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The Saltport Saga


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No.43 is a Hunslet Austerity, fresh from the MoD. The Company's shops have provided it with larger buffers to prevent buffer locking on the sharp curves,  and a wooden cab floor to make the crews more comfortable.

 

The model is based around the old Airfix kit, and it took a while to accumulate all the parts required. Dapol had not re-introduced this one, so a real Airfix kit had to be found. Then a Perseverance chassis; Gibson wheels; Mashima 1024; and a Branchlines Multibox. Brassmasters kindly supplied a set of castings from their old kit to give me a set of boiler fittings, and a running plate/valence/buffer beam/step assembly was made up in brass. The model is a good smooth runner and demonstrates that this old kit always, to me, looked more like an Austerity than the Dapol R-T-R model ever did, without modification anyway.

 

Fitting the Narrow Planet works plates I managed to damage the paint, so I smudged on some rust coloured weathering powder and kid myself that it is a clever piece of simulated damage!

 

Pictured here on Mike Bell's Prospect Wharf:

 

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Edited by Barclay
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1 hour ago, Barclay said:

It would be nice to do another, or a 6-coupled, such as the Old Class I, with the older style of tank with rectangular sides and snap head rivets.

 

Your model of the F class is gorgeous (as all your locos are). This might be a little far in the future for you, or you might be looking to scratch, but I've done/doing some etches for an Old Class i. I'm currently playing around with 3D printing the castings straight onto sprues (in a castable resin) ready to be cast in brass. This afternoon I have been playing with some parts I printed for working inside motion for it, although this is proving to be a very tight squeeze....

So a long way from being ready for anyone other than me currently, but they might be useful for you at some point - once I've built one to see if it actually works! I've just received the etches back a few days ago, and so I'll start a build thread on here. If you have followed my other builds, you'll know not to expect rapid progress though :rolleyes:

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39 minutes ago, jdb82 said:

 

Your model of the F class is gorgeous (as all your locos are). This might be a little far in the future for you, or you might be looking to scratch, but I've done/doing some etches for an Old Class i. I'm currently playing around with 3D printing the castings straight onto sprues (in a castable resin) ready to be cast in brass. This afternoon I have been playing with some parts I printed for working inside motion for it, although this is proving to be a very tight squeeze....

So a long way from being ready for anyone other than me currently, but they might be useful for you at some point - once I've built one to see if it actually works! I've just received the etches back a few days ago, and so I'll start a build thread on here. If you have followed my other builds, you'll know not to expect rapid progress though :rolleyes:

I take it that you're not aware that RT Models already do a kit for the Old Class I?

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13 minutes ago, Ruston said:

I take it that you're not aware that RT Models already do a kit for the Old Class I?

 

Yes I'm aware - the one I'm doing is in 7mm scale. And yep.....I had forgotten Barclay is modelling in 4mm scale. Clearly the grey cells aren't getting any better..... :fool:

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Absolutely captivating! 

 

I've only just come across Saltport, and have thoroughly enjoyed catching up. Thank you for taking the time to share, it's great to see such a variety of projects explained well, and completed to such a high level.

 

Eagerly following :)

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On 11/04/2021 at 23:06, Barclay said:

The model has a 7' wheelbase, and Kingdom Kits were based in Fife, so I think you have cracked it.

 

You don't know what the wheel size was, do you?


Well that makes sense, kingdom of fife and all. I hadn’t made that connection before. 
 

All this while I was thinking they are kinda incorrect, but turns out they are correct! 

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The Kitmaster/Airfix Austerity is a superb kit, overlooked, like a lot of Airfix railway stuff.
Their Presflo and Prestwin are great kits, as is the 16ton mineral wagon.
I ended up with a Centre Models Austerity. That beast had an out of kilter whitemetal chassis block. It rocked on the centre axle and has a K's motor.
Surprisingly, it has run better and better over the 30 years I've had it. The motor runs at the temperature of a nuclear pile after shunting, but it hasn't exploded yet!:lol:
Looks suitably rough, yes? I love her to bits, but she does need a makeover. Manchester Steel has only the one Austerity and an underfloor- stoker one at that!.
I think my Old Lady out- batters Bazzer's Centre models locos.:lol:
IMG_20181102_155621.jpg.21669fa37f719f7530a53b571bacc781.jpg

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Just now, Barclay said:

Emboldened by the construction of my first scratchbuild, I determined to make a model of a loco. that I had wanted for some time - the 0-8-0T that Nasmyth Wilson of Patricroft had built two examples of for Gin Pit colliery. Extensive internet searching suggested that no drawings had ever been published, and enquiries to a couple of archives that might possibly have copies of the originals came up with nothing. Eventually after a great deal of Googling I found pictures of a model of the locomotive, and reasoned that if someone had made one then he/she must have some drawings. Some optimistic emailing eventually led me to Bob Bowden, who had made the model from drawings he had made himself on a CAD programme using photo's and known dimensions - he's quite clever ! Bob very kindly sent me copies of his drawings, and battle commenced.

