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AUSCISION WSC SLEEPER WAGONS

Discussion in 'All other RTR' started by class48nswfan, Aug 15, 2018.

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  1. Aug 15, 2018 #1
    class48nswfan

    class48nswfan Full Member

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    I have recently acquired a couple of these. The sleeper load is very regular and a terracotta/tan colour which didn't really seem correct. I should note I am colour blind so if one of you writes to me and says they are bright green I really haven't got a clue. Given they were so regular I assumed they were concrete and having some spare concrete paint around the place I have repainted them and they look a bit more realistic. Hmmm - the problem is the few pictures on the web only show then with wooden loads and I'm not sure concrete sleepers are exact rectangles (certainly the ones in the UK are not) so I'm wondering if I need to re-paint the loads again into a wooden colour.

    Hoping someone out there has got some ideas and information.

    Cheers

    Dave
     
  2. Aug 15, 2018 #2
    paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    Found these images

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Paul
     
  3. Aug 15, 2018 #3
    York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    Hi class48nswfan

    Not sure if this will help you but I just had a look at a photo of one of these wagons https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/AUSCISI...YELLOW-SLEEPER-LOAD-4PACK-NMW-3-/323379431709

    Now here in the UK new timber sleepers are quite a rare thing to see but such new sleepers were always impregnanted with creosote preservative in large vacuum tanks, the result was a timber which if anything took on a deep sludge brown colour... Railmatch sleeper grime colour is very realistic. I can also say that the Australian Jarrah timber was quite unsuitable for the British climate because the wood very often rotted out from the centre outwards, however the Jarrah timbers I saw when drilled had an orange / tan colour. So maybe the orange colour of your wagon load might be better with a light over brushing in a dirt tone. I would also say the model load is probably not concrete sleepers as this type of sleeper would not be loaded like that, concrete sleepers were loaded and unloaded in fives using a spreader beam cradle width ways across the wagon bed. Hope this helps.
    cheers for now York Paul
     
  4. Aug 16, 2018 #4
    Dr Tony

    Dr Tony Full Member

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    It's very hard to make plastic make a decent impression of wood, however looking at the Auscision website they seem to have made a real hash of it, they just look like plastic blobs. The best thing to say is that the colour of freshly cut hardwood sleepers would be about the average colour of the plastic, but having said that, it is an average colour, and wood of course is a sum of many parts. Not sure, but while those wagons were around and coded with 3 letters there would not have been too many concrete sleepers around yet. However, from my hazy memory they may have been straighter than the modern ones in the pic that Paul has found. They would have been most likely been pre-fitted with fishplates though, so they wouldn't have stacked so tightly like the model ones.
    My suggestion would be to make new sleepers in real wood and weather accordingly if you want the look of the wood. Be careful, not sure about these wagons, but sometimes people hollow out the middle of these sleeper "castings" to put more weight if the wagons are not heavy enough, but I suspect that these wagons should be heavy enough on their own as is.
    Not sure how successful it would be to make the plastic sleepers look like wood, but you might get something that could pass the three foot rule.
    Not sure how much Jarrah would have been used in NSW though, it is mainly a WA thing, but I might be wrong. Pretty sure the local timber, like ironbark would have been the most common.
    But whatever you do, remember rule 1 as to what is being carried at what time:thumbs:
    Cheers
    Tony
     
  5. Aug 16, 2018 #5
    class48nswfan

    class48nswfan Full Member

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    Thanks for the replies chaps - I think a further re-paint to a grimy wooden colour is probably required. I am not sure if the loads are removable - if so I'll take them off and replace with some real wooden ones. I'm afraid true adherence to wagon codes (and loco liveries) and historical railway realism is a bit lacking at Wallace Creek as, whereas I generally aim for the 70s and 80s, I own some locos I saw when I worked over there that are definitely outside that era.
    Cheers

    Dave
     
  6. Aug 26, 2018 #6
    class48nswfan

    class48nswfan Full Member

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    After several goes I have now managed to get the sleepers to look a bit better than they were (or less worse if you prefer) and may over the winter see if I can manufacture some individual ones instead. The loads are removable but BEWARE be very careful as the pivoting dividers in the wagons are very very fragile as I fond out to my cost. I have weathered the two wagons to try and make them look a bit more realistic and whilst they are not up to the excellent standards elsewhere on this site - its better than having flawless dayglo yellow stock in a pristine engineers train.
     
  7. Aug 26, 2018 #7
    Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    The wagon/s you have purchased are for transporting wooden sleepers, whereas the pic by Trevor Moore is of a NDHF wagon, used for transporting concrete sleepers, possibly from the Rocla plant in Mittagong. nIce wagons I must say. If you are after the NDHF wagon, Southern Models manufactures them.

    See here : https://www.southernrailmodels.com.au/products/nsw-ndhf-concrete-sleeper-wagon/

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  8. Aug 27, 2018 #8
    class48nswfan

    class48nswfan Full Member

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    Thanks Gary - unfortunately they have all sold out according to the website. The WSCs look more the part now and probably fit my 70s-90s era (which is a bit flexible) reasonably well. Mind you the NDHF were introduced in 1984 so I wouldn't rule out a future purchase (if some are available) in line with an upgraded infrastructure scenario.
    Cheers
    Dave
     

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