Why pre-grouping?

[relaxinghobby]

 

 

J 13

 

This is a Hornby J13 ( not J52 as it's pre LNER class classification ) upgraded by fitting it on top of a Bachmann Great Western pannier tank chassis, immediately improving the running qualities and the correctness of the model as it now has the right wheelbase for a GNR engine.

 

Is this surprising? On the real railways Armstrong the first mechanical engineer for the Great Northern was trained at Swindon and took many of his Great Westernism ideas with him over the the Great Northern, but having to adapt them from broad gauge to fit on the narrower standard gauge.

 

The chassis is one of the old style split block type, with problem prone split axles, so far it has not given any trouble but is only a low mileage example. A lot of hacksawing had to be done to reduce it down in size to fit into the J 52 body, the middle splasher had to me cut out and moved to suit the new wheel base.

 

 

There is no backplate in the cab as the space is occupied by the back of the chassis block, again not a problem with a modern chassis.

 

I was going to paint it in black/grey/brown grudge colour so it could be run on a 1950's era club layout but just as I held the brush of muck colour paint up to the body I could not bring myself to covering up this lovely livery of green and red and all that lining so it remains in all it's pre-group glory.

[Sasquatch]

That's a brilliant idea putting it on a Pannier chassis. I've always wanted to chop one of those bodies up and do an open cab J54. There's no dome of course and a different safety valve arrangement. Adding the sanding operating gear is easy too. here

 

Regards Shaun

[asmay2002]

I was going to paint it in black/grey/brown grudge colour so it could be run on a 1950's era club layout but just I held the brush of muck colour paint up to the body I could not bring myself to covering up this lovely livery of green and red and all that lining so it remains in all it's pre-group glory.

 

Oddly enough GNR livery is correct for the preserved example in 1959...