Locomotion & Rails of Sheffield announce SE&CR D Class

[Jeepy]

My early BR lined Black one arrived the other day, the obligatory tender buffer loose in the package and the cab roof fell off! Also the tender brake rigging was making a bid for freedom when i lifted it out! Lol! All easily sorted though, she ran beautifully on the rolling road and i do think it's a lovely model overall, the cab detail is fantastic! 

I changed the leading driving wheels for the ones without traction tyres but i have yet to try my birdcage 3-set behind it on a layout, that job was really fiddly, mainly trying to get the connecting rod screws back in, i kept dropping them down inside the loco body! You have to start screwing them in as soon as you offer them to the hole through the connecting rod and the wheel because the thread starts right at the beginning of the hole, you can't sit the screw in the hole first then get the 'spanner' on it, it's a 3 handed job! Lol! 

 

Best wishes, 

 

Jim. 

[AY Mod]

49 minutes ago, Jeepy said:

that job was really fiddly, mainly trying to get the connecting rod screws back in, i kept dropping them down inside the loco body! You have to start screwing them in as soon as you offer them to the hole through the connecting rod and the wheel because the thread starts right at the beginning of the hole, you can't sit the screw in the hole first then get the 'spanner' on it, it's a 3 handed job!

 

Just use a spot of tacky wax or blue tack on the end of the nut spinner.

[deepfat]

Mine is SECR lined as that is what mrs Deepfat likes and it's bang on compared to the pictures @AY Mod shared. I have other preserved locos to Q1 C1, the flying banana the Duchess of Hamilton, Evening Star and Tornado, with the Prince of Wales on order

[Compound2632]

4 minutes ago, deepfat said:

the Prince of Wales on order

 

Oh! Oh! Who is doing one of those?

 

[Brian Indge]

On 04/07/2021 at 21:24, Methuselah said:

I'm new to this type - and the SECR generally - and have a couple of queries for the experts here.

• I see the Rails version lacks the rear set of lining on the boiler that the NRM version has. Which was prevalent in service....?
• Any reason these are being made with a matt finish - were the originals not gloss - like the real NRM example....?
• The Rails version is available in a DCC Sound version..... I'm a bit confused about whether the NRM version is available in a Sound version...like the Rails version...?

I have to say, these look gorgeous in the original SECR livery.

The NRM version is available with a sound fitted option. Good luck with trying to get information out of them though, I have tried to speak to someone there for the past 10 days without success, they do not deserve to be in business. It’s the last time I order anything from them.

[deepfat]

@Compound2632  ah sorry not that prince of wales this Prince of Wales and I sure you have seen Hornby are doing a new model of this not a revamp of Cock O the North

Edited July 7, 2021 by deepfat

[Jeepy]

2 hours ago, AY Mod said:

 

Just use a spot of tacky wax or blue tack on the end of the nut spinner.

Good call! Thank you! I'll bear that in mind...... Why didn't i think of that!?! So simple! Lol! 

 

Best wishes 

 

Jim. 

[Steamport Southport]

3 hours ago, CUCKOO LINE said:

It was restored in 1960 and placed in the Clapham Museum. There are apparently photos of it there in the 1960s, although they are on a pay for them website !

 

I was just pointing out that the website is pretty poorly done.

 

Photo of it at Clapham here. Along with a much better account of its history.

 

https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/737-sr-a737-sr-1737-br-31737/

 

 

Jason

[Jeepy]

55 minutes ago, Jeepy said:

Good call! Thank you! I'll bear that in mind...... Why didn't i think of that!?! So simple! Lol! 

 

Best wishes 

 

Jim. 

Just to add, i did magnetise my screwdrivers to make grappling with tbe retaining plate screws easier by leaving them in the magnetic bowl and i did try doing the same with the nut spinner at the time but it's not magnetically (Is there such a word?) compatible, so i did it the hard way with tweezers etc but thank you for the tip! I'll know next time! Lol! 

 

Best wishes, 

 

Jim. 

[AY Mod]

2 hours ago, Brian Indge said:

I have tried to speak to someone there for the past 10 days without success, they do not deserve to be in business. It’s the last time I order anything from them.

 

I've had a call from Locomotion as they're trying to look into it having read your post here. Could you drop me a PM please with a contact number and I will pass it on for them to call you.

[Venator]

A bit late to the party but I have only just been able to have a running session with my three Ds, still waiting for the BR black to turn up. I noted that on all three one tender buffer was adrift but I haven't had cab roofs fall off. Generally they run well though definitely needed running in despite Dapol's instructions.

 

My main concern and forgive me if someone else has already pointed this out, the centre wheel on the tender doesn't turn freely. Is it a lack of weight in the tender?

