Just an observation this !
Why do manufacturers produce so many RTR Private Owner Waggons and in such bright liveries?
My local model shop is full of them. I model a Cornish branchline (1959/60) and private owner waggons are not really applicable to that era.
Many of the locomotives for sale are from the 1970s onwards with few (steam) from earlier than the mid 50s when Private Owner Waggons started to disappear from our railways.
So if so many people buy modern era locos who buys all these Private Owner Waggons ?
In many model shops there are more private owner waggons for sale than plain BR ones. Seems odd to me !
Just a thought !!

Thats an interesting observation and one I never really thought about, maybe the shops have so many in stock is because few people are buying them, here in Oz most N Gauge modellers are modeling the steam era and for some reason we don't see many private owner wagons for sale or for that matter at exhibitions.

I have vast amounts of private owner wagons. A mixed branch freight train is the bit that presses my buttons, far better than a block train with lots of the same wagons all the same colour. If it was not for the bright and diverse variety of wagons I wonder if I would  be railway modelling.

Elmo

Fair comment. I was just interested as to why there are so many available.
Horses for courses I guess.

Quote from: port perran on June 09, 2011, 09:07:52 PM
Fair comment. I was just interested as to why there are so many available.
Horses for courses I guess.

Also, there are many individuals who also collect PO wagons which helps fuel some demand.

I guess also their colours and vibrance can also appeal to younger modellers.

It's also worth noting that they can be the basis for some extreme weathering - there was a rather good article in Railway Modeller mag a few years back that showed taking such a model (OO gauge, but principle could be used for N) and weathering it to represent a PO wagon near the end of it's life in 1950s/early 60s with almost all the lettering barely visible and replacement planks painted in.

Cheers,
Alan

Just noticed that I somehow managed to delete an additional paragraph prior to publishing my previous post - so trying again -
Wagons had to be built to set standards e.g. RCH, so the same wagon design did appear in many different liveries. If manufactureres painted wagons in just BR colours individual modellers may buy a couple of wagons of the same livery. The same can be said for the big 4. I only need a couple (or in some cases just one) of the same wagon in GWR livery. By using private liveries manufacturers can keep re-releasing the same wagon time and time again so they get more money for little exta input and modellers get longer trains with added variety.

Typing this has reminded me of a funny moment on the South Devon Railway. I had alighted at Staverton to have a look around the station and got talking to a bloke doing maintenance work on a 'Teign Valley Granite' open wagon. He told me that when he was painting it someone came up and told him that he had done it wrong. The wagon running number was in the wrong place. "How do you know that" he asked. The visitor then prodced a Hornby catalouge as conclusive proof that the real wagon was wrong!!!!!!!!! He swore that was a true story.

Elmo

Also applies to modern image
There was a great shift to attracting private companies to move their goods by rail
The trade off was that these private companies wanted to ensure their wagons were used on their services and not in general use, hence these liveries
The freight train operators were then obliged to ensure these wagons were in general cleaner (where possible and/or practical) mainly due to the higher maintenance regime that was included

With regards to model railway manufacturers this has then made their inclusion easier
The wagon template is in place and then the private companies liveries can then be applied
As an example is the PCA wagon
Blue Circle were the largest operator, but some wagons were also used by other operators hence these were plain grey
A small number had Blue Circle branding, these would then be used on their services
Others can then be offered in liveries of Rugby Cement, Tiger, Ketton Cement, Albright & Wilson, ICI, etc

Then compare to a wagon which has limited use, and hence is a risk to the model railway manufacturer
Such as the EWS livery HTA wagon
This can pretty much only be used by a smaller number of prospective customers

my layout is based on the Somerset & Dorset line....

the only things which really date the layout are the vehicles and the clothes worn by the people....

so I like to run a train of locally based private owner wagons pulled by an LMS 3f (Union Mills).....

then..

a few mins later...

aDapol 9f pulling a mixed passenger!!!!

whatever turns you on!!!