Pierview

At last I have managed to complete the L1, and the finished result is shown here. The Model Master lining took me quite a long time to apply and it was not an exercise that I enjoyed on this occasion. I was not helped by the fact that I ran out of corner pieces and found great difficulty in getting replacements. I suspect that there are supply problems at present as none of my usual dealers had any in stock. In the end I managed to find a bespoke lining set for a standard tank and cut this up to get what I needed. Something of a waste and also a bit expensive but I could see no other way of completing the job quickly. As I didn't see any L1's in service, I had no particular engine that I wished to portray, and therefore decided on 31757 . This is a nod to Tri-ang as 31757 was also the identity of the original model which emerged from the Margate factory all those years ago. It has been an interesting exercise which didn't cost very much and I hope that I have achieved my objective of building a slightly better L1. The next project will involve a somewhat smaller locomotive, and more on that in due course. Barry

I remember reading an article written in the 1960's on a Kitmaster/Airfix Bulleid pacific motorisation which used a HD Duchess chassis. If I recall correctly, the author disguised the spoked wheels by slicing thin sections from the kit wheels which he then rubbed down to wafer thickness on a sheet of sand paper before gluing them on as overlays. Not for the faint hearted though! Barry

Thank you Virgil. I have never used any of the GBL range (in fact I don't even know the complete list!) but that sounds a useful source if I do a similar exercise in the future. Barry

Thank you, that's extremely useful!

Can anyone tell me whether the SR L1 class 4-4-0 's were LH or RH drive? Thanks Barry

Thanks Nick. Regarding a RTR chassis , I think you will find that the wheelbase of the 2P is slightly short (9' 6'' as opposed to 10''-0'') but the Hornby T9 is, I think, correct. It does, however, have traction tyres on one wheel set and problems with disintegrating motor mounts are widely known! A considerable improvement can be made to the old Tri-ang chassis by simply re-wheeling and adding a few details. If you want to dispense with the front boiler blanking plates and model the full boiler, as I have done, you would also need to get out the hacksaw and cut down the large cast weight to the top of the frames. Barry

The tender has now been reassembled with mounting plates added to secure the bolts that hold the inner chassis in position. Handrails and lamp brackets have been added, together with a brake column, the latter item being missing from the tender as acquired. The white metal tender is really too heavy for a small plastic bodied loco and it would make sense to use a lighter plastic bodied Bachmann version. I did look at this possibility but ridiculous prices were being asked and this is, after all, supposed to be an economy project! I have therefore stuck with the old Wills tender but for the moment have dispensed with the extra tender pick up as it was causing too much drag. I have now added front guard irons to the loco and these were fashioned from scrap brass strip. For better or worse the major work on this project is now completed, and I now await the weather to settle down to enable me to go outside and spray paint the loco and tender. To be continued. Barry T

Some nostalgic views there Cypherman! I seem to recall a 1960's article in the RM or MRC on converting an L1 to an LMS 2P but Tri-ang then went ahead with their own version. Barry

Thanks DCB. The steps are quite simple fabrications from scraps of NS sheet. I solder two pieces together then stick on cutouts from the photocopied plan and file round these. When I have the correct profile (remembering to leave enough material to fold over for the fixing tab) the two pieces are separated with the soldering iron. The tricky bit is soldering on the step treads, but these could of course be glued. Have a go - you might be pleasantly surprised! The Maunsell cranked in steps on Southern locomotives are very distinctive but so far as I know there are no etched versions available. Regarding the bogie, the wheelbase is correct and according to my plan the bogie is correctly located. I suspect that it looks short because I haven't yet fitted guard irons behind the buffer beam. These should close the gap somewhat I think . Having said this, there is only so far you can go with a conversion of this nature and I wouldn't pretend to get everything exactly right! Barry

The tender has emerged from it's soak in Dettol and has been broken down to the individual parts as shown. I find this process to be very satisfying even though it can be a messy business at times. Re-assembly commenced this evening and I hope to make more progress in the next few days. Barry

I have made some more progress on the L1 project. Whilst the tender remains pickled in Dettol I have pressed on with detailing the loco body. I found most of the bits I needed in my spares box but I did purchase the chimney, back head, safety valves and whistle as spares from PDK Models. However the latter two items will not be fitted until the body paintwork is completed. Other fittings were made from scratch, including the steps. I worked to an L1 drawing that was published as far back as the January 1961 Model Railway News. The front buffer beam on the Tri-ang moulding was decidedly skinny so I made this deeper by cementing a plasticard strip underneath. The buffer beam was then covered with an overlay of 0.005 brass sheet with rivet detail being suggested by pricking through from the reverse with a compass point. It could be better but hopefully will not look too bad when painted. A coat of paint covers a multitude of sins! The vast emptiness of the cab interior that was necessary to house the X04 motor on the original Tri-ang mechanism was filled in with plasticard, and the cast back head glued in place. The cab interior is no more than a typical representation, and whist it is not that accurate I am hoping that it will look the part when a crew is in place. My next move will be to fish the tender out of it's Dettol bath, and ,with luck, reduce it to component parts prior to a rebuild. More to follow in due course. Barry

