Dapol ‘Bogie Bolster E’
◆ SCALE ‘OO’ ◆ MODEL Dapol 4F-061-001 ‘Bogie Bolster E’/BEV B923358, BR bauxite ◆ PRICE £29.95 ◆ AVAILABILITY Dapol stockists or www.dapol.co.uk
The bolster wagon has a flat deck with transverse beams. It’s these beams – the bolster – that gives the wagon its name and allows it to carry ‘long’ loads, from timber to steel girders to lengths of rail.
BR’S bolster wagon fleet ranged from the simple 8ft ‘Single Bolster’ to the ‘Bolster D’, which was 52ft long. BR built the bolster by the thousand, in all its various forms, culminating in the ‘Bogie Bolster E’ of 1961/1962.
This bolster wagon was just 32ft long, which was shorter than the four-wheel Tube wagon but, by mounting the body on bogies, it had a considerably greater payload. BR ordered two batches of ‘Bogie Bolster E’ from Ashford Works, totalling some 1,200 vehicles: Lot 3343 (B923300-B924399) and Lot 3440 (B924800-B924899). As they were a 1960s design, they featured Davis & Lloyd Ridemaster cast bogies.
The ‘Bolster Es’ became BEV under TOPS, although those modified as coil carriers and for engineering duties were given other codes. The biggest change to the ‘Bogie Bolster E’ fleet came when almost 1,000 were given bodies in the 1970s/1980s, to become ‘Turbot’ ballast wagons.
Dapol teased visitors to the 2017 Warley National Model Railway Exhibition with plans for a ‘OO’ gauge take on the ‘Bogie Bolster E’. The only previous ‘E’ in ‘OO’ gauge was Lima’s attempt, launched in 1980. Dapol’s plan was confirmed in September 2018 and, less than a year later, the first models are now in stock.
We received BEV B923358 in BR bauxite livery. Preproduction samples showed great promise and the finished model looks right from almost every angle.
The body shape is convincing and the bolsters themselves can be moved (they’re in two parts). The underframe is fine and though the trusses and brakegear feel flimsy, they’re
actually rather resilient and can withstand some inadvertent heavy handling. The securing rings along the solebars are so fine that they look like separately fitted parts – but they’re not.
Buffers are sprung, which is a neat touch, but there’s arguably not enough relief to where the shanks are bolted to the beams. The channel in the solebars could, arguably, be a little deeper.
FIDDLY COUPLINGS
There are NEM pockets on the bogies, but supplied in the plastic bag of bits are coupling hooks and Instanter couplings. Dapol claims that these work and it is possible to use the Instanter link to shorten the coupling, but it is extremely fiddly and not the sort of thing you’d want to do with a long train! Also included in the bag are vacuum pipes and stanchions (complete with metal rings) for the bolsters.
Performance is excellent and the metal wheels and their pinpoint axles are so free-rolling that it highlighted that the desks in the Model Rail office are not 100% level! B923358 coped well with the tight curves and sectional pointwork on our test track.
While the bauxite finish looks a little plasticky (some weathering would cover this up well), the printing of the tiniest lettering is exemplary. You can read, albeit under a magnifier, that B923358 was
built at Ashford to Lot 3343 in 1961.
Dapol has provided another excellent addition to the ranks of ready-to-run ‘OO’ gauge wagons. It’s also keenly priced too. Bring on the ‘Turbot’! (RF)
The securing rings along the solebars are so fine that they look like separately fitted parts