Let’s talk about glass. Something Stourbridge is particularly renowned for.  It is believed that there has been glass production in the area for hundreds of years with a factory opening at the lower end of what is now Brettell Lane in the 1640s and production continuing in the area ever since.

You’re going to need your imagination for this bit! Regular readers will know that Brettell Road is not an accurate model of the real Brettell lane but is inspired by it and the local area.  The above picture taken in August 2014 (that long already?) shows what was left of the goods yard at Moor Lane.  Brettell Lane is behind us. The line to Pensnett branched off on the left and the yard is petty much straight ahead of us. You can see the flood lights against the skyline. This was the view from the left hand end of the original version of Brettell Road and is now the view from the middle looking to the right. On the model the line is not an S curve but a continuous left hand bend.  Also the main line descends from this point on the layout while the real line rises as it goes away from us.

On the right, long gone now, there used to be a siding which served the Brierley Hill glassworks.  The buildings are still there and can just be seen behind the trees in the distance where the mainline disappears.

Another view from 2014 that shows the building being converted into apartments.  If you stand looking at the right hand end of the layout you would effectively be standing in this building.  The line runs behind it and you can just make out the ironwork of Moor Lane Bridge on the right of the picture above the yellow van.  This building is represented on the layout as part of the backscene.

Brierley Hill glass was more of the decorative, cut glass and crystal type than the industrial large sheets and I have a few shockvans as a nod to glass traffic but of course they could be carrying anything so only I know that. However thanks to a gift from my friend Tom i now have something a little more obvious…

I present you the ancient K’s kit for the GWR Coral glass wagon. These were built in 1908, to 2 diagrams, by Swindon to carry large plate glass in crates.  BR briefly continued with these building 6 more examples before switching to the LMS design but even then only building 42 wagons (also at Swindon).

I decided to build one of the BR types with the main differences being (as far as i can tell) the shape of the ends of the frames, the GWR ones being more curvy, and the brake levers.  The model had been started by Tom’s dad but was dunked in some cellulose thinners which dissolved the glue (but not the paint strangely) before it was reassembled using low melt solder. The kit had some nice brass buffers which were replaced with Lanarkshire models which better match the BR examples. The upper frames were cast in whitemetal and there were only 2 of them so they were replaced with brass section. A part of the original casting was soldered to the end of the underframe and reshaped to better match the BR design.  I used the slotted bearing and central pivot method of compensation as previously used on my lowmac. In service on the layout.  As mentioned its not really the sort of glass that Brierley Hill was known for but it is a nod to the industry.  Apparently some of the real wagons were transferred to the steel industry anyway so perhaps its on trial in the area for that reason instead?

Thanks go to Tom and his dad.