I've started work on the loco body and have been busy attacking it with saw, files and emery boards. I removed the chimney, snifting valves, injectors, steps (or what was left of them), buffers , handrails and ejector pipe. I also fretted out the under boiler blanking plates which detract from the look of an otherwise quite good moulding. I expected to have to fill in the consequent gap under the boiler with curved plasticard, but, as luck would have it, I found a suitable white metal section in my scrap box. I must have cut this away from some long forgotten kit for motor clearance but it's origin is now a mystery. However, it fits perfectly and will be glued into position when the rebuild commences. Here is the body after conclusion of the surgery. There is a bit more cleaning up to do before I start the rebuild, with quite a lot of detailing to be done. Meanwhile the tender awaits a date with the paint stripper! Barry

I have always had a soft spot for the Tri-ang L1 4-4-0 which, when it was introduced in 1960, was that rarest of beasts, a ready to run Southern locomotive in 4mm scale. It is sobering to reflect that at the time of the model's introduction some of the prototype engines were still in service, albeit in their final year or so. I first saw the Tri-ang model in action in the summer of 1960 at the local model railway exhibition and immediately put one on my wanted list. That wish was granted at Christmas when I received a shiny new L1 as my main present from my parents. I still have it to this day and would not part with it, although it looks rather different these days with a detailed body, Romford wheels and a Wills tender. Despite these modifications, however. it still has the inherent Tri-ang faults of having front buffers that are too high and a cab full of X04 motor. Over the years several L1's have gone through my hands, including one which I have converted to an L, but for some time I have nurtured the idea of using another L1 body to create a more convincing model. The catalyst for starting this project was the chance purchase on E-bay of an assembled Wills Q tender painted in a strange colourful livery. It didn't cost very much and shortly afterwards Jeepy of this forum kindly donated a slightly damaged L1 body. A rummage in my spares box produced an ancient Tri-ang bogie with the correct axle spacing, an unused set of Markits bogie wheels and a pair of Wills Schools coupling rods. E-bay searches located a set of used Romford 26mm driving wheels together with an unused set of Hornby tender wheels and suddenly I was in business! Clearly this project was going to turn into an ASP (All Spare Parts) loco similar to those I used to regularly turn out in younger and more impecunious modelling days. I still needed loco and internal tender frames though and I purchased new Comet examples . The loco frames are actually for a Schools class but the wheelbase is correct for an L1 as well. The photo shows my starting point of bits and pieces. I began work by re-profiling the Schools frames to match the L1. The small oval cut out between the wheels was not needed so I made blanking plates from scrap brass and soldered them into position. I assembled the frames using spare comet spacers and fitted High Level horn blocks to the leading axlebox. I made a simple pivoting rod which bears on the leading axle and the bogie. The gear box is the trusty High Level Road Runner + and to this I added an "OO Works" motor which I had in stock. I saw the latter advertised last year and purchased one to try it out. My first impression is that it is a smooth and powerful unit. The Wills coupling rods were thinned down slightly and I added sandboxes fabricated from plasticard. The front sandboxes will be fitted to the loco body. I assembled the tender inner frames and compensated the two leading wheels. A simple pick up was arranged to collect current from the rear wheelset, and the wire from this is soldered to a split pin which slots into a small length of fine bore tube which is soldered to the loco pick up plate. With the chassis running quite nicely it is now time to turn my attention to the loco and tender bodies. Here is a posed shot before the carnage begins! More to follow in due course. Barry

I have now completed the 61xx rebuild and have portrayed it in BR condition as 6151. I saw this loco at Paddington in the autumn of 1961 and still have the poor quality snapshot that I took that day. Recently I was able to obtain a better photograph taken the previous year and I worked to that. 6151 had crests with both lions facing to the front of the loco, which was a short lived livery variant. It was later changed to both being left hand facing, but locos overhauled c. 1957 received the earlier version. Previously I have used HMRS lining transfers, but this time I used a bespoke large prairie set from Fox Transfers. I am pleased with the effect which I fancy is slightly finer than the HMRS type. A quite interesting summer project, albeit slightly expensive. Given the cost of wheels and motors these days this is largely unavoidable, but I don't mind on this occasion as the 61xx fills a gap in my collection. The total cost of the project also represents a considerable saving against starting with a new SEF kit. It might have been quicker though! Barry

