66045 - LMSR General Goods Open Waggon

A 5-plank general goods waggon, built in 1938 for the LMSR at Derby or Wolverton, was [2021] at Bristol Harbour Railway, parked in the sidings to the south-west of the M-Shed, alongside the Floating Harbour.
Is now on "long term loan" to the Talyllyn Railway & be cosmetically restored for display at Wharf Station by Stanegate Restorations, Haltwhistle. Has been awaiting collection since early May 2023 ...

Summary >>>>

Arrived at our works in mid - December 2021, and is being worked on during 2022/23.
The woodwork has been removed, the underframe jet washed to remove loose rust, some welded repairs carried out and the steelwork treated and painted with red oxide primer, before going black ...
Replacement timber has been obtained, and as soon as the weather improves further work can be carried out. Finally, movements with other projects has allowed us to bring 66045 in from the cold !
The timber floor and body-work have been dry-fitted and then removed for painting - and finally rebuilt. We did need a couple of new corner plates making ...
The last job will be to apply the sign-writing.

A Potted History >>>>

66045 was one of over 11,500 waggons built in the 1930s by the LMS to diagram D1892. These were mostly built at Derby and Wolverton, but some by private builders like Gloucester C&W. Almost 1,000 were built with vacuum fittings from new. The original running number would have been something in the range 404000 to 409779 or 409800 to 415299. The maker's plates & original identity were lost when sold by British Railways to the Port of Bristol Authority in 1966. The PBA renumbered all their waggons with a year prefix, so this was the 45th wagon they bought and renumbered that year, hence "66045".
It was originally built without automatic vacuum brake and that would have been added by BR in the 1950s, examination shows where the vac cylinder would have been mounted, and where the pipes ran, but PBA cut most of that equipment off. The tie bar between the W irons also dates from that period. The buffers would have been changed by PBA too, resulting in the chunky [ex-GWR ?] ones currently fitted. It may have had curb rails when built rather than the endgrain of the floor planks showing, but photos suggest it was just too late-built for that. It was probably PBA that added the strips of metal to retain the floor planks where the curb rail would have been, perhaps also to keep the cargo in if the bottom planks were getting a bit "moth-eaten".

For liveries, this would be partially governed by the build date, but without plates it is impossible to be exactly sure, other than between 1934 to 1939. Maybe there is some other date stamped on it. Wagons built up to 1936 were mid-grey with large LMS letters, then in 1936 changed to bauxite red/brown with smaller letters bottom left (LMS didn't use grey/bauxite to distinguish unfitted/fitted, unlike BR) and note that the solebars and headstocks were painted body colour, unlike many all wood coal waggons where the wood was grey and metalwork painted black. In BR days - from 1948 - onwards these waggons would have been painted in bauxite, with black solebars and headstocks. [see colour picture of one in rather tired livery]. Post nationalisation, waggon numbers were prefixed with a regional identifier, "M" referred to "Midland" .

see www.ipernity.com/doc/312383/album/1341132 for images ref alternative liveries.

A 5-plank general goods waggon, built in 1938 for the LMSR at Derby or Wolverton, was [2021] at Bristol Harbour Railway, parked in the sidings to the south-west of the M-Shed, alongside the Floating Harbour.
Is now on "long term loan" to the Talyllyn Railway & be cosmetically restored for display at Wharf Station by Stanegate Restorations, Haltwhistle. Has been awaiting collection since early May …  (read more)

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