GWR 41736 Shunters Truck

GWR 41736 Shunters Truck
GWR 41736 Shunters Truck.jpg
GWR 41736 Shunters Truck
Built By GWR Swindon
Status Operational
Number 41736
Other Numbers DW41736
History
Built 1913
Diagram M3
Lot 747
Type 4-wheel Shunters Truck
Telegraphic code n/a
1974 Arrived on SVR
1982-3 Major overhaul

Goods Wagons

Shunters’ Trucks or ‘Chariots’ were a common sight in goods yards around the GWR system. The locker on top of the platform was used by the shunting staff to store shunting poles, chocks and even re-railing equipment, while the staff could ride around the yard on the truck in greater safety than on the locomotive footsteps. The Shunters’ Truck at Kidderminster in GWR days was number 41803 (built in 1901 to Diagram M1 Lot 357) and later number 41098 (built in 1938 to Diagram M4 Lot 1292)[1] [2].

Contents

Service

41736 was built at Swindon in 1913 to Diagram M3 Lot 747, the Lot consisting of this single wagon.[3] This particular example worked in Canons Marsh Goods Depot in Bristol, from where it arrived on the SVR on 10 January 1974.[4]

Preservation

In 1982-83 it underwent a major overhaul at Bewdley involving repairs to the chassis and replacement of both headstocks and all the woodwork including a new Keruing floor. A new toolbox was also built and the wagon repainted in GWR ‘Canons Marsh’ livery.[4][5] A planned move to Swindon by rail to appear at the GWR 150 Exhibition resulted in a further repaint and re-profiling of the tyres in 1985, but in the event the Exhibition was cancelled and the move did not take place.[6]

Another overhaul and repaint was carried out at Bewdley in 1997, during which new step-boards were made and fitted, several replacement planks were fitted in the floor of the tool box and attention given to the leather seals around the axle where it enters the axle box.[7]

A further overhaul and repaint was carried out by volunteers at Kidderminster carriage works in 2004-05. The work again involved attention to planks in the toolbox and the axle box oil seals.[8]

41736 is based at Kidderminster where it is regularly used in shunting movements around the carriage works. It is owned by The GWR 813 Preservation Fund.

Model

Bachmann produced an OO gauge model (model ref. 38-675) of 41736

See also

References

  1. Turley (2005) p. 83.
  2. Atkins, Beard & Tourret (2013) pp. 22-23
  3. Atkins, Beard & Tourret (2013) pp. 23, 229.
  4. 4.0 4.1 SVR Stock Book Ninth Edition
  5. SVR News 66, 71
  6. SVR News 76, 78
  7. SVR News 123
  8. SVR News 151

Links