LMS/BR tank Hamblings restoration

[bertiedog]

From Ebay, an old LMS 264 tank, I think by Hamblings, made in the pre-war factory production, and just post war, sold off in the 1950's as separate bodies and chassis for home assembly. The parts were stamped out of brass sheet at the Ringwood factory, stored during the war and then assembled for a while by Stewart Reidpath's factory at Herne bay.

It has the BR style cab, the stampings could be altered to the later pattern, the design was not exactly to type. The 1950's assembly sold them as BR 264

The cylinders on this one are home made in milled aluminium, quite ghastly, but it has the Hambling wheels fitted to the " trucks ".

 

I have a couple of the original Hambling Chassis units, designed to take a seven pole Taycol motor, that had long stopped production before the chassis were sold off in the 1950-60's. They were all sold pre painted in black by the Ringwood factory.

 

A Zenith or W&H Romford will fit as well. The cylinders were meant to be the Standard Stewart Reidpath Cast lead LMS type. No valve gear was ever made for them, it was expected to be built from nickel silver strip and rail sections. The brake gear was the Stewart Reidpath cast shoes, nickel plated, later made by Sayer Chaplin.

 

Should make up into a reproduction of the model as sold in the 1940-50's.

 

Stephen

[Golden Fleece 30]

I cannot see anything on the body that resembles any LMS design, to me it looks all BR standard 2-6-4 tank which was not prewar. Maybe there is something I am missing here?

Garry

[Michael Edge]

That's definitely a BR standard 2-6-4T, basic dimensions are the same as the last LMS locos but styling is very different.

[Il Grifone]

That's what I thought too. The nearest LMS tanks were the Ivatt design, but even these are different from the BR one.

 

The Hamblings wheels have the merit of originality, but are incorrect for a BR 4MT tank They should have a narrower tyre and nine spokes

[bertiedog]

The parts were altered when the BR type came out, but were sold as LMS locos. The cab wrapper was altered at Herne Bay, the other stampings were pre war. Some are around with the pre war LMS cab. Hamblings and all others made wheels by diameter only, with a nominal number of spokes, it was pot luck as to the right number of spokes. The wheels were developed by Stewart Reidpath and Hambling.

Most of the locos were partially assembled when sold, some were complete, some a bag of stampings only, with windows to cut out.

it was the most numerous Hamblings loco made, but with so many as parts few survive completed.

There were boxes of LMS cabbed versions and BR versions still in the workshop in the early 1970's.

[Michael Edge]

It's not just the cab, the tanks, bunker and running plate are all BR, the only part of this that would have been the same an LMS loco is the boiler and even there the smokebox handrail is BR. The chimney looks more like an LMS one though.

[bertiedog]

All depends on what was bought at the time,parts or assembled, the old chassis has the buffer beams attached, the one in the shot has them on the body, and niceties like BR or LMS pale compared to them being sold in GWR, LNER, or Southern livery, as most commercial offerings in locos were in those days.

As it stands it is the BR version, and may have all sorts of alterations by the builder done to the parts. The boxes in the workshop contained LMS and BR versions in various states, mainly rejects from Herne Bay by the 70's. The sides on their own were stamped out oversize to allow both patterns to be stamped in a flypress for the windows etc. then trimmed to size, which I doubt was dead scale.

Some were prepared for sale as replacement bodies for the Hornby BR 264, but it did not fit well, and needed a lot of work to fit.

 

Stephen