MOD Railways rolling stock where is it all now

Hi All,

I know this is a very minor interest, but a number of our 2ft gauge Heritage lines have a number of ex MOD items of rolling stock ie four wheel vans etc and it occured to me I wonder just how many there are that have been saved? and how many there may be which are not yet based on one of these railways or may be still for sale at a dealers yard, I don't even know how many there where in the first place so any information would be helpfully.

Thanks in advance

Colin Rainsbury

 

I think most of what was still in MOD hands was disposed of by a surplus disposal company called Ramco from 2007 to maybe 2009? can find references on the net to the sale but no details as to what or where it went. RAMCO got a brief non specific mention on here http://railways.national-preservation.com/heritage-rolling-stock/17477-ramco-mod-tender.html but there is an interesting link at the bottom of the post, this one Preserved Railway Stocklist which may help in tracking down where stuff is, hint you can just search on gauge.

Minor interest maybe but I suspect you could do with a few bits at the L&B. ;o) As for numbers, I suspect there was rather a lot, good luck on finding that out!


Malc

 

The FR has a number of ex MOD & RAF wagons:

RAFs - Festipedia
Locoals - Festipedia
MoDs - Festipedia

They are the mainstay of the Infrastructure dept. on the FR & occasionally venture on to the WHR. One or two RAF wagons were used during its construction, other wagons have occasionally visited during possessions.

 

I think that the Groudle Glen Railway has a few ex-MOD wagons.

 

The Talyllyn Railway has a number of ex MOD wagons converted to 2'3" gauge plus some not yet in service. Details in the Stockbook available from the Talyllyn Railway Shop

 

The Corris got 5 flats about 20 years ago from Broughton Moor then swapped some with the TR to have the others regauged.
The WHR got another 5 from Broughton Moor, then about 21 flats & vans from Trecwn a few years later but these were all 2'6" and were regauged. There were a load of 2ft stuff transferred from Chilmark to Eastriggs some of which came up for sale a few years ago. There was a sale of what was left at Dean Hill back in 2009 (IIRC there was a previous sale back in the 90s, & some wagons from that depot went to the Lynton & Barnstaple?).
Thinking of the numbers of wagons there were on the systems I'm surprised more haven't appeared, though thinking of the price paid for some flats (about £20 each in the 90s) I expect many were flogged for scrap.

 

Indeed they did, and from other MoD sites I believe. Some of the ex-MoD stock now on the L&B can be seen at:
Works Trains | Lynton_&_ Barnstaple_Railway

 

OKLR also has 2 ex Dean Hill Vans, 1 Guards Van and some flats-

Old Kiln Light Railway

 

Some wagons were distributed from East riggs 2' gauge, early on, not many I would say. Most of the RAF stuff seemed to dissapear if there ever was much, I think some of the stock from Chilmark went to Gartell although there was not much of it and it was 2'gauge or was put in store or absorbed into RNAD which was all 2'6" which became Munitions storage.... although Mountbatten at plymouth went early and Launceston had most of it, the rest mainly at 2 sites Trecwn and Dean hill, what happened was , the majority of the best stuff ended up at Dean Hill and the worst for wear and weather at Trecwn. The locos at trecwn were all Baguely and at Dean Hill Huslet.

All the locos got saved even from both sites the crippled one with a broken axle at DH went to Keef, the odd vehicles, brake vans etc also were saved to different sites in the puiblic domain. Most of the Trecwn wagons lived on and are evenly spread around the UK, at loads of locations, some in quite large quantaties, like a dozen or six or 10 .

Before the sale at DH one loco and 3 vehicles that was a flat a van and a brake van went to "The Explosion Museum" at Gossport along with a hunslet Diesel. Not many people knew that and it was aclosely gaurded secret, amongst those who found out.

Sadly the Dean Hill sale was not good for NG preservation, the lions share of the flats went to Hursts at Andover and then straight to scrap and were cut within days and on a ship to China at least 70 out of 90 went for cutting irrelevant of condition.

Its sad because by far they were in the finest condition ones, most with good planking and excelent wheels, twice as good as any one that came out of Trecwn. 3 were unclaimed and I bought them a month after the auction ended.

Months later and having failed to get a look in at the auction, but having got some of what was bid for from Woods, We chased the loco at the explosion museum and eventually struck a deal.


For some reason Woods at Crediton got a share, which included 5 of the 9 10T bogie flats as well as those other vehicles the L&B now has although the FL carrier pair has been cut up

Two bogie flats went to a private bidder of which I bought one and 2 went to Ireland.


Most of those that came out of Trecwn, are still lying in yards in much the same condition, I think there were about 140 flats and a string of vans say 25, not many of any type got scrapped.

 

Four MoD 4w flat wagons, thought to be conversions from vans, were purchased by Haylocks Country Merchants of Mill Green, near Cambridge some years ago. They came from MoD Beith in Ayrshire which isn't listed by the the Industrial Railway Society as having a 2'6" gauge railway! The East Anglian Group of the WHR acquired them a few years ago and the wheelsets were regauged and the flanges strengthened, by the Talyllyn Railway at Pendre. Nealrly all of these wagons were built with extremely thin wheel treads, said to be due to wartime steel saving measures in the 1939-45 war. They seem to have stood the test of time however!
The first wagon was rebuilt as a 'tender' for use with the FR-WHR KMX Tamper-Liner as it was considered undesirable to carry tins of grease, tools and other objects in cabs filled with sensitive electronics. It is painted the same colour yellow as a well known make of mechanical digger, and is the only non-fitted vehicle permitted for use on RhE. Normally it only sees use during engineering possessions and is coupled to the tamper by chopper coupling and two safety chains.
The second and third were widened to the full width of the FR loading gauge and fitted with chopper couplings at the outer ends and link and pin type in between. It is intended that they will form barrier wagons between Hudson type wagons and other vehicles with chopper couplings. They have been turned out as flats with side steps and are unique in having been fitted with vacuum brake gear using ex-FR carriage cylinders. One of the wagons visited the Welsh Higland Heritage Railway a couple of months ago, in a train carrying telegraph poles hauled by the FR's diesel Moel Hebog.
The fourth vehicle is very much work in progress and is to be a mess van. The chassis has been cut into two and it is to be 'cut and shut' to produce a 'stretched' version with longer wheelbase.

 

What's unique about them - that they are fitted or that they are fitted flats? Is unique the right terminology?

 

OK, OK, they're completely, TOTALLY unique! As far as I know there are no other MoD wagons (the 2'6" gauge variety) of any type fitted with vacuum brakes. So there!

 

Some of the stuff at Chilmark was pretty new: I remember standing on a platform at Salisbury station when a SG train came through with a load of wagons carrying NG locos on their way to Chilmark, must have been about 1984. AFAIK this stuff eventually went up to Eastriggs when Chilmark closed but was not put into the sale there several years later. I had a look at the stuff on sale at Eastriggs but compared with the RNAD stuff that was around it was a lot lighter built, thought about one of the forklift carriers but the dinky wheelset on the ramp wagon would have lasted about five minutes in REAL use!

 

There are some ex RNAD Trecwn waggons privately owned in Purbeck. They have been converted to 2' gauge and have been derusted and repainted. numbers not known.

Also Purbeck Mineral and Mining Museum has purchased a great deal of rail from Trecwn.

 

It would appear that Ramco have a load up for tender http://railways.national-preservation.com/heritage-rolling-stock/38773-ramco-latest-tender-list.html