1930 mineral wagon build 5” wooden frame

[turbominij]

I have been sitting on a kit to build a 5” wooden frame wagon for a while now and not started it for many reason I have finally taken the plunge and got going

My end gol is to build a 1930 P.O. mineral wagon in red
Using the following as a guide
The next few posts are how far I have got
If any one has any more photos of this specific wagon that would be fantastic if I could see them

[turbominij]

First port of call was to adapt the drawings I have to match the iron work I have as some alterations were necessary

Then mark it out on to the solebars and headstock

[turbominij]

Next was to chip out the head stocks to take the sole bars roughly at this stage to make sure they are square
And trial fit

Slight fail at this point I marked out both sole bars the same 🤦‍♂️ so I have two left hand ones

[uuu]

Classy.


Wilf

[turbominij]

From here I cleaned up the joints insured a good fit the over all length was exactly 17 -1/2 inches and the joint were 1/8

And proceeded to notch the sole bar for the center timbers and cut to length roughly so I could sand to dimension to ensure the width was uniform across the length of the wagon

[turbominij]

Next was the 6 middle bars the outers were notched in to the head stocks and will have metal ties at the other end. Towards the middle

Then holes were drilled to take the long 3/32 tie bar
These were done by taking one head stock and drilling it using the hook plate as a guide
Then both head stock as a pair and drilling them

Then each head stock with its matching center by aligining all the center marks in the vice before drilling

Worked well and my end result after threading rhe ends of the 2.4mm(3/32) tig rod 7ba and re threading the 8 ba nuts accordingly

[Jim]

The wagon underframe looks very nice, you're doing a great job.

Are these drawings of any help? They are from 'Private Owner Wagons' by Bill Hudson and published by The Oakwood Press.

Jim

[turbominij]

I have been working to ones by dug in his wagon building guide but any info is excellent especially as there seem so many variation. And even alternative methods of construction 2 I have seen are
one had inner long bars complete and notched to clear the inner cross bars
Where as dug has it cut in to 6 and little plates joining them and the cross ones parallel with the headstock complete

[uuu]

There's a good archive of original drawings here: cs.rhul.ac.uk/~adrian/steam/RCHWagons/index.html

Wilf

[brucevoelkerding]

Wilf, thank you for posting that Link. I have always wondered about the Construction Details of these Wagons. Being in the States there are none to see that I know of. I have a further Question -

o are the Tons mentioned (Standard 12 Ton Wagon) Long (2240 lbs) or Short (2000 lbs) ?
o which type of Tons are used when Locomotive Weights are listed ?

[uuu]

Living in the UK, I was brought up on a ton always being 2240 lbs. Short tons were not really mentioned. Coal for domestic use was sold by the hundredweight = 8 stone = 112 lbs. Potatoes were sold by the stone = 14lbs - and we still use stones to refer to body weight, rather than the US system of lbs.

These Wiki articles seems to support the idea that short tons and hundredweight = 100 lbs was used on your side of the pond: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundredweight and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_ton

Industry having moved metric, we now use tonnes = 1000kg.

Wilf

[turbominij]

Next up was the plates attaching the centre frame pieces(need to be let in to the top of the frames so they sit flush

As well as drilling the outer holes for the cross ties I will use these as a template for drilling the inner ones by clamping them inside the solebars

And then pilot drilling and trial fitting the w ions and brake frames all temporarily fitted with tiny self tappers

[turbominij]

Few more bits done on the wagon today

Centre tie rods done across the wagon made from 2.4mm tig rods threaded 7ba on the ends and some 8ba nuts drilled out and threaded 7ba
holes drilled out and fit nicely across the wagon.

Then started making the diagonals my plan for them is to make them a little long and gently sand them down till they are a snug fit then once all the ties are in place they should fit nicely and produce a solid frame

y

[turbominij]

Next up was finishing the diagonals. Currently all just pressed together and fitting fairly well

Going to make the rear buffer supports next wooden ones not folded steel

[turbominij]

Finally had time to do a bit more to the frame
Notched the diagonals and sole bars to take the buffer back stops
filed down the left over bit from the diagonals and it’s a perfect fit



None of the tie rods are tight yet and it’I’m impressed it’s so ridged already when just pushed together

[turbominij]

Tie rods all fitted and done up and trial fit of all the w and v brackets with the braces and correct nuts and bolts to make sure all the hardware fits properly

[turbominij]

And a quick test of the wheel set all a little tight currently but recon it will work Might need to adjust things slight within the box’s and need to file the Chanel’s so they are a little looser and slide nicely






next up buffer stocks centres And hook hole centres befor a stop down to trim bolts and inlay the top brackets so it all sits flush and open out the centres mentioned

[turbominij]

Little test run of the wagon today with wire as a hook as I hadent got that far to install them yet

it ran very well even with the leafs springs insecure and placed in rather than fixed with pins

little bit of ballast on it from three bricks and It didn’t derail once while being shunted for 2h

rather chuffed I must say

[dscott]

Looking lovely.

David and Lily.

[turbominij]

Little fixture created from scrap today to make the head stock ties allowing them to be made with no clamps and quickly

Blob of flux and solder and It works very well indeed