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About this blog

This blog complements my Pre-Grouping Blog by covering my modelling activities in the Broad Gauge era of the Great Western Railway.  As with the earlier blog, I intend to cover the various methods by which I construct elements of the Broad Gauge scene.  For more background see https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blogs/entry/17705-a-different-type-of-railway/

 

Entries in this blog

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Cautionary Tales – 2

Last year (October 2021) I wrote a post under this same title in which I referred to the need for caution, when making models based on published drawings. In some cases, even manufacturers’ drawings, especially in the early days, can be suspect, since the finished product was based more on the skills of individual craftsmen, who trusted their practical knowledge over that emerging from the drawing office!   When I designed my recent model of ‘Vulcan’, I derived the dimensions from sket
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Vulcan – first in steam

I hadn’t intended to make another model so soon after my previous post but, having read about ‘Vulcan’ being the first engine in steam on the GWR, on 28th December 1837, I felt I should add it to my collection.   Since 'Vulcan' was a sister engine to 'Aeolus', which I have already modelled, I could re-use many of the parts I had already designed, so this was a fairly quick re-build.   My model of 'Aeolus' was based on the 1843 rebuild of the prototype, after the original vers
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In the Beginning ...

When I started my first pre-grouping blog in 2013, I entitled my first post “Turning Back the Clock”. Ever since then, I seem to have been turning it further and further back, until I’ve reached the very first engines of the GWR.   Some early GWR Engines   Although the story of Swindon Works is well documented and there is some information and illustrations of the first establishment at Paddington, I have so far found virtually nothing about the original engine-house at West
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Printing ‘Eagle’

In my previous post, describing my design method, I wrote:  “This method also means that I do not need to make any of my own measurements but simply rely on the drawing being accurate and traceable”   A lot of early railway drawings were far from accurate!  I found the following in a collection belonging to William Strickland, an American architect:     According to Wikipedia, “William Strickland's Reports are the starting point of American railway engineering, and
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Modelling the Broad Gauge ‘Eagle’

Over the summer, I had little time for modelling, although I did continue with my reading, especially about the early engines of the GWR. Although these have been widely dismissed as ‘freaks’, this term only really applied to a very few examples and most were simply too small, because the manufacturers were attempting to meet Brunel's weight specifications, which were virtually impossible.   At that time in the late 1830s, locomotive design was still in its infancy but a few manufactur
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Aeolus in Context

At the end of my previous post , I wrote that the engine and tender would next enter the paint shop. Because the various major components (boiler, firebox, etc.) were all printed separately and simply plugged together, it was easy to paint each part in its appropriate colour, with no masking required.   I use acrylic paints, which I like to apply in the manner of water colour. I use an alcohol/water mix to ‘wet’ the surface and then add pigment to achieve the desired depth of colour. F
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Aeolus Chassis and Tender

I constructed the chassis for my Aeolus model from several separately printed components:   Outside frames, with rivet detail Inside frames, with splasher tops Front Buffer beam, linking frames Rear drag-bar and footplate, linking frames   After printing these parts, I fused them together by welding the seams using a fine-tip soldering iron set to 200°C. This proved easier than I expected, partly because the PLA plastic has low thermal conductivity, so i
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Aeolus Valve Gear

Interpreting the Valve Motion   At the end of my previous post, I commented on the surprising layout of the valve gear, as shown on the Lane sketches. The Works drawing of the engine, as originally designed, shows a more usual arrangement, with the weigh-bar placed under the boiler behind the smokebox.   Following further research, however, I have re-interpreted the drawings of Aeolus by E.T. Lane and have, therefore, revised this post on 16th April.   According to
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Creating a ‘Freak’

I completed the draft of this post just before RMWeb went off-line, during its transfer to a new hosting service.  I have made more modelling progress during the last 10 days, so will upload a follow-up article, once I have seen that the current post has settled down in its new home.   Last year, in May 2021, I wrote a post in my blog called ‘From the Stars to Fire Fly’. I drew on contemporary illustrations by E.T. Lane to show some of the engines to which I referred. I now find myself
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Bodies & Components

I’ve had one or two messages from people who say they have enjoyed reading through my blogs. I should therefore sound a note of caution, especially in the field of 3D printing – my posts follow my own, often halting, progress along a learning curve and I still feel myself to be a long way from an end-point. I was looking back at some of my earlier designs and although they came out reasonably well in the end, my methods were something of a ‘dog’s breakfast’. I hope you won’t repeat too many of m
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Creating a Pantechnicon

Even after a long career in research, I am still frequently surprised by the new information that emerges from small beginnings!   After completing my Britzka model, I placed it on my BG carriage truck model for some photos. The Britzka was rather a tight fit between the truck rails, so I went back to Eddy’s Data Sheets from the Broad Gauge Society (BGS) to check the dimensions. It turned out that it is my carriage at fault and I shall revise my model to make it a little narrower (easy
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Brunel's Britzka - part 2

At the end of the previous post I had printed a set of parts, which needed to be assembled into the complete carriage. I must admit that it was a bit of a shock to see how tiny some of the parts can be in reality, when they had looked quite substantial on the computer screen!   The springs were by far the smallest parts but I had chosen to print them separately so that they could lie flat on the printer bed. This orientation ensured that the hollow centres of the elliptic springs would
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Brunel's Britzka

