[Great Western]

Nice that my freelance No.5 sparked off some inspiration for your own interesting Broad Gauge freelance 4-2-4T engines Isambird.

I originally assembled it from a collection of parts that weren't really meant to fit together to create a track testing locomotive for the Trainz simulator, but as it happen it turned out to be a reasonably useful engine to have on the roster.

 

 

 

[Pearson 4-2-4T – Part Four]

Absolutely impressive that you were able to figure all that out Mike.  As you say it makes you wonder how they assembled the locomotive in the first place with all those bits and pieces needing to be fitted together with no main frames for them to be attached to.

[Pearson 4-2-4T – Part Two]

Quote

This suspension anticipated Alex Moulton’s work for the Austin Mini by more than a century! 

That really made me smile Mike.  Plainly the rubber suspension must've worked, but how well and what maintenance issues there were with it would have well and truly lost to the mists of the past by now I suppose.

At least there is the sectional drawing in The Engineer as a reference as without that much of these amazing engines construction would be a complete mystery.

 

Quote

I think this model is beginning to capture something of the ‘presence’ that the original engines must had.

 

It's most certainly doing that, - excellent work Mike and I'm looking forward to further developments.

[Pearson’s 4-2-4T – Part One]

24 minutes ago, MikeOxon said:

It's going to be a tough build but the bogie has served to get me going.

I hadn't realised that the bogies had independent India rubber springs.  It certainly makes for a very neat and tidy arrangement.

[Pearson’s 4-2-4T – Part One]

Now this is a pleasant surprise.  Well done and thank you Mike for turning your attention towards Pearson's magnificent well tanks.

[William Dean's Express Tank]

8 hours ago, MikeOxon said:

According to RCTS Part Two, No.12 had a total wheelbase of 25' 1" and 7' 6" diameter driving wheels.  As GWR No 2005 this engine was not withdrawn until December 1885.  There is a photograph in the BGS Magazine BROADSHEET vol.48 (Autumn 2002)

Oh wow! - you found a picture of No.12.  I wasn't a member of BGS in 2002 so I've not seen this old photo before.

 

Returning to Dean's No.9 I can plainly see why a long narrow engine with full length side tanks standing on narrow gauge coal cart gauge tracks was going to be doomed to failure.  The Dean 4 wheel bogie wasn't exactly the most brilliant piece of work either.

 

I still like your interpretation of No.9 though.

[Paddington Engine House 1840]

7 hours ago, crompton said:

I am loving this virtual railway modelling.  It lends itself perfectly to collaboration. 

 

Is the engine shed and turntable pit  the same one that was rediscovered when they were doing the Cross Rail works?

 

https://www.thisispaddington.com/article/brunels-great-western-railway-revealed

 

Cheers

I think that engine shed and turntable are from a later time period going by the dates quoted in the article.

[Paddington Engine House 1840]

11 minutes ago, MikeOxon said:

They were really having to feel their way when trying to cope with the requirements of those new-fangled railways 🙂

Yes it's easy for us to pass judgement with the benefits of hindsight, but we have to remember that railways on this kind of scale had never been done before.  Even the most talented engineers of the day were having to play best guesses as to what might be the way ahead.

[Paddington Engine House 1840]

Excellent work Mike.  An investigative industrial archaeology project with a great result.

[Paddington Station 1840]

This is Steve Flanders's Broad Gauge Intermediate Station based on the circa 1850s proposed plans for Cheltenham Station.  The NRCA were the source of the plans, but they were such a mixed up old lot of different amended versions it was difficult for Steve to tell what the GWR had actually intended for Cheltenham.

Sorry for the none too clear image, but the station model is so darn big it was difficult to take a decent snap of it.  It does give the idea though that a model of Paddington could be possible.  I couldn't help noticing though that some of the drawings the NRCA had of the original station were more holes than drawing so it could be a wee bit of a challenge.

 

 

Turned the shadows off so you can see better.

 

 

[Paddington Station 1840]

44 minutes ago, MikeOxon said:

I'm very pleased you like my investigations into the earliest days of the GWR, Annie.  I can see that a lot of early Broad Gauge modelling has been done for the Trainz simulator and perhaps someone will follow up my findings to make a virtual working layout of Paddington.  It could be a great project.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Indeed it would be a great project Mike.  I know that Steve Flanders would be interested, but he has some health problems at present and has been taking time out from digital model making.  Hopefully when he's feeling better I'll be able to show him your research and see what he thinks.

[Paddington Station 1840]

Another wonderful research project Mike.  Once again you've pulled together what remains in the way of fragments of information and pieced it together into an excellent article.

[3 - BG Wagons - Sheep, Coke, & Coal]

Your virtual renders of these nine wagons are a great reference resource Mike.  I've considering making some 19th century goods wagons using Sketchup 8 for some time now and seeing what you have done here using Fusion 360 might just be the push I need to give it a go myself.

[3 - BG Wagons - Sheep, Coke, & Coal]

Oh I very much like your variations on a theme Mike.  Excellent work.

 

Edit: L.Haghe's lithograph with its idly chatting footplate crew is amusing.

[Broad Gauge Trio – 2nd Movement]

4 hours ago, MikeOxon said:

Thank you for posting these @Annie.  It looks as though Steve Flanders was delving into this early BG period long before I got into it 🙂. 

