0 Gauge Southern 25T Brake Van

I thought I saw an 0 gauge brake van chassis kit at Peco but, it was for N gauge. So, I needed to design and make a chassis as well as the body and it all turned out to be the most complex and time consuming of the three wagons built to date. This experience changed my attitude somewhat about the high price of proprietary 0 gauge kit and RTR products. For those who gain pleasure from scratch building and don't care about the time factor then that is fine but if you want to get trains up and running on a layout in short time or prefer the operational side of the hobby then dig deep into your pockets and buy the kits or RTR products.

I have a magazine article about the prototype brake van with basic drawing, notes and photos (see reference at end of posting) but virtually no details of the brake mechanics beneath the chassis. I resorted to the Bachmann 00 gauge model for this detail, which I also have (and hope Bachmann got it right),  although I left some parts off that are not readily seen.

I wanted to adopt the simple yet effective Peco method for sprung buffers but the Southern 25T brake van chassis is very narrow with no room behind the buffers  for any bulk. So, I adapted the method I used on the hut carrier wagon.

Referring to the photo of the buffer parts, the limiter (panel pin) passes through the headstock, buffer and spring and is glued into a hole in the end of the buffer shank (cut from a big round nail). This limits the outward travel of the buffer shank and occupies very little space behind the headstock. The phosphor bronze spring proved ineffective. I think because it is short, compared to its use in the hut carrier wagon arrangement where it works fine. I replaced it with a spring made up from a broken E guitar string, which is springier and performs very well in this arrangement. The plastic parts are 3D printed, as is the entire wagon kit, apart from wheels, 3-link couplings and grab handles.

I wanted a weathered appearance so, painted the chassis using the same method as for the other wagons. For the body I made up a mix of paints that I had to hand to give a faded bauxite finish, with reference to prototype photographs.

The two black lamps in the photo indicate a train with unfitted (non vacuum brake) wagons running on a single line.

I am pleased with the finish on the roof. The weathered look happened almost by chance. It was first painted with Halfords grey primer (off wagon) and then the roof ends over sprayed with the bauxite mix. In doing this some of the bauxite droplets ended up on the roof and torpedo vents giving an impression of rust. I decided to leave this as is and weather the grey roof using black pastel scrapes, which darkened the grey in a blotchy way and covered the spots there. I left the vents as is with their rusty look.

With the brake van I now have my first authentic goods train formation.

Cost 

Plastic: £1.33
Peco wheel set: £8.03 (discounted RRP incl, postage)
Extras: Pennies

Total: Less than £10.

This brake van is also available as a proprietary kit (Parkside: about £43) and RTR model (Dapol: about £68)

References:
Railway Modeller January 1971: Wagons of the Southern 4 - Standard Goods Brake Van.

Next up is a Southern 12T box van.