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The Grampus was one of the most numerous engineering wagons used by BR, being suitable for a wide range of duties. One could usually be found lurking around any sizable station or goods depot being used as a convenient carrier of anything which needed to be moved.
British Railways Grampus wagons are the standard design of 20-ton steel bodied open wagon built for the engineering departments. Generally referred to as ballast wagons the Grampus design was developed from designs by the pre-nationalisation companies, the BR design incorporating removable end panels which make the Grampus useful for carrying exceptionally long loads like crossing timbers and signal posts in addition to the traditional role as ballast carriers. The wagons have had very long lives, many still being found in the 1980s being utilised as general material carriers, loaded with absolutely anything the engineers needed and sometimes resembling mobile rubbish bins.The Dapol model nicely recreates this very common wagon type, this model painted weathered black livery can be used right through the wagons life, as many seem to have never been repainted!
As part of the development of the long wheelbase air braked wagons intended for fast goods trains a flat bed stake sided steel carrier wagon was produced. This proved ill-suited for many steel products, so following trials with a low-sided body 1,1000 SPA wagons were built. These have low, steel drop-door side bodies able to retain coiled products like rod/wire and featured floor bolsters suitable for loading and unloading by fork-lift truck.As with many of the air-braked wagons there have been many subsequent modifications, both for revenue and departmental uses.
Following the improvements in production through the 20th century the standard length of rails increased from 45 feet to 60 feet. Now longer than the standard 45-feet bogie bolsters like the GWR Macaw B new 65-feet length rail carrier wagons were built.The LMS developed bogie flat wagon, designed for use with bolsters for rail or as a flat deck wagon for track panels, was adopted as a standard type by British Railways and allocated the code name Salmon. 894 were constructed between 1949 and 1961 in 15 batches from private wagon builders as well as BR workshops. A great variety of modifications were made over the lives of these wagons, with over 400 being overhauled during the 1980s, receiving modern bogies and train air brakes. Many of these wagons were formed into continuous welded rail trains, while others were fitted with rail cranes to aid handling of jointed rails at relaying sites.The Hornby Salmon range is a new tooling for 2023 with almost all variants of the wagon catered for. Fitted with diecast chassis, these wagons have fantastic weight that rolls freely on metal wheels. Bolsters are included in the accessory bag can be fitted to represent the different ways these wagons would have appeared.
An iron ore tippler wagon was an all-steel mineral wagon that did not have doors. Each wagon featured heavier axleboxes for carrying iron ore. The wagons could be turned over for unloading at its destination, the steelworks.After these small capacity wagons were replaced with more modern rolling stock many of these vacuum brake fitted iron ore tippler wagons were taken over by the BR engineering departments for use as spoil carrier. TOPS coded ZKV these wagons were given the codeword Zander in the 'fishkind' series used for engineering wagons. This model comes in a bauxite livery with black patches applied to take the new lettering.
This crane, as preserved at the One:One collection in Margate was built for the LNER as number 941599, then rated at 45 tonnes. On entry to BR service the crane would be renumbered multiple times as could be common for departmental rolling stock, first to 330110, then ADRC95218.
Following a conversion from steam to diesel the crane would re-enter service as ADRC96719. Now rated at 50 tonnes, the crane is preserved and will be on display to the public when the museum opens.
The Hornby crane model includes the supporting trucks as well as a fully posable crane boom and hook, allowing the crane to be posed as if it were rescuing a stricken locomotive.
The Plasser 12 Ton General Purpose Diesel-Hydraulic Crane is the next model to be designed and developed from the rails up for Bachmann’s EFE Rail range. These self-propelled cranes were given the TOPS code ‘YOB’ following their introduction in the mid-1970s. Used countrywide primarily at track relaying work sites, the cranes would be transported to site within engineering trains, but being self-propelled they were able to move around site and even perform light shunting during engineering possessions. Their compact nature allowed the YOBs to be used whilst an adjacent line remained open to traffic, thanks to them having no tail swing when the crane was in operation.
The PIKO Track Cleaning wagon has been given a British outline finished as a VAB sliding-wall van in BR Railfreight brown livery.Fitted with NEM tension lock couplings, this vehicle can form part of a goods train, polishing dust from the rails as it is hauled around your layout.This model features a finely moulded body/applied livery, profiled wheels and is supplied complete with a fitted track cleaning pad.
In lines where a pantograph was not freely available to power electric trains, a power outage appears unexpectedly or even a hotel or other building required electricity; the Generator Coach was an emergency tool at hand.
The breakdown crane is as much a part of railway infrastructure as much as it is a wagon. Such cranes began to appear in 1875, growing in size and complexity.
Over 176 cranes have appeared around the UK since their introduction, with the most modern cranes able to lift entire locomotives off the ground. Being the national operator from 1948 BR inherited a patchwork of rolling stock from its constituent companies, as they had done twenty five years earlier, including all breakdown cranes in service.
BR employed some of the largest rail cranes, with the heaviest of the lot designed for the heaviest of tasks, such as the re-railing of locomotives, or tasks that may see a locomotive needing to be removed from the track all together
The ZBA 'Rudd' is a type of low sided open wagon rebuilt from an older HTV type of coal hopper. This rebuild was done on behalf of the BR Civil Engineering department, the department responsible for maintaining the trackwork of the UK.
The ZBA was the most extreme of these rebuilt wagons with an entirely new body fitted as opposed to having the original one cut down. The first of these rebuilds began appearing in 1984, with the wagons becoming the longest lasting type. ZBA wagons saw their withdrawal come thick and fast around 2008, with their use diminished by advancements in wagon design in the 30 years they were in service.
This ‘Sealion’ wagon model features box sections in the vertical ribs to reflect a later variation. The hook couplings enable easier coupling of other rolling stock and locomotives on your layout. Stanchions support the wagon in an MGR Hopper style. A handbrake wheel is also featured. This model comes in a BR Civil Engineering livery.