If you recall at the last missive, I was looking forward to the Chris Kedgley Skills Day, held at West Byfleet. I thought that it went very well and seemed to be enjoyed by all who attended. If there is another, and I hope that there will be, then it will be held possibly further north. However I do hope that another skills day is held at this location again, as an often heard comment at the end of the day was that visitors didn’t get around to seeing everyone as there so much to see and take in.

The EMGS had a small stand selling the remainder of Chris’s stock (it is slowly going down) as well as some of Ewen Croswelliers collection. I came away with an unmade DJH kit of Standard Class 5. More of that later.

Superpig 76010 ran around the test track and didn’t let itself down. I threatened it into performing by taking with me a toolbox with all the correct tools just in case it did. There were lots of kind comments about it and 76009 that I also took along as there were one or two people who wanted to see it in the flesh having read about it here.

Picture of 76010 running around the test-track. Someone pointed out that it has no cab...Blooming Rivet Counters.

I have to admit that number ten is an improvement on number nine and there is now a growing list of small modifications that will have be made to bring number nine up to scratch. Notably the addition of sandboxes and opening up the hole in the chimney.

In the weeks since then progress has been slow. Number ten has spent an awful long time in the paint shop. It seems that there have been a few problems with the painting. However it is now back in the workshop being finished off.

Photos, back from paint. Note that the cab is temporally held on with tape.

I am a lot happier with the paint on ten than I was with number nine. The tender lining is more subtle. I think that it was the use of gloss paint that I then buffed up before applying the transfers. Over this are the satin varnishes. Eventually this will be weathered.

Next comes the detailing and all that pipe work. Someone at the skills day, who much admires standards, commented that it is this bit that really takes the time and effort. I have to agree, it is the proverbial third half, but an enjoyable one as you can see the model take on the character of the prototype.

I shall bring both locos with me to ExpoEM where number ten can have another go on the test track. Hopefully looking more complete...perhaps this time with the cab fitted.

Meanwhile, onto that Class 5.

Photo. A sound purchase.

I have never done a DJH kit, I never thought that I would be good enough, but here I am with such a beast. Ewan had obtained the kit some years ago, the packing list is dated 1989, and it still had the original price tag on it £67.66p. Today this kit retails at £129. To my surprise the kit was not only complete but also had in it a set of Gibson wheels, an alternative front step as well as etches for the number 73052 and the shed 71G. In fact Ewan was so keen on modelling this loco that he had purchased the front number plate twice.

The first part of building any model is to check out the prototype and before purchase check that the desired model is appropriate for to the period and location. This latter point I didn’t do because of the limited time to purchase, or an impulse buy. The kit makes up into a BR standard class 5 with a BR1, BR1H or BR1G tender.

My intention is that the loco will run on Swaynton which if you are not aware is a layout based on the line between Bournemouth and Southampton in the first half of 1960.

The first thing to check out was 73052 and 71G. Here, at first, things didn’t make sense. According to my 1960 copy of Ian Allan loco-spotting book 71G is Weymouth but 73052 was based at Bath. Further reading found that she had spent her whole life at Bath but did run regularly down the Somerset and Dorset line to Bournemouth. Had Ewan got the shed code wrong? A little more research and I found that 71G was indeed Bath shed until the regional reorganisation in 1958 when Bath was transferred from the Southern Region to the Western and Weymouth shed was transferred from the Western to the Southern Regions. At the same this time that the shed codes changed and 71G code transferred from Bath to Weymouth. So Ewan’s plan was to make a Bath based engine, sometime before 1958. Ok so that leaves me with a wrong shed plate or a wrong loco for the chosen period of 1960. 73052 would have only worked into Bournemouth West and so in 1960 would not have gone east of that point and would have been unlikely to have found her way passing through Swaynton.

So on with the hunt for a suitable prototype to match the kit. That is a Standard Class 5 with either a BR1, BR1H or BR1G tender. Now I knew that class 5’s were based at Nine Elms and worked Waterloo Bournemouth expresses but they all had BR1B tenders.

I found the website http://www.brdatabase.info/very helpful in this research and soon came up with a list of locomotives that had suitable tenders and had a strong chance of being in the location at the correct period. I ended up with 5 candidates all fitted with BR1 tenders and based at Weymouth. Well at least I have a shed plate for it. They were; 73018, 73020, 73022, 73041 & 73042.

The question now is did they run east of Bournemouth?

Fortunately my local library has a large section of railway books and so I took anything that referred to Standard class 5s and also a copy of Goughs working timetables. He has published the WTT for the South-Western Mainline for 1966 which is not too far from 1960. I am still lacking a WTT for 1960 (can anyone help please?) but I can compare this against the passenger timetable for early 1960 and can make a good guess as to the workings. The educated guess is that a Weymouth based Class 5 working turn 442 would take the 3:55pm from Bournemouth Central to Eastleigh arriving at 5:19pm and returning on the 7:22pm (arrives 9:34pm). It also looks like that this is the only working east of Bournemouth for a Weymouth based class 5 as, apart from the workings west all the main movements seem to terminate at Bournemouth West and Central.

To back this up there is a picture of 73018 at Eastleigh in the “Standard Class 5” book by David Clarke. It has an early emblem and looks like it was taken in either 1959 or 1960. Either way with a photo like that I have a strong candidate for the model. The photo is a good study of the engine and rear of the tender. All I need now is a clear photo of the other side and the front. There is also a photo on David Hays website of 73018 in the New Forest, carrying a Waterloo/ Bournemouth Head code with Blood and custard stock. http://www.davidheyscollection.com/page37.htmfurther evidence that this is a good candidate? It certainly places it in the late 50’s and in the correct location.

I have been hunting the web for other images and have started to piece together some of the detail changes for 73018 as she was in 1960. The first is that I think she may have still been carrying the Lion Over Wheel emblem on the tender. That no speedometer was fitted and certainly no overhead warning flashes. The steps would have been fitted to the top rear of the tender. ATC would have been fitted and that requires a Battery box, a pipe fixed to the running plate, contact shoe on the front bogie (I need a picture of this) and the circular fitting on top of the exhaust ejector. (Drawing close up picture would be helpful or even if anyone does this as an after market fitting).

So the next step is to happily hunt through the various photo collections seen at model railway shows and various books with photo essays featuring Weymouth Locomotives. Hopefully I can find some nice pictures 73018 or at least some of the other candidates in service at this date.

Meanwhile I have started to assemble the loco so as to assess the kit, its fittings and to start making up a shopping list. The white-metal fittings in the kit are ok but there are now finer fittings on the market and so these will be replaced. For a start there will be turned chimney and sprung buffers. Boiler fittings will come from Alan Gibson and I will also need a motor and gearbox. More details and progress next time.

Meanwhile here is a snap of the body, cab and tender roughly formed and tacked together. This is so that I can start to think about how much space I have for motors and gear boxes.

See you at ExpoEM.