Diagram 7 open wagon

Tucked away in the Gauge O Guild Gazette is a mention that Quainton Road Models are planning a 7mm scale kit for a diagram 7 wagon. Built from 1911 these were the most numerous Great Central wagon of all, more than 6,000 in number. So if you have a GC layout you will need at least one. If you have a large GC layout, you really need about ten! Moreover, after 1917 when these became common user, they would be a fairly common sight everywhere. From Kyle of Lochalsh to St.Ives and from Red Wharf Bay to Dereham. So anyone modelling a British railway up to roughly 1939 could do with one too.

QRM are now only doing limited editions, so if you want one of these you need to reserve one. It's no use waiting until they are ready, because if you do, they won't be, as far as you are concerned. So order one (or more) ASAP.

This is a venture which needs supporting, because if anything in the way of a GC product is to be popular, this should be it.

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.

Diagram 17 van, Connoisseur kit.

Great Central Diagram 17 Covered Goods from the Connoisseur kit. This kit is etched brass and not that difficult to build - the worst part is probably filing two chunks out of the roof to accommodate the shape of the doors. The etchings and castings are very good indeed, and I find myself hoping that some day Jim at Connoisseur will decide that some of the castings (at least) would work very well with another GC kit. A diagram 7 open would be nice.

The models still needs a few touches, most notably weathering. Even in pre-grouping days, no one cleaned goods wagons - certainly not externally.

A recommended kit, suitable for GC, LNER or early BR periods. And indeed for the CLC, though I think the brakes might need some changes.