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Mikemeg's Workbench - Building locos of the North Eastern & LNER


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NORTH EASTERN KITS LNER D20

 

The second tender is now 'mobile' with the building of the sub frame with the CSB's both sides. Adding the CSB's does protract the build time for the sub frame; each of these two sub frames took around four hours from cutting out and dressing off the parts to finishing adding the wheels.

 

Now to check the ride height of this tender against the locomotive; looks about right. The tender ride height, on the prototypes, would alter slightly depending on how much coal and, more significantly, how much water the tender was carrying. A full complement of 3940 gallons would weigh 39400 ib, just over 17.5 tons.

 

Because this was the first test build, one or two parts were not present when this was built (they are now!), hence the plasticard inspection panel.

 

This one will be 62372, based at Selby shed in mid 1950.

 

Now to fit two of the G5's with the push and pull control gear!

 

Cheers

 

Mike

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Mike,

 

I can thoroughly reccomend three booklets "Northumberland branch lines 1950s -1960s" vols. 1-3 by David Dunn. These contain many fine photos of G5s, J21s, D20s and other NER classes. In particular G5 67340 (your build) is featured in an excellent photo at Blyth with a train from Monkseaton. At £9.99 apiece they are unlikely to break the bank. Of course all photos are subject to copyright so I cannot publish them here.

 

ArthurK

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Mike,

 

I can thoroughly reccomend three booklets "Northumberland branch lines 1950s -1960s" vols. 1-3 by David Dunn. These contain many fine photos of G5s, J21s, D20s and other NER classes. In particular G5 67340 (your build) is featured in an excellent photo at Blyth with a train from Monkseaton. At £9.99 apiece they are unlikely to break the bank. Of course all photos are subject to copyright so I cannot publish them here.

 

ArthurK

 

Arthur,

 

Many thanks for the reference to these books. I will try and locate copies of these. One can never have too many photos of North Eastern Locos, trains and locations.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

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Arthur,

 

Many thanks for the reference to these books. I will try and locate copies of these. One can never have too many photos of North Eastern Locos, trains and locations.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

I had a quick look on ABE Books and found volumes 1 and 2 for £7.68 each

 

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&cm_sp=SearchF-_-home-_-Results&an=&tn=Northumberland+branch+lines&kn=&isbn=

 

I hope the link works...

 

It does, if you haven't used ABE before it is great for finding second hand and/or rare books I managed to find a copy of NER Record very reasonably

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Arthur,

 

Many thanks for the reference to these books. I will try and locate copies of these. One can never have too many photos of North Eastern Locos, trains and locations.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

 

They are all in print, Mike, and should be readily available. Book Law publications is the source. Another useful book is Les Turnbull's "Tickets Not Transferable" though the photos are nothing like as sharp. All were taken by a young spotter I the 50's whose father and grandfather worked at 52B and who spotted at the site to which I graduated by 1960, and which is the prototype for my Little Benton Sidings" layout.

 

Regards from GWR territory.

 

John

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LONDON ROAD MODELS LNER G5

 

Now just about ready for the priming coat is this G5, to be 67256 as it was in mid 1950. That Westinghouse pump is another of Arthur's (North Eastern Kits) lost wax brass castings and does seem to capture the shape and complexity of this apparatus very well.

 

With that level of detail on the pump, then all of the piping to it just has to be incuded!

 

Cheers

 

Mike

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NORTH EASTERN KITS LNER D20's

 

Also almost ready for the priming coat is the Raven framed D20 - 62396.

 

And the Worsdell framed D20 - 62372, also approaching completion

 

Cheers

 

Mike

 

 

 

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NORTH EASTERN KITS LNER D20's

 

Also almost ready for the priming coat is the Raven framed D20 - 62396.

 

And the Worsdell framed D20 - 62372, also approaching completion

 

Cheers

 

Mike

 

'Tis a thing of beauty...

 

Not quite as elegant as a class F, but they'd long gone by your time.

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LONDON ROAD MODELS LNER G5's

 

After a couple of days contemplating a detailed LNER schematic and the instructions and contents of the Alexander Models push & pull control equipment kit, then time to bite the bullet and have a go at one of them. These small castings have to be some of the best white metal castings that I've ever seen; completely flash free.

