"Not to be Worked past Zeebrugge"

[JJ73]

I have got this old Hornby Railways R. 126 Car Transporter & on both sides it says...(see photo below)

& wondered what it meant by that & what would happen if it was " Worked past Zeebrugge"??? Thanks in advance. 🤔🚂

[Fishmanoz]

I think it would end up quite damp.

[What About The Bee]

Hi JJ

I used google to answer your question.

Zeebrugge is the name of a seaport in Belgium.

I also tried to google the phrase "Not to be worked past Zeebrugge" and what you get is many hits for the Hornby R126 wagon.

If I then tell google to remove the word Hornby from the search results ("Not to be worked past Zeebrugge" -Hornby) google finds NOTHING! So this phrase only appears on Hornby R126.

Further, if I search for "Not to be worked past", there appears to be no formal railway sign like it. That is, JJ, the only place it appears is on R126. It is a Hornby invention!

What I think the phrase should mean is that the UK railcar could be used as far from the UK as Zeebrugge, but no further. A limitation on where the wagon was permitted to be.

Bee

[Rana Temporia]

I seem to remember that this was picked up on in the original review in Railway Modeller or Model Railway Constructor at the time this wagon was first released but can’t remember what the comment was. Maybe these wagons (based on a MK1 coach chassis) were unsuitable for European railways due to braking systems or bogies or some other aspect of them and so if worked across on the ferry they couldn’t venture out onto the main line past Zebrugge?

French Wagon Lits coaches did work on the UK main line after coming across on the ferry and these have been asked for in the wants section of this forum. All the RTR ones I know of are HO apart from the Grafar OO version which are extremely rare and not up to modern standards. Not sure if they also go banana like their early Pullman coaches. There are kits available in OO.

The prototype EM1 was tested in their Netherlands after the Second World War as we had nowhere to test it properly until the Manchester/Sheffield/Wath line was completed and the Netherlands bought all the EM2 locos off us and had more use out of them than we did.

[atom3624]

I'm just curious about the Triumph 2000 Mk.1's on board - real classic now, if you can find one!

Al.

[Rallymatt]

I’m sure there are examples of ‘not to be worked past….’ To stop rolling stock disappearing into the wider network abroad but only heard of it in UK when the final part of a line would be unsuitable to accept that type of stock. There was quite a lot of creative thinking back at Rovex in the day.

I’d love some CIWL stock in TT:120, a perfect scale to produce it in as huge continental market to go at too!

[Fishmanoz]

Al, the Triumphs are all at Zeebrugge!

[81F]

I have been collecting some CIWL sleeping cars for my layout to run a night ferry, and as said above they are all HO scale so I bought an HO LIMA class 33 to pull them.

Interestingly there are two Jouef versions one with a high roof and the other with a low roof. I'm guessing that the low roofed ones are right for the night ferry as they also have Paris-London on their sides.

[atom3624]

Fish, I was wondering where they all went!!

At the time, quite a nice car - still preferred the P6 Rover ... another conversation sometime!

Al.

[81F]

Back on topic there was a train ferry that ran between Harwich and Zebrugger so these wagons probably ran on it

[threelink]

I am dredging the depths of my memory and may be mis-remembering things but seem to recall that BR ran a continental train ferry service with the facility for passengers to take their own cars to the continent. The cars were transported on the flat wagons which were to be unloaded on arrival at Zeebrugge and not worked beyond that port, hence the labelling on the old Triang/Hornby model.

[JJ73]

Hello All & thanks for your replys...

@ Fishmanoz :- Would you say it would end up in the sea??? 🤔😄

@bee :- I thought it was - wasn't there a Ferry accident back in the 90's??? Thank you for the searches 🙂

@Rana :- I seem to remember back in the day when my late Dad used to take me & my sister on Holiday to France - we used to take the Ferry & sometimes when my Dad drove the car onto the Ferry, I remember seeing Railway Track on the Parking area of the Ferry!!! So may be...🤔

@atom :- That all I have about the Triumph 2000 Mk.1 but in saying that - I do also have another Car Carrier - a double Car Carrier - A BR Motorail Carrying at 1st I thought they were Rolls Royce but actually I think that they are Mercedes Benz (see photo below - I've turn the Red 1 around so that you can see the front end!!!)

@Rallymatt :- Thanks - That sound interesting 😉

@81F :- As I said above there used to be Ferries with Railway line on them!!!

@3Link :- I think you have just confirmed what I have already said above - thanks 🙂🚂

[atom3624]

That's a ~1970 Mercedes 220SE.

Al.

[What About The Bee]

This web page may be of real interest. There are lots and lots of images about the ferry. It is impressive!

https://harwichanddovercourt.com/train-ferry.html

Bee

[Fishmanoz]

Yes JJ, tongue in cheek.

[JJ73]

Your right Bee - interesting - I don't think that you will find that this kind of thing happens ibn this day & age - now that we've got the Channel Tunnel 🤔🚂

[Rallymatt]

Thanks for the link Bee, great to see things like this.

[Simmo009]

JJ, it was The Herald of Free Enterprise. Sailed with the doors open, water got in and sloshed around the car deck, destabilized the ship and over it went. Major breach of safety and operational procedures. The operators couldn't give a plausible explanation as it wasn't how they did things. This was a complete lie. I boarded that ship in Zeebrugge the Saturday before it overturned. We were one of the last vehicles loaded, and they couldn't get it moving quick enough. The doors were open as I got off the coach. Those poor souls got unlucky.

[JJ73]

W😮W that sounds scary Simmo 🚂

[atom3624]

I remember watching the news on Breakfast TV just as I was getting ready for work.

I think it was one of the 1st 'over televised' tragedies, before we started realising the effects of TV and social media on the general population .... and when to 'give it a rest' as they say.

Simple haste to leave on time - doors weren't fully closed and locked as she was pulling out.

Al.

[Yelrow]

Simmo009, I was the shipping and Port Manager, for Sealink, at the time, at Weymouth. Just to explain, all ferries have to leave with their doors open, as they cannot close them, with the ramp inside. They pull away, then doors close. Nothing wrong there. The problem was that due to tides, often the ship needs to be lowered to fit the ramp, and in order to do this, Water is pumped in from the sea as Ballast, which lowers the ship. Then, before it leaves, the water is pumped out. Again, normal. The problem here, was, that it was not, pumped out, and as you rightly say, ship went to sea, with it slopping around. It was a terrible loss of life.

[atom3624]

Thanks for that clarification - don't remember mention of that at the time, but it makes perfect sense.

News was simply 'sensationalising' the whole event - simple detail and very logical.

Al.

[Yelrow]

JJ i am not an expert, but something in the back of my mind says this was a gauge difference, eg, track width differed on continent from uk. Hence once cars unloaded, wagon was returned to uk, for next load of cars.

[JJ73]

That make sence Yelrow - Thank you 🙂🚂

[81F]

@Yelrow

Standard Gauge is used on most of the continent except Spain/Portugal and the former USSR. I think it more probable that having been taken over on the train ferry BR didn't want the wagons to get "lost" in Europe.

PS Ireland is also a different gauge)