 

Apart from some minor detailing issues I think they are lovely models and to quote General Grievous they will make a fine addition to my collection.

[Jeepy]

1 hour ago, Venator said:

My main concern and forgive me if someone else has already pointed this out, the centre wheel on the tender doesn't turn freely. Is it a lack of weight in the tender?

Now you've mentioned it i have just been observing mine on the test track and the centre tender wheels are only 'touching down' on the railhead occasionally while running and none of the tender wheelsets spin freely by hand, they seem to be sprung with a bias to one side so may be rubbing on the brake rigging or perhaps the pick ups? Not sure at the moment but the centre wheels do seem to be riding higher than the others............. 

 

Best wishes, 

 

Jim 

[Jeepy]

1 hour ago, Venator said:

 

 

Having said that it doesn't seem to affect the running, she runs beautifully! 

 

Best wishes, 

 

Jim 

Edited July 7, 2021 by Jeepy

[Samedan]

 

I only found my way to this topic because I wanted to know what others had done with the various accessories, having recently taken delivery of a 737 directly from Locomotion. I’ve now spent what seems like several hours trailing through all the massively enlarged photos discussing the finer points of SECR lining, running plate alignment and VFM etc. My word, what a learned, but hard to please, lot you are! 

I’m not a SECR fan or collector, as such, but I’ve always had a thing about Edwardian pre-grouping railways (LNWR in particular ) and the D class stuck in my imagination from the first time I saw photos of it as a teenager in railway history books. So I decided that I would always regret it if I didn’t have one of these to sit in my display cabinet if nothing else.

 

I have to say, it’s a lovely-looking model of a supremely elegant loco. As a collector primarily nowadays of Swiss HO, £200 doesn’t immediately seem excessive for a high quality model. I reckon that if I hadn’t read all the niggles on here, I’d have been 99% satisfied but now there are several issues that I can’t unsee. Thanks guys!

 

Nevertheless, on reflection, I’m not disappointed. I won’t be staring at photos with 100x magnification and the overall impression at even close human viewing distance created by this model is very positive indeed. To a large extent, I’m just grateful that there are sponsors and manufacturers out there prepared to put their resources into very niche pre-grouping models (yes, I appreciate that they generally only cover locos that survived into BR/preservation, I am a LNWR fan after all). So I’m looking forward to the forthcoming LNWR Precedent and the Caley 812 0-6-0 and hoping they are absolutely perfect down to the last mm and shade of lining! 

 

[Wickham Green too]

9 hours ago, Jeepy said:

..... I changed the leading driving wheels for the ones without traction tyres ....... that job was really fiddly, mainly trying to get the connecting rod screws back in, i kept dropping them down inside the loco body! You have to start screwing them in as soon as you offer them to the hole through the connecting rod and the wheel because the thread starts right at the beginning of the hole, you can't sit the screw in the hole first then get the 'spanner' on it, it's a 3 handed job! ....

I used the alternative approach and removed the body before swapping the wheels - now THAT was fiddly - not least feeding that little circuit board back into the boiler while persuading it's lower 'peg' into its slot at the same time .... and then getting the main circuit board to slot into it through the smokebox ..... AAAAGH ! 

Yes, I DID accidentally disturb the kinematic tender coupling and rear drivers - while trying to get the keeper plate off : anyone contemplating swapping the wheels, by whatever technique, is best starting by liberating the front brake cross shaft and flicking the sandpipes beneath it - I don't see how you can get the keeper off otherwise !

[Samedan]

Going back to my original concern about accessories. It seems the only ones that are essential to 737 in original condition are front guard irons and cab side doors.

l’ve fitted the cab side doors without problem and located the tiny slots for the guard irons, but they won’t stay in place without glue. Before I get the glue out, has anybody found that they foul the pony truck on tight curves? Not that mine will be doing a lot of running but it would be nice to be able to give it an outing now and then. (BTW I’ve completely removed the front NEM coupling housing and replaced it with the little replacement piece provided.)

[Wickham Green too]

Try it on your tightest curve and see what it looks like.

 

Accsessories ? - as I said somewhere up-thread, These locos were fitted for steam heating from new so you'll want the tender pipework - the front hose was probably fitted in Southern days whenever tender-first operation became commonplace. 

[deepfat]

This is a little of topic so perhaps could be mocved elsewhere..

I am sure most friends on this thread run flexitrack and I do wish we could be told what the minimum radius was for these things rather than fiddling around with tacky wax to see what works. Also maybe some of us would design layouts around specifications rather than being disappointed that sand pipes and foot plates near bogies can't be fitted.  My other gripe is tender loco drawer bars so I am going to get some made to get a closer fitting between the two setting we are normally supplied with 

[Ian_B]

2nd radius is the minimum recommended

Ian_B

 

[Harlequin]

27 minutes ago, deepfat said:

This is a little of topic so perhaps could be mocved elsewhere..

