It’s quite a while since I created my model of Vulcan, the first engine to actually run on the GWR. I wrote at the end of my blog post “This has been a journey of exploration for me into the earliest days of the GWR. I hope my readers will enjoy reading about it as much as I have enjoyed making the models “.

 

My 3D Printed model of ‘Vulcan’

 

At that time, I had no idea where my model-making was going to take me. I soon filled my shelf with 3D-printed early Broad Gauge engines but realised that, for me, the largest part of the pleasure came from the process of designing the 3D models on my computer.

 

I’ve gradually become more proficient in my modelling skills and have built up an inventory of ‘stores’ on my computer, containing items such as wheels, buffers, and other common components. The result is that I can now ‘knock up’ a new carriage model in a matter of a few hours, although my models often lack those fiddly details that mark out really high-quality models. I just like the ‘look and feel’ and the spur to my imagination in going back to the time when railways were in their infancy.

 

It was a long time before I realised how easy it is to ‘cut and paste’ parts between different projects in ‘Autodesk Fusion’. The point I had missed is that, after copying a body from a donor model, you have to ‘Create a Base Feature’ in the recipient. This allows the body to be pasted in, without upsetting the ‘time line’ which ‘Fusion’ maintains throughout a project. Now, I find it easy to put models into position on my larger scenes, such as my 3D models of the old Paddington Station and Engine Shed.

 

Old Paddington Station models extruded from Network Rail Archive drawings

 

I first tried this out after modelling ‘Thunderer’ and was very pleased with the result. That exercise also reminded me that there are still a few vehicles from those very early days that I have not yet modelled – one of which was the 4-wheel 1st class carriage, which showed its stage-coach origins very clearly.

 

In this post, I shall correct that omission and also learn a little more about how railways were presented in the early days. For a few years, the railways were in direct competition with stage coaches but there was also a co-operative element. For example, when the GWR only reached as far as Maidenhead, many passengers would use the train to that point and then transfer to road coaches for the rest of their journey. Wealthier patrons, who owned their own private carriages, could load their carriages onto trucks and even stay inside them during the railway part of their journey.

 

For those who chose to travel in the railway’s own carriages, it was important to show that these vehicles could provide higher standards of comfort than the best road coaches. So, although the earliest railways carriages look very spartan to our eyes, they were a major improvement over the relatively cramped road vehicles.

 

I have previously modelled a 4-wheel 2nd class carriage dating from 1837. (remember that there was no 3rd class in those days, other than by travelling in goods trucks). The first broad gauge closed seconds were rather primitive vehicles that could not have given a very comfortable ride because the wheelbase was actually shorter than the railway gauge! It is hardly surprising that, according to George Gibb’s diary, these carriages were “ordered off the line”, following a GWR Board Meeting on 12th July 1838.

 

My 3D model of an 1837 ‘closed’ 2nd-class Carriage

 

First-class passengers fared rather better – the compartments were larger and, significantly, much taller, with louvred ventilators above the doors. The traditional appearance of road coaches was maintained for the individual compartments. The wheel base was still very short, at 7 feet. So I can’t imagine the ride was very good – perhaps this is why the GWR standardised on 6-wheel vehicles after this initial experience.

 

Creating a 3D-model 1st Class Carriage

 

As usual, I started by finding a drawing from which I could extrapolate into 3 dimensions. The Broad Gauge Society Data Sheets provided a good starting point and it was there that I noticed a reference to a drawing shown in the ‘Pall Mall Magazine’, which I managed to track down on the web:

 

The ‘Pall Mall’ drawing shows some interesting features; in particular the decorative artwork on the central door (I’m not sure what Shield is represented) and on panels inserted into openings in the frames. The elaborate waist mouldings are also shown. Very little is known about livery details on early broad gauge carriages. The general assumption is all-over brown but, in view of the ‘decoration’ shown on this drawing, it seems possible that there would also have been lining (gold?) on the panelling.

 

I extruded the coach sides from the above drawing, imported as a ‘canvas’ into ‘Fusion’ . The chassis appears to be a lengthened version of the open-frame design used on my previously modelled 2nd class carriage. I also copied the end panels from my earlier model, together with buffers and wheels. Altogether, therefore, the construction involved very little ‘new building’:

 

My 3D model extruded from a ‘canvas’ with re-used parts

 

I believe that the sides of the original compartments may have been bowed out towards the centre. After some exploration, I found that this type of distortion cannot be applied to ‘Fusion’ bodies so, as a compromise, I angled the sides of each compartment at each end, as shown below.

 

Inset between compartments

 

Now, all that remained was to ‘render’ my model and make some screen-shots. While it is possible to add images as logos onto flat panels in ‘Fusion’, I decided that it was easier to add these and gold lining in Photoshop, as shown below.

 

My 3D model of an 1837 1st-class carriage, rendered and ‘decorated’

 

While this treatment does produce an opulent appearance, there is no support for this amount of decoration in Bourne’s lithographs – not even on the ‘super-luxury’ Posting Carriages. I did notice, however, in his lithograph of Bath Station that the Posting Carriage is shown with lighter lower panels than above the waist and also a very pale band (possibly white or cream) around the side windows but adjacent 1st-class carriages look completely plain.

 

 

There is a note on some drawings, dated 1853, in the NRM/OPC collection stating “Drawings 5295/6/7 all include the inscription "Black and fine Yellow Lines". This appears in the flat portion of the left-hand side of the coach enclosed by the curved moulding.” That is, of course, considerably later than our period.

 

On the basis of Bourne’s engravings, I felt that the Posting Carriage  should be given a little extra decoration:

 

 

My model of a Posting Carriage with pale lower panels and light window band
 

There is one other carriage to complete my 1838 ‘set’ and that is the 4 wheel open second. Note that ‘open’ in those days was different from its current meaning – these carriages were literally ‘open’ along each side. In those days of lethal infectious diseases, many people actually preferred to travel in that way, although the GWR was also concerned that they were losing potential 1st class customers to the ‘closed’ Seconds!

 

Creating a model of the 4 wheel second proved ridiculous easy. Simply cutting two compartments and a pair of wheels from my existing 6 wheel version was all that was needed. All the remaining dimensions remained the same.

 

My ‘cut and shut’ 4 whl Open Second model

 

A 3D view of the models, rendered in Fusion, shows the close relationship between the two designs:

 

3D models of 4 whl (1838) and 6 whl (1840) Open 2nd Carriages

 

So now I can assemble a complete train of the earliest period of GWR operations between Paddington and Maidenhead.

 

 

Two Views of North Star with a train of 1838 stock

 

Mike