 

There are not that many parts to the vacuum cylinder and the vacuum controlled regulator but they are piped into various places and linked by an actuating rod. So folding and bending the various pipes and rods so that everything links and remains vertical is a challenge.

 

I did add a few details to the vacuum cylinder using tiny pieces of 1/16" brass tube which was turned up in the pin chuck and then threaded onto the actuating lever.

 

Anyway, this one seems to have turned out ok so once a couple more pipes are added then the second one can be fitted with this apparatus.

 

All of this paraphenalia, hanging off the smokebox, has made an 'ugly duckling' even uglier!! But I've never seen another model, 4mm or 7mm, of this particular loco - 67340.

 

And yes, the pipe under the valance really did sag at the front end.

 

I have to say that for a kit introduced some thirty years ago, though with some later additions/replacements of castings, these three have turned out pretty well. I know people talk about 'layout locos' and the 'three foot viewing rule' but, to me, all builds should be done to the highest quality that the builder can achieve and the viewing distance paradigm, for me, is the minimum focal length of the digital camera, in macro mode - about 9 inches.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

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LONDON ROAD MODELS LNER G5's

 

So, having fitted one of the G5's with push and pull equipment, could I repeat the exercise to fit another, given that the first was a challenge. Well, the second wasn't anywhere near as much of a challenge and was done a little more quickly. Nearly there on these three G5's.

 

Actually, I did make the fitting of the first one more difficult by opting to bend up and fit a small curved pipe at the rear of the vacuum regulator, which is just visible on the photo below. I'll attempt to do the same on the loco at the front of the photo.

 

And the digital camera once again 'does its stuff' by showing me that the actuating lever, between the vacuum cylinder and the top arm of the vacuum regulator isn't quite vertical on the front loco. More adjustment is necessary!

 

Anyway I set out to build :-

 

A G5 push and pull fitted with coal cage and hopper, which will be 67282

A G5 with no push and pull fittings but with a Westinghuse pump, which will be 67256

A G5 (the only one), with extended tanks which is also push and pull ftted, which will be 67340

 

Still a few ex-NER projects to do but, elsewhere on this topic area, I've referred to an LNER B4 (ex Great Central 4-6-0) which is in the 'round tuit' cupboard. So, later this year/early next year, I will get a round tuit and build 1482 - Immingham - though in its mid-1950 British Ralways days.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

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LONDON ROAD MODELS LNER G5's

 

That's better! Now that lever is vertical. And another of those tiny curly pipes is bent up and fitted to the vacuum regulator.

 

I only post this photograph to show that I always take the recommendation or advice of the digital camera - 'It"s wrong! Fix it!'. Sometimes, just occasionally, the digital camera says nothing and is content.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

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  • 3 weeks later...

And on a sunlit, golden, Autumn evening another A6 drifts along the down main towards Hessle Haven.

 

However well a photograph is lit, nothing can exactly reproduce that natural sunlight. Do I have a thing about A6's? Not really; though I don't think tank locomotives got very much better than these.

 

This was the first A6 I built (of four) and was the second scratch built loco - the first was an LNER T1 4-8-0 tank - with the original chassis now replaced by one of Arthur's etched nickel silver chassis'. This locomotive - 69796 - was the last survivor of the ten 'Whitby willies' built and lasted until 1953.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

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And the first scratch build; at least the first one for some thirty five years when I came back to the hobby, was this - an LNER T1 4-8-0 tank. Strangely, the reason I built this loco was simply because I had a set of 4mm drawings from the Railway Modeller; no other reason. So this passion for the locomotives of the old North Eastern began quite by chance.

 

This loco actually has a plasticard body much reinforced by the tanks being filled with lead sheet. The loco has a Mashima 1630 with a flywheel and, with an all up weight of 15 oz, will pull over seventy wagons.

 

The loco was finished in 'a few weeks after overhaul and a repaint' state and has remained relatively clean for about twelve years.

 

The bridge and its abutments is a model of a bridge which stood on the main line just out of Hull, at a place called Hessle Haven. It was here that I and my youthful colleagues first discovered and fell in love with the railway of the late 1950's.

 

Some day, reasonably soon, I'll build more of this place just as it was in those long gone days of our youth!

 

Cheers

 

Mike

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  • 2 weeks later...

