Commission: More HOP ABs in O...
I won’t labour the point this time as it’s the third batch of these I have done now - but in brief, these four wagons have been converted and weathered from Dapol O gauge MGR hoppers…
The work involves removing the tops panel, weathering (adding washes), then adding new data panels (I designed and had made) and finally dusting with the airbrush. A coal load is added as well, to finish off these models that have real presence.
This makes 12 (of a total of 16) wagons and they’re already apparently an impressive rake! I can’t imagine the size of layout required to run such a train, as they dwarf most things on my workbench individually let alone end to end! If you’d like help with a similar commission do get in touch for a personal proposal. Until next time more soon…
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Morning James. It's great to see pre-TOPS hoppers, I can't remember ever seeing them on a layout. O gauge is certainly hefty, less so the 1950's era that I'm currently tinkering with. I will get back to N gauge for my next project. Lovely weathering on the wagons. Take care.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tom, these are ‘layout wagons’ and that is reflected in the finish, to some extent, but the work involved is similar anyway. I don’t think I could work in the scale for my own work, it’s just too expensive and large for the sort of things I’m drawn to these days!
DeleteA while back, I bought 10 of the Peco MGR hoppers at an attractive price from a local model shop which has since closed down. They were intended for my stalled/sidelined/abortive (don't know!) N project and I also bought Fox transfers to change numbers and put modern data panels on the ones that had "HOP AB" lettering. Not sure whether I'll get around to doing anything with them, time will tell! The MGR hopper is an exotic vehicle for me, on the occasions I managed to escape from the Southern Region I'd often see rakes of them, although there was some MGR traffic on the SR it wasn't anywhere I normally went. 16 of them in 0 would be well worth seeing!
ReplyDeleteThanks Simon. I never saw these in the flesh, despite them being fairly common up here… yes 16 will be quite some train. The original plan was 20!
DeleteI did a bit of reading up on them, James...it seems that while power station trains could exceed 30 vehicles, some workings had less, perhaps due to siding lengths etc. I seem to remember seeing them at places like Didcot on odd trips up there. Although there were collieries in Kent, I don't know whether any were set up for MGR trains. Certainly, the Hastings Gauge Class 33/2s had the slow running equipment for them.
DeleteIt’s interesting because if you look about I can’t find photos of 33s on MGR at all, so why were some fitted with slow speed control? Was it for a gravel aggregate service instead?
DeleteThe only time I saw MGR trains was in Scotland about 15 years ago. I stayed on a few extra days after my brother's wedding in Sterling. A train of HAA's passed over the Forth Bridge and I took a couple of photos ( long since lost!). My brother's new new wife asked if I had taken any pictures at the wedding which I'd forgotten to do. She wasn't particularly interested in the pictures of an EWS 66 and some coal hoppers... I've not been to Scotland or seen HAA's since...
ReplyDeleteGreat story Tom!
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