GRCW Private Owner Coal Wagons

GLOUCESTER RAILWAY CARRIAGE AND WAGON COMPANY PRIVATE OWNER COAL WAGONS

PART ONE : INTRODUCTION, AIRFIX & BACHMANN MODELS

GLOUCESTER RCW PRIVATE OWNER WAGON CHRONOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

This article represents just the first part of a future online resource for Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company private owner coal wagons. More images for the modeller, historian and cartophile are available at www.ro-rail.co.uk on the Softdata portal

Gloucester RCW's 0-4-0ST shunter "Henry Wright" with some recently outshopped 10 ton coal wagons for Rapps & Co in 1908. Painted lead with white lettering shaded black, the 15' x 6' 11" x 4' 1/4" wagons had black ironwork and a tare of 5-19-3.

Click on picture for more about the life of Gloucester RCW Chairman Henry Wright

Another view of Gloucester RCW's 0-4-0ST shunter "Henry Wright" with some recently outshopped triple G plated 8 ton coal wagons for Stevens & Co of Oxford in August 1904. According to Keith Montague, the North Parade, Oxford, based firm had first ordered an 8 ton wagon from Gloucester RCW in September 1897. Measuring 14' 5" x 7' x 3' 1" and offering a tare weight of 5-14-0, this was numbered 3 in the fleet and painted in the Stevens & Co house livery of bright red with white letters shaded black. A 10 ton coal wagon - number 18 - was built at Bristol Road in February 1903 measuring 15' 6" x 6' 11" x 3' 1" and a 5-16-2 tare while December 1903 saw delivery of a 10 ton coke wagon. Numbered 45, this had the same body dimensions with the addition of coke rails 1' 10" high on top. Tare was slightly increased to 6-1-2. The fact that the fleet numbers had risen from 3 to 200 in eight years reflects the rapid expansion of the company.

VICTORIAN REALITY

In the decade after the Great Exhibition of 1851, the length of railway track in Britain almost doubled and was set to double again by 1875. National coal production jumped from 60 to over 80 million tons a year and collieries and ironworks were desperately short of wagons to move raw materials.

In 1860, the Gloucester Wagon Company Limited was set up within easy reach of the ports of Sharpness and Bristol and coal fields of the Forest of Dean, West Midlands and South Wales. Local merchants backing the new joint stock firm quickly decided to concentrate on coal wagon production and one of the earliest orders was for 1000 such vehicles for the West Midlands Railway. By the end of 1860 313 wagons had been produced, rising to 50 wagons a week by July 1861.

Although the Bristol Road works outshopped Britain’s first all-iron goods wagon as early as 1862 – and went on to even greater technical innovation - the wooden bodied two-axle coal wagon was to be a staple Gloucester RCW product well into the Twentieth Century. On railway Nationalisation in 1948 GRCW’s subsidiary Gloucester Wagon Hiring Ltd was able to hand over to the British Transport Commission a fleet of 10, 000 coal wagons formerly leased to mines and coal factors.

By the 1950s though, standard high-capacity steel wagons were increasingly used to take solid fuel to power stations supplying an ever-expanding National Grid. However, along with other post-War innovations such as increased leisure time, railway preservation and cheap plastic, abundant electricity was to burn a niche for Gloucester’s Private Owner wagons in popular culture.

PLASTIC: DRASTIC AND FANTASTIC

How wagons used to be - too tall, brake shoes not in line with the wheels, no solebar detail and simplistic body lettering.

Model railway manufacturers thrived on the injection moulding of identical wagons coloured and marked in a rainbow of liveries. The 1974/5 Hornby OO catalogue for example boasted a Gloucester five plank wagon in the grey markings of M. Spiers & Sons of Defford and Eckington – two former stations between Tewkesbury and Worcester.

This had black body ironwork and the main lettering in white lined with black – including the number 3. Wagon Works records however shows that there were three G-Plates and a registration plate on the solebar of Spiers wagon 5, which was grey rather than the black of the mass produced model. The October 1907 vintage 8 ton load wagon also had white wall tyres and white lettering on the axleboxes and brake shoes. The model meanwhile was too tall and the brake shoes were not in line with the wheels.

George & Matthews Number 5 - as modelled by Bachmann - takes centre stage in this view of Gloucester RCW private owner coal wagons displayed at the Cheltenham GWR Modellers Group Model Railway Exhibition held on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 April 2006. Click on picture for more exhibition details.