I am sure most friends on this thread run flexitrack and I do wish we could be told what the minimum radius was for these things rather than fiddling around with tacky wax to see what works. Also maybe some of us would design layouts around specifications rather than being disappointed that sand pipes and foot plates near bogies can't be fitted.  My other gripe is tender loco drawer bars so I am going to get some made to get a closer fitting between the two setting we are normally supplied with 

 

1 minute ago, Ian_B said:

2nd radius is the minimum recommended

Ian_B

 

 

I think deepfat means the min radius when all the detail parts are fitted, which he's right isn't stated by any manufacturer, AFAIK. And the point about drawbars doesn't really apply to this model, with it's clever system, or Bachmann models, which always (in my experience anyway) have a fully adjustable drawbar length.

 

[Samedan]

6 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

These locos were fitted for steam heating from new so you'll want the tender pipework

Ah, thanks for that info. So that’s another tricky little bit of plastic to fix. 

[No Decorum]

My first 488 had to be returned because it was not sound fitted and I had upgraded to sound. My replacement has arrived and I am very impressed. The sound quality is very good and makes me regret that I didn’t get a sound-fitted mogul.

 

The locomotive runs beautifully and is very smooth at low speed. I swapped the rubber-shod driving wheels for the others thoughtfully provided. As has been observed, it’s fiddly. The coupling rods have some sort of matt finish on them and I can’t imagine that before the First World War, the rods would be anything but highly polished. The matt finish (is it a brushed finish?) didn’t want to come off, so I just reversed the rods, which are polished on the other side. In this state, 488 hauls two sets of Birdcages in great style but bear in mind that my layout is flat and is laid to 6' radius curves. I added a set of Southern liveried Birdcages and 488 slipped a bit but still managed to haul all nine coaches round the layout. I only want to haul six, so I’m well content with that.

 

The guardirons are metal and beautifully lined. One came off and I was lucky to find it. To fit one, put it into its hole, then ease it forward until it meets the back of the buffer beam – do it by feel. I suggest gluing not only the peg for the hole but also the part which contacts the bufferbeam for security. Do this, and the bogie wheels won’t contact them.

 

Dapol was criticised for the brightness of the fire in the Terriers and seems to have gone to the opposite extreme here, with a fire which is very dim. Peer closely into the beautifully decorated cab and what seems to be a red wire is highly visible in the firehole. It was same on both the models I received.

 

I’ve struggled with cab doors from other manufacturers which don’t quite fit. On 488 they are fitted with fishtails like those on an NEM coupling. Delightfully simple and easy!

 

I have always felt that consistency is important on models. I think Hornby went a little awry by plating the dome on the Wainwright H but then applying sparkly paint to the safety valve mount. With 488, that has been avoided but a metal copper-topped chimney, as on the Terriers, would have been a nice enhancement.

 

The cosmetic coupling hooks are a bit of a let down. After going to the trouble of providing a flat cross member to replace the NEM socket on the bogie, the front cries out for a full screw-link coupling. The hooks come out easily enough (useful for painting) and I found that drilling the hole out to 1·3 mm held a Hornby R7200 three-link coupler securely. The Hornby coupler has a square metal shaft and is very fiddly to file down, so enlarging the hole is a good lazy option. Sometimes, a square peg in a round hole works!

 

Hornby’s coupler is black, so I painted the rear hook black to match. Dapol’s smokebox door handles, like the hooks, seem to be self-coloured plastic intended to represent polished steel. Unfortunately, they are rather translucent, so I’ve painted them black. Not quite right but the lesser of two evils, I feel.

 

There is no coal depicted on the shovelling plate, which is something adding real coal offers the opportunity to correct.

 

A beautiful little machine. Thanks, Rails and Dapol!

 

[Tramshed]

On 07/07/2021 at 10:17, CUCKOO LINE said:

It was restored in 1960 and placed in the Clapham Museum. There are apparently photos of it there in the 1960s, although they are on a pay for them website !

Photo of 737 at Clapham Museum circa 1964 taken by my late father. Scanned from a transparency.

[AY Mod]

19 minutes ago, Tramshed said:

Photo of 737 at Clapham Museum circa 1964 taken by my late father. Scanned from a transparency.

 

So, the NRM aren't to blame for the extra boiler lining.

[Compound2632]

1 minute ago, AY Mod said:

So, the NRM aren't to blame for the extra boiler lining.

 

Where was the engine prepared for preservation? Ashford?