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No. 583

Dave John

Entry posted by Dave John

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I was asked about No. 583 , so it seems like a good opportunity for some thorough cleaning and maintenance. It started life as a couple of secondhand DJH models bought second in a box of half built “parts” . Some of the tender and detail parts were usable, the rest is in effect a scratchbuild.

So stripped down. The motor is from a cd player drawer mechanism, motor mount is bits of brass, I can’t remember where the worm and gear came from. Wheels and coupling rods are gibson, sprung hornblocks may well be too. The rest is just cobbled together. I use a fair amount of copperclad pcb board, strong and makes putting pickups in much simpler.

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And there we are, back in service. The polished condensing pipes may or may not be accurate, I have one pic in which they seem to be shiny. Either way CR drivers were noted for polishing up bits of engine, the go faster customisation of the day.

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5&9Models

That's great, what a lovely loco and a very creative bit of recycling!

There can't be too many examples of condensing tender engines? I wouldn't have thought the arrangement was very practical in practice?

Chris

 

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Londontram

That's an absolute beauty Dave a credit to you, I believe the condensing pipes were unpainted copper and as you say being a Caley loco the pipe would have been polished. Of interest I seem to recall reading that the tender filler cap had to have a securing screw as the water could start to boil and lift it if the condenser was used for to long a period for the same reason the water level indicator on the tender had to be a specially sealed one. The only other major down fall which affected all condensing locos was that the injectors could fail as loco injectors don't work if the water was to hot which is why there was a water feed pump on the left hand firebox side the air brake pump being in the normal place on the right hand firebox side.

   There's a posed picture of 583 in MacLeod's book "McIntosh locomotives of the Caledonian railway"

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Compound2632
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Are there any other instances of condensing tender locos? - in the British Isles, at least.

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Dave John
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Hmm, I have never seen any compound2632. Just 5 of the 83 strong 709 class were condensing versions.  As Steve says the caley condensing engines all tended to suffer from the injectors not working as the stored water got hot. There is a good pic on p 135 of "Caledonian Railway Livery" by Jim MacIntosh which shows the feedwater pump and its piping clearly. Other CR condensers, such as the 92 class were also fitted with them. ( I think the CR had 58 condensing engines, shout at me if I have added it up wrong. 

 

I quote from Jim Smellies notes on the 1 class;

 

"Despite management strictly enforcing the use of the condensing gear on the low-level section many drivers disregarded the rule — so much so that 15 drivers were reported within a three week period and the 6 worst offenders were suspended (without pay) for a day. At several meetings the drivers protested that so much time was spent filling up the tanks that they didn’t have time to eat on the job.  "

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Sulzer Bear

That's looking lovely, the lining is absolute crisp!

I have still a couple of Caley 0-6-0 tender engines in the stash, but going to depict BR era locomotives my painting surely doesn't need as much skill!

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Dave John
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The lining is Modelmaster LNER which is a bit too white for the CR, but the closest available atm. 

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