0 Gauge ICI Chlorine Tank Wagon

Not such an unusual wagon as you might think. There are plenty of photos on the web and there is a vintage 00 gauge model by Hornby Dublo.

I came to model the ICI chlorine tank wagon because I have a drawing of it scaled at 1cm : 1 ft (see reference below).  A large drawing like this is best to realise all the details because it is a complex wagon to make, certainly the most difficult of the six wagons I have made to date.

The parts are designed and 3D printed by me with the addition of the Peco wheelset RO-7. About 60 plastic parts were designed and assembled plus other bits of wire, paper and 4 nails!

Sprung buffers operate like the prototype. For the model the buffer shank is a nail with plastic buffer disk glued to the end. The spring end nearest the headstock is glued to the shank a few mm away  from the headstock. It acts as a buffer movement limiter with the other end bearing against a chassis beam.

Decals are designed and printed on sticky back paper. There should be a second plate of information (safety information I think) positioned at the other end of the solebar but I don't know the words so will leave it off until I know. The yellow plate has two of the four lines of text unreadable in photos so I used lorem ipsum.

I have only seen black and white photos of this livery that show the small star. It looked lighter than black. I assumed other models that I have seen have got it right - yellow.

The white finish has been lightly weathered using black pastel scrapes. The white filler cap colour is also questionable as some models depict orange or yellow. The only colour photo I have seen of this livery suggests it was very dirty white.

The four tank straps are paper strengthened with a coating of Superglue after fitting. The RCH coupling hooks and instanter links are left over options from the Peco chassis kit that I used on other models. The axle box hangers are the plate variety, given as options in the Peco kit. I cut these into the correct W hangers.

I adopted the Peco method of sprung axles. The axleboxes slide in the W hanger and the leaf spring provides compression. However, my plastic (PLA) is not pliable like the Peco plastic so springiness is non existent, which is just as well because when I glued the tie bars in place the glue seeped into the axlebox - hanger join!

Extra weight is proved by a sheet of steel buried in the lower part of the tank.

When it comes to a model railway layout there should be a reason for freight arrivals. In this case chlorine was once used to bleach paper. This calls for a paper mill.


Wagon Design Reference:

Model Railways Magazine August 1990 - Tank Wagons Part2.

Model Cost:

Plastic: £1.33
Peco wheel set R07: £9.24 (discounted price including postage)
extras: pennies

Total: < £11
Not available from the trade but other tank wagons are available. Prices are about £66 (Dapol RTR) or £58 (Slaters kit).

Next up is a Conflat with container load.