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Review of a Thomas Yorke V-tipper (pre-release)

Tom Yorke's prototype / pre-release V-tipper prior to weathering

I was fortunate that Tom Yorke sent me one of his pre-release V-tippers to assemble. He is in the process of developing this kit and some changes will be made for the "final" version. Once released for sale, I shall re-review this kit as I shall definitely have 2 or 3 more for my own layout.

Note: any comments I make here are applicable to this "pre-release" version and may not be relevant to the "final" version of this kit.

Just about every European narrow-gauge railway I have ever come across with a gauge of around 500mm-600mm (18"-24") has had some V-tippers of one sort or another. Some were also built for 15" gauge and some larger ones converted to 15" (notably for the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch), so your layout should probably have a few.

Prototype V-tippers were made by just about every manufacturer of industrial railway equipment, such as Decauville and Robert Hudson to name two, and were available in quite a range of sizes and styles. The Thomas Yorke wagon is quite large and towers over Sidelines wagons alongside it. However, this is perfectly normal as many V-tippers have a top-rail about level with a man's chest and were very top-heavy - instability was a real problem on the uneven track commonly found in quarries and on light railways.

a rectangular-frame V-tipper at "the Tacot des Lacs",
a sand-pit railway near Fontainebleau, France.
www.tacot-des-lacs.com

photo courtesy of Michel MASSOT

Tom told me he based his V-tipper on a Japanese prototype. It is a little unusual in that it has a rectangular chassis; most European V-tippers that I have seen had an oval chassis, however as the photo on the right shows, they do exist.

As this was a pre-release kit, Tom provided me with a few "raw" resin castings and I had to provide some plasticard sheet to make up the bucket. I also needed some Evergreen plastic angle to provide the "lip" along the top of the sides and I "borrowed" some 12mm 3-hole wheels from a Sidelines kit. Tom tells me all these will be included in the final kit.

The kit is fairly simple and though there were no instructions (there will be once released) I didn't have any trouble. The biggest problem is evenly curving the plasticard bucket. Mine has a slight skew to it (so the tops of the ends are not level with each other). I actually quite like this as this is just the sort of thing that would happen after some heavy use, but it should really be level. This "skew" is my inability to assemble the bucket "square" and is not a reflection on the quality of Tom's kit.

Construction tips:

I used ACC for most assembly and solvent for the Evergreen angle to the plasticard bucket.

Make sure that the holes you drill for the wheels are exactly in the centre of the axle-boxes (I used a 0.8mm drill for my Sidelines wheels). It is very important to get them in the centre of the axle-boxes otherwise the wagon will not sit level on the track or the axles will not be at right-angles to the rails (both are as important as each other for smooth running).

Take particular care to ensure that you assemble the chassis square and level; if it's not, it will not run smoothly. I didn't have any, but it might be advisable to use slow-acting ACC. This way you can assemble the chassis with wheels and ensure it sits level before applying a squirt of accelerator.

The T-section piece approx. 1" long is a cross brace that fits between the axles in line with the small vertical brace cast in to the side-rails. Pre-drill the cross-brace and the bottoms of the axle-boxes with a 0.7mm drill (there are dimples in the castings), then fit the nut-n-bolt castings supplied..

If the wagon is going to run loaded then it would be easy to put some lead in the bottom of the bucket. Running empty would be a problem - there are no convenient gaps in the kit to hide additional weight. It might be easier to leave some "sludge" residue in the bottom of the tub to hide the additional weight.

This is fun kit of a very common wagon and just about every Gn15 modeller should have a few.

Total construction time (excluding painting): 20 minutes.

I still need to weather my V-tipper to reflect the general abuse they received in industry.

To give an indication of the various sizes of prototype V-tippers, this table is an extract from an old W.G. Bagnall catalogue.

Cap. in cubic feet	Diam. of wheels inches	Overall height ft. in.	Overall width ft. in.	Weight in cwts.
10	9	3' 0"	3' 4"	4.25
13.5	9	3' 3"	3' 8"	4.75
15	10	3' 6.5"	3' 8"	5.25
18	10	3' 7.5"	4' 1"	6
20	10	3' 7.5"	4' 1"	6.25
27	12	4' 1"	4' 4"	7.25
36	14	4' 2"	4' 4"	13
40	14	4' 8"	5' 8.25"	14.5
45	16	4' 9"	5' 8.25"	15.5
54	18	4' 10"	5' 8.25"	16.5
62	18	5' 0"	5' 8.25"	19.5
72	18	5' 3"	5' 8.25"	21

Notes:

Remember this is a "pre-release" version and "final" versions may be different
Quality of kits (out of 5): (good quality castings with no bubbles)
Difficulty rating (out of 5): (fairly straightforward - even with no instructions)
Supplier: Thomas A. Yorke Design Studio
Extra materials req'd. (should be provided when the kit is released):
- 10 thou. plasticard
- Evergreen (or similar) plastic angle - I just used what I had floating in my box of supplies without any specific attention to what size it was
- wheels (recommend 12mm, 3-hole wheels from Pepper7 / Sidelines)
Alpha Cyanoacrylate Cement (ACC), often called Super Glue in the UK. Sticks (almost) anything to anything :- plastic, metal, fingers, jeans, etc.

Narrow-minded
and proud of it!