It’s some time since I modelled horse drawn vehicles but recent discussion on @Mikkel's blog raised my interest in the subject again.  In Janet Russell’s book: ‘Great Western Horse Power’, there is a photograph of the Britzka carriage in which Brunel travelled while surveying the route of his planned Great Western Railway.       This vehicle caught my imagination and the first question it raised was: “what on earth was a Britzka?”. The question led me to research many l
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Extending my 3D Modelling

3D- Printed Track Base   At the beginning of the year, my thoughts turned towards making some track for my Broad Gauge (BG) models. I have already built a short section of track using traditional methods but I decided to see if 3D printing could help.   After some experimentation in the early days of the GWR, the design of prototype broad gauge track settled into the form shown below:   Construction of Broad Gauge Track   The longitudinal baulks were
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Into the New Year

A New Year opens up all sorts of new possibilities!  I spent much of last year discovering what I could do by means of 3D printing.  In fact, it now seems as though almost any prototype is within my reach – at least in terms of static display models.   I have given one of my recent model photos, the ‘early photograph’ look, as shown below: ‘Argus’ and ‘Rob Roy’ at Bullo Pill   The only additional model I have printed since my last post was a 4-wheel tender for ‘Argus’, w
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A Year in Retrospect

Last year, as 2020 drew towards its close and we prepared for the holiday season, I showed a collection of my North Leigh engines ‘on shed’. I think that, at that time, we were all hoping that the difficulties caused by Covid would soon be over. Sadly, as another year draws to its close, we are still in a period of uncertainty, waiting to learn what sort of threat the latest variant may pose.   Whatever else has happened, I have found plenty of time to practise my modelling abilities w
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‘Sir Watkin’ for Bullo Pill

As the end of another year approaches, I’ve been looking back over the last few rather strange years, very much influenced by the Covid-19 virus. As it happens, 2019 was also the year when I acquired my 3D-printer and embarked on a new phase of model-making. Lock-down provided me with ample opportunity to practise 3D-model making.   A couple of years before that, I had moved my attention to the Broad Gauge era of the GWR, following the discovery that several of my wife’s ancestors work
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A Coal Wagon for Bullo Pill

When I started to build my model of one the Broad Gauge ‘Bogie-class’ engines, it was purely on a whim, because I was attracted by their jolie-laide appearance. At that time, I thought they were South Devon engines, generally confined to the West Country.   I had brought my model close to completion when some further research revealed that they were also familiar engines in the Bullo Pill area, which was exactly where I had started my Broad Gauge modelling!   My model of
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Cautionary Tales

Accuracy of Drawings   In an earlier post, I wrote: “I used the same method that I described in my previous post to extrude the saddle tank from a drawing – this time a pencil sketch by F.J.Roche, reproduced in the ‘Broadsheet’ article. This drawing was useful for the front elevation but I feel the drawing in Mike Sharman’s compilation by the Oakwood Press is more dependable for the side elevation.”   Some recent correspondence within the Broad Gauge Society (BGS) e-group sug
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An Ugly Duckling – 4

Now, wake up at the back there, @Mikkel, this is a new post on this subject.   At the end of my previous post, I wrote “Next, I shall turn my attention to designing and constructing a suitable chassis.”, so that’s the subject for today.   Frames   The frames of these early engines were rather unusual in that they stopped short in front of the leading drivers. The front bogie was attached directly to the boiler in traction-engine style. The frames were also quite lig
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An Ugly Duckling - 3

If my last post was about ‘making choices’, the subject of this one is definitely ‘rivets’. These earlier engines seem to have been covered in the things so, thank goodness, 3D-printing software tools have come to my aid in reproducing them all. In fact I only had to draw one or two and all the rest were produced by tools such as ‘pattern on path’ which instantly created long rows of the things, following the contours of the surface on which they are placed. There must be at least 350 rivets on
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An Ugly Duckling – Part Two

As I commented to @Mikkel, following my previous post on this project, this bit of modelling was a spur-of-the-moment idea after a fallow period when I was lacking imagination.    It was triggered by a post on @Annie’s thread about modelling one of the B&ER 4-4-0ST engines but now I’m not sure whether this is the prototype I want to model. While thinking about the possibilities, I came across an appraisal of Broad Gauge 4-4-0ST engines in an early issue of the Broad Gauge Society m
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An Ugly Duckling

Having been inspired by a recent post by @Annie, I’m having a go at creating a 3D-print of one of those ‘ugly-duckling’ 4-4-0STs, much liked in the West Country as very successful engines.   As usual, I’m applying ‘quick and dirty’ methods, to create as much as possible by extruding ‘bodies’ from existing drawings – in this case those by Ian Beattie, reproduced in the Broad Gauge Society magazine ‘Broadsheet No.73’   I imported the front-elevation drawing as a ‘canvas’ into ‘
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Easy-Peasy Carriage Build

Easy-Peasy Carriage Build or ‘How to build a carriage with no drawing, no measuring, and little time’   One of the vehicles I wanted to add to my collection for use with my ‘Firefly’-class locomotive was the early type of 6-wheel ‘open’ 2nd-class carriage. There is a full-size replica at Didcot Railway Centre, as shown below:   Didcot Railway Centre – Replica ‘Fire Fly’ and train   At first glance, those panelled sides might look to be a modeller’s nightmare but 3D
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Fire Fly class - Part Five

Adding some details   After a rather intensive period of model building, I’ve slowed down a little, while other activities have called for my attention. The train of early Broad Gauge vehicles, including the Posting Carriage etc. still raise a smile as I pass by them on their shelf. They are, however, still waiting for their engine, so I need to press on with my ‘Fire Fly’ class model.   my three recent GWR Broad Gauge models   I always find that momentum is ea
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