 

It took 8 years.... Some things, such as the superstructure, were pretty straightforward, but the valve gear, based loosely on some Gibson etches,  and the suspension arrangements, kept defeating me and I became somewhat put off. I wouldn't let myself build anything else until this loco. was complete, I knew I'd never finish it otherwise, but I think I did much less modelling during this period as a result. Eventually the, largely mental, blockages were cleared and it was completed. I still hate Walschaerts valve gear though - I think trying to make the valve spindles move was a bridge too far for me, though one does on the finished model... The suspension became a slight fudge, with a fixed rear axle, a beam between the front two, and the third just lightly sprung. It runs well though, the combination of Mashima 1426, High Level gearbox, and a huge flywheel have made an exceptionally smooth runner that has considerable over-run when the power is turned off. Wheels are Gibson 03 diesel wheels, which seemed about the right shape, with the large infilled area. The chimney and dome are Gibson fittings, for something else obviously, I can't remember what they were intended for. Narrow Planet made the distinctive triangular works plates, based on a photo. I found and they are now in the range, but only for 7mm and up - I presume they weren't satisfied with the level of detail they were able to fit into such tiny plates in 4mm, but I was happy enough, it was better than trying to make my own.

Seeing those dodgy oil cans I made from sprue makes me realise that I need to replace them with some nice cast examples from RT Models !

 

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Cylinder stretchers and motion bracket sit in grooves in the frames and are retained only by the running plate sitting on them, so they could be easily removed for repair should the valve gear self-destruct, which I keep expecting to happen.

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With the slightly over-scale EM flanges, the wheels almost touch. 

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As a little boy I saw the real thing, right at the end of its life.
A fearsome bit of kit. This captures my 'snapshot memory'.
Just a marvellous piece of work my Friend!
Will you think of building the Manning Wardle 0-8-0. Not the finest hour of that particular manufacturer and a case of 'anything Astley and Tyldsley do , Bridgewater Collieries can do.?

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I have drawings of the Manning Wardle 0-8-0T from an old Railway Modeller, but it's pretty ungainly - it doesn't have the purposeful look of the Nasmyth. Mind you, inside cylinders so a hell of a lot easier to build!

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On 09/05/2021 at 07:29, Barclay said:

I have drawings of the Manning Wardle 0-8-0T from an old Railway Modeller, but it's pretty ungainly - it doesn't have the purposeful look of the Nasmyth. Mind you, inside cylinders so a hell of a lot easier to build!

Agreed with the inside cylinders thing.
I wanted drawings for the NSR New L class 0-6-2. I knew them intimately from the Bridgewater Collieries lines.

 

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I was recently tempted by this little laser cut low relief building kit from fairpricemodels.com. At only £5.99 it's termed a scratch aid as it doesn't have any brickwork or roof covering supplied but that means you can choose your own to taste, which I had in stock anyway - Slaters' brickwork and Wills slates, plus Wills gutters and downpipes. The windows and doors are all supplied and look very good. The only problem is where I planned to put it - you can't see it at all. Smart......

 

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On 03/05/2021 at 16:09, Barclay said:

In the early 90's Model Railway Journal ran a series by Paul Berntsen which led you through the steps of scratchbuilding a locomotive, the Manning Wardle 'F'. There was a component pack for the tricky bits such as springs and boiler fittings too. I got the pack but didn't feel brave enough to start the job until about 2005. Building the loco. was an immensely rewarding process and gave me great confidence to tackle other projects. My version benefited from being built later as High level gearboxes had become available, and the lo-loader enabled me to build the boiler 'in the round'. I also didn't use split axles as the project had suggested - shoot me down if you will, but it has always seemed an incredible faff just to avoid bending up a few pieces of wire. The loco. is intended to represent the classic contractors' Manning from the 1880's, with the flush riveted one piece tank wrapper. It would be nice to do another, or a 6-coupled, such as the Old Class I, with the older style of tank with rectangular sides and snap head rivets.

 

The loco. has always run very well, and the tiny flywheel does have a beneficial effect - small perhaps on this loco., but I am convinced that even the little ones  help to replace the mass and momentum that our small scale models lack.

 

looking at the order that I think I have built my models in, this must be the last loco. that received the old standard livery which was a fairly bright green, toned down with weathering. After that, with one exception, we went GWR green....

 

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Lovely model.

 

I have the old MRJ articles and this prompted me to give branch lines a call, they still have some of the accessory packs in stock and Brian is willing to produce more if there is demand if anyone is interested 

 

Back copies of the MRJ are available as well so this model is still an option.

