I first saw this loco on Google images, its character appealed to me together with its somewhat unusual wheel configuration, only found in locomotives built in the late 19th early 20th centuries, indeed this one being designed and built in 1902 by Andrew Barclay sons &Co.

On doing further research I found out it was built for use on the Liskeard and Looe Railway which was taken over by the GWR in 1905 where upon 1308 was transferred to Oswestry and latterly worked from Machynlleth shed from where it was scrapped in 1948, a great pity, being the only one of its type built and would grace many a preserved railway now.

It underwent changes by GWR in 1929 and was fitted with a new boiler. Compared images show the different pipework associated with the new boiler, some slight change to the bunker/footplate area and the nameplates re-positioned higher up on the sides of the tanks.

here's the link to the Rail UK website giving details and a picture

http://www.railuk.info/gallery/notes/getimage.php?id=2176

If you troll through these images you can see the different photos comparing the two

https://www.google.com/search?q=liskeard+and+looe+railway&hl=en&tbo=d&rlz=1C2RNNN_enFR363&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Q-XyUIGEIKrA0QXgs4DgAQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAA&biw=1280&bih=685&nbsp

So, after finishing the paintwork on the Double Fairlie [DF]and waiting for the lining sheets etc to arrive I got to work on a scratch build of this particular loco. I might add that several kits seemed to have been produced and photos are available in the above link.

First came some sort of drawing or plan, well I couldn't find any plans available so it was down to re-sizing the print out I had. The only dimensions I could find were the wheels which were 48" driving wheels 31" leading wheels so using the 48" I measured the driving wheels in the photo this measurement was 25mm

48" divided by 25mm = 1.92

1.92 = 1 inch so 12 inches = 6.25

Scale of photo = 6.25 /1

I then proceeded to take all the measurements in the photo, [which was more or less side on with minimal foreshortening] and convert them to 4mm scale by dividing by 6.25 and then multiplying by 4, the resulting measurements were written on another copy and these were used for the build. Perhaps not for the purist but good enough for me

I intended using one of the Hornby 0-4-0 chassis rejected from the initial trials with the [DF]. These had been shortened and modified but were still perfectly serviceable and were subsequently lengthened and fitted with spoke bogie wheels,again discarded from the DF project.So, lets see some photos.

This one shows the re-calculated dimensions marked on a photocopy, these subsequently had to be adjusted slightly due to the wheel base of the chassis being larger than the scale measurement on the drawing, there was no way out of this and added approximately 5mm to the overall length

This one shows the elongated chassis [front] with the bogie wheelset mounted underneath by two brackets made from some spare brass electrical contact strip, attached with 2 part epoxy.

I then cut out a base plate from 0.010 and 0.050 plasticard laminated together for greater rigidity made a template from card for the cab/tank sides using my trusty 1 hole punch for the cab windows, I used this as a pattern for the actual parts cut from 0.010 and attached the first side to the base plate using Humbrol Poly Cement.

It was after the adhesive had gone off I realized despite being quite clearly marked that I'd attached the cab at the wrong end of the base plate!

Not wanting to destroy my work so far I opted to re-cut the base and fill in the other end so putting right what was wrong.

I used a short length of 16mm copper tube as a former for the boiler. I used 0.050 plasticard making several turns each secured with poly cement this served twofold, one, it added rigidity and two, increased the diameter to 18mm as per the drawing measurement. I then cut away the underside to make the required space for the can motor to fit into.

to be continued