Peckett X /X2 class

[doilum]

As a diversion from my usual Hunslets I started a new project based on the only surviving X2 Ackton Hall #3. I have had some great support from Trevor at Mercian models but the more I learn the more I need to research further. I am hoping that somewhere in this community there is someone who really knows their inside cylinder six wheeled Pecketts. I am aware of the Newdigate locomotives and an ancient #27 at Allerton main colliery.

Helpful information might include variations in wheel size, cab length and buffer beams.

All information gratefully received.

[avonside1563]

Here's a couple of images of Ackton Hall No.3 post 1955 overhaul where she received a new boiler and smokebox supplied by Peckett, losing the curved smokebox wings in the process.

[doilum]

Thanks. I hadn't seen the top one before. This afternoon's task is to attach the scratchbuilt  tank to the loco. After a couple of false starts I came to the conclusion that the only way to replicate this unique tank was to overlap panels of shim brass over a slightly undersize former.

AH#3 was rebuilt at the factory circa 1944.  Is this an example of wartime make do and mend, or was the tank swapped for one taken from one of the GWR X class?

[avonside1563]

I am unsure if Ackton Hall's tank construction is due to a repair or as built as there are other examples of Pecketts with the same style of construction/repair of the tank. It is entirely possible that it is a repair carried out by Peckett as the bottom of saddle tanks tend to rot due to a build up of sediment and scale whilst the sides and top can still be almost original thickness. If it was a colliery repair I doubt it would be to such a good standard. We have an example of a W4 Peckett at Foxfield (Henry Cort 933/1903) where the tank has been repaired at various times with pieces welded in a very ad hoc way.

 

Take a look at Martyn Bane's old website which has several pages dedicated to Peckett. http://www.martynbane.co.uk/index-old.htm

[doilum]

Thanks for the link. Great reading.

I think I have seen a similar photo to the second one of AH#3 in wartime black dated as 1947 ,the vesting year for the NCB. A 1955 trip back to the works might explain how she ends up in the same livery as Newdigate #3. There is an unidentified colour photo of  the Newdigate loco in the Mercian literature and it was a while before I realised that it wasn't AH#3. Hence the obsession with rivet patterns!

I am not sure how much work she did in later years as there are few photos compared to the other AH regulars Beatrice, Airedale and S112. I really need to get a couple of the Powsides wagons to gowith her.

[avonside1563]

Any reference material you have for AH3 would be great to know about, we are researching what we can but it's easy to miss things and it would be ideal to include in the conservation plan for the loco.

[doilum]

1 hour ago, avonside1563 said:

Any reference material you have for AH3 would be great to know about, we are researching what we can but it's easy to miss things and it would be ideal to include in the conservation plan for the loco.

At the moment, little beyond the easily available pictures from the internet. I will however make enquiries to see if there is anything squirelled away in the local history collection of Featherstone library.

Another clue from the above photographs suggesting that the top one is slightly more recent, is the position of the whistle, now located on the dome in a similar way to the smaller Hunslets.

AH#3 is a bit of an enigma with no mention of off site repairs in the IRS pocket book other than a short loan to Pontefract Prince of Wales in 1971. I am guessing it was returned out of order and parked up sans coupling rods until disposal to the KWVR in 1973.