Commission: Hudson skip in OO…

Not every commission that crosses my bench is a locomotive. I have really enjoyed assembling and finishing this RT Models etched nickel silver kit of a standard gauge Hudson tipper wagon in OO…

Many people associate V tipping skip wagons win narrow gauge but a surprising number were built much larger and used by collieries and large construction projects. I quote, from the excellent RT instructions:

“Robert Hudson at Gildersome Works near Morley, Leeds patented the unique rolling centre pivot three point tipping mechanism for light railway tipping cars in 1875. This design allowed the triangular shaped skip to be stable in normal position but to allow a man to single-handedly tip the contents out, and for the body to remain stable in a fully tipped right or left hand position. Initially production concentrated on skips for light narrow gauge and this is what most people associate with Hudsons, the type could be found in quarries and mines everywhere. It used steel pressings in the main combining a high degree of ruggedness with a light weight. In about 1937 the trade name ‘Rugga’ was applied to these small skips to an improved design. 

Similarly during the 20th Century larger versions became popular, especially with collieries, and numerous standard gauge vehicles of 300 cu. ft. capacity were sold to mines and the National Coal Board for disposing of mine stone, and were still doing so until the early 1980s. They were also to be found used by contractors for spoil clearance and land reclamation, in chalk quarries, and for the disposal of sewage sludge. Even as recently as the 1974 they were being used for land reclamation and rubbish disposal in Essex on Aveley Marshes on the banks of the Thames, where now nearly 40 years later sleek Eurostars thunder past”.

I started with the body, gently pressing the rivets through with a blunted compass point before folding and soldering the various parts. The instructions have exploded views of comstruction, to the point where you could probably ignore reading the instructions. 

The chassis is assembled in a similar fashion. It’s inside framed construction means it is worth cutting and filing the pin-points from the supplied Alan Gibson wheelset. I used the RT supplied buffers and coupling hook, the latter mated with Smiths coupling chain.

Construction was completed entirely in solder, both 188 and 145 as things progressed, for strength and speed of progress.

The kit reminds me of how much fun assembling something that has been carefully considered and crafted can be - and provided fresh impetus for the release of my new OO and OOn3 / 00-12 kits this year. In the meantime if you’d like me to bring a flat kit to life for you then get in touch to discuss your requirements. Until next time, more soon…

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