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A long time ago at an exhibition I came across a secondhand but unbuilt Impetus Bagnall kit. It came with a tiny motor and Sharman wheels and didn't cost the earth, which shows how long ago it was...

 

The decision to build it came whilst I was working on the Nasmyth Wilson. If you're keeping up you will recall that I wouldn't let myself start anything else until I finished it. But, I reasoned, I could start this one and only build it when doing demo's on the EMGS stand at exhibitions - I couldn't take the Nasmyth, because I was struggling with the valve gear and not knowing what you are doing isn't a good look when you are trying to convince people that it's not as difficult as they might think. Progress was very slow until the Nasmyth was finished, but then picked up. As with the Avonside I made the tank assembly detachable to allow a Mashima/Multibox/flywheel combination to fit - the tiny motor that came with it had been used in the manning Wardle 'F'.

 

By this time I was on RMWeb and reading Bagnall builds by 5050 and Adam helped with construction. The only issue I had with this kit was rolling the tank - Impetus put half-etched lines inside the bends, but I think this actually makes it harder to get a neat bend. I eventually gave up on the tank and made another. It still isn't perfect but sometimes you have to know when to admit defeat. This one I kept quite clean, which allows the GWR green to be seen to better effect.

 

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Proper job, Stuart. As I remember, the tank gave me grief, too, but at least yours has the 'proper' chimney (much though I like the Giesel that mine wears). A nice kit, otherwise, of an attractively proportioned engine.

 

Adam

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'LMS 0-4-0 dock engine - in bits - £5'.

 

You can't argue with that can you? This was at the Expo-EM second hand stall some years ago.

 

Below is what I got for my £5:

 

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A very nice scratch built Kitson saddle tank. And very old indeed. The Romford motor and the brass wheels, which I have been advised might be modified Hamblings tender wheels, suggest a loco. from the early days of EM gauge. The axles are quite thin, and turned down even smaller at the ends to fit into some sort of insulation at the hub. One of these insulation pieces was missing, which is possibly what had grounded the loco. At first, I had big plans - new chassis, compensation, a repaint. Then, as the history of it made itself felt, I decided to do as little as was necessary to get it running again, so the missing insulation was replaced with some wire insulation, heated up and forced onto the axle. Some soldering repairs were necessary around the base of the smokebox and the front part of the running plate, which necessitated a repaint of the  running plate, and I had to replace the very worn brushes with some spares from an XO4. Then we were off. At first there was an intermittent short, but it was eventually tracked down. It runs very well considering the mechanical spec. It prefers the Pentroller to anything else, but it does make it get rather warm, so running sessions are slightly limited....

 

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Look at the buffers - made larger by soldering discs to normal buffers by the look of it. Anchor chain couplings, but again, of its time. I would love to know who built this loco. but I don't suppose I ever shall.

 

WP_20150725_17_28_28_Pro.jpg.fe3430e2598ee5461588d320eb313e04.jpg

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On 21/05/2021 at 15:06, Barclay said:

'LMS 0-4-0 dock engine - in bits - £5'.

 

You can't argue with that can you? This was at the Expo-EM second hand stall some years ago.

 

Below is what I got for my £5:

 

PICT0901.JPG.d6f3b216142a2d7e1d602fb73ce0ed70.JPG

 

A very nice scratch built Kitson saddle tank. And very old indeed. The Romford motor and the brass wheels, which I have been advised might be modified Hamblings tender wheels, suggest a loco. from the early days of EM gauge. The axles are quite thin, and turned down even smaller at the ends to fit into some sort of insulation at the hub. One of these insulation pieces was missing, which is possibly what had grounded the loco. At first, I had big plans - new chassis, compensation, a repaint. Then, as the history of it made itself felt, I decided to do as little as was necessary to get it running again, so the missing insulation was replaced with some wire insulation, heated up and forced onto the axle. Some soldering repairs were necessary around the base of the smokebox and the front part of the running plate, which necessitated a repaint of the  running plate, and I had to replace the very worn brushes with some spares from an XO4. Then we were off. At first there was an intermittent short, but it was eventually tracked down. It runs very well considering the mechanical spec. It prefers the Pentroller to anything else, but it does make it get rather warm, so running sessions are slightly limited....

 

WP_20150725_17_29_53_Pro.jpg.15ccbbe9f6b64dcdb75a3db5555041dd.jpg

 

Look at the buffers - made larger by soldering discs to normal buffers by the look of it. Anchor chain couplings, but again, of its time. I would love to know who built this loco. but I don't suppose I ever shall.

 

WP_20150725_17_28_28_Pro.jpg.fe3430e2598ee5461588d320eb313e04.jpg

You are as bad as me as regards model railway history. That's a great little loco and a great rejuvenation job.
More power to your elbow.
Regards,
Chris.

