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GWR 2-4-0 Metro Tank - blast from the past


Brassey

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Like a lot of my stash, this is like the fisherman's knife that's had 3 new blades and 2 new handles but still the same knife.  I bought the Metro kit donkey's years ago and scratchbuilt a chassis in EM.  Then swiftly moved to P4 and scratchbuilt a compensated P4 chassis.  Then bought a new chassis and then bought an etched kit. 

 

The original EM chassis had Ultrascale wheels which the EM Gauge Society sold at the time.  I recently put the EM wheels on the scratchbuilt P4 chassis to see if they would be usable and coxed around my P4 layout.  Ultrascale wheels are nice and I was loathed not to use them.

 

Scratchbuilt P4 chassis with EM wheels:

 

IMG_E0374.jpg.076c4ae17975ecc528d5142ad795eb44.jpg

 

Having satisfied myself that it might work, I thus embarked on another distraction of building not one but two Metros including rebuilding the whitemetal one.

 

I have two chassis from the Rod Neep/Perseverance stable (the etch is dated 1986!).  Herewith the second on my trusty Hobby Holidays jig.  This one has twin beam compensation and dummy valve gear.

 

IMG_0404.jpg.d772d944b33412469364ec1e8ef45597.jpg

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Nice to see the old Finecast Metro again. Or the box at least!

 

This adds a whole new dimension to the philosophical discussion of the fisherman's knife/old broom: If you replace all the parts and then use the replaced parts to make a second identical object, then which is which and what is still the same? I need to lie down :)

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1 hour ago, Mikkel said:

Nice to see the old Finecast Metro again. Or the box at least!

 

This adds a whole new dimension to the philosophical discussion of the fisherman's knife/old broom: If you replace all the parts and then use the replaced parts to make a second identical object, then which is which and what is still the same? I need to lie down :)

 

Surely Mikkel the old broom handle was never discarded but used for something else!  And so it continues - In these days of austerity/lockdown/80% salary furlough, I have become even more mean than usual and have looked to reusing things that I once discarded but never actually got rid of.  OK I'm a hoarder.  So this Wills Metro kit may have a London Road Models gearbox which I abandoned some time ago in favour of High Level boxes.   I've so many of the LRM versions, I thought I'd put them to use.  This Frankenstein's monster will also have the bunker from an M&L 633 kit that I decided long ago was surplus to requirements (the front sandboxes of that are on my Beyer Goods, the chimney went elsewhere long ago).

 

The jury is still out on the EM Ultrascale wheels and whether they will run on my dodgy P4 track.  If that fails, I do have a couple of axles of Gibson 5' 2" P4 wheels left over after I broke a set trying to get them off a Dean Goods!

 

Anyway I seem to enjoy trying to make silk purses out of these pigs ears rather than attacking the pristine newer kits in their boxes.  I must build some carriages though!

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I thought normal GW practice was that it was all down to the frames, if it has the original frames then it is still the same engine, everything else was interchangeable.

 

 

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P4 chassis with EM wheels!!!! Heresy!!!!!! Heresy!!!! Burn the heretic!!!!!!  The P4 mafia will have you excommunicated, your collection of S4 Society newsletters will be shredded before your eyes and then the heavy mob will be sent round to carry out a full audit of number and location of rivets applied to locos.  Someone contact MRJ!  Oh wait a minute....

 

[EMers (and I think Martin Goodall who I believe wrote THAT article in MRJ) will probably shrug their shoulders and go ‘if it works fill yer boots.’]

 

D

 

 

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Although I must confess to a weakness for the small and large metro ever since seeing one pictured in the late Victorian early Edwardian period at Newquay with a train consulting of a 6w clerestory luggage composite at each end of a bogie brake tri-comp.  

 

Happily, pI got a Metro in a job lot of built non runners.  I’ve stripped it down but it will need a new chassis if I keep it: it has a cast white metal one at the moment.  
 

D

 

 

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6 hours ago, drduncan said:

Although I must confess to a weakness for the small and large metro ever since seeing one pictured in the late Victorian early Edwardian period at Newquay with a train consulting of a 6w clerestory luggage composite at each end of a bogie brake tri-comp.  

 

Happily, pI got a Metro in a job lot of built non runners.  I’ve stripped it down but it will need a new chassis if I keep it: it has a cast white metal one at the moment.  
 

D

 

 

My kit came with a cast whitemetal chassis but I never used it. I scratchbuilt at least 2 for it. I think that South Eastern Finecast probably do an etched chassis for it. 
 

I was going to say I was open to offers for the EM Ultrascale wheels but they went into the paint shop this morning. Currently waiting for the primer to dry. 

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The kits are now in the Revised Southeastern Finecast range, not only supporting new etched brass chassis but may have a few more cast details. I have 2 Wills Metro tanks waiting for me to buy etched chassis for them, both came with the old cast chassis blocks.

 

One I bought very cheaply, it had been built but dropped and the body had snapped in two where the tanks end (the footplate being part of the tank and cab sides) Previous owner(s) failed to repair it. As it had Romford wheels and a decent motor I thought at worst all I had to do was buy new sides, however at the second attempt I successfully soldered both sides together after taking the body back to a kit of parts. On reflection had the boiler been soldered to the tanks it may have suffered a dent only.

 

Still I will look on keenly at your build

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21 hours ago, hayfield said:

Still I will look on keenly at your build

 

Not too sure it's worth putting much up but I've added the next stage to the blog.  If I'd put a coat of Johnsons Klear on a Hornby RTR loco they'd be 100's of comments!  There does not seem to be much interest in actually modelling something.

 

(NB: Not bought any RTR since my brother and I had a layout in our bedroom and that's a long time ago)

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I think many follow standard posts rather than blogs, simply as they are easier to follow

 

I assume there are far more who use RTR rather than kits, so the audience is larger, just start a standard thread and let kit builders share the experience and comment on the progress. You never know you might tempt the odd person to dip their toe in kit building

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3 hours ago, hayfield said:

I think many follow standard posts rather than blogs, simply as they are easier to follow

 

I assume there are far more who use RTR rather than kits, so the audience is larger, just start a standard thread and let kit builders share the experience and comment on the progress. You never know you might tempt the odd person to dip their toe in kit building

 

Standard thread is here: Locos workbench: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/124584-gwr-lnwr-pre-grouping-4mm-locos-workbench/

Edited by Brassey
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