A GWR Hydra with a parcels van
Finally managed to finish something. Too much scattered modelling recently. But my GWR Hydra is now done, a dia G11 well-wagon in ca. 1910-13 condition, using a modified kit from 247 Developments. Plus the usual horse element, of course!
Ten G11s were built in 1899 for running in passenger trains, with a 6 ton capacity. They originally had Thomas brakes, later DC brakes were fitted. The photo above shows a G11 in 1947. In 1908 another batch of ten were made. They had DCII brakes from the outset, as well as larger axleboxes and an 8 ton rating, so were given a new diagram, G19.
My point of departure was the 247 kit for the G19 diagram. This is what you get. Mansell coach wheels, bearings, buffers, coupling hooks, vacuum pipes and brake gear are needed to complete.
The print up close. Methinks the Hydra stayed too long at the Pub last night 🙂. That wavy pattern needed some work.
The solebars were quickly filed straight, but I struggled to file the upper framing without damaging the triangular supports beneath it. In the end I simply cut away the supports to give me proper access with The Big Nasty File.
That helped.
The supports were replaced with bits of styrene. Photos show they had holes, and that the solebars had a lightly protruding edge, so these were added.
Buffers and coupling hooks from MJT. Later I replaced the hooks with 51L specimens in order accommodate their screw-link couplings.
Thankfully the print didn’t have much unsightly “layering” - which I really dislike - but priming did reveal a bit on the ends.
Filler and my trusty sanding pads helped.
The axleboxes in the kit are provided separately, allowing the wheels to be fitted without having to “flex” the brittle material. But they are intended for the G19 diagram, and thus oversize for my G11 (arguably also on the large side for a G19, TBH).
So I looked in the spares box. “These might come in handy one day”. They never do – until they do!
I found some David Geen oil axleboxes, left over from converting wagons to grease axleboxes. Strictly speaking they should be a smidgen larger for my purposes - but they come across OK to me, so were cut off and fitted to the Hydra.
To make it all fit, I also cut off the moulded springs and replaced them with shortened MJT springs and springhangers fashioned from bits of styrene. By now the print was looking tired from all my roguery. It was the hour of doubt. Always comes, never fails.
But onward, onward. The G11s originally had vac pipes that protruded above the deck. Later, low ones were fitted. I modified some Gibson offerings to represent the latter - original on the left, modified on the right.
Then the brake gear. The original Thomas brakes on G11s were a short-lived design, so I have guessed that DCII brakes were fitted before my 1910-13 target. After all the G19s had them from birth in 1908. Some Bill Bedford DCIII gear was bastardized for the purpose.
I fitted “outside-only” clasp brakes at either end, as per photos. Brake pull-yokes from the spares box, and lamp irons from brass strip. Photos of G11s show the vac pipes fitted to the right (sic) of the coupling hook, opposite of normal arrangements (see Atkins et al p152/154).
The livery on a 1910-14 Hydra is tricky. The convention is that “Hydras were brown” because they ran in passenger trains. But it seems they weren’t actually painted brown until WW1 (see discussion here). I’m happy to repaint it if someone comes up with strong evidence for brown at this time.
The lettering was another quandary, as I had no exact period photo to help me. But in general, photos of HYDRAS and LORIOTS suggest that from 1904-WW1 the “GW” was squeezed on to the lower frame, as large as possible, with numbering on the upper frame. So that’s what I did. Later the GWR went for smaller lettering and moved it to the upper frame. I didn't add the "HYDRA" designation, as I'm not sure if it was applied at this time.
The original Tare on G11s was 7.4, I upped it a bit to account for the DC brake gear (if anyone knows the exact Tare pls do let me know). I had planned to try Matt’s techniques for weathering the deck, but don’t have his type of paints and need to save some pennies. So I just used Vallejo Pale Sand + weathering powders.
The chain is from Cambrian Models, fitted with a wire loop at one end and inserted into the headstocks.