When TS2004 was released and Trainz folk tried their hand at content creation using GMax the GWR Broad Gauge was a popular subject.  The majority of Steve's models date from this time and one of major sources for drawings seems to have been Colburn's Locomotive Engineering volume II.  Some of the other surviving 19th century treatises on engineering seem to have been used as well, but Colburn seems to have been the popular choice.  Later on the BG Society became a source of drawings for Steve as well, but the majority of what he created was for the early period.

Among the last Broad Gauge models he made were 1870s and 1880s clerestory 8 and 6 wheel carriages and a rather magnificent 'Rover', - Prometheus. 

Steve also made two B&ER 6 wheel coaches and the amazing B&ER 8 ft singles Nos. 41 and 44.  I would have really liked it if he'd done more models from the B&ER since that's where my main Broad Gauge interest lies, but I suppose it's better than nothing.

 

Steve has given me permission to do anything I might want to do with his Broad Gauge models so I might try out doing some of the wagons in plain brown paint.

 

5 hours ago, MikeOxon said:

In a comment on an earlier post you wrote "I can't help wondering how easy it might be to turn them into models for Trainz." - I could now ask the opposite: Could Steve's models be made '3D printable'?

I had asked a couple of talented content creators for Trainz about this kind of thing before and it's not really possible, - or at least not without a lot of work.  The mesh surfaces on Trainz models are zero thickness since their only job is to support the texturing, - the visible paintwork.  So the answer to that one is, - sorry no.

[Broad Gauge Trio – 2nd Movement]

Another fascinating Broad Gauge article Mike.  It served to prompt me into digging out some of my Broad Gauge wagons by Steve Flanders.

 

I have six wheel wagons as well.

 

 

[A Broad-Gauge Trio of Wagons]

4 minutes ago, MikeOxon said:

I must give credit to the painstaking research carried out by the late Eddy Brown.  His data sheets and the publication 'Broadsheet'  provide ample reasons for anyone interested in the period to join the Broad Gauge Society.

 

It was your thread, Annie, that made me realise how much of the pleasure of modelling can be gained through use of 3D-modelling software.  It provides the means to appreciate how these early designs developed from their road-vehicle origins into the styles that persisted well into the 20th century. 

 

I have laid out the parts in such a way that they will all be printable, once I decide what to do with them all!

 

Mike

Yes I must agree Mike, - without the work done by the late Eddy Brown it would be considerably more difficult to model the Broad Gauge era.  I've just paid my BG Society sub for the year and while the exchange rate with the British pound took a good sized bite out of my budget I was only too glad to pay up so I could continue to access the society's invaluable resources.

 

Even though I used to make finescale brass models when I was in better health I really do have to comment that things are so much easier to do in the digital world.  No fuss, no mess, no burning my fingers or ending up with my clothing getting covered with brass filings and swarf.  In a way I do miss that kind of fine handwork, but it's no use moaning about what's impossible for me to do anymore.  Examining how something fits together is certainly easier to do in a 3D environment where parts can be readily adjusted for size and shape as opposed to spending hours cutting and filing metal.

Looking at your 3D Fusion models I can't help wondering how easy it might be to turn them into models for Trainz.  Steve Flanders made a collection of mid-19th century Broad Gauge models for Trainz almost a decade ago now and most of them seem to hold up well despite their age. 

 

You must have a considerable collection of Broad Gauge rolling stock parts by now.  I always enjoy reading your blog posts about assembling your printed models, but then I'm not having to find somewhere to put them once they are done.

[A Broad-Gauge Trio of Wagons]

Lovely 3D modelling work Mike and excellent research as always.

[Early GWR 'Absorbed' Engines]

I had a read through of your series on modelling No. 184 yesterday Mike.  Working in brass is like tales from another country compared with 3D modelling and printing.  That said though I certainly enjoyed reading those older articles as they reminded my of my own metalwork days with building both P4 and 'O' gauge locos.

 

Since no one else has said it yet, - 'Early GWR 'Absorbed' Engines' is another excellent and well researched article from your digital typewriter and will be an excellent reference that I'm very likely to return to.

[Early GWR 'Absorbed' Engines]

Those rebuilt OW&W engines are very appealing Mike.  It's a pity that most of them didn't make it into the 1900s.

[GWR ‘Sir Daniel’]

1 hour ago, stevel said:

Who's driving wheels did you use for these, I would like to build some singles but not sure where i can get the right wheels.

Most probably from a down on its luck Triang/Hornby Dean single.

[GWR ‘Sir Daniel’]

I must confess to liking the elegant simplicity of Joseph Armstrong's engines.

[Ultimate Pre-Grouping - Trevithick - Pt.2]

7 minutes ago, MikeOxon said:

The glue had not hardened and it had stuck itself firmly to the side of my sock!!! 

Oh dear, - talk about conspiring to be completely awkward.  To be perfectly honest as much as I did enjoy model making I don't miss the burnt fingers, dropping tiny bits that took ages to make, glue going in wrong places or the messes and spills.

[Ultimate Pre-Grouping - Trevithick - Pt.2]

In 4mm scale it's so darn tiny.  Amazing that you were able to print all those small fragile pieces and persuade them to fit together.  Seeing the Trevithick engine alongside Vulcan and Firefly not only shows how small it was, but also the advance in technology in 35 years.

[Ultimate Pre-Grouping - Trevithick]

Another fascinating article Mike.  I liked the title as well.

 

Plateway railways could end up being a rabbit hole I could get lost in.  Steve Flanders has made a small collection of digital plateway models for the Trainz simulator, - including as you might have guessed the Pen-y-daran engine.