Rolling on 30 years however, Bachmann offered a 7 plank wagon in the markings of George & Matthews of Wolverhampton’s October 1908 vintage No. 5. Even the black shaded white telephone number and invitation to "write for prices" around a horn-like logo were visible on the purple brown base coat while the company name was on a high left-low right white stripe in red and white shaded black. On the solebar too, both G-Plates were spot-on above the white wall tyres. Even the roundel-like registration plate was moulded and the only deviation from the official works photograph was the diagonal writing on the axleboxes. Sheer class!

REALISTIC ROLLING STOCK?

In fact 00 gauge ready to run models of private owner coal wagons have come a poor second to locomotives and carriages in the detail and variety available for too long. But in the first few years of the Twenty First Century higher technical standards - and a renewed interest in the subject by volume manufacturers such as Bachmann, Dapol and Hornby - have made collecting a single 12" to the foot manufacturer’s output much easier for the enthusiast.

However, although many of the newly available models are highly authentic some manufacturers do adapt desired liveries and specifications to their nearest existing body and underframe mouldings. Examples of these discrepancies can be seen in the table below: the most noticeable - more fully described in the second , third and fourth part of this feature - being the way that both Dapol and Hornby have represented Crook and Greenway fleet number 2 but - as can be seen from the picture above - not produced identical models.

Dapol wagons too are arguably more prolific in terms of liveries – especially with special editions being exclusively produced for Antics model shops and the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway, among others, but neither of their two basic designs of coal wagon feature solebar worksplates. In practice, these "G-Plates" - now highly prized by collectors - would have indicated that a wagon was either built - or built and owned by - the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company and that its subsidiary wagon repairs company should be notified in the case of damage.

The technical reason for this lack of G-plates is that while the solebars of Hornby and Bachmann model wagons are body components the solebars of Dapol wagons are chassis components. This design philosophy - inherited from former ready to run model wagon makers Airfix - means that although the solebars of Dapol wagons are stronger and contain more moulded detail than those of Hornby and Bachmann they are made from a type of plastic which does not accept paint. Nevertheless, Dapol must be praised for continuing to manufacture its ready to run models in Wales rather than exporting British jobs to China.

On the other hand, while both Bachmann and Hornby have arguably achieved a higher level of detail on a wider range of products - and drawhooks for easier conversion to three link coupling operation - Dapol offers a coal load. This side-steps the issue of moulding marks inside the wagon. Both Hornby and Bachmann take great pains to portray the planking on the floors of their wagons but sadly Hornby leaves great concentric circles in each of the four corners! Bachmann’s holes are definitely neater but to my mind still spoil the look of an otherwise splendid model. My other gripe with Hornby is that it quickly gave up on the planking and buffing spring detail on the underside of its wagons in favour of the Hornby logo instead. Cheaper I guess and making the model’s identity more clear but narrowing the opportunity to represent a wagon hoist - or wagon turned over for other some reason.

Taking a positive attitude however, the consumer is now being offered such previously ignored wagon markings as the double C markings of the Railway Clearing House Commuted Charge scheme. This involved the owner’s payment of 1/- per wagon per year to avoid a 1/- shunting charge and a siding rent charge of 6d per wagon per day. Similarly, the yellow star of the RCH Commuted Empty Haulage Scheme permitted a damaged wagon direct access to repair facilities without hindrance by railway company paperwork.

Gloucester built private owner wagons on the 4mm scale EM gauge Chagford South Western layout by John Nicholas: Martin of Crediton ( No. 25 outshopped September 1903 ) Bowden Brothers of Exeter ( No 18 April 1898 ) and S.P. Gunn & Sons ( No. 1 June 1914 )

AIRFIX AND BACHMANN MODELS

NOTES

ANTICS SE = ANTICS SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION

GLOS.W.R. SE = GLOUCESTERSHIRE & WARWICKSHIRE RAILWAY SPECIAL EDITION

PL = PLATE REFERENCE IN KEITH MONTAGUE’S BOOK " PRIVATE OWNER WAGONS FROM THE GLOUCESTER RAILWAY CARRIAGE AND WAGON COMPANY LTD" OXFORD PUBLISHING COMPANY 1981 SBN 86093 124 2