Some day, reasonably soon, I'll build more of this place just as it was in those long gone days of our youth!

 

Cheers

 

Mike

 

And when I do, then I can incorporate these models, which are models of structures which once stood at Hessle Haven. All are scratch built (does that qualify for inclusion in this topic area?) - there are no etches for these prototypes - using various thicknesses of brass 'L' angle, nickel silver strip and MSE parts. I made very detailed drawings from photographs and from the McKenzie & Holland parts catalogue of around 1895, and it was these drawings from which the models were built.

 

Not locos, I know, but these were all built by the North Eastern and they were a characteristic part of that railway's lines right up until the 1980's and, in one or two places, well beyond the 1980's.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

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And when I do, then I can incorporate these models, which are models of structures which once stood at Hessle Haven. All are scratch built (does that qualify for inclusion in this topic area?) - there are no etches for these prototypes - using various thicknesses of brass 'L' angle, nickel silver strip and MSE parts. I made very detailed drawings from photographs and from the McKenzie & Holland parts catalogue of around 1895, and it was these drawings from which the models were built.

 

Not locos, I know, but these were all built by the North Eastern and they were a characteristic part of that railway's lines right up until the 1980's and, in one or two places, well beyond the 1980's.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

Works of art!!!!!

                         C'

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Works of art!!!!!

                         C'

 

Thank you.

 

Just as the locos of the old North Eastern are a passion, so are these things. They were only ever a functional part of the railway and yet, they were things of great elegance and they enhanced the railway environment enormously, standing high above everything as they did.

 

It was a challenge finding ways to build these quite elaborate lattice structures but, once the techniques had been identified and mastered, then it becomes entirely possibe to build them.

 

Here's another one, in build, though this was from Scarborough. Even in 4 mm, the decking on this is nearly 16" long; almost a scale 100 feet.

 

Regards

 

Mike

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NORTH EASTERN KITS LNER A6

 

And, at long last, the fourth of my A6's has now started its journey through the paint shop. This one - to be 69791 - is to be finished ex-works, literally the day after, to make a change from depicting the delapidated and weather worn appearance of most locomotives in mid 1950. Not weathered black, on this one, but Halfords satin black! Catches the light quite nicely, this satin black!

 

Even for ex-works, that coupling rod needs toning down with a coat of 'oily steel'!

 

So it will be fully lined with a pristine lion and wheel emblem on the tank side. Once the painting is completed then the more vulnerable details - sand pipes, vacuum and train heating pipes will be fitted.

 

Someone pm'd me asking how long the basic spraying of this model actually took. Well, it took most of Monday because I spray the under side, top, each side and each end and then the cab roof separately with perhaps one hour between successive applications. Care must be taken to avoid overspraying areas already done so I normally feather the boiler top, etc. to avoid an excessive build up of paint and each sprayed area is laid horizontally to avoid curtaining while drying. I also mask off (just using sellotape with its adhesive 'blunted' before it is used) areas which will not be black i.e. buffer beams.

 

I think that may be it, then, for A6's but I said that after I built the second and then the third. So I might just build the fifth - 69793 - which was slightly dfferent, again, and then I will have half of the class; there only ever were ten of them!!

 

Cheers

 

Mike

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Absolutely stunning modelling, I envy your skill.

Derek

 

Thank you.

 

I guess part of this is that I am never completely satisfied and always feel that there is room for improvement.

 

Regards

 

Mike

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Thank you.

 

I guess part of this is that I am never completely satisfied and always feel that there is room for improvement.

 

Regards

 

Mike

Hi

 

We are our own worst critics.

 

Your modelling is very inspiring.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

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Hi

 

We are our own worst critics.

 

Your modelling is very inspiring.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

 

Paul,

 

Many thanks for the very kind words and if what I do helps or inspires anyone then it is doubly gratifying.

 

Yes, we are our own worst critics, though in my case closely followed by the digital camera in macro mode. It never lets up!!

 

Problem is that as I get better at taking the photos, the digital camera becomes ever more critical!!

 

Regards

 

Mike

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  • 3 weeks later...

NORTH EASTERN KITS LNER N10

 

Now in service on my Hessle Haven layout is this; Arthur's kit of the LNER N10. Again, this was the test build and, unlike most of the locos on Hessle Haven, is finished in ex-works state.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

 

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