... and one of the longest-running gags in British comedy is that of the Sabden treacle mines. It was already overdue for its pension when the railways were grouped in 1923!

A while back I purchased a mixed lot of very old N gauge models, most of them dating from the 1960s, and it included this rather nice scratch-built Sadben wagon with a card body running on a scratch-built brass chassis and hand-lettered livery. Getting it back into service was an absolute must. So I switched out the hand-turned brass wheels for a set of Peco spoked wagon wheels, gave it a pair of "Elsie" coupler pockets from a Peco 9' wagon chassis kit, and fitted a Peco barrel load for all that lovely treacle ... and there you have it!

It always gives me great pleasure to be able to give historic models from the early days of N a new lease of life ... and my best estimate for this one is that it was built in about 1965, before I was even born.

Was your wagon definitely intended as N scale? There used to be a 009 layout (so same guage but different scale) model of the works' extensive internal narrow gauge system. That does look very similar to some of their stock...

Quote from: PLD on August 26, 2022, 06:18:52 PM
Was your wagon definitely intended as N scale? There used to be a 009 layout (so same guage but different scale) model of the works' extensive internal narrow gauge system. That does look very similar to some of their stock...

Now that's an interesting thought, PLD ... but I'm pretty sure it's intended for N gauge. It certainly fits happily alongside my other N gauge stock.

Moreover, I date it to about 1965 because of the home-turned wheels rather than use of commercial wheelsets ... but by then I think the standard OO9 couplers were already well established, and there was no sign of its ever having been fitted with them.