POPE = DATA FROM IAN POPE'S BOOK " PRIVATE OWNER WAGONS IN THE FOREST OF DEAN" LIGHTMOOR PRESS 2002 ISBN 1 899889 09 4

TURTON = DATA FROM THE PRIVATE OWNER WAGON COLLECTION BOOKS OF KEITH TURTON, ALSO PUBLISHED BY THE LIGHTMOOR PRESS

G = MODEL WAGON FITTED WITH GRCW "G" PLATES

OWNER

FLEET NO

TARE

LOAD

DATE

DATA SOURCE

FIDELITY TO SOURCE MATERIAL

AIRFIX

SEVEN PLANK OPEN WAGONS WITH END DOOR, BOTTOM AND SIDE DOORS

GLOUCESTER GAS LIGHT COMPANY

6-16-0

12T

1923

1 TURTON 60

MARKINGS AS PER PLATE

Airfix reference 54380-0. Having been moulded as far back as 1975 this model as a real pace setter - albeit with no moulded hooks for easy conversion to three link operation - but with buffers an accurate distance above the rails, brake shoes in line with the wheels and small, neat tension lock couplings . Inside the wagon, too, are continuous floor and wall plank lines, bottom doors ( not necessarily prototypical in this case ), but no inner side door representations. The simple livery is also well depicted. However, the real brand new Gloucester Gas Light Company 51 had white wall tyres as new and wooden solebars with a single G-Plate just to the left of the brake gear V hanger. Dimensions were length 16' 1", width 7' 7" and depth 4' 4".

Gloucester gas works were situated in Bristol Road - near Hempsted Wharf on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal - and served by the Midland Railway Hempsted Branch which opened in 1898. Typically for a gas works serving a City the size of Gloucester, gas coal was supplied under contract. Average consumption for the years between 1920 and 1940 was 24 000 tons, mainly sourced from Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and South Yorkshire coalfields by way of coal factors. The annual supplies for 1923, for example, were awarded as follows:

CONTRACTOR	TONNAGE	ORIGINATING COLLIERY
Eveson Coals	1 000	Wath Main
	1 000	Wombwell Main
Wilson Carter and Pearson	2 000	Wharncliffe Woodmoor
	2 000	Thorncliffe
	2 000	Mitchells Main
T. Foster & Co	2 000	Tankerseley
	3 000	Mells ( Somerset )
J. & G. Wells	1 000	Holbrook
John Brown Collieries	3 000	Aldwarke Main
Frank Moss & Co.	1 000	Elsecar
Old Silkstone Collieries	1 000	Old Silkstone
Renwick Wilton & Dobson	1 000	Barnsley Main
J. Longbotham & Co	1 500	Tinsley Park
	1 000	Manvers Main
J.C. Abbott & Co.	1 000	Waleswood

As the contracts specified that a reduction in price of two shillings ( 10p ) a ton would be granted if the Gloucester Gas Light Company sent their own wagons, it is likely that maximum utilisation would have been made of the firm's 25 strong Gloucester RCW built fleet of 10 ton wagons dating from 1910 as well as the 25 wagons hired from Hall, Lewis & Co.

In fact in 1923 the hired wagons were returned and ten 12 ton wagons ordered from the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company - another twenty vehicles being ordered in 1924. As well as coal pre-ordered from contractors, up to 3 000 tons of coal a year could be bought on the spot market, giving Gloucester gas works an annual consumption of around 26 000 tons. Or 3 000 wagon loads, or sixty wagons a week in both railway company and private owner liveries arriving along the Hempsted branch.

Wagon 51 - as modelled by Airfix - is one of the ten standard Railway Clearing House pattern side and end door vehicles from the 1923 order with brakes on both sides and commode handles on the end doors, The italic lettering on the right hand side reads "When loaded to Gasworks Sidings, Hempsted, Gloucester" although there is no suggestion of which colliery should load the wagon. The 1924 wagons, meanwhile, featured red detachable plates to indicate the colliery of origin.

The number 51 is also out of sequence, the 1924 wagons carrying lower numbers, presumably replacing the wagons hired from Hall, Lewis & Co.

Click on picture for more details.

