Ron Wallman
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French slate wagonMy first wagon casting experiment was a Festiniog railway two ton wooden slate wagon. These were an early type. Later wagons were three ton and had metal chassis and cages. The wooden ones had chassis that flexed, did not need straw to protect the slates, could be passed through the narrow cutting shed passages and did not require a gorilla like grip to load slates hence were favoured by workers. I based my version on a plan published in the Festiniog railway gravity train book. I cast everything I thought I could. The deck looks like wood but is aluminium alloy. I could not cast the deck in one piece and the giveaway is the wood grain being identical in both halves. I concealed springs to make the wagon ride well but casting proved to be difficult. When complete it seemed an awful amount of work for a tiny wagon that has the same sad air as those left out in all weathers. This wagon has straight spokes in the wheels and they are cross form section. The coupling can be rotated to present a hook similar to the originals or a clevis that I normally use. The first shot is in white undercoat as this shows details rather well. I forgot to refit the couplings in the second. As yet I do not plan to make any more of these wagons.
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James
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Lovely wagons Rond-how many do you have of them?
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Ron Wallman
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French slate wagonOnly one slate wagon was made. As implied they are difficult to cast due to problems with metal chilling. (The casting is cut off short and not complete.) Those little pillars are all cast making a total of thirty eight perfect castings total to make just one wagon. The end result is rather small and sad looking vehicle. I have all the patterns and if I get time next winter and we need to warm up the house a bit I might run off a set of castings for another.
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