This morning a pair of model side tipping waggons of the MSC (Manchester Ship Canal) type were delivered. We bought these via auction from the late Joe Powell, who made them (and many others). I thought they would be of particular interest for our one-day project to restore the two real examples we have here at Beamish, as Joe probably built the models not from drawings, but from study of the real thing. This is certainly borne out by the attention to detail in the models which are to all intents and purposes the real thing, but small! I haven’t calculated the scale yet, and first port of call for them is the freezer, as there is evidence of wood-worm. After that a good clean, studio photography and then careful study will enable the information integral to them to be captured.

Here is a selection of desk-top views and also a photograph of one of the two prototypes we have at Beamish. For the record, the once numerous wooden tipper survives only in isolated pockets, Beamish have two, there are two on a wildlife reservation in Kent, one at Stephenson Railway Museum, one at Rutland Railway Museum and the frames of another at Hunsbury Hill. It is a personal goal to one day restore two side tippers and replicate an end tipper for Beamish in order to rediscover a type of vehicle not widely understood but once such a common part of any construction project, from Barry Docks to the Manchester Ship Canal, Wembley Stadium to the Great Central Railway. Add in our Lewin in ‘contractors’ guise, a steam navvy (we’ve got one of those!), a portable, pug mill (tick and tick!) and a poorly represented facet of railway history will become real again…

Below: Here is the real thing, ex River Wear Commissioners side tipper, now at Beamish and probably the best of the remaining examples, complete with characteristic ‘lean’!