FIVE PLANK OPEN WAGONS WITH SIDE DOORS

SPENCER

6-11-0

12T

1936

PL 536

MARKINGS AS PER PLATE

Airfix reference 54375-8. Quite a superlative model to start with, having been moulded as far back as 1977 yet with buffers an accurate distance above the rails, brake shoes in line with the wheels and small, neat tension lock couplings - albeit with no moulded hooks for easy conversion to three link operation. The body is also crisply moulded with the end stanchions ( not visible here ) almost too fine, something of a rarity in an era when overscale was more common. Inside the wagon, too, are continuous floor and wall plank lines, but no door representations. The livery also cannot be faulted, representing one of the more geographically remote of Gloucester RCW's British customers with Railway Clearing House double C and star markings and all the correct ironwork painted black. However, the real brand new Spencer 24 had white wall tyres and lacked both the twin door stop-springs and long side knees portrayed in the model - although these could easily be cut off by the more demanding modeller. Less easy to rectify would be the chassis mounted metal effect solebar. The prototype - although being built as late as September 1936 - had wooden solebars with a single G-Plate just to the right of the brake gear V hanger. Dimensions in Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company official photograph 5023 were length 16' 1 1/4", width 7' 71/4" and depth 3' 1".Click on picture for more details.

BACHMANN

8 PLANK OPEN WAGONS SIDE DOORS AND BOTTOM DOORS

OSBORNE & SON

7-4-0

1930

2 TURTON 92

AS PER PLATE

Bachmann reference 37-156. Data on right reads "HEAD OFFICE-54. ETHEL ROAD Custom House London E16. Phone Albert Dock 2022". Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company Official Photograph 4799 of October 1930 uses this vehicle measuring 16 1/4" x 7'61/4" x 4'71/4" and built with wooden solebars white wall tyres to illustrate Order 6307 for two wagons, numbered 9 and 10. Wagon 10 was numbered as 6313 with the London & North Eastern Railway.Click on picture for more data.

A.J. SALTER

202

7-4-0

12T

1937

POPE

AS PER PLATE

Bachmann reference 37-152. Writing on solebar too small for me to read! PL511 shows a red painted eight plank 13 ton mineral wagon with side and one end doors, indicated by a white diagonal stripe passing through the white lettered data "Salter's Wagons Ltd, 2 Canley Street, St Pancras, London NW1". Although this 7-8-2 tare wagon - numbered 268 and built in October 1943 - also has white wall tyres and black ironmongery, the much plainer decoration was due to wartime austerity as much as a move by Salters from the coal to wagon leasing trade. Length 16' 1 1/4", width 7' 71/2", depth 4' 7 3/4". One central solebar G plate.

7 PLANK OPEN WAGONS SIDE DOORS, ONE END DOOR AND BOTTOM DOORS AND COKE RAILS

Elders Navigation Colliery 515. Bachmann reference 37-182. Data reads " Empty to Oakwood Siding Maesteg G.W. Ry."

ELDERS NAVIGATION COLLIERIES

515

5-18-0

10T

PL191

PL SAME OWNER 1900

Bachmann reference 37-182. Data reads " Empty to Oakwood Siding Maesteg G.W. Ry." PL191 shows a black painted seven plank 10 ton wagon with side and end doors but no coke boards. Plain white lettering similar but with larger "Cardiff" in place of Empty instructions which appear under a smaller fleet number - 466 - and beneath the identical tare weight. A third G plate also appears just to the right of this data group in addition to the two on the solebar. Length 14' 5", width 6' 11", depth 4' 0". Click on picture for more data.

South Wales and Cannock Chase Coke and Coal Company Ltd 901. Bachmann reference 37-181. Data on left reads "When empty to Avenue Sidings Nr Chesterfield LM & S Rly." This would indicate a build or modification date after 1923.

SOUTH WALES & CANNOCK CHASE COKE & COAL COMPANY LTD

901

6-17-1

12T

1923

3 TURTON 88

MARKINGS AS PER PLATE WRONG COLOUR

Bachmann reference 37-181. Data on left reads "When empty to Avenue Sidings Nr Chesterfield LM & S Rly." The Avenue Sidings were on the former Midland Route between Clay Cross and Chesterfield and served Clay Cross, Grassmoor, Hardwick and Williamsthorpe Collieries. These produced household, gas and industrial coal. 3 Turton 88 shows a grey - not red - painted six plank 10 ton coal wagon outshopped in August 1923 with a tare of 6-17-1 and length 16', width 7' 5", depth 4' 3". It also has no coke boards fitted to it, but does boast white wall tyres and the G plate correctly positioned on the wooden solebars.Click on picture for more details.

