Early 0-4-2 banking engine
Entry posted by 5&9Models
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In the Summer 2016 edition of the Brighton Circular I posed a question regarding the identity of a loco illustrated in Samuel Brees' 'Railway Practice' 1846. His claim that the drawing was of London & Croydon Railway locomotive 'Croydon' was clearly an error and thanks to the perpetuation of this mistake by E. L. Ahrons and others, it's identity has never really been queried.
Thankfully my article sparked a bit of debate and some excellent responses were written in subsequent Circulars. Unfortunately the conclusion was that we know what this loco was not, but who built it (if it was ever actually built) and the Railway it was built for remain a complete mystery.
When I started the model, I was happily convinced it was 'Croydon' built by Rennies for the New Cross incline, and on that basis I determined to complete it. However, now it's somewhat enigmatic and I think I like it even more!
The model itself is in 4mm scale to EM standards. Power is by a slightly modified but very sweet running (thanks to the benefits of running it in long before installation) Portescap RG4. The motor is a sliding fit inside the brass tube and veneer boiler, with the gearbox hidden inside the smoke of driving the leading axle. The second axle carries flangeless wheels as per the drawing and the trailing axle and tender wheels are wagon/coach wheels since these are appropriately more dainty than loco/tender wheels: all wheels are Gibson.
The frames are cut from brass with 5thou styrene overlays to allow for rivet detailing etc. I confess I struggled a bit with the construction of the motion, the first incarnation was chopped off and started all over again as it never ran smoothly however much I swore at it! The assorted round bits were turned in the lathe, I wouldn't want to tackle a loco like this without one.
It all dismantles into sub units; the boiler with motor and gearbox which can be slid out if required. The outside frames with motion and smokebox etc. And the inside frames with the final drive gear, wheels etc.
The tender is entirely conjectural. There is no tender illustrated with the original drawings so I made one up (which was great fun by the way) based on standard practice for the period including a lever operated brake which I imagine was almost entirely useless! Sprung buffers and a bunker full of real coke complete the model.
The smokebox front is very odd indeed. I've kept to the original drawings which show a convex front bolted all the way around. Either this is a very early attempt at streamlining (unlikely) or simply another error. Surely the cleaner was not expected to undo 48 individual bolts just to brush the tubes?!
I completed the model on the last day of 2017 so 2018 is clear for the next loco. This will be a Bury Goods 0-4-0, watch this space....!
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