I can confirm 112s have cast-iron wheels.
There is also one in my post #765.
Martin
PS There is no special prize for posting the 1000th reply in this thread!
Rivermead Central
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There is also one in my post #765.
Martin
PS There is no special prize for posting the 1000th reply in this thread!
John R Smith
Western Thunderer
Oh, damn! Well, there we go . . . another thousand to go before my next attempt . . .
John
Modelling is still having to take second place to the garden. However, the current construction of a sleeper-built fence has reached its final length of 50 cm, not quite 20”:
I still need to add the horizontal wooden rails. These will have to wait until I order some more small size walnut strips. I have however mounted the sleepers on their backing piece which will space the fence a few mm off the wall at the back of the layout:
Referring back now to post #973 and the size of passenger and staff figures. Below is the relevant section from a Bassett-Lowke catalogue I have which says it is ‘Reprint, March 1929’. In other words, in terms of its contents, this is the 1928 season catalogue.
Sets 1 and 2 are Britain’s figures, 1:32 scale. For many years, these were the only size available. But recognising that 0 gauge had become by far the most popular scale, finally correct size figures were introduced. I cannot say for sure the 7 mm scale figures were first offered in 1928. Catalogue entries stating that something was ‘new’ or ‘a great improvement on last year’s model’ often remained unchanged for years.
Martin
I still need to add the horizontal wooden rails. These will have to wait until I order some more small size walnut strips. I have however mounted the sleepers on their backing piece which will space the fence a few mm off the wall at the back of the layout:
Referring back now to post #973 and the size of passenger and staff figures. Below is the relevant section from a Bassett-Lowke catalogue I have which says it is ‘Reprint, March 1929’. In other words, in terms of its contents, this is the 1928 season catalogue.
Sets 1 and 2 are Britain’s figures, 1:32 scale. For many years, these were the only size available. But recognising that 0 gauge had become by far the most popular scale, finally correct size figures were introduced. I cannot say for sure the 7 mm scale figures were first offered in 1928. Catalogue entries stating that something was ‘new’ or ‘a great improvement on last year’s model’ often remained unchanged for years.
Martin
In my post #129 I described the pre-WW1 range of tinplate goods wagons made for Bassett-Lowke by the Nuremberg firm Carette. Specifically, and in post #133, I also discussed the wheels originally fitted to these wagons — but which have often been replaced. What I did not show in previous posts were examples of what I believe were the first type of wheels used by Carette.
What is beyond doubt is that Carette used two different types of wheels on the goods wagons made for Bassett-Lowke. There were cast lead-alloy wheels as shown in my post #133 and the pressed sheet-metal type as shown below. There is, of course, no mention of the manufacturing process used for the wheels in the catalogue descriptions of these wagons. The wheels are easily removed so could be swapped or replaced. Most surviving Carette for Bassett-Lowke goods wagons no longer have their original wheels. Some types of wagons were offered over the whole five years (1909–1914) these wagons were made and the type of wheels fitted at the factory most likely changed over the production period. However, my view is the balance of evidence strongly suggests the pressed sheet-metal wheels were the first type used, when the Carette for Bassett-Lowke range of wagons was introduced in 1909. The cast lead-alloy wheels superseded the sheet-metal type, very possibly in 1911, and were then used until production ceased with the outbreak of WW1.
The pressed sheet-metal wheels:
The wheels may not look terribly exciting or interesting, but I am delighted to have got them. I have several wagons without wheels that should have the type shown above and others where one wheel-set is unuseable due to a bent axle, eccentric or out-of-true wheel. So sheet-metal type Carette wagon wheel-sets have been high on the ‘wants’ list for many years.
The above wheel-sets are of quite complex manufacture. The wheel itself is a sheet steel pressing. Holding each wheel in place is a lead-alloy casting, or actually, I think, two separate castings, one inside and one outside of the wheel pressing. This type of wheel-set does not seem to suffer from bent axles as commonly as the lead wheel type. However, the steel wheel pressings are frequently not perfectly round and often slightly eccentric and/or out of true.
After years of not finding any, I have obtained ten of the sheet-metal type wagon wheel-sets over the last few months. Four sets very cheaply from eBay, six sets much more expensively from a dealer in vintage trains. But all well worth the relatively small sums involved for what they will enable me to do.
Not all of the new wheel-sets are good enough to use, but at least seven are. So several wagons will be able to be put into service. I will post photos of these as they are cleaned and repaired.
Martin
What is beyond doubt is that Carette used two different types of wheels on the goods wagons made for Bassett-Lowke. There were cast lead-alloy wheels as shown in my post #133 and the pressed sheet-metal type as shown below. There is, of course, no mention of the manufacturing process used for the wheels in the catalogue descriptions of these wagons. The wheels are easily removed so could be swapped or replaced. Most surviving Carette for Bassett-Lowke goods wagons no longer have their original wheels. Some types of wagons were offered over the whole five years (1909–1914) these wagons were made and the type of wheels fitted at the factory most likely changed over the production period. However, my view is the balance of evidence strongly suggests the pressed sheet-metal wheels were the first type used, when the Carette for Bassett-Lowke range of wagons was introduced in 1909. The cast lead-alloy wheels superseded the sheet-metal type, very possibly in 1911, and were then used until production ceased with the outbreak of WW1.