With the arrival of the Markits wheels I have been able to crack on and get the chassis running. I found that the rear screw in chassis spacer fouled the final gear drive, so I removed it and replaced it with a suitable etched one. Brake shoes came from the invaluable Mainly Trains etch. I probably need to do a little tweaking to the chassis as it is not yet quite as smooth as I would like it to be. Meanwhile, the body has been primed and is currently in the process of receiving its final coat together with lining. More to follow in due course. Barry

Branchlines still have Mashima motors in stock. I bought one a few weeks ago. Barry

Whilst I was awaiting the arrival of the driving wheels I decided to press on and complete the loco body. This is contrary to my usual practice of achieving a running chassis first, but I didn't want to waste modelling time. The chimney that came with the model turned out to be a rather nice brass one, albeit of the wrong type. I think that it is for a 45xx small prairie so I reluctantly put it in the spares box. Its replacement was a white metal one which had arrived with another second hand kit and this looks more like the correct shape. The front boiler stay rods were missing so I fabricated replacements from brass wire. All handrails were renewed with smaller knobs where needed and I added the small extra ones over the front steps. The smokebox door handles looked too thick and were replaced with a Markits set. Lamp irons were made in my normal manner from office staples, and I added the 3 distinctive steps on the LH side bunker. I replace the cab steps including the replacement one I made earlier and added white metal sand boxes. As acquired the cab was missing regulator handle, reverser and hand brake column. The invaluable Mainly Trains cab details etch provided the first two items and I scratch built the hand brake using the ingenious method described by the late Iain Rice in one of his books. Holes were drilled for the replacement brass whistles but these will not be fitted until painting is completed. I now look forward to getting it running again! Barry

This was intended to be my main summer project but got overtaken by the 54xx rebuild described here a few weeks ago. This Wills/SEF 61xx came from the same E-Bay source as the 54xx ,and was also minus wheels and motor. The body was missing a few bits, had some incorrect detail and had been given a thick coat of paint and gloss varnish. In short the type of project that I like to get my teeth into! I began the restoration by dunking both body and frames into the dreaded Dettol bath. After a few days the frames were the first to emerge and after cleaning up only needed the cross wires for the brake shoes to be soldered into position. A High Level Slimliner + gearbox and Mashima 1420 motor were obtained and assembled in readiness for the chassis reconstruction. The cylinders and slidebar assembly required attention. As previously assembled, the slidebars were too short and the distinctive "G clamp" type cast support was missing altogether. A further dunking in paint stripper reduced the cylinder assembly to its component parts, which were then re-assembled with the slidebars positioned to show the correct length. I found spare Comet etchings for the "G clamp" in my spares box and these were assembled and soldered in the correct position position. The crossheads were capable of re-use but the connecting rods were awful thick whitemetal castings, which was a trend followed by several kit manufacturers in the 1970's. I can't stand them so they went into my scrap whitemetal box with other horrors to be melted down for ballast weights at a later stage. Replacement connecting rods were a nice etched set from Brassmasters. The Markits wheels are on order and whilst awaiting their arrival I decided to get on with the body. When this emerged from a week in the Dettol bath it was covered in a thick sludge, and, whilst most of this washed off, it was still necessary for further treatment with paint stripper. This finished the job and also reduced the kit to its component pieces .After individual cleaning up of each part this is what I ended up with. Re-assembly followed almost immediately and with all major parts being soldered together with low melt solder progress was quite rapid. The over sized hand rail holes have been filled for subsequent re-drilling and I will then move on to further detailing. Both cab steps had been snapped off and whilst one came with the loco as acquired the other was missing. I therefore fabricated a replacement from brass scraps as shown. More to follow as progress proceeds. Barry

Thank you for that. I did wonder if it was scratch built but some parts have etched rivets and the pannier top shows what I think is other etched detail .On the other hand, I have been unable to locate a manufacturer's name anywhere on the parts that I can see. If it is scratch built it is to a very high standard, possibly incorporating some etched parts? The mystery remains! Barry

I have now completed the 54xx restoration. The only class member that I saw in service was 5416 , probably at Westbury, so this is the identity for my model. I always try to portray locomotives that I saw but this isn't always possible. I suspect that 5416 should have the earlier "cycling lion" BR emblem but I had run out of transfers and used the later type. Certainly the loco was in lined green with the later crest by 1960 but I didn't want the complexities that entailed! Anyway it has been an interesting little summer project and now I move on to an SEF 61xx 2-6-2T in much the same condition as this one was. More to follow on that one ! Barry

