As I have stated on the wagons page, I recently broke my own rule against buying ready to run rolling stock, and bought a pair of Accucraft W&L bolster wagons. They are pretty generic and fit in well with the rest of my rolling stock and it means I don't have to scratch build a pair of Schull and Skibbereen bolsters. Despite being ready to run, I needed to make a few modifications. Lettering for the TBLR and raising the coupling height to the TBLR standard were already planned jobs.
On unpacking the wagons, I noticed that the axleguards were positioned at the extreme ends of the solebars, and did not line up with the axleguard washers moulded into the solebars. The holes to take the axleguard mounting screws have been drilled in the wrong place, presumably there is a jig for doing this at the factory and it has been set up incorrectly; examining photos of the wagon on the Accucraft website confirmed that all the wagons have probably been built this way. It was fairly easy to correct this error. I removed all of the axleguard fixing screws and then glued the axleguards into the correct position (with the wheels in place). I thought it would be far too fiddly to drill out new holes in the correct position. The only disadvantage with using glue (Evo Stik Serious Glue) is that the axleguards are now permanently fixed.
I also noticed that despite being fitted with a very nice brake handle, there was no corresponding brake shoe on the wagons. I had just carried out some surgery on an Accucraft W&L brake van to build a snow plough (see separate post) this left me with some surplus brake shoes. I cut the twin brake shoe mount in half, giving me a single brake shoe, which I lined up with the appropriate wheel, using thin ply to pack the mount until the brake shoe matched the wheel profile.
A little light weathering with diluted acrylic frame dirt applied to the planking and a waft of olive drab acrylic spray to the running gear, finished the job.
On unpacking the wagons, I noticed that the axleguards were positioned at the extreme ends of the solebars, and did not line up with the axleguard washers moulded into the solebars. The holes to take the axleguard mounting screws have been drilled in the wrong place, presumably there is a jig for doing this at the factory and it has been set up incorrectly; examining photos of the wagon on the Accucraft website confirmed that all the wagons have probably been built this way. It was fairly easy to correct this error. I removed all of the axleguard fixing screws and then glued the axleguards into the correct position (with the wheels in place). I thought it would be far too fiddly to drill out new holes in the correct position. The only disadvantage with using glue (Evo Stik Serious Glue) is that the axleguards are now permanently fixed.
I also noticed that despite being fitted with a very nice brake handle, there was no corresponding brake shoe on the wagons. I had just carried out some surgery on an Accucraft W&L brake van to build a snow plough (see separate post) this left me with some surplus brake shoes. I cut the twin brake shoe mount in half, giving me a single brake shoe, which I lined up with the appropriate wheel, using thin ply to pack the mount until the brake shoe matched the wheel profile.
A little light weathering with diluted acrylic frame dirt applied to the planking and a waft of olive drab acrylic spray to the running gear, finished the job.
 Bolster wagon as received, note mis-alignment of axleguards and no brake shoe. |  Axleguards correctly lined up and a brake shoe fitted. |  The completed bolster wagons |
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