These have been on the bench a long time. But now they’re on the layout:
Over the holiday break I was able to finish three kits from POW Sides for Great Western Railway “Small” cattle wagons (Diagram W3). These photo-etched brass kits were good starting points, but I made many upgrades.
Notably, I added compensation (working suspension) to them, using frets of parts from Walsall Model Industries. This required modifying the coupling hooks on the compensating end, as the kit-supplied hooks interfered with the mechanism. I also substituted brake gear from more Walsall etches for the kit-supplied parts, which appeared too heavy to my eye.
Other modifications included adding floors (the kits did not come with any), fabricating new roofs (the supplied roofs – simple brass sheets – were the wrong size), and adding cattle (sourced from Slaters) to a couple of the wagons. The doors supplied with the kit were resin castings and I didn’t like how they looked, so I scratch-built replacements from wood and styrene.
Wheels are from Slaters. I normally upgrade all my wagons with Slaters sprung buffers and coupling hooks, but these kits came with nice components so I kept them.
While running the three W3 kits through my paint booth, I also hauled out two previously-finished cattle wagons – built from kits by Slaters and Walsall – and added the white lime-wash to the lower sides:
I started these kits in early 2024, but had to wait for several months for all the aftermarket bits and bobs to arrive as one source was switching suppliers for components. That’s fine – I had other things to work on. But I’m glad I’ve finished these and have moved them out of the workshop and onto the layout. They can now transport livestock to and from Bydemill as necessary.
The Model Railway Show 