My latest e-bay rescue is this GWR 54xx loco which I acquired minus wheels and motor. With more than a healthy share of pannier tanks already in my stud I might well have concluded that restoration of this one was simply not worth the time and expense involved. However the standard of craftsmanship looked very good and I didn't have a 54xx in my collection....Inevitably I gave in, made an offer which was accepted, and the said locomotive came into my possession. Upon examination I found that the body and chassis frames were constructed of nickel silver with some lost wax boiler fittings. It looks like it was built from an etched kit of some kind and I am curious to know the make. If any knowledgeable GWR experts have any suggestions I would be interested. The frames were fitted with a quite elaborate compensation set- up and I am assuming that the wheels and motor had been removed to be sold separately. I began the reconstruction with the frames, and as the compensation unit was damaged I removed it and substituted High Level hornblocks with a simple compensating rod soldered to the original pivot. I don't build compensated chassis locos very often but do one now and again to keep my hand in. I am no expert but follow the advice given by Iain Rice in his invaluable book on chassis construction. I am always slightly surprised when I make it work! I soldered in an extra spacer to strengthen the frames and added a High level Loadhauler + gearbox and 1020 motor together with a set of Markits driving wheels. The original coupling rods and brake gear components were cleaned up and re-used. The body had been very neatly assembled with lots of extra detail and although it had sustained minor damage at the front end this was easily rectified. As I was portraying a locomotive later in its career ,however, I needed to fit some extra detail. The first thing required was a top feed which was a white metal item with pipework fabricated from fuse wire. Two extra footsteps were added to the LH side bunker and a whistle shield added. The latter also involved re siting the original whistles which were too far apart . There is also an extra handrail to be added when the cab roof is fixed into position. The 54xx is now in the final stages of repainting and detailing and should be finished shortly. Barry

Ha ha! I prefer NCB maroon with a geisel ejector, as carried by one of my other austerities! Barry

I have always liked the Airfix (nee Kitmaster) plastic kit but with 4 static display case examples as well as 2 motorised versions you would think that I had enough of the breed! However when this appeared on e-bay my interest was aroused. The craftmanship seemed to be of a good standard and the "buy it now" price was sufficiently reasonable to tempt me to take a punt. When the loco arrived my instinct proved correct because the original builder had constructed a hefty brass keeper plate chassis with a tri-ang X500 motor mounted vertically in the firebox. Sand boxes and pipework, coupling rods and footplate steps appeared to be scratch built from brass. The wheels remain a mystery to me. Because they are moulded in plastic, have brass tyres and splice ended axles my initial thought was that they were Hamblings products. However the treads are to a much finer profile and they lack the distinctive Hamblings brass central boss. Whatever their origin I ended up re-using them. The chassis seems to be very similar to one described in an article in the October 1973 Railway Modeller which I kept on my files for reference. Crikey, was it really nearly 50 years ago? As is often the case with these sort of acquisitions the loco was a non runner. A thorough cleaning of the tyres and some fiddling about got things moving again, but running at slow speeds was a bit iffy, and I concluded that a heart transplant was needed. This was achieved with a High Level road runner plus gearbox and their budget 1015 motor. By sawing out the chassis top spacer I was able to mount the new assembly in the space previously occupied by the tri-ang motor. As mentioned previously, I decided to retain the wheels that came with the loco as they looked reasonably good. They don't quite have the distinctive austerity shape but I can live with that, and I could see no point in investing in a new set of drivers for a cheap project of this nature. I managed to drift out the axle from one of the central wheels in order to replace the final drive worm wheel, and after reassembly of the chassis it ran very much better, particularly at slow speeds. I retained the original pick up assemblies but re -wired the chassis. i suspect that the original builder had intended to portray an austerity in industrial use, but I wanted a BR class J94. In consequence , some alterations were necessary to depict the modifications to the standard design made by the LNER and BR. Perhaps the most obvious of these concerns the cab back, which was fitted with rectangular windows to replace the original porthole type. This would have been a simple matter if one was building the loco from the plastic kit, but on an assembled model it became a little trickier. I got round it by using a sharp craft knife to gently break the original glue joints and remove the cab roof. This then enabled me to cut away the cab rear and replace it with plasticard of the appropriate thickness with holes cut out for the new windows. Some J94's had extended bunkers, and I modelled this feature on my other J94, but my chosen prototype for this model was not so treated. Other changes involved an extra set of footplate steps, which I fashioned from scrap brass etch to to match the existing ones, extra small diagonal handrails at the front of the saddle tank and the yokes for the fire irons on the LH footplate. RT models seem to be experts on austerity variations and have a nice range of detailing parts. I fitted their etched brass buffer beam overlays, etched window rims, and replacement chimney , dome and water filler. The original builder had neatly removed the original moulded handrails and replaced them with wire ones so I was saved a job there. Finally, I added replacement cast buffers and a Comet smokebox door handle. T The final result being as follows. All in all, an interesting project with full marks to the original builder whose work I was able to build on. Barry

Thank you for your kind words Dave. Regarding HMRS Pressfix transfers I believe that they are available again direct from HMRS. Certainly I purchased a BR lining set from them earlier this year. Barry

John Branchlines produce a replacement etched chassis for the old Gem IOM 2-4-0T kit. You might consider one of those with a decent modern motor and gearbox. Barry