ArthurK

NORTHEASTERN KITS Long Bunker J72 Checking my stocks I find that there is just one of the long bunker J72 remaining. In view of the pending release of the Bachman version it is unlikely that I will be ordering more of these except by special request. If anyone wants this one drop me an Email or PM ArthurK

NORTHEASTERN KITS J71 & Short Bunker J72 I will have just two two of each of these left over after I have fulfilled the current orders. The j72s are being packed, the J71s are ready to go. I am not sure when the next batches will be ordered. I have a batch of D20s awaiting packing (I have names on most, If not all of these). Then I must concentrate on the J25. There have been problems with the brass casting on these but they should resolved within a few days. Meanwhile I am working on a fairly detailed representation of the internal valve gear of the Q7. If you thought that internal valve gear of two cylinder engines was complex then that of the three cylinder Q7 is in another dimension with six eccentrics and the inside crank all all the second axle. Needless to say I am not attempting to make it all work, but if anyone wants a challenge they are welcome to try! The Q7 should be ready at the year. ArthurK

Fisherman's weight are as good as any other variety of lead but don't fix it using PVA glue or similar. It has a nasty habit of expanding over time and bursting open whatever it is confined in. Known problems are boilers. The cab locker is little more than a box with double door on the front. take the dimensions from my etches. Allow for the thickness of the cab rear/ I believe the my kit has two sets of grills for the rear windows. You could use the spare pair for the Alexander kit. The down-side to fitting the sides early is that it restricts access to the innards. Build the whole of the cab rear as a sub-unit and add that before before fitting the rear of the bunker. ArthurK

John, Can I ask why you have added toolboxes to the cab rear shelf? There weren't any there. There was a locker on the rear of the cab between the rear windows. See the instructions for my kit. There was a brake standard on the left of the coal hole (fireman's side). I will send you one of those with your backhead castings . There was a sanding lever on that side above the sandbox for reverse sanding. ArthurK

I am afraid that that the Alexander kits perpetuate the notion that the NER round windows had brass bezels on the front of the cab sheet. They did not. Now someone will search for a photo to prove me wrong! The round windows closed behind the cab sheets. This is clearly seen in Mick Nicholson's photo of 69105. I admit to getting that wrong on my very first kit (the J24) but I have since learned to study the GAs more closely. As a further point of note the round windows of NER locos (Worsdell onwards) were all a standard size regardless of loco size. The cab sheet cutout was 1' 5 7/8" diameter. the inner diameter of the actual brass window was 1' 4" ArthurK

You might be right Paul. Boiler length - cab to smokebox front 73.5mm - cab to smokebox rear 63mm. ArthurK

The original position for the dome was in line with the front of the tanks. On the later boilers it was moved 1' 9" to the rear. On the phpto from above the hole for the dome appears to be ahead of the tanks. ArthurK

All this talk about dents and bends. How's this for a more extreme example? J27 65811 at North Blyth Obviously they didn't have time to do the job properly! I do know that it lasted several months in this condition before ending its working life at Sunderland. ArthurK

NORTHEASTERN KITS Long Bunker J72 I have just three of these available. If you want one please send me a PM or Email. I am awaiting delivery of further batches of the J71 and the short bunker J72. Most of these are reserved but there are are few available. J25 I am having problems with the brass castings for this but hopefully these will be resolved in the next couple of weeks. ArthurK

Do you mean muntjac? ArthurK

Hi Paul There is a drawing at NRM of what I call the "curly" cab version of the 398 class. This is a Stephenson drawing of their 398 builds 2051-2080 & 2151-2180. This drawing has 9972 hand written in the bottom right corner. From memory this is the OPC reference. I also have the cab & tanks drawing of the Fletcher cab version of the 290 (J77) both have the cab front profile shown and they appear to be identical. The top corner radius is 1'6" (6mm) and the roof radius is 8' 0" (32mm). Hope this helps. I had visions of doing a kit for this. Then I asked myself which one? There didn't appear to be two the same! In the end I moved on to other things so the kit never materialised. ArthurK

Mike Try soldering the angle in the centre of a strip of scrap brass etch (at least 1/4" wide). Then bend both to the curve required. Then unsolder and , hey presto - angle bent in a curve! ArthurK