The inner tread plates on the deck were not originally fitted to G11s but possibly added later. In any case, they are part of the moulding on the original G19 kit and I didn’t fancy removing them.
For the load, I wanted something that demonstrated the whole point of a well wagon, i.e. lowering a tall vehicle to bring it within the loading gauge. I liked the photos of Hydras with GWR Parcels Vans in the 1930s and ‘40s (see G11 top of page, and the G22 here). It is believed they show vehicles being returned from repairs/upgrading at Swindon. I don’t know if this was also done during my 1910-13 timeframe, but I know that the GWR Motor Vehicles Dept. at Slough had a couple of dedicated Hydras during that period, so it seems likely.
I got out Farthing’s Parcels Van, a rough representation of a 1900 prototype built from a Langley kit 15 years ago. I decided to give it a makeover and fit it on the Hydra.
The lettering was stripped off, and the lamps removed as these would be stowed. According to Tony Atkins' books on GWR goods cartage, the wheels on parcels vans changed from brown to red in 1909, so I repainted them. I also painted the interior cream, correcting an oversight from the original build.
The GWR used this “mixed font” style on parcels’ vans from the early 1900s until the 1920s. Incidentally, the middle photo is incorrectly dated 1930s in several volumes. I have recently found it in the December 1909 edition of the GWR Magazine.
I used printed paper for the lettering. The serif font is “Swindon” uploaded by @K14 to Dropbox (OTF here and TTF here). For the non-serif font I used “GWR Nameboards” uploaded by @JimC to the GWR e-list (registration required). Thank you both. The latter was used only for capital letters, with Aptos Extra Bold for lower case as this was a better match for photos of parcels vans.
A new poster was made in Word, in the simple style seen on Parcels’ Vans at the time. The text was copied from a period prototype that I couldn’t resist.
I also fitted a foot-brake (lever from a screw coupling), a proper drawbar (modified ladder), and new shafts from Chris Cox. Thanks Chris. The brakes were repositioned to be on. According to the Railway Magazine, application of station names on horsedrawn wagons ceased in 1909. It can’t have been universal as some photos show otherwise, but I decided to go with it.
Photos show the Parcels Vans secured with timbers either end, and chocks between the wagon sides and wheels. Some balsa was cut to shape and weathered. The chocks had to be oversize to fit properly, let’s call it modeller’s license.
Timbers and chocks in place. One photo shows light roping through the front wheels, perhaps to avoid rotation of the forecarriage, so I fitted some EZ line.
But where to put the shafts? Not underneath, judging by prototype photos. I then spotted the above “edge-of-a-photo” view of a van on a G1 or G2 Loriot at Swindon Works, ca. 1937. Perhaps destined for scrapping or repair. There are various shafts inside, so presumably that’s where they were stored during transit. My model is of a shorter van, but the shafts do fit inside when angled sharply. However they can’t be seen, so I’ve saved them for another build.
The chains were then fitted to the van. Photos seem to show the chains looped around the axles and turned back on themselves, with surplus chain resting on the deck. You’ll have to imagine the tensioners - they are available from Ambis Engineering, but I have to save somewhere. I tried making cosmetic ones from wire, but it didn’t look right.
Speaking of tensioners, the Hydras had screw link couplings. I had some 51L etches, so used these. A bit fiddly and fragile, but cheaper than ready-made ones.
Lastly, some fancy shots. It’s amazing what camera phones can do these days, but they lack empathy: Everything is revealed with unforgiving clarity!
The original idea was that this would form part of a ca. 1913 passenger train that I’m building. But I wonder: Why run this in a passenger train, why not a goods train? In fact, that could be said of all the loaded Hydras I have seen.
Which makes me wonder how often they actually ran in passenger trains in practice. Even in the early days, wouldn't most passengers' horsedrawn carriages have fitted on the shorter "Scorpions" and Match Trucks?
Anyway, it's been an interesting little project. The result is certainly a bit rough around the edges, but it runs well enough. In fact I'm off to play with it now 🙂
Edited by Mikkel
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