GWR Goods Rolling Stock

A shunting layout wouldn't be much good without any goods wagons or vans to actually shunt, so I've been steadily adding some assorted rolling stock to the set up. These include half a dozen GWR vans by Mainline and Bachmann, so I have enough to be starting with. I do need some open wagons, flat wagons and cattle trucks, however, as well as more early British Railways goods stock for the NE Region project. I'd really like a rake of three or four private owner tank wagons too assuming they fit in with the layout theme.

Triang Clerestory Brake Third

I now have one of these for no particular reason other than I always fancied having one! The idea is to enhance it with some interior work, underframe gubbins and possibly new bogies, then have it as a branch line off cast, probably with something in tow for additional goods delivery. It looks like someone has already had a go at repainting and tarting up this one but I think it will need a bit more work. The GWR often passed on it's old or inherited coaching stock for branch line use, so that makes sense, and it would fit onto a minimal space layout. The alternative would be some of the old ratio 4 wheelers, a B Set or an auto coach but these are so often seen on GWR branch line layouts that they are a little bit boring?

Back on Track

I've been off doing other hobby things over the last couple of years but I'm hoping to get back to the railway modelling project now. To give myself a boot up the proverbial, I've been slowly adding more OO gauge locomotives and rolling stock to the collection, with a focus on both the British Railways Northumberland and GWR West Wales shunting layouts. These are all second hand models and not entirely suitable for the setting in some cases, but they are very nice and I'm pleased to have them as additions. I'm now planning to get hold of more goods rolling stock so that I can gradually build up a decent selection.

Weathering for Railway Modellers

I added this to my digital library yesterday and have been skimming through it today for weathering ideas. It is a very well illustrated and comprehensive guide to a wide variety of weathering techniques, both for rolling stock and locomotives. 

I'm itching to have a go now, using some of the washing and drybrushing methods that I've used for military modelling, with the specific approaches suggested in this excellent book. I was particularly impressed by the weathering of N gauge wagons, which was very effective even in such a small scale.

A bit pricey but definitely worth every penny.

Goods Rolling Stock

I've pretty much sorted out my motive power for the GWR Shunting Layout and, latterly, an Inglenook layout in early British Railways days. Now, I need to assemble a decent variety of goods wagons and vans to be shunted around on both layouts, which raises some interesting questions, given the high price tag of ready to run rolling stock these days. I need at least half a dozen wagons of varied format but consistent wheelbase to operate on both layouts, having only got three or four to use at the moment.

I don't mind using second hand wagons but prefer to pick and choose what I use for a couple of reasons. I have a soft spot for the old Mainline and Airfix goods wagons, as I had a few of these in my youth, mixed in with more up to date wagons from Bachmann and Hornby. I also need to consider geographical location, West Wales and Northumberland respectively, when choosing private owner wagons and company rolling stock, not to mention the operational context of the layouts themselves, both of which are rural with local mineral or industrial traffic as a feature.

I'll start looking for some bargains on eBay and pop down to the local model railway shop to see what they have to offer. I don't mind a bit of kit building, if it works out cheaper or more prototypical, but I prefer the 'off the shelf' convenience of ready to run rolling stock too. I also like to do my own weathering, so there should be plenty of opportunity to tone things down a bit. I plan to gather together a good variety of goods wagons and vans, perhaps a couple of dozen over time, so that I will be able to run some decent shunting operations with plenty of variety.