NORTHEASTERN KITS Long Bunker J72 This kit is now being shipped. Those at the top of the list will receive an Email in the next few days the first batch is already reserved. Further orders will depend on the demand. kits Currently in stock are: J71 (NER E Class) One only J72 Short bunker (NER Class E1 1914 builds) Three left A6 (NER Class W 4-6-0 Rebuild) One only. This will probably be the last D20 (NER Class R) A new batch of six is being prepared. These will use up old etches. However, all faulty parts will be removed and replaced by fully up to date replacements. These will also remove a minor fault on the existing kit. Anyone wishing to reserve one of these please let me know. Q5 (NER Class T/T1) I have three outstanding orders for these. The kits await packing. J25 (NER Class P1) The masters for all castings are now ready Etches are ready for the first batch there is a long list for these but I will do the best that I can. ArthurK

Anyone fancy a challenge? Blackpool North. ArthurK

Here it gets very confusing. The Trix locos were made to 4mm scale. However some of the rolling stock, including coaches, were to 3.8mm scale and looked odd when coupled to the 4mm locos. Also the locos were well over scale width. We had an Trix A2 that was too wide for the platforms of the club layout. I measured it, I don't recall the actual width but it was well over a scale nine foot. ArthurK

There is a common misconception as to the length of the boiler on the A2. One only has to note the position of the Gresley snifting valve to realise that the boiler was much shorter than it appeared. In fact the boiler barrel was 21' (the A1 was 19'). The boiler barrel length of the A2 was 26' so there was 5' ahead of the boiler front plate. There is no evidence to suggest that it was a poor steamer. Another misconception is that the three cylinder layouts of all NER three cylinder locos was the same. They did not share the same monoblock casting. The "Z" class hand the piston valves inclined to the cylinders whereas in the others they were all parallel. ArthurK

I have had test etches for the C6 (V09 version) since 2015. I was very unhappy with them and put them aside to concentrate on more urgent work. They have languished around ever since but recently I have done more design work. I now have decided to do both versions. The projected time scale is 2020. I will concentrate on the Q7 first. It has been hanging around for too long (the first test etches for that were 2010). This photo has appeared before but it might help to wet your appetite. This is a model of the original version that I scratch-built many years ago. ArthurK

Tony The NER adopted the Westinghouse braking system for its passenger workings. Many of its ECML workings were dual fitted with vacuum and Westinghouse brakes. After 1930 the LNER adopted vacuum braking. The NER area abandoned Westinghouse brakes for all of its passenger workings but retained the system for the brakes on the engine. There was no need for train connections which explains the absence of standpipe on your photograph though many tenders retained all or part of the standpipe with the hose removed. With one exception (Ex 2020) all D20s retained Westinghouse braking for the engine until withdrawal. Another point of note is the rebuilt tender attached to 62387. Rebuilt with straight sided coal surround it resembles the later GS tenders. it is often over looked that the six-wheeled GS tenders were based on the NER 4125 gallon tender. The wheelbase was changed from the symmetric layout to an asymmetrical version. The design was carried out at Darlington. This latter works was also responsible for the detail design of the new loco classes J38, J39 and D49. ArthurK

The NER D20 is indeed a very handsome engine but then every one knows that I am biased. There are several examples of this loco built from the ancient DjH kit on this site. I have no complaint about the workmanship that has gone into these models. That in the photograph above is excellent but I have to ask why anyone spends so much time and effort to build the kit pretending it to be LNER or worse still, BR. It is impossible to build it as a model after the 1923 grouping without very drastic surgery. These locos were superheated by the NER. At that rebuilding the smokebox was extended by 12" which made a considerable difference (and improvement) to their appearance. ArthurK

John If it's 5813 that you intend to build this photo may be of help. It was taken a South Blyth shed and was awaiting the chop. i was told that it had a cracked frame so there was no hope of it running again. If you want to know what's in the big hole this is what you could see. ArthurK

Mike used one of the first test etches for his build. I will leave him to answer the criticisms of his model but I will answer what I believe to be the major one, the unfilled fold lines. This has been rectified. The production kit does not use a dashed fold line. I spotted this problem as soon as I saw it. It now uses a simple fold. That problem no longer exists. ArthurK

NORTHEASTERN KITS Long Bunker J72 I am about to release this kit and am currently packing the first batch and finalising the instructions. I have a list of those who have expressed an interest in this kit. Those at the top of the list will receive an Email or PM. I have increased the price a little to cover the additional parts {train pipes and alternative cab fittings} to cover those engines fitted for carriage working. Now for the J25 ArthurK

Hi Duncan. I am snowed under with other kits at the moment. Two J72s, J25 and one new release. However the Q7 is high on the list. i still need some white metal and brass castings but we are working on it. I expect that it will be 4-6 months away. ArthurK

And on the Preston - Southport Services. ArthurK