Project 16 - Horse Box

I mentioned previously that Crewkerne Station was noted as a dispatch centre for calves. These were transported in BR Horse Boxes. I needed a rake of these for the new layout. I already had an old Lima Horse Box in Southern Green with 1930s lettering and had the idea to re livery it in BR maroon. What I needed was a reference model to copy.

I have seen photos of different style boxes in use at at Crewkerne, which I assumed to be of LMS (bow side) and GWR (straight side) origin. (The Lima model is based on a GWR design).

On a whim I bought Hornby R6728, a BR Midland box M42367M and latter discovered Hornby once marketed a GWR style box. I found some discontinued stock on eBay and bought  R6561 W643W with the legend 'Calf Box' on the side - very fitting.

On comparing the Lima and Hornby GWR style models I found the bodies of both very similar in levels of detail. Lima has a nice touch of a partially open window but the Hornby chassis has greater detail. One glaring fault on the Lima is the roof vents. There are too many and they are too pointy. It was a simple job to cut off the extra vents and file down the others to match the Hornby box. The Lima model was then given a respray  with Humbrol enamels and HMRS Pressfix decals applied using the Hornby model as a reference.

Next I had to find a correct BR Western number. My research lead me to a document on the web that identified W643W as having been seen at Crewkerne in 1963! I had no idea about this when I bought the Hornby box so was well pleased. The same document identified W676W in use as a calf box in August 1962 so, this was the number chosen for the Lima box.

The refurbished Lima box and the Hornby version sit very well together. If I wanted more I would convert the Limas since second hand Limas are about a quarter the price of a new Hornby.

Left to Right: W676W (Lima conversion), W643W (Hornby), M42367M (Hornby)

To Part 33.
To Part 1.