Furness Wagon Company

I understand from Marc at the Furness Wagon Company that the following LDEC wagon kits are (or shortly will be) available:

15ft 5 plank open
16ft 5 plank open
16ft box van
16ft 3 plank drop-side (Labelled Taff Vale Rly) 
16ft 10ton Brake van



This is practically a whole goods train all in one swoop! I hope I need not tell anyone reading this that these wagons all became GC property in 1907. Although, obviously, they would have taken a while to repaint and some would still have been in LDEC livery for a while.

Furness Wagon Company are on the web and also often attend Exhibitions, especially GOG ones. Their kits vary in complexity, as is explained on the site.

As an aside, I should mention that there is some debate about the LDEC wagon livery. Dow says chocolate, but there are other sources that say grey. So take your pick, unless anyone has definite information. "Chocolate" in early 20th Century terms does not necessarily mean what we generally mean by "chocolate". It could be "lake" as per LNWR coaches, which look brownish or reddish according to light - and perhaps the viewer's colour perception.

So perhaps GCR grey is safest after all. 

By the way, good luck finding photos of these prototypes. They are rare at best, and for some, like the brake van, make hen's teeth look relatively commonplace.

The Furness Railway Wagon Co

The Furness Railway Wagon Co now has a website.

There are (last time I looked) three kits suitable for the GCR, all ex LDEC vehicles.

LDEC/GCR 5 plank wagon kits.

I understand from Marc at the Furness Railway Wagon Company that a new batch of the LDEC/GCR/E&WYUR 5 plank opens is now available. So if you want one, order it before they all get sold. This is the 16ft version, GCR diagram 131, which the LDEC numbered 601-680 and the GCR 31903-31982.

I suppose it would also be fun to finish it as an East and West Yorkshire Union Railway wagon, as kits for this little railway with its grandiose name are unprecedented! However given that I am now modelling the circa 1914 era instead of post WW1 I am actually trying to reduce the proportion of foreign wagons. A pity in some ways, as all those different initials are such fun, but it's the Great Central that interests me most.

Marc tells me that the 15 ft version will also be released at the Kettering Show! Now there are actually two diagrams that fit this, diag 130 and 136, and apart from being different batches from different makers, they look virtually identical as diagrams. There may be subtle differences in the general arrangement drawings that should be available from the NRM, LDEC drawing references 32DR for the diag 136 and 38DR for diag 130. I'm not aware of any photos of these wagons - and very few of LDEC wagons in general.

Numbers? diag 130 LDEC 681-780, GC 31983-32082 (Charles Roberts.)
LDEC 781-880, GC 32083-32182 (Midland Wagon.)
Diag 136 LDEC 881-900, GC 32183-32202 (Brown, Marshalls) Goods Traffic.
LDEC 901-930, GC 32203-32232 (Brown, Marshalls) Coal Traffic

Furness Railway Wagon Co are at 10 Duke Street, Dalton-in Furness, Cumbria LA15 8HH

Transfers for LDEC and GC are available from Dragon Models.