the backhead is attached, which slides upwards so that this unit can be removed and worked on as a separate module. The circular brass window surrounds were etched to my own design.





HR 46 sheet metal work nearing completion.

The Highland built four of these little Passenger Tanks in 1905/6, based on Drummond's solitary HR53 of 1901 which was the subject of an earlier scratch building project on my Blog.

From the four possibilities I decided to model HR46 in original condition with the boiler bands on show rather than being covered by a saddle, which seems to have been added later across the side tanks of all these engines. Both front and rear spectacle plates are double to facilitate glazing.






Cab interior showing coal hole with sliding door.

You may notice that there's an "L" shaped angle piece covering the join between the boiler and the spectacle plate. This was made from "T" section brass, which can be persuaded to adopt a curved shape rather more easily than "L" section, which is quite intransigent. The rear flange is filed off the "T" section after it has been bent to shape to form the required "L" section.

The coal hole has a sliding door which adds interest to the interior of the cab, there will be much more detail in the cab before the model is finished and of course consideration is already being given to the poses and positions of the crew.





HR46 showing opening cab doors.

I've been poring over photos to try and understand the way that the sneck that holds the door shut from the inside works and I think I've got it; it's quite simple really and I'll see if I can replicate it in miniature tonight! There's a tablet catcher attached on the left hand side of the engine so the door will need a slot cutting in it to accommodate the operating mechanism of the apparatus which goes between the door stanchion and the tank side sheet.