Advice needed on - Ballast & Permanent Way Locos in Era’s 4, 5 & 6

[REGP]

With the arrival of Shark vans, I'm looking to assembly a train or two with my Mermaid, Grampus & Sturgeon wagons plus some Dogfish (when they eventually arrive).

But what sort of Loco would have hauled them during Era's 4, 5 & 6?

Not had any luck with Google thus far, so any advice or pointers to reference points would greatly appreciated.

Ray

[crewearpley40]

Thanks. Just so this helps are you modelling southern ? Midland ? In br days I've seen pics of Black 5s on pw duty

[REGP]

Vaugley based on joint GWR LMS line, like Shrewsbury / Hereford.

Ray

[Steven B]

Mixed traffic and freight locomotives

e.g.
Steam: 8F, Black Five, Ivatt class 2, 4MT Tank, Fairburn tank, Hall, Manor, BR std 4, BR Std 5.

Diesel: Type 2 & 3 - classes 24, 25, 31, 37.

You'd be unlikely to see anything as big as the likes of a Castle, King, Duchess or Britannia on an engineers train.

Depending on how prototypical you want to be then you might want to give some thought to the use of the different wagons.

Mermaids were generally used for carrying sand and ballast to a work side to make up the lower layers of the track bed - put down before the track was laid. They'd also be used to take away spoil from a work site.

Grampus has a similar use to Mermaids but would also be used as a general material carrier.

Dogfish were used to carry ballast the top layers on top of laid track. Ideally would run with a shark brake van.

Sturgeons were general carriers. They'd typically carry sleepers, rail and track panels but could also be loaded with spoil being taken away to be tipped.

In the period you model you'd need a brake van with each train.

Steven B.

[REGP]

Many thanks @Steven B quite a variety of Locos so that's good, I thought it might have been much more restricted.

I didn't realise about grampus wagons being used in a similar way to the mermaids, it certainly makes sense.

Ray

[crewearpley40]

Maybe a class 35 Hymek too

[Steven B]

Mermaids had the advantage of being side-tipping wagons (almost unique on BR). They'd take 3-4 workers around five minutes to empty - much faster than unloading a Grampus using shovels!

You could probably justify most engineers wagon combinations but a little thought to their use and purpose gives a more realistic model in my opinion.

For example, a Mermaid, Dogfish, Grampus and Sturgeon could potentially be found together on a train going to replace a washed out culvert but this would be much less common than more typical track re-laying.

Steven B.