BR Blue freight and coach options.

[cudders]

Hi chaps,

I'm thinking of a small project while the main layout is on the back burner.

BR Blue is my second fave so I think this will hit the spot. Looking to pitch around 1979-82ish and I think I'm ok with the engines but not too sure about passenger rakes and goods wagons.

Should I be using Railfreight wagons for everthing or were they still a bit mixed?

Also what were the correct make up's of passenger rakes? I assume I can use BR Mk1's and 2's?

Any info appreciated.

Cudders

[MacRat]

If you talk about a "small" project without a specific prototype, I guess it will be a single track line with short trains? If there would still be loco hauled trains around I'd go for MK1 coaches. Generic short rakes for up to 4 coaches could be
- a single BCK
- BCK - BSK pair with the brake compartments leading/trailing
- BCK - SK
- BSK - CK
- BSK - CK - SK - (SK)
- BG - BSK - TSO - TSO
Or use DMUs typical for your chosen region.

Waggons for goods trains would depend on the actual traffic that you want to model. I think, Railfreight was the BR brand. There could also be private owner wagons about like TTA tankers, Cargowaggon, Cement wagons if your model can justify these. I'm not sure if there were still unfitted or partially fitted trains about by this time. If they were you could model these. A bit care should be taken when setting up the train. Air braked, vacuum braked and unfitted wagons should be in the appropriate order and the loco should have the right braking equipment too.

Hope this helps

[edwin_m]

If you can suggest a location (or tell us what locos you have, which may fix the location) then you may get some more specific suggestions on what stock ran in that area. 

Unfitted freights lasted into the 80s so you can run these.  Only the air braked wagons ever got Railfreight livery and a lot of these were previously in bauxite livery, and many probably still would be as wagons aren't repainted very often. 

[cudders]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Apologies, Yorkshire is the area. So anything suitable would be fine.

Locos stock is actually nil at present but I'm off to Hattons on Friday so will hopefully pick something up. 

Cudders

[edwin_m]

Local passenger trains would mainly be DMUs but some hauled workings cropped up - I recall a journey from York to Leeds in a short Mk1 rake in autumn 1981 but I don't recall the actual formation, and I the Settle and Carlisle ran short Mk1 sets after the through services were cut.  A short rake would probably only have one brake coach, most likely one of the half-and-half types (BSO, BSK or BFK), unless it was one of those mainly parcels/postal trains that had a passenger coach or two tacked on. 

Plus of course there would be longer sets on the ECML, MML and cross country services, all of which would have been mainly aircon Mk2s around that time. 

As to wagons you'd see full trainloads of HAA coal wagons and any of the steel-carrying types that is available in Railfreight livery, along with the FAA flats on Freightliners.  The Speedlink services would often be shorter and therefore more modellable and could include just about any air-braked wagon that was around during the period. 

[Richey1977]

Generic short rakes for up to 4 coaches could be
- a single BCK
- BCK - BSK pair with the brake compartments leading/trailing
- BCK - SK
- BSK - CK
- BSK - CK - SK - (SK)
- BG - BSK - TSO - TSO

Hope this helps

This is helpful for me, too.

A daft question - what order are these coaches in?  I always assumed that a passenger rake would need its brake at the very end, but your post suggest that they were behind the loco.  Or have I read that incorrectly?

[EtchedPixels]

In BR blue days it was generally allowed for the brake to be anywhere in the formation providing all the vehicles were fitted (as by then would be the case). Historically the rules varied - at least one region allowed two fitted bogie coaches beyond the brake but no more.

There were also some quirky formations for certain routes. Some of the Moorgate formations had the guard in the middle of the train. At least one Scottish formation had a full brake in the middle of the train for ease of unloading all the mails/parcels it carried (passengers themselves being a sideline in parts of Scotland )

It was also possible to stick an extra brake in the middle of a train that would be split into two.

Two brakes is also not an unknown formation (less so perhaps by then), commonly a BCK and BSK (brake second and a brake composite).


Alan

[cudders]

Thanks for the replies chaps just what I needed. 

Cudders

[Calnefoxile]

Cudders,

Get hold of the March Hornby mag, they have one of their supplements which is all about 1970's formations and stock. Ok so it's mainly OO but the principles carry over.

Regards

Neal.

[cudders]

Thanks for the heads up Neal!

Cudders

[willike1958]

Hi, you may find the following article of interest for planning your rolling stock needs: http://www.mremag.com/news/article/br-chronology/12458.

The period you refer to corresponds roughly with my time as a driver's assistant at Holbeck MPD which surprisingly involved quite a lot of freight work. It is a long time ago, but from memory freight services consisted of:

- mainly traditional vacuum brake semi-fitted and unfitted wagonload trains made up of a wide variety of wagons including lots of 16T mineral wagons and steel bogie bolsters. Mixed in on some services were the occasional Railfreight airbraked wagons in original crimson livery - but the full Speedlink services and red/grey livery didn't start until after 1982.

- fully fitted block trains - both air and vacuum braked - mainly petrol, cement, aggregates and MGRs as well as block coal trains of 16T wagons, for example from Healey Mills to Kingsmoor (Carlisle).

- freightliners - with containers in a wide variety of liveries (but by this time I think the standard freightliner liveried box was pretty thin on the ground)

All trains that were not fully fitted with a continuous brake would of course have a brakevan in tow, but except for dangerous goods (e.g. certain chemicals) fully-fitted trains would run without a brakevan at the end.

Hope this is useful.

Kevin