KR Models BR ‘Palbrick’ wagon
◆ GAUGE ‘OO’ ◆ MODEL BR Palbrick B wagon three-pack ◆ PRICE £60.00 ◆ AVAILABILITY KR Models stockists Web www.krmodels.net
Eager to retain traffic in new bricks, particularly the pallet traffic in furnace bricks for industry, BR set about producing a fleet of 1,420 specialised wagons for easy loading and unloading of palletised bricks. There were a number of versions of the wagon, code-named ‘Palbrick’, to suit the various sizes of pallets employed. Later examples had clasp brakes and roller-bearing axleboxes and were classified ‘Palbrick B’.
Received for review from Edmonton, Alberta-based KR Models is a pack of three ‘Palbrick B’ wagons. Being unfamiliar with the prototype, I consulted Paul Bartlett’s website (paulbartlett. zenfolio.com). This is a vital resource for rolling stock information and photographs, but you do need to understand what you are looking at. It appears that the body of the model is probably based on Paul’s photograph of ‘Palbrick B’
No. B462073, though the model chassis reflects one of the later examples fitted with roller-bearing axleboxes and clasp brakes.
The chassis of the model comprises a well detailed moulded plastic unit featuring the solebars, axleguards and headstocks, surrounding a metal baseplate which provides a mounting for the sprung NEM coupler pockets. These are mounted on a cam arrangement which allows them to extend on curves and avoid, to some degree, the ‘coupled miles apart’ look which afflicts many wagon models fitted with tension-locks in NEM pockets.
The body of the model is a plastic moulding. The sides, like those of the prototype, are flat and devoid of detail, save for the two pairs of slots which enabled a forklift truck to lift the sides clear. Internally, the sides are similarly free of detail and the floor is depicted as planked. The two clamping beams are nicely depicted but, like the ends, are finished in matt black.
The ends of the body differ in that one has a simple six-plank arrangement while the other has a system for clamping the pallets in place. This varied between wagons, apparently, some having two, four, or six four-pronged screw-handles which moved the end beams in a vice-like process to hold the loaded pallets in place.
The model reflects a vehicle with four screw-handles controlling two end beams, and these screw handles are really exquisite mouldings. However, like the triangular end stanchions which support them, the screw-handles on the model are finished in black. Photographs show the end stanchions in the body colour – bauxite – and the screw-handles in white, which was the standard colour used by BR on all such controls.
Why KR Models has chosen to finish the wagon ends in black is unclear. In the photograph of B462073 the ends are blackened with dirt but the area around the number has been cleaned to show the bauxite paint quite clearly. Modellers who wish to do so will need to repaint the ends and replace the numbers with decals, which is a pity as the printed work on the model is particularly good. Indeed, the Ashford works plates on the chassis are neatly printed, though the accompanying numbers differ from those carried on the body!
The blackened metal three-hole disc wheels have pinpoint axles running in the plastic axleboxes. These are extremely free-running, such that most of this review was written with the wagons upside-down to prevent them running off the desk!
The representation of brake gear has some fine detail but seems a little lacking in any arrangement to operate the brakes on one axle. The brake cylinder is finished in light grey, which is odd until one realises it is a misinterpretation of the lighting in Paul Bartlett’s photograph.
This is a nice little model at a very keen price by current standards. But it is let down by misinterpretations of the very details the wagon connoisseurs would appreciate. This is disappointing, and may just put those connoisseurs off parting with their cash. (CJL)