Anglicising a continental diesel shunter

[melmerby]

Hi all

Last week I purchased (on impulse) a Liliput ex ÖBB 2060 class diesel shunter in the livery of OMV. I paid £27.50 for it (new).

It's a nice little thing and came fitted with a Lok Pilot DCC decoder and runs very smoothly,

It has a solid die cast chassis with a five pole motor and two (smallish) flywheels.

The plastic body just clips on.

A picture:

Unfortunately, as it stands, it is way too modern (1954) and foreign for me, so I was wondering whether I could turn it into a 1930s UK style shunter of some sort.

Note it does not utilise coupling rods like a lot of early UK diesel shunters.

 

Any suggestions?

 

[Alex TM]

Hi Keith,

 

Nice looking model, and a bargain as well.

 

I know virtually nothing about these, though others on here have a great level of expertise on them, but would a Ruston 88DS fit?  I found a reference suggesting they were first built in 1940.  I have a feeling that your chassis may be too long, but ..... 

 

I have also seen some photos of small battery-electric shunters that may fit.

 

Looking forward to seeing how this develops.

 

Regards,

 

Alex.

[melmerby]

On 08/09/2019 at 19:51, Alex TM said:

Hi Keith,

 

Nice looking model, and a bargain as well.

 

I know virtually nothing about these, though others on here have a great level of expertise on them, but would a Ruston 88DS fit?  I found a reference suggesting they were first built in 1940.  I have a feeling that your chassis may be too long, but ..... 

 

I have also seen some photos of small battery-electric shunters that may fit.

 

Looking forward to seeing how this develops.

 

Regards,

 

Alex.

I'm not sure what to do with it.

My first thought was cosmetic alteration of the body to look more British, it's too rounded for a typical UK ICE loco.

The exhaust is also in an unusual place for the UK

Here is a real one:

[avonside1563]

Nothing unusual about having the exhaust running up the front of the cab, plenty of UK industrials had that feature, although it tends to be the more modern ones. The wheelbase looks rather long though, not sure how you can get around that. The later Fowler shunters were quite rounded in appearance, as were Bagnalls.

 

Fowler 0-4-0DH (4220038/1966)

 

Bagnall 0-6-0 'Wolstanton No.3' 3150/1959

[toplink@()1989))((]

I bought this Lima 040 shunter in O gauge already Anglicised by its former owner. I did a little more work on it by carving off the original exhaust and fitting a stove pipe exhaust at the front and replacing the cast on hand rails with brass wire ones. I've painted it early BR black and given it a fictitious number.  I have since re-motored it and added a dcc chip.

 

 

Cheer's, Pete.

[melmerby]

UK ones mostly have coupling rods even the Fowler 0-4-0DH (Why?)

The Austrian 2060 is also a 0-4-0DH but the drive is to the axles making it effectively a "B"

I think the best plan is just to paint it in a more sober 1930s paint colour and replace the ghastly plastic hand rails most of which my banana fingers have broken!

[maridunian]

Depends whether you want to keep the body more-or-less intact. This Ruston-and-Hornsby's very similar - but even younger.

 

 https://transportsofdelight.smugmug.com/RAILWAYS/PRESERVED-BRITISH-STEAM-LOCOMOTIVES/LOCOMOTIVES-ON-HERITAGE-RAILWAYS/i-dDFSdSP/A

 

Personally, I wouldn't worry about the coupling rods - many works shunters had side-skirts for safety reasons and a plasticard panel attached each side would hide their absence, eg:

 

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/y/yarmouth_south_town/index35.shtml

 

You say "It's a nice little thing" and that's the snag - early diesel shunters tended to be rather ugly things, eg this Armstrong Whitworth from 1933:

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=armstrong+whitworth+tanfield&sxsrf=ACYBGNQqOCmEmi5TmGDkY3aTxy56TVWEZg:1568117613603&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjGm8yqncbkAhUxUBUIHY0jBtkQ_AUIEygC&biw=1280&bih=701

 

They had to appeal to customers used to steam locos, and appearing modern mean't looking like the lorries and cars of that period.

 

Anyway, it is a lovely loco. I think a coat of black/dark green and some red buffer beams would make it look at home almost anywhere industrial.

 

Mike

Edited September 10, 2019 by maridunian

[Nearholmer]

The wheelbase and frame actually look rather like those of some railcard that were used on military railways, Baguley-Drewry, I think, some of which were rigged-up as rail-borne fire engines.

 

That would be a novelty!

[melmerby]

3 hours ago, maridunian said:

 

Anyway, it is a lovely loco. I think a coat of black/dark green and some red buffer beams would make it look at home almost anywhere industrial.

 

Mike

That sounds like the best suggestion.

All over black, red buffer beams & a fictional company name or logo.

Maybe lower the skirts as well to hide the machinery.

 

Did anyone notice the fire extinguisher on the nearside.

I wonder whether they were prone to catching fire?

[doctor quinn]

55 minutes ago, melmerby said:

 

Did anyone notice the fire extinguisher on the nearside.

I wonder whether they were prone to catching fire?

OMV is an Austrian oil company, there’s an idea - modern Austria tank farm micro!

[SRman]

I'm no expert here, but the long wheelbase and short overhangs tend to make it look more "continental", but if I were to change anything, it would b the front grille and the cab roof shape.

To my mind, looking at those nice photos others have posted, a more curved cab roof and a mesh grille would go a long way to making it look more British, and perhaps a modified exhaust stack cut off nearly flush with whatever roof level you end up with, or even as suggested earlier, cutting off that exhaust and adding a stovepipe exhaust at the front of the bonnet.

It's still a nice model and quite a bargain, whichever way you look at it.

[daveyb]

Looks a bargain!

 

Skirts, square off the buffer beam top, bigger buffers or dumb squares or a centre coupler buffer depending on your use, remove all lights, stove pipe exhaust, may be a new roof with edges (eg like an 04 rather than an 03) and paint it a dark colour with lining. If you wanted it newer, I'd say paint yellow. I think it will look fine.

 

There were some foreign steam locos in Britain pre WW2, no reason there couldn't be a few IC (petrol or diesel). It just needs to look older rather than more Anglicized.

[Ruston]

I'm not sure what you mean by "Anglicise". If you mean to make it appear as if it is something built by an English manufacturer in the 1930s then I can't think of anything that looks remotely like it and  would fit the bill as an industrial. It is what it is; a 1950s German diesel, so the best you can do is to back-date it to a 1930s German (or other European) diesel and run it as an import.

 

This French loco has a similar long wheelbase and with the open cab could possibly be from the 1930s, though I am no expert on foreign diesels.

https://hobb-e-mail.com/ree-mb071-sncf-moyse-mo25001-21590-p.asp

You could make bodywork that is similar to that to fit your chassis.

[alastairq]

................all, of course, bearing in mind the model is HO in scale....

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, alastairq said:

................all, of course, bearing in mind the model is HO in scale....

And runs on HO track................

 

It's not too out of size for any small shunter @4mm scale