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Model railway
scenery: Unloading a Coal Wagon (by Chris Ellis)
 A
Coal truck with figures for your model railway
Though there are
plenty of model figures available to populate railway scenery
and layouts, only in rare instances have they been animated so
that they appear to move. Lack of movement of figures doesn’t
really worry anyone but it is always worth positioning them in
key places on your model railway where you might expect to see a person in real
life scenery.
The most obvious example is the locomotive crew. On all my
model locomotives, I add crew figures to the cab if they are
not already placed there by the manufacturers. Yet in scenery, especially at model shows,
how often is there
nobody in the cab? In similar fashion, I add a few passengers
in coaches and a guard in the guard’s van, all simple but
pleasing tasks for model railway hobbyists.
One thing I recall vividly from my youth is seeing men using
shovels to empty coal out of coal wagons at locomotive coaling
stages or, more often, in the coal merchant’s siding at my
local station. But again, on layouts it is very rare to see
this activity depicted.
Wagons are shunted mostly into a siding, and then hauled out
again later with no visual indication that any coal has been
unloaded. There is a limitation, it is true, in that it would
look equally unlikely for wagons to be hauled around the
layout in a goods train with the men standing inside them.
So what is the answer? How can we suggest that coal really is
unloaded in the siding and further enhance our model railway
scenery?
Well, the way I do it is by using a ‘dummy’ wagon, up near the
buffers in the siding, that stays there always. In it two men
are positioned shovelling out the coal and the wagon has only
part of its coal load left inside.
 The
real thing at Hayling Island in 1961, the fireman of Terrier
32650 is coming through the open door of the loco coal wagon,
having shovelled more coal out on to the cooling stage so that
he can continue refilling the Terrer's bunker.
On a model
cooling stage, you could place a wagon with open door
permanently in position with a figure inside shovelling out
the coal.
Photo by Arthur
North
Coal is depicted
spilled on the trackside below the open door, too. What
happens is that other coal wagons are shunted in and Out of
the siding in the usual way but that wagon stays there. It
seems to create a good illusion for my scenery.
At shows, I hear viewers saying ‘Look, they are actually
unloading the coal on this layout’. They don’t really notice
that the wagon concerned is always there. The suggestion of
activity is good enough.
The model coal truck shown is actually made from the Dapol
(Air-Fix) kit of a 16 ton BR wagon because the kit has an
opening door which makes the project easy. But you can use any
other coal wagon, including Hornby and the side door can be
cut out with a razor-saw and glued in the open position.
If you happen to have an old wagon which is no longer a good
runner, maybe with a wobbly wheel, using it as a ‘dummy’ will
allow it to continue giving good service.
This same trick can be used with other open flat wagons, for
example with a load of planks or bagged fertiliser. Arrange
your figures to be handling the load and position the wagon up
against the buffer stops. All other wagons can be stopped
short of it.
Model railway scenery by Chris Ellis.
Thanks to
Chris Ellis for this article. If you have any
secret tips that you would like to share with us, then
please drop us an email at
feedback@stocktonmodeller.co.uk,
include your web address and we will link to you.
Cheers
Stockton Modeller Team
feedback@stocktonmodeller.co.uk
Stockists of Hornby, Bachmann and Heljan Model Trains, Coaches and
Wagons.
Also stock all accessories to compliment your set with full
kits available.
http://www.stocktonmodeller.co.uk
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