CRA06 – FR 8’6″ wb. No 2 axlebox and 9 leaf springs 4mm one wagon

Description

Furness Railway N^o 3 axlebox + 9 leaf spring + buffer guides. 4mm scale (for one wagon)

Diagram 15 wagon 607

History

These FR N^o 3 grease axleboxes were fitted to many 19^th century Furness Railway wagons, underneath 9 leaf springs.

They are likely to date back to the 1860s and were fitted to new wagons until 1902, after which oil axleboxes were used. Wagons built before about 1890 were fitted with a single wheel brake (see separate parts available from the CRA).

A few wagons fitted with N^o 3 axleboxes were rebuilt with FR N^o 9 oil axleboxes after about 1910, usually with the fitting of 5 leaf springs and more modern brakes at the same time, but many continued to use these grease axleboxes until after the Grouping in 1923.

It is not certain what differentiated the FR N^o 2 and N^o 3 grease axleboxes, but it is notable that the only surviving photos of N^o  3 boxes are on wagons of types which were only rated to 6 or 8 tons capacity, while the N^o 2 appears on photos of wagons rated to 10 tons.

Using the wagon diagram book numbers prepared by the FR for the incoming LMS in 1923, wagons built with grease axleboxes rated to 6 – 8 tons that were probably built with these axleboxes were open wagons of Diagrams 15, 16, 17, of which around 1500 survived until 1923. Diagram 15 was the  most numerous wagon type on the FR.

Copies of these Diagrams are available for download from the CRA website.

You are advised to check a prototype photo if you wish to ensure you use the correct combination of axleboxes, springs, brakes and number.

NB: the book about FR rolling stock by RW Rush uses a different diagram numbering system based on drawings produced over a decade after Grouping in the 1930s.

Using these parts

These 3D prints have been produced for the CRA by Rumney Models using high quality resin. They have been removed from their support structure but may benefit from further filing.

The axleboxes are designed for model wagons fitted with etched W irons including those with sprung bearings, as they have a slot to allow the bearing to move. They can also be fitted to W irons giving a rigid or compensated chassis.

It is recommended to glue the combined axlebox and spring to the underside of the solebar and to the outside face of the W iron, using a sparing amount of epoxy resin (such as Araldite) or a thicker cyanoacrylate “superglue”.

If your prototype requires a different combination of spring and axlebox, these parts can be separated by careful cutting using a very fine piercing saw blade.

Painting

On leaving the workshop after overhaul, FR axleboxes and springs were painted black, but they were never cleaned in service, so would have become dirty with spilled grease, oil and rust, dust from the wagon’s loads and smuts from the locomotives.