 

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This LMS 3F 0-6-0T is the result of one of those impulse ebay purchases that happen sometimes. The kit is by R.M. Evans & Co. - a company I had never heard of until I saw it, but some on-line research revealed that R.M. Evans was the Martin Evans who would become editor of the Model Engineer in the late 60's. However this kit dates from about 20 years before that when Mr. Evans' firm was selling very sophisticated, for the time, stamped brass kits, and a fair amount of very high end '0' gauge stuff.

 

I got the kit for £13 so the fact that much was missing didn't matter too much. I had no chassis, and one of the tanks was missing, plus various details. The loco. ended up with a scratch built chassis with Gibson coupling rods, brakes from a Judith Edge etch, a scratch built replacement tank, Cavendish buffers, Gibson safety valves, and Brassmasters coal rails. I also made a new smokebox wrapper as the one in the kit didn't look quite right. The chassis has a Mashima 1420 with a Branchlines Multibox, and the wheels are the ones that came with the kit - they are all insulated with brass tyres and they work like Romfords, in fact I used Markits EM axles and they fitted just fine, but whether they actually are Romfords I don't know - did they ever use brass?

 

The stamped brass parts are amazing and include the Belpaire firebox and boiler as a single piece, a stamped smokebox door and the steps, each stamped from a single piece of brass.

 

Lots of research was carried out to find a suitable loco. with the right details at the right time, then I messed it up by forgetting to make the 'keyhole' sandbox fillers, thereby limiting myself to the only early loco. that was anywhere near my area in 1947 - Speke Junction's 7309, built by Hunslet in 1925, and already made by Bachman !! 

 

Great fun making up a kit that had been in a box for 70 years - it's a special loco. to me, even though it can't match Bachman for detail. I include the instructions below as in many ways they are an excellent example to many kit makers who came much later.

 

post-30882-0-19390800-1525244967.jpg.ddee48b5f9950f33bde3976d6edb588b.jpg

 

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IMG_20210306_155119.jpg.d0b84cdb41ae9e2ae2cccb734c4a9f77.jpg

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5 hours ago, Barclay said:

This LMS 3F 0-6-0T is the result of one of those impulse ebay purchases that happen sometimes. The kit is by R.M. Evans & Co. - a company I had never heard of until I saw it, but some on-line research revealed that R.M. Evans was the Martin Evans who would become editor of the Model Engineer in the late 60's. However this kit dates from about 20 years before that when Mr. Evans' firm was selling very sophisticated, for the time, stamped brass kits, and a fair amount of very high end '0' gauge stuff.

 

I got the kit for £13 so the fact that much was missing didn't matter too much. I had no chassis, and one of the tanks was missing, plus various details. The loco. ended up with a scratch built chassis with Gibson coupling rods, brakes from a Judith Edge etch, a scratch built replacement tank, Cavendish buffers, Gibson safety valves, and Brassmasters coal rails. I also made a new smokebox wrapper as the one in the kit didn't look quite right. The chassis has a Mashima 1420 with a Branchlines Multibox, and the wheels are the ones that came with the kit - they are all insulated with brass tyres and they work like Romfords, in fact I used Markits EM axles and they fitted just fine, but whether they actually are Romfords I don't know - did they ever use brass?

 

The stamped brass parts are amazing and include the Belpaire firebox and boiler as a single piece, a stamped smokebox door and the steps, each stamped from a single piece of brass.

 

Lots of research was carried out to find a suitable loco. with the right details at the right time, then I messed it up by forgetting to make the 'keyhole' sandbox fillers, thereby limiting myself to the only early loco. that was anywhere near my area in 1947 - Speke Junction's 7309, built by Hunslet in 1925, and already made by Bachman !! 

 

Great fun making up a kit that had been in a box for 70 years - it's a special loco. to me, even though it can't match Bachman for detail. I include the instructions below as in many ways they are an excellent example to many kit makers who came much later.

 

post-30882-0-19390800-1525244967.jpg.ddee48b5f9950f33bde3976d6edb588b.jpg

 

2108650483_DSC_0021(4).JPG.62406b66f69eb86f07b70f060a7c2c10.JPG

 

DSC_0018.JPG.57095305ee04307be281e6f693c439ee.JPG

 

IMG_20210306_155049.jpg.bca8997475f813e02a1776e0ca8e3494.jpg

 

IMG_20210306_155107.jpg.4fac2f1adb82181a60a52295c9408d4d.jpg

 

IMG_20210306_155119.jpg.d0b84cdb41ae9e2ae2cccb734c4a9f77.jpg

I love this.
Once again historic stuff. A lovely model.
Chris.

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