Round topped boiler for a Bachmann G2

[RLWP]

The Bachmann G2A is a lovely model, and a ready to run L&NWR engine too! Only, it has that Belpair firebox which represents only some variants of the class. And being perverse, I wanted a round topped boilered one...

 

Most of the destructive work happens to the cab and firebox (of course)

 

 

 

Up the other end of the boiler is a nice representation of the chimney fitted by the LMS - so that has to go

 

 

that's the painful stuff out of the way

 

It just so happens, the boiler is the same diameter as a standard piece of styrene tube, so I bought a metre of that to provide this bit:

 

 

I have enough left to convert about twenty more G2s

 

The buffers and lamp irons are also LMS, so they had to go as well, along with the tender cab and the coal rails

 

 

I salvaged the buffer heads and turned up some new buffer stocks:

 

 

At the same time I turned a new chimney and a base for the safety valve cover:

 

 

With some styrene representing the LNWR lamp sockets, things are starting to look much more Crewe:

 

 

The Bachmann backhead provided the regulator handle, the rest I made from styrene sheets and rods:

 

 

Paint and Fox transfers make a big difference:

 

 

I swapped the coupling rods for some from - I can't remember where! They came on an etch together with a selection of numberplates

 

 

Final touch is a set of numberplates made for me by Narrow Planet

 

All in all, apart from taking the saw to a brand new loco, not to scary or hard. I'm sure that there are suitable after market buffers/chimneys/safety valves available for those without a lathe

 

And that round topped boiler loos so L&NWR

 

Richard

Edited December 15, 2018 by RLWP

[RLWP]

A few more pictures

 

The Narrow Planet plates:

 

 

 

 

That tiny lamp has eight parts to it - madness!

 

 

 

 

 

So there she is, ready to haul massive trains of four wheel coal wagons. Hope you like her

 

Richard

Edited December 15, 2018 by RLWP

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

So much more handsome with a properly cylindrical boiler top.

[Nile]

Thanks Richard, this has been on my to-do list for a long time, and is still nowhere near the top of it. Very nicely done.

[Compound2632]

So this is a D?

[RLWP]

So this is a D?

 

This backdates her from a G2A to a G1

 

Your question deserves a better answer than that, but without revisiting the research I did on sandboxes and other esoteric bits that Crewe shuffled around the running boards, that's all I have at the moment

 

I'm tempted to dig out a book and tell you why she isn't a 'D'

 

Richard

[Compound2632]

This backdates her from a G2A to a G1

 

Your question deserves a better answer than that, but without revisiting the research I did on sandboxes and other esoteric bits that Crewe shuffled around the running boards, that's all I have at the moment

 

I'm tempted to dig out a book and tell you why she isn't a 'D'

 

Richard

 

Aha, a genuine "Super D" - or more strictly, a superheated G...

 

I'm away from home but once back will remind myself about the complicated history of the 8-coupled engines with the aid of Ted Talbot's book!

 

I wonder how far back one can go starting from the Bachmann G2A? I think some got the large boiler during their time as 2-8-0s - Class F. Ugly engines.

 

What I really fancy is a 3-cylinder compound class A but I think the LRM kit for Class C would be a much better, though still tricky, starting point.

[drduncan]

This backdates her from a G2A to a G1

 

Your question deserves a better answer than that, but without revisiting the research I did on sandboxes and other esoteric bits that Crewe shuffled around the running boards, that's all I have at the moment

 

I'm tempted to dig out a book and tell you why she isn't a 'D'

 

Richard

Please do explain! It’s a very interesting conversion.

Duncan

[Jol Wilkinson]

Nick Easton's range of BIWO kits (marketed for a time by London Road models) included a B and an E. The LRM C has been used for an A and a B conversion by Roger Stapleton for his 00 LNWR Steam Shed 1901  layout.

 

http://www.lnwrsteamshed.co.uk/locomotives%20final%202011.htm

[wessy]

Please do explain! It’s a very interesting conversion.

Duncan

 

Richard,

Tell them about G and piano G at the same time! 

(I saw this loco' in the flesh' at the LNWR Society open day and Christmas do at Kenilworth yesterday - it is beautifully done.)

[Annie]

Looks so much better with a round topped firebox.  A very nicely executed conversion.

[RLWP]

What I really fancy is a 3-cylinder compound class A

 

You and me both

 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/31514768@N05/22113861248

 

Richard

Richard,

Tell them about G and piano G at the same time! 

(I saw this loco' in the flesh' at the LNWR Society open day and Christmas do at Kenilworth yesterday - it is beautifully done.)

 

And are partly responsible for it being here. Hi Tim

[RLWP]

Please do explain! It’s a very interesting conversion.