The pressed sheet-metal wheels:
The wheels may not look terribly exciting or interesting, but I am delighted to have got them. I have several wagons without wheels that should have the type shown above and others where one wheel-set is unuseable due to a bent axle, eccentric or out-of-true wheel. So sheet-metal type Carette wagon wheel-sets have been high on the ‘wants’ list for many years.
The above wheel-sets are of quite complex manufacture. The wheel itself is a sheet steel pressing. Holding each wheel in place is a lead-alloy casting, or actually, I think, two separate castings, one inside and one outside of the wheel pressing. This type of wheel-set does not seem to suffer from bent axles as commonly as the lead wheel type. However, the steel wheel pressings are frequently not perfectly round and often slightly eccentric and/or out of true.
After years of not finding any, I have obtained ten of the sheet-metal type wagon wheel-sets over the last few months. Four sets very cheaply from eBay, six sets much more expensively from a dealer in vintage trains. But all well worth the relatively small sums involved for what they will enable me to do.
Not all of the new wheel-sets are good enough to use, but at least seven are. So several wagons will be able to be put into service. I will post photos of these as they are cleaned and repaired.
Martin
Osgood
Western Thunderer
There's something quite endearing about those wheels - they might have come straight out of a Welsh slate quarry! 
Only yesterday I was admiring some very early German tinplate in Ipswich Museum - I didn't make a note of the maker but now wonder if it could have been Carette.
There was a nice rake of LNWR coaches - I didn't have the heart to advise @john lewsey that his current LNWR coach build was nothing like them - his has two too many doors and is way too long
Only yesterday I was admiring some very early German tinplate in Ipswich Museum - I didn't make a note of the maker but now wonder if it could have been Carette.
There was a nice rake of LNWR coaches - I didn't have the heart to advise @john lewsey that his current LNWR coach build was nothing like them - his has two too many doors and is way too long
The coaches are lovely, very early, and hand painted. The only item I can identify with certainty in your photo is the Midland open wagon, which is Marklin. Marklin’s range of lithographed British-outline wagons was sold principally through Gamages in direct competition with the much larger range of wagons made by Carette and retailed by Bassett-Lowke. There is not much to choose between the two ranges in terms of quality of manufacture and accuracy, but Marklin made only ten different types whereas the Carette for Bassett-Lowke range included over fifty. Marklin used a very similar method of construction to Carette. Basically, they copied the way the Carette wagons were made.There's something quite endearing about those wheels - they might have come straight out of a Welsh slate quarry!
Only yesterday I was admiring some very early German tinplate in Ipswich Museum - I didn't make a note of the maker but now wonder if it could have been Carette.
There was a nice rake of LNWR coaches - I didn't have the heart to advise @john lewsey that his current LNWR coach build was nothing like them - his has two too many doors and is way too long
View attachment 266077
Martin
John R Smith
Western Thunderer
Martin
The Carette pressed steel wheels look a lot nicer than I was expecting them to. Much better (in my view) then Hornby's pressed tinplate wheels of later years. A year or so ago I did have several Carette and Bing pre-1914 wagons, but I decided I wanted to refocus on the inter-war period and so I sold them on. They all had die-cast alloy wheels. The only item of rolling stock I now have which might possibly be pre-1914 is my Bing Precursor tank.
John
The Carette pressed steel wheels look a lot nicer than I was expecting them to. Much better (in my view) then Hornby's pressed tinplate wheels of later years. A year or so ago I did have several Carette and Bing pre-1914 wagons, but I decided I wanted to refocus on the inter-war period and so I sold them on. They all had die-cast alloy wheels. The only item of rolling stock I now have which might possibly be pre-1914 is my Bing Precursor tank.
John
Hi John
The Precursor tank was certainly made by Bing both before and after WW1. As far as I know, there is no difference between the the pre- and post-War production. I think the same is true of the LBSCR 4-4-2T and the NER 0-4-4T. Mind you, I wonder if the NER tank was actually made post-War at all. It was offered, post-War, only in the 1919 catalogue. I have a copy of the August 1914 Bassett-Lowke catalogue. Almost all the Bing-made locos have ‘Cancelled’ stamped across the page. So Bing’s production for Bassett-Lowke for the 1914 Christmas season wasn’t delivered in 1914. I have seen it stated that Bing supplied Bassett-Lowke’s 1914 order in 1919, and did so at the pre-War price, such was the personal friendship between the Bing family and Mr Bassett-Lowke. The Carette wagons for 1914 clearly did reach Bassett-Lowke that year. No cancelled stamps in the catalogue on the wagon pages and wagons printed with 1914 as the running number are in circulation — I even have one (post #153).
Martin
John R Smith
Western Thunderer
Martin
Mike Delaney recently had an LBSCR 4-4-2T on offer (now sold), but it had been refinished (not very well) in SR livery. I'm pretty sure that my Precursor tank was made by Bing and is not a later (post-1921?) B-L made one (it has Bing buffers, and tinplate coal in the bunker). It could have been in the 1914 batch that got stuck in the War, of course. Perhaps a clue might be that the wooden box is stamped "Made in Bavaria" on the bottom, not "Made in Germany".
John
Hi John
Having seen your photograph, your Precursor tank is definitely Bing. Although very, very similar in overall appearance, the Northampton made ones have quite a few small differences. The head-lamps, the bogie wheels, the buffers, the edge of the cab roof, ‘British made’ stencilled between the rear cab windows etc.
Martin