Wheel diameter of "Queen Mary" brake van

[Terry Bendall]

Please can anyone advise on the correct wheel diameter for the Southern "Queen Mary" bogie brake van. The original batch were built on the frames of former LBSC overhead electric stock with a wheel diameter of 3 ft 7ins diameter but what I am after is the wheel diameter of the later 1936 purpose built batch.

Thanks in advance

Terry Bendall

[Albert Hall]

Terry

The one we have at Midsomer Norton is from the 1936 batch (diagram 1550) and that has standard coach wheels of 3'7" diameter. I did find a quote saying that these vans were fitted with standard coach bogies. The drawings and photos in "An Illustrated History of Southern Wagons" volume 4 by Bixley/Blackburn/Chorley/King seem to support this.

Roy

[Terry Bendall]

The one we have at Midsomer Norton is from the 1936 batch (diagram 1550) and that has standard coach wheels of 3'7" diameter

Thanks very much Roy. It is the 1936 batch that I am interested in. We have volume 4 of the OPC book but wheel diameters are not given on the drawing. Some of these vans lasted well into BR days and this one will be for the BR freight exhibition train c1988 since Bachmann recently brought out the correct liveried VGA van which just needed a few extra details added.

Terry Bendall

[Albert Hall]

The drawings in these books seem to be reproduced in our scale and this is confirmed by measuring the wheelbase of the 8 foot bogies at 32mm. The wheels come out at around 14mm across the treads. Interestingly, wheel sizes are generally quoted on the drawings in volume 1 but not volume 4.

I'm not sure if our example has been significantly altered during restoration but if you need any photos of particular details let me know. I am a working volunteer at MN and spend at least one day a week there doing a bit of 12 inch to the foot 'modelling'.
Roy

[Noel]

I did find a quote saying that these vans were fitted with standard coach bogies.

Volume 4 page 91 refers to the later batch being built "on a shortened version of the standard carriage underframe and had standard carriage bogies." The geometry of the brake rigging would presumably enforce the use of standard carriage wheels, so nominal 3ft 7ins.

[Terry Bendall]

if you need any photos of particular details let me know.

Thanks for the offer Roy which is much appreciated. We are using one of the Bachmann models as the basis since one version produced is almost right for the vehicle in the exhibition train with just a need to change some of the lettering and add some more details. Simon has found some useful pictures on the web which are sufficient for our purposes.

I managed to fit P4 wheels in to the existing bogies by carving away some of the inside faces and fitting brass bearings into the existing holes. A bit more carving was needed on the brake shoes as well. Eventually the train will appear on Ravenscroft Sidings since it will be the correct period for the layout and will be something different which is not often seen in model form. The models will be on display on the Rail Express stand at Warley and if the moderators will excuse a plug, they are also featured in the current issue of the magazine.

Terry Bendall

[Philip Hall]

The brake rigging is ‘interesting’ and I made a reasonable approximation of it from Mike King’s drawings and some photographs from Peter Swift, who crawled underneath some time ago. Details were in my article in MRJ a short while ago - sorry, I don’t have access to my back numbers to tell you which one. The footboards were a real pain!

Philip

[Rod Cameron]

MRJ 254