Duncan

 

Your best bet for a simple story would be to start here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNWR_Class_A

 

Basically, these engines originated when compounding was seen as the way forward for locomotive design. In some countries, this worked well (France, for instance). It never really caught on here - and it is a huge subject not suited to a short post

 

Webb built a class of three cylinder compounds, the class 'A'. Just prior to that, he built a single two cylinder simple engine with inside cylinders. Following the 'A' came a four cylinder compound - class 'B', then two cylinder simple engines - class 'C'

 

Some of the engines gained then lost a two wheel leading truck, most got rebuilt as two cylinder compounds, some gained a bigger superheated boiler with a longer firebox. Some of the rebuilt ones kept some of the features they had as compounds (rods and crankpins from memory). Finally some gained the Belpair boiler that the Bachmann kit has

 

If you consider all the features, you end up with a whole range of superficially similar locos. Backdating my loco ends up with a G1 - which Stephen has called by it's nickname ' Super D'. A superheated 'D' class two cylinder compound 0-8-0. A very successful design

 

Richard

[ikks]

A few more pictures

 

The Narrow Planet plates:

 

 

 

 

That tiny lamp has eight parts to it - madness!

 

 

 

 

 

So there she is, ready to haul massive trains of four wheel coal wagons. Hope you like her

 

Richard

That is beyond words........beautiful.

 

Mike

[Compound2632]

The LRM C has been used for an A and a B conversion by Roger Stapleton for his 00 LNWR Steam Shed 1901  layout.

 

http://www.lnwrsteamshed.co.uk/locomotives%20final%202011.htm

 

Many thanks for that link, Jol. I think I ought to try something rather simpler, such as an SDX or Coal Engine, first. I can imagine that there were many more goes at the smokebox/cylinder wrapper than Roger cares to describe! It's a splendid model.

 

You and me both

 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/31514768@N05/22113861248

 

Richard

 

And are partly responsible for it being here. Hi Tim

 

Yes! This photo shows that the smokebox and cylinder wrappers are not one continuous piece, so there's half a chance there.

 

Mike Musson posted a photo on the LNWR Facebook group a while ago, showing an A with its front buffer beam removed and the low pressure cylinder being re-bored.

[Jol Wilkinson]

Stephen,

 

I have been wondering what existing parts might be available to help with the A Class conversion from a C.

 

The smokebox door and chimney castings are available from LRM. The n/s castings for the outside cylinders front cover and rear piston rod support from the Teutonic kit might be of use, although the slidebars are different. The Teutonic kit uses etched parts to build up the lP centre cylinder so that is no help as they are part of the main etch, but I don't know what goes into the Greater Britain kit. If that is a casting then that might suit.

 

In the meanwhile, either the Coal Engine or a SDX would be a good introduction. They are both easy to build, the main difference being the splashers, IIRC cast for the SDX as these have a slotted  crankpin splasher in addition to the wheel splasher, but etched for the simple , smaller splasher on the Coal Engines.

 

Jol

[LNWR18901910]

A few more pictures

 

The Narrow Planet plates:

 

 

 

 

That tiny lamp has eight parts to it - madness!

 

 

 

 

 

So there she is, ready to haul massive trains of four wheel coal wagons. Hope you like her

 

Richard

What a marvellous engine! Very well done!

[Barry O]

PM Nicktoix on here about the A and other LNWR etches... he may be able to help with these.

Baz

[Norton961]

Excellent piece of work. The backdating is to a G1 so would be applicable from 1912. Just one miner point of the cab and tender are lined, then it should have the boiler bands lined in red.

 

David

[LNWR18901910]

Excellent piece of work. The backdating is to a G1 so would be applicable from 1912. Just one miner point of the cab and tender are lined, then it should have the boiler bands lined in red.

 

David

Not only that, but one of the pegs holding the handrail at the front needs sticking back in again.

[RLWP]

Not only that, but one of the pegs holding the handrail at the front needs sticking back in again.

 

You're not trying hard enough. There's a guard iron missing, and one of the cab handrails

Excellent piece of work. The backdating is to a G1 so would be applicable from 1912. Just one miner point of the cab and tender are lined, then it should have the boiler bands lined in red.

 

David

 

Ahh well, it's unlikely that's going to happen. 

 

Richard

[Kenilworth59]

Hi. The 0-8-0 s are my favourite and consequently to satisfy a need to visualise the family tree, a few years ago I drew out the attached from Ken Morgan's review in Railway Modeller, October 1969, The L.N.W.R. 0-8-0’s, page 308-310. I thought it might be of interest.

 

Cheers, Paul

0-8-0 geneology.pdf

[Buhar]

The mechanism probably restricts a conversion like this to those 0-8-0s fitted with the Experiment boiler which means D, F (2-8-0) and the G variants.  So, depending on the period you choose, you could produce at least 5 different models.  The smaller boiler A, B, C and E would require probably require LRM as a starting point unless you fancy rebuilding the gear tower and re-siting the motor.  Nile (elsewhere) would have that done in a weekend.