A Blast From The Past

THE SUBJECT OF THIS ARTICLE is an LSWR 48ft vestibule driving motor trailer of 1906 (later generically known as Gate stock). The body kit which consists of sides, ends, roof, floor and internal partitions is from Highfield Models. It is formed from 1mm thick vacuum-formed plastic mouldings which needed all windows to be cut out.

The kit of parts at start

This kit was given to me by a friend at least 25 years ago and had already been a dozen or more years in his possession. I believe this kit dates from the 1970/80s and this no doubt resonates with many a modeller in having quantities of unmade kits of a certain vintage. The impetus for getting on and extracting it from its brown paper bag and building it was twofold. Firstly, the introduction by Dapol of a Terrier in LSWR livery, and the second, an invite to the Fareham & District Model Railway club to exhibit the ‘Fairhaven Town’ layout at the Victory Model Railway Club’s 2019 exhibition in Portsmouth in May. I volunteered to try and complete the model by May, but as it was already late March, it was hopelessly optimistic to have it completed in time. I actually finished it in that July.

The book LSWR Carriages in the 20th Century by G R Weddell was invaluable to this project as it contains The kit of parts at start drawings and photographs of the prototype including an interior shot on p. 90. Unlike the previous Highfield kit I had built, the Y6 tram loco (see the Gazette February 2013), the body sides and ends needed to be strengthened to add integrity. This was achieved by gluing a layer of cereal packaging to the inside thus doubling the original thickness. A gap of 2mm was left at the bottom for the floor to be located.

I decided to paint the sides and ends before assembling the body shell. After priming both exterior and interior with Halfords acrylic, the exterior of the sides and of the driving end were given a couple of coats of Halfords Vauxhall Reed Green which to my mind is a good match for 1920s LSWR sage green. The interior was coated with Halfords Rover Maple which incidentally I also use for Southern Railway goods stock. The Bostwick gates were formed with car repair mesh which is a good representation of the diamond pattern that these original vehicles had, unlike the more ornate style of the later 56ft gate stock.

Handrails, glazing bars and handles were added using 0.5mm or 1mm brass wire. The lamp irons were made from waste etch, the positions of which were determined from an internet photo of the driving end of a similar coach. With HMRS transfers in place, a coat of Halfords satin lacquer was applied. The exterior of the inner end received a coat of acrylic black and a corridor connection was formed with styrene L angle shaped round a cereal packet former with black curtain fabric giving a good impression of the folds, as in real life.

The floor also needed to be increased in depth, so a piece of black plastic was laminated uppermost to the original (this at least saved painting it!). Once the ensemble was glued together, a start could be made on the interior.

The Interior

As mentioned earlier, there is an interior photo in the book which was extremely helpful. The prototype seats were formed of plywood with a hardwood frame. The plywood had a pattern of air holes drilled, presumably to stop passengers sliding about on the smooth surface. For the model the plywood surface is achieved with a suitably coloured print from the computer, with a pattern of dots to replicate the air holes and stuck onto cut-down coach seats from Tower Models.

Corridor connection components

Glazing was in the form of acetate attached with double sided tape and a spot of superglue. The distinctive frosted drop lights were replicated by covering with single ply kitchen roll and although not entirely accurate, give an impression of the floral pattern that these coaches had. Curtains are from serviettes, and lastly four advertising frames with posters were added in the appropriate positions.

Driving end interior

The completed coach

The smoking saloon had frosted smoking signs etched into the windows. At first I printed the signage in a clear font with a dark grey background straight onto the acetate but this was not successful as the print was liable to be rubbed off and also it was not as visible as I had hoped. A compromise was made by producing printed signs from the computer with a white font on a mid-grey background attached to the inside of the windows with double-sided sticking tape. The details in the driving end are minimal with only a couple of seats, the driver and the brake wheel.

The roof

The roof had a pre-formed profile which I found difficult to trim and so perhaps the roof line does not bear close scrutiny. After adding ventilators from the scrap box and rain strips again from the cereal packet, a couple of acrylic white coats followed by a couple of matt varnish ones were applied giving an ex-works look.

The underframe

The underframe is entirely scratch built from 0.030in styrene and U channel. The batteries are castings made from No More Nails filler. A whitemetal casting from another kit was pressed into a piece of Blu Tac and carefully removed. The filler was carefully put in the resultant impression and then left for a couple of days to harden off. Looking at the prototype photo, the truss bars are rather slender so 1mm brass rods fitted the bill.

Dynamo and brake linkage came from bits and bobs from the scrap box and 0.5mm wire, finishing with matt black acrylic over the whole.

Roxey Mouldings Fox pattern bogie

Scratchbuilt underframe

Adjusted underframe

Bogies

The bogies are from Roxey Mouldings, as are the Mansell wheels (finished with a white trim) and the buffers. The Fox-pattern bogies have a system of springing whereby wires are soldered to the top of the bolster and bear on the underside of the underframe floor thus giving an element of compensation and stopping lateral wobbling. I soldered paddles to the ends of the wires to increase the surface bearing as can be seen in the photo. The 8BA fixing bolts also have springs which altogether make for a very well sprung vehicle.

Conclusion

The challenge of building this coach was made considerably easier by having Weddell’s book for reference. The Fairhaven Town layout of the Fareham & District Model Railway club is dressed in a Southern Railway colour scheme so, with the inclusion of a black and white photo, this neutralises the non-appropriate colour scheme of the buildings and signage to the livery of the coach. Finally these LSWR vestibule coaches were built as two-car sets, a trailer and a driving trailer. Using the Highfield sides as a template before construction, the outlines of the body sides and ends were drawn onto a sheet of 0.030in styrene sheet so a partner could be built one day…

End view of the completed carriage on the Fareham & District Model Railway Club’s test track

On the test track