7 PLANK OPEN WAGONS SIDE DOORS, ONE END DOOR AND BOTTOM DOORS

WIMBERRY COLLIERY

5-17-0

10T

1896

POPE P27

AS PER PLATE

Bachmann reference 37-078B. Data on left reads "Empty to Speech House Road Wimberry Sidings." ( Speech House Road is north of Parkend on today's Dean Forest Railway ) Outshopped in December 1896, this was one of six new wagons - registered to run on the Great Western Railway - ordered in August that year and featuring a steel rather than the more common wood underframe. All the G plates are in the correct position although historians have argued that the W could have been black on a grey or natural wood background rather than red on chromium yellow. Length 14' 6" width 6' 11" depth 4'.

Wimberry Colliery was formed in 1891 to take on the workings of Messrs Trotter, Thomas & Co begun in 1867 but surrendered back to the Crown in 1890. By April 1900 however the limits of coal working had been reached, and Wimberry became part of Cannop Colliery after 1904.

Although Thomas, Trotter & Co had operated wagons from the Cheltenham & Swansea Wagon Company, the first known Wimberry Colliery wagons - six second hand ten tonners - were leased by GRCW for a period of 14 months in August 1894. After the purchase of the batch of new wagons in 1896, June 1897 saw a further twelve ten ton second hand wagons let to Wimberry Collliery by Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company on deferred purchase over seven years. Similar arrangements were made for further batches of second hand wagons throughout the 1890s but no more brand new vehicles were purchased.

Click on picture for more historic details.

Click here for details of 7mm scale model

7 PLANK OPEN WAGONS SIDE DOORS AND BOTTOM DOORS

Geaorge and Matthews 5. Bachmann reference 37-105

GEORGE & MATTHEWS

6-0-0

10T

1908

PL228

AS PER PLATE

Bachmann reference 37-105. Length 14' 5" width 6' 11" depth 4' 0"

Click on picture for more details.

The Great Western Railwayman's Coal Association of Tondu 1. Bachmann reference 37-101A. Data on left " Empty to Wynllam Colliery Ogmore Tate, Loaded to Middle Yard, Tondu.

G.W. RLYMANS COAL

5-18-1

10T

1903

PL243

AS PER PLATE

Bachmann reference 37-101A. Data on left " Empty to Wyndham Colly, Ogmore Vale, Loaded to Middle Yard, Tondu. Length 14' 5", width 6'11", depth 4' 0"

Click on picture for more details.

An attractive Hastings based model that has nothing to do with Brian Harvey of East 17! However, although the largest member of Bachmann boxed set 37-080P ( see below for details ) has the correct bodyside lettering in white shaded dark blue and the white wall tyres seen in GRCW official photograph 1682 of January 1898, the right hand G-plate on the wooden solebar needs to be inside the brake gear V-hanger, the diagonal side bracing needs to be inside the wagon and the Y and R of Syrus need to be closer together. The 14' 5" x 6'11" x 4' wagon is also officially described as light lead colour rather than red. Having said that though, the quality of plank and door moulding on the wagon interior is very good.

H. SYRUS

5-19-3

12T

1898

PL560

MARKINGS AS PER PLATE

An attractive Hastings based model that has nothing to do with Brian Harvey of East 17! However, although the largest member of Bachmann boxed set 37-080P ( see below for details ) has the correct bodyside lettering in white shaded dark blue and the white wall tyres seen in GRCW official photograph 1682 of January 1898, the right hand G-plate on the wooden solebar needs to be inside the brake gear V-hanger, the diagonal side bracing needs to be inside the wagon and the Y and R of Syrus need to be closer together. The 14' 5" x 6'11" x 4' wagon is also officially described as light lead colour rather than red. Having said that though, the quality of plank and door moulding on the wagon interior is very good. Click on picture for more details.

Webb, Hall and Webb 19. Bachmann reference 37-105A

WEBB, HALL & WEBB

10T

1913

POPE P123

AS PER PLATE

Bachmann reference 37-105A. Webb, Hall & Webb were, like Samuel Llewellyn, coal merchants based at the Great Western Railway's station at Ross on Wye. In July 1913 two new 10 ton wagons ( outshopped with white wall tyres ) were bought from the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company for £165 cash. Then, in May 1915, two 8 ton wagons were bought on deferred payment, one over 5 1/2 and the other over 3 3/4 years. In January 1919 one second hand 8 ton wagon was hired and may have been bought by Webb, Hall & Webb for cash in November 1920.

