So I thought I’d try something different...

About 4 years ago, I picked up one of my little Hornby PGA wagons. I’d done some scratch building on one to convert it. My aim, to change it to look like the PAA sand hoppers by British Industrial Sand, later WBB Minerals.

I looked at it and thought, can’t be that hard? I’d just read an article about an app for the iPad that allowed you to 3D draw items for printing. I’d played with draw packages before, but never anything 3dimensional, so this was a whole new ball game.
I didn’t have much luck on the iPad, but as it used a cloud system to save items, I decided to look at it on the laptop - a much more user friendly and easier to use format for a change, loaded my design and started correcting my dimension issues that couldn’t be adjusted as accurately on the iPad.

So the idea was to draw a new “lid”for the PGA, as the PAA were enclosed sand hoppers by WH Davies of a standard design. It was shaped and tweaked, tweaked some more. I found a work colleague who had access to a printer at a school and he ran me a test print. Oh dear, it was nothing like, tooo thin and weak. So back to the drawing board.

A few tweaks more, extend this side, flatten that. Draw up some arms and then the doors, adjust to fit.... it was all a learning process.

Now here was where I’d tried to be too clever. My original model was to be working, ie the doors could open and close. Pins in the pivot points of the arms and piston rods were to allow the hood tops to slide sideways open. But it was critical that I’d drilled my holes in the top of the wagon correct, got it all central etc.

I awaited the parts from an independent printer near London. The chap was very helpful, giving me advice and sending photos as each part came off his printer.



It was then cut off and assemble time.



It was ok, but with the extra support material that was required it made it expensive to make a quantity. Time for a rethink.

If it was one piece it would be cheaper. What would I gain from it being working? Not much... so I looked around and came across shapeways. They offered a number of materials it could be made in and even colours. So instead of umpteen separate parts I decided to save the final STL file as one. This brought the price down and as it was a powder plastic rather than resin or extruded it didn’t need the expensive support material.




We’re now on version six, and soon I’ll be starting a new 2019 version.. why? Well back in April this year I was honoured to help a North Staffordshire Railway director going to two separate locations with a view to preserving one for display on the Churnet Valley Railway. After a visit to Booths where most were already cut up stood the final rake of 6 wagons to arrive by rail (the remainder being cripples still at Roberts Road, Doncaster). As it was the farthest from the scrap line, had good wheels etc, we chose WBB30025 for saving.

We were unable to publish photos from here, but I did manage to get a photo of one with my model at Roberts Road.

So now we have one stabled at Cheddleton. This gives me access as a volunteer here to measure and photograph to my hearts content, making a scale model rather than a guesstimate model that I currently have. That said. I’m very happy with it.

 

Thanks, it’s progressing. To ensure all is more accurate, I’ve actually drawn the whole of the Hornby wagon from the chassis upwards.
The nice thing with this technology is you simply scale up or down (and adjust material thicknesses where required) as I had wondered about an O gauge model as I came across a chap on another forum who had a brilliant 7mm model but wasn’t prepared to share anything, which I quite understood. It would have been nice to have one on my shelf of the one we preserved.

So we shall see what comes. All subject to a price.

 

From what we can find out (which has been limited to say the least!) we think 1983- first appeared on the CVR line from Oakamoor around 1986 to its railway closure in 1988, they have then continued to work from Middleton Towers to Worksop for the Co-op (milk bottles?) and Doncaster to Rockware glass. They passed to Sibelco/GB Railfreight ownership and were retired earlier in 2018.

Our preserved example is BIS7954 /WBB30025 which was built at Shirebrook originally as a single door wagon (on the top) but this was later standardised across the fleet to two doors.