Fleischmann VTG Ferrywagon - conundrum

[woodbury22uk]

I have not put this in the Continental section because it might not belong just there.

Amongst the Fleischmann new items for this winter is a sliding wall van in the livery of VTG Ferrywagon as used in the 1980s-90s in the UK. Roco 02367 was made back then accurately depicting the first generation of sliding wall bogie wagons operated to and from the UK. But the livery was also applied to the Type 2 and Type 3 UK gauge wagons which were much longer than the Type 1. Some of these carried the Ferrywagon branding

Fleischmann 838318 on page 14 of the link shows a photomontage. The wagon is completely different from the accurate Type 1 wagon which Fleischmann inherited when they took over the Roco range.

Strangely the wagon is listed as in AAE ownership in epoch IV-V (nominally 1968-1994 and up to 2006) and the AAE fleet did not (re)join VTG until 2015, when the original livery had been long superseded and the wagons had passed through Tiphook, and GE Railcar Services ownership. So is this a genuine livery, and is it a wagon type which has run in the UK? As a 1/160 scale wagon it might just pass on a 1/148 scale UK layout. I think that the wagon is probably fictitious with far fewer bodyside ribs than the UK wagons, and end bracing more reminiscent of the Cargowaggon Holdalls. The overall length is a plausible 21.46m if translated to 1/148. (23.2m in 1/160)

https://www.fleischmann.de/uploads/service/downloads/Kataloge/20201013_FLM_DE_EN_Winterneuheiten_Katalog.pdf

[jpendle]

I think I've got the Roco original somewhere, I'll have a look.

Regards,

John P

[swisstrains]

Hi Mike. I don't know too much about the real thing so I probably can't be much help but it would appear from the photomontage that Fleischmann intend using the same bodyshell that they used for some of their releases last year.
I have the Fleischmann SBB Cargo Habbiillns and it is a reasonable representation of the real thing with pretty accurate measurements.

https://www.sbbcargo.com/content/dam/internet/cargo/all/angebot/wagen-waren/de/wak_habbiillnss_d.pdf.sbbdownload.pdf

From what I remember of my old Roco Ferrywagons the bodyside ribbing was noticeably different.

[ntpntpntp]

Yeah, quite a bit different to the old Roco model. 

Looks good though, I'd have one or two if only the price of new Continental wagons weren't so crazy nowadays.

[njee20]

It looks like the IWA (I think the TOPS is), but the VTG Ferrywagons over here had different ends - with the central ribs tapered:



The ends are more reminiscent of the newer IWA, the ones converted to timber carriers which Revolution are doing, but the upper bodyside isn't curved enough.

I don't know my European prototypes too well, but I'd say it could be a hybrid of a few prototypes.

[woodbury22uk]

Thanks for the input. I think I'll be having one or two.

Just covering Julian's point about wagon prices, Arnold's new batch of bogie grain wagons are coming out at 25euros each, so more Dapol than Farish based on a UK comparison. They are a design clever wagon so excellent for operation without bits falling off. :-)

[GScaleBruce]

Couple of photos of the original Roco wagon, which would appear to be very different to the new issue Fleischmann one:





NBahn Magazin had a long and very thorough article on the Habis and similar bogie covered wagons in issue 2/2020, of which I've only kept the page covering the Roco wagon, which it reckoned was a very good scale model for its time.