RICHARD WEBSTER

107

5-18-2

1OT

1904

PL622

AS PER PLATE

Bachmann reference 37-100. The ony discrepancies with GRCW photo 2872 is two other G plates either side of the one seen above on the solebar and the lack of white wall tyres. length 14' 5", width 6' 11", depth 4' 0".

W.E. WISE

6-3-0

10T

1911

PL649

AS PER PLATE

Bachmann reference 37-100A. Length 15' 6", width 6' 11", depth 4' 0 1/4".

5 PLANK LONG WHEELBASE OPEN WAGONS SIDE DOOR ONLY

Ruth Gordon, Nicola Tappenden, Kate Moss - take note: there is another finely detailed model in your towns! However, although the smallest member of Bachmann boxed set 37-080P ( see below for details ) has the correct white bodyside lettering and the white wall tyres seen in GRCW official photograph 2826 of November 1903, the right hand G-plate on the wooden solebar needs to be inside the brake gear V-hanger and the diagonal side bracing needs to be inside the wagon. Dimensions are 14' 5" x 6'11" x 3' 1"'

CHAPMAN & SONS

5-15-1

1903

PL111

MARKINGS AS PER PLATE

Ruth Gordon, Nicola Tappenden, Kate Moss - take note: there is another finely detailed model in your towns! However, although the smallest member of Bachmann boxed set 37-080P ( see below for details ) has the correct white bodyside lettering and the white wall tyres seen in GRCW official photograph 2826 of November 1903, the right hand G-plate on the wooden solebar needs to be inside the brake gear V-hanger and the diagonal side bracing needs to be inside the wagon. Dimensions are 14' 5" x 6'11" x 3' 1"'

A. E. MOODY

5-14-3

1907

PL394

AS PER PLATE

Bachmann reference 37-056A. Data reads "Empty to Oldminster Siding, Sharpness". Length 14' 5", width 6' 11", depth 3' 1". Outshopped with white wall tyres. This quite probably the sole new wagon operated by Albert E. Moody and was registered by the Midland Railway after being ordered in August and delivered in September 1907. It was technically still Gloucester RCW property until the completion of the seven year deferred payment scheme and the third solebar G-Plate shows that A.E. Moody had taken out a wagon repair contract as part of this agreement.

F.H. SILVEY

191

5-12-1

1905

POPE 98

AS PER PLATE

Bachmann Reference 37-050B. Box description is simply "5 plank wooden floor".

In 1870 Thomas Silvey left his job as an inspector for the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company to begin his own coal factoring business in St Phillips, Bristol. As well as supplying George's Brewery and the chocolate factories of Fry's, Carson's and Cadburys, the firm also delivered domestic coal and owner some ships, including the Yarrah, the last vessel to load coal at Lydney Docks late in 1960.

Thomas Silvey's company survives today as an oil delivery business but around 1900 Thomas's sons Frank and Gilbert struck out on their own, ordering wagon 191 - above - in 1905. This was registered as Midland Railway 46042, was outshopped from Bristol Road with white wall tyres and carried F.H.Silvey's own oval owners plate under the right hand side of each side door ( not featured on this model ). This oval owner's plate was to be a common feature of all future F.H. Silvey wagons.

Identical wagons - 204 and 205 - were outshopped by Gloucester RCW in January 1909 and September 1911 respectively while a 7 plank 10 ton capacity coal wagon was built for F.H. Silvey by Gloucester RCW in February 1924. This bore the fleet number 218 and was painted "dark lead" rather than the previous "chocolate" shade. However, the markings of F.H. Silvey fleet 205 have also appeared on a "dark lead" coloured Dapol five plank wagon, which is made further inaccurate by the inclusion of long side knees - not seen on the original GRCW photograph 3816 of September 1911.

By 1935 F.H. Silvey & Co was based at New Station Road, Fishponds - on the former Midland route from Gloucester to Bristol - with offices at Montpelier railway station on the Clifton extension railway. The company operated several distribution depots in the West Country and its wagons collected coal from collieries across Britain.

