A shipment of steel - channel, angle, and flat bar - arrived a couple days ago as well as the new hydraulic press. So it's time to start on the first 7.25" gauge wagon based on 3 foot gauge MR NCC wagon number 4318 which is now owned by and has been restored at the Cavan and Leitrim Railway in Dromod. This wagon is the inspiration for the drawing on our company logo.

MR stands for Midlands Railway which operated a larger network of railways in England and eventually expanded into the north of Ireland.

NCC stands for Northern Counties Committee which operated an Irish broad gauge (5' 3") railway in the north-east of Ireland, and later acquired several 3 foot narrow gauge railways in the northern part of Ireland. It was one of these narrow gauge railways which this wagon comes from.

The wagon is very common for the UK and Ireland in the late 1800s with spoked wheels, leaf spring suspension, and a mix of metal and wood construction. Overall dimensions (excluding buffers and couplers) are 3.85m (12.6ft) x 2.2m (7.2ft) with 60cm (2ft) diameter wheels.

These are similar to standard gauge wagons of the mid- and late-1800s, however, the narrow gauge wagons generally overhang the wheels on either side while standard gauge sides are rougly the width of the wheels and axles. It is very possible existing standard gauge wagons were adapted by moving the under-carraige beams inward to suit narrow axles owing to the smaller rail gauge. The result in my opinion is a more pleasing look and ratio of wagon to track - which is one of the many reasons I love narrow gauge railways.

Unfortunately, the original wagon is currently in a corner of the large workshop at Cavan and Leitrim Railway so getting photos of the entire wagon is very difficult. The following views will have to suffice for now.

Steel Delivery

A small shipment of mild steel was delivered including 40x20mm and 50x25mm channel, 6mm thick angle in 40x40mm and 50x50mm, and 12x30mm and 12x40mm flat bar. The channel and angle are for the wagon frames (under carriages), while flat bar are for track panels (more in a future post). These come in 6.1m (20ft) lengths and weigh between 17kg (37lbs) and 27kg (60lbs) each so it was a good workout moving them in for storage in the old milking parlour.

Hydraulic Press

Assembly of the press was fairly straightforward, and will enable pressing wheels onto axles, some bending operations, and removing wheels or bearings if needed. This press can be operated manually or pneumatic when connected to a compressor. There is also a pressure gauge on top of the ram which helps avoid excessive force.

The first two wheels went on easily, however, while pressing the second pair of wheels the end (bottom) of the hydraulic ram started leaking fluid so I've contacted the company we purchased from to inquire if it can be adjusted or needs repair or replacement.

Wheels and Axles

First step on the new wagon was pressing 4 x 5.25" diameter wheels onto 2 x 12" wide axles. These are machined to interference fit meaning the hole in the wheel is just slightly smaller than the hub on the axles, and a press fit will keep them held tightly toghether - no set screws, loctite, or other fixing required.

After pressing the wheels on, fitting the pillow block bearings was easy as they are a slip fit with two set screws on each bearing. Here you can see the two axles assemblies on top of a piece of timber. The little green pieces of plastic are caps for the grease nipples to prevent dirt from clogging the small filler hole.

Cutting and Drilling Steel

Next was cutting sections of 50x50x6mm angle bar at 50mm long to make four corners to bolt steel channel together for the wagon frame. The steel chop saw does a brilliant job cutting these bars and is quite fast as well, although the blades are fairly expensive. For larger production we will probably use a metal bandsaw, but the chop saw is excellent for rapid prototyping.

50x25mm channel cut at 700mm and 420mm provide the side and end beams of the frame.

Then each corner bracket was had 4 x 8.5mm holes drilled for bolts. In order to fit 2 x M8 bolts on each side the hold centres were set at 17mm and 35mm from the outside corner. This worked well for drilling, although in later assembly were too close into the inner corner for flange head bolts or washers - more on that in a future post.