The Locomotive workshop - a tale of contract work
Entry posted by drduncan
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It all started innocently enough - a gentle enquiry from a fellow club member about whether I'd be interested in converting RTR stuff to EM - not for him, naturally, but he'd had an approach from a third party and was it something I'd consider? Oh and I'd get paid for it too...
Well as an EM modeller, I'd done a few RTR re-wheeling jobs including a GWR City for the Sage of Fareham so I said yes.
Here is the GWR City I did for the Sage of Fareham. I swapped the Bachmann 3000 gallon tender and a Hornby 3500 one on the basis that I'd a picture of a City in plain green (the livery intended by the Sage) and I needed a 3000 gallon tender for my 28xx. After quite a bit of cursing I had manged to make the different electrical gubbins compatible and the Sage went away happy to wield his air brush.
At the next area group meeting I was introduced to the third party and a deal was struck. I ended up sailing away on a sea of promises and expressions of mutual good will with a Hornby J15. Now the dark interior of East Anglia is something of a closed book to me and I had until this point cherished my ignorance of all things LNER (pre- grouping , post grouping or nationalisation its all the same - ie not GWR - to me).
Th conversion itself went reasonably well for a given value of problems, chief of which being the axles over length to assembling on a wheel press to the correct gauge, resulting in a brief spin in the club lathe. In fact the biggest problem was the wheel balance weights. In the end, I decided that if Hornby had modelled one with no balance weights then I would too - in the absence of any other information of instruction from the client.
I have to admit I rather enjoyed the task and the client was happy too.
The J15 appears to have got badly lost as it is posing on a fragment of the North and West route between Shrewsbury and Hereford, just outside the station of Hope-Under-Dinmore.
The next contract (of a sort) was a Brassmasters Easichas for the Hornby 42xx. I say or a sort because I sort of volunteered for it (and its almost finished - promise).
Then came a Bachmann 3F in P4 for the Gosport Guru. This went fine (after I'd got brutal with a dremel drill and the underside of the footplate).
Now it was time for some serious 'off piste' modelling - a Bachmann Jubilee in P4 with a replacement tender chassis to boot. I confess I have come to loathe Walscherts valve gear -return cranks will be the death of me. The tender was by Lanarkshire Model Supplies and a delight to build.
Now I'm working on a Bachmann Ivatt class 2 mogul (more outside knitting to wrestle with) and waiting in the wings is a GWR Hall! At last a sensible loco!!!
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