Peter Drummond's 20-ton 6-wheel goods brake van entered Highland Railway service between 1909 and 1913, there were 16 of these 20 foot long vans, built with wooden under-frames. These original vans can be identified by the thickness of their wooden buffer beams, later 20-ton vans of this type were built with steel under-frames with characteristic "[" shaped buffer beams. Though the original design did not feature ramps to the roof lookout these were added to many of the vans quite early in their service by the HR so the guard did not bang his head when stepping up to the lookout. When the LMS took ownership they made few alterations other than fitting disc wheels and changing the livery. This involved moving the central lamp-iron upwards so the letter "M" would fit just under it, a subtlety that I noticed only after I'd painted the model and came to put the transfers on! Photos of these vans in LMS days show that the continuous lower foot-board was cut away in front of the axle boxes, presumably to improve access, forming four separate foot boards each side, though my van has not as yet undergone this refinement.
The model is constructed from a nickle silver etch, one of my own "aids to wagon building". The ramped lookout seen here is a change I made following the drawing in Peter Tatlow's "HR Carriages and Wagons" and is quite different to the one the vans were originally provided with.
Full construction details are to be found below in the March 2022 blog posting. I used Railmatch 611 freight grey as the base colour of this LMS version of the van, transfers are HMRS, couplings from CPL and lamps from Slater's, with added brilliants.
I have a few etched sheets still in stock at £25.00 + postage if you'd like to add one of these vans to your collection, a great project for the modelling season ahead.
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| 7mm scale 20-ton 6-wheel goods brake van LMS d.12 |
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| Gauge 0 Drummond 20-ton 6-wheel goods brake van, LMS 294018 |
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