In 1970 however the business was bought back by Thomas Silvey Ltd, for whom Gloucester RCW also built a 7 plank 12 ton end tipping wagon in March 1939. Painted black with white letters, fleet number 506 had a tare of 7-4-0 tons and measured 16’ 1/1/4" by 7’ 71/4" by 4’ 41/2"

1 PLANK OPEN WAGONS

MORRIS & GRIFFIN

4-15-1

1OT

1906

PL402

3 SHOWN ON PLATE

Bachmann reference 34902. PL402 shows a similar wagon supporting a wooden framework for a large rectangular slurry tank. The words "Morris & Griffin" are on the horizontal members of the framework with the rest of the legend on the one plank. Tare is given as 6-18-2 and length 10', width 5'3", depth 4' 0".

BACHMANN COAL TRADER CLASSICS BOXED SETS

Normally I focus on the model wagons I am buying rather than the packaging, and only usually invest in boxed sets if all the wagons contained are Gloucester RCW built. But on a visit to Bromley in November 2006 I was so impressed by this exclusive offering from Modelzone that I got my wallet out! The individual Gloucester wagons are reviewed above and Fear Brothers Number 95 - built by Harrison and Camm of Rotherham - has a Gloucester connection due to being registered with Wagon Repairs and carrying their mushroom shaped plate on the solebar. It is discussed in more detail below.

Not only is this exclusive boxed set adding to the wealth of Gloucester RCW private owner coal wagons now available in 00 but it is also spreading awareness of the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company in South East England. A bonus feature on the back is a reproduction blotter advertisement for Lax and Wadsworth, coal factors and merchants of Barnsley.

Not only is boxed set 37-080P adding to the wealth of Gloucester RCW private owner coal wagons now available in 00 but it is also spreading awareness of the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company in South East England. A bonus feature on the back is a reproduction blotter advertisement for Lax and Wadsworth, coal factors and merchants of 25 Regent Street, Barnsley, and agents for Wath Main Colliery Limited.

Unfortunately no works plates are discernable on the solebar of the six plank end tipping wagon in the photograph of the advertisement but it is not impossible that Lax and Wadsworth fleet number 151 was built in Gloucester. However, despite being a major player - buying coal in bulk from collieries at times of low demand for later selling on - Lax and Wadsworth do not seem to register in any of the current popular histories of British private owner wagons. Unless of course you know different....

SEVEN PLANK OPEN WAGON WITH SIDE, END & BOTTOM DOORS BUILT BY HARRISON AND CAMM

FEAR BROTHERS

6-7-0

12T

3 TURTON 42

AS PER PLATE

Although faithfully copying of the markings carried by Fear Brothers fleet 95 - as depicted in Keith Turton's Third Collection of Private Owner Wagons -no specific build date is available for this wagon, smartly turned out in ex works condition. Mr Turton reports that computer enhancement of the 1938 vintage photograph apparently shows a Harrison & Camm worksplate from the 20th Century on the solebar alongside a mushroom shaped Wagon Repairs Ltd repairs advice plate. However, if it was not built after 1923, the reference to the Southern Railway above the load data would identify the wagon as being rebuilt better than new! It is also not clear how accurately the bottom doors have been modelled by Bachmann but for my money they look very convincing, the circular mould marks doubling as handle recesses.

Indeed, the photograph shows also the wagon as having ill-fitting lift-over flap doors above the main side doors and a reference to a mine in the space that the model leaves under the legend "empty to". Once again, computer enhancement seems to reveal the words "W... Colliery via Brent, L.M. & S. Rly". Fear Brothers Ltd traded with New Hucknall, Bentinck and Annesley Collieries in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and loaded wagons would have worked south through the Toton and Brent yards on the former Midland main line and then to Staines via Feltham.

Also of interest in the picture is the wagon coupled next to 95, bearing the word Sunningdale instead of Staines. In 1890 - long before the arrival of Ali G - C. and T. Fear were trading as coal merchants at the L. & S.W.R. station at Staines and by 1894 their business had expanded into corn and coke. At the same time H. Fear was selling coal in Feltham but by 1902 the sum of all Fears had amalgamated and could boast branches in Staines, Feltham and Ashford as well as - from 1908 - Sunbury and Sunningdale.

However, it is not known if any Fear wagons were ever coupled to those belonging to the Death family coal merchants of East Anglia. or indeed if there was ever a coal merchant named Loathing in Las Vegas!

PART TWO: DAPOL & GRAFAR MODELS

PART THREE : HORNBY MODELS

PART FOUR : ROBBIE'S ROLLING STOCK

GLOUCESTER RCW PRIVATE OWNER WAGON CHRONOLOGY