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Mk1 Horsebox


Taz
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Came across what appears to be another use for the horsebox,transporting elephants

 

Hmm, not convinced the elephants came in those horseboxes. Especially as there seems to be a glimpse of a GWR high roofed vehicle (Giant/Monster?) in the foreground which were well known for transporting elephants.

 

Chris

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I'm not interested in this as a model (wrong scale wrong country) but seeing the model has intrigued me about the actual vehicle and its uses.

I assume these were mainly used for racehorses rather than for more ordinary nags- return to Newmarket is a bit of a giveaway- but the accomodation seems to include the stalls for horse(s) a coupé passenger compartment with an adjoining toilet for the grooms and another compartment at the end for tack etc. They seem positively luxurious compared with earlier horseboxes.

 

Does anyone know how many horses these vans usually did carry- I understand the capacity was one to three- and how many grooms accompanied them?  I assume that, even hung on the ends of expresses, both horses and grooms were going to be in these vans for quite a long time if travelling to a distant course.

 

I did just find this

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1941/dec/17/railway-horse-boxes-national-hunt-meeting

 

It makes interesting reading. I'd quote it rather than linking but it's under parliamentary copyright and I don't know how much from Hansard it's legitimate to quote. 

Edited by Pacific231G
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I'm not interested in this as a model (wrong scale wrong country) but seeing the model has intrigued me about the actual vehicle and its uses.

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1941/dec/17/railway-horse-boxes-national-hunt-meeting

 

It makes interesting reading. I'd quote it rather than linking but it's under parliamentary copyright and I don't know how much from Hansard it's legitimate to quote. 

 

Some horses use fuel!

 

http://psycheskinner.hubpages.com/hub/Mechanical-Horses

 

Mike.

Edited by Enterprisingwestern
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Does anyone know how many horses these vans usually did carry- I understand the capacity was one to three- and how many grooms accompanied them?  I assume that, even hung on the ends of expresses, both horses and grooms were going to be in these vans for quite a long time if travelling to a distant course.

 

If anyone has a copy they can give you sight of there was a fascinating article in the Great Western Journal by John Lewis about horse traffic.  he followed a single horse box from (IIRC) Lambourn to somewhere in East Anglia, with all the STNs showing where ti was to attach and detach and be handed over to the LNER, etc.  I don't recall how many horses or men were travelling, but it was a lot of paperwork and effort for a single vehicle.

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Hmm, not convinced the elephants came in those horseboxes. Especially as there seems to be a glimpse of a GWR high roofed vehicle (Giant/Monster?) in the foreground which were well known for transporting elephants.

 

Chris

If you look at the box on the right it appears that there is an elephant in it,looks like its head and trunk are just visable........or is it my eye's!

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  • 1 year later...

Thread necromancy!

 

Just a couple of quick questions:

 

How many of these horseboxes actually survive? I can find reference to only two in original condition, but wondered about any others of the departmental converts that might still lurk on preserved lines?

 

How much did their external appearance change when converted to such things as generator vans?

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  • 1 year later...

Has thee been discussion about when the door strengthening and end strengthening was done and to how many etc?  Couldn't see it in this thread, but note that these are available as: "as built"; with door strengtheners only; end strengtheners only; and both end and door strengtheners!

 

Thanks,

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One thing that has occurred to me is that, whilst TMC have several variations on this theme still in stock, Bachmann may take some years to repeat all of them.

 

Anyone requiring a specific version might be well advised to get it from TMC while stocks last. Most prices seem to have been reduced since I bought my three. :)

 

It seems likely the Bachmann releases will be rather more expensive too.  

 

John

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As a slight aside, I got one of these at the NEC at a price not to be missed, It's role in life is to become a train heat boiler instruction van.

Is anyone aware of any drawings of these?, although if the worst comes to the worst it can probably done by dead reckoning, although anything of the inside would be good.

 

TIA.

 

Mike.

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One thing that has occurred to me is that, whilst TMC have several variations on this theme still in stock, Bachmann may take some years to repeat all of them.

 

Anyone requiring a specific version might be well advised to get it from TMC while stocks last. Most prices seem to have been reduced since I bought my three. :)

 

It seems likely the Bachmann releases will be rather more expensive too.  

 

John

Thanks, just ordered a maroon one :)

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I suspect that even with discounting, these will still end up more expensive in Bachmann's main range than the TMC versions as prices have shot up since 2012. Something similar happened when Modelzone got exclusivity for the first release of the TPOs and by the time Bachmann released them in the main range, they were selling for more than the last of the limited editions through Modelzone.

 

I got one of my Bachann Horseboxes out to do a video on it in light of the Bachmann announcements:

 

 

It is a really nice model, and I'm actually fighting the temptation to buy a few more from TMC whilst they are on sale knowing that it is unlikely the prices of the new ones will be lower.

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  • 4 years later...
On 20/01/2017 at 15:46, 26power said:

Has thee been discussion about when the door strengthening and end strengthening was done and to how many etc?  Couldn't see it in this thread, but note that these are available as: "as built"; with door strengtheners only; end strengtheners only; and both end and door strengtheners!

 

Thanks,

Nearly five years late, but from the Mk1 Supplement it would appear that from late summer 1961 ways of strengthening both ends and drop doors were being actively investigated with three of the ER allocated vehicles (33,46 and 54) being docked for repairs.

This proved successful and from a year later any horseboxes requiring repairs had stiffening bars added.

Edited by Chuffed 1
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