Northeast Industrial Stuff

[CXW1]

My dad is one of many volunteers at the Tanfield Railway and last year he asked me if I would make him a model of Twizell in its ‘as-preserved’ condition. I like a challenge, so I gave it a go.

 

I sent the prospective owner of the model off to Marley Hill shed armed with a camera and tape measure so I could work from accurate dimensions, and fortunately there are loads of photos on the internet to look at as well. 

 

The model is 4mm scale, OO gauge, and is scratchbuilt from brass. High Level gearbox and Mitsumi motor.

 

The lining is not 100% accurate. The actual loco has very thin double lining which I don’t have the skills (or eyesight) to produce in 4mm scale. Lining on the model is the thinnest stuff that Fox produces and isn’t as noticeable to the naked eye as it seems to be on camera. The photos below were taken by its new owner in his back garden. A picture of the model sitting on the footplate of the real loco appeared on the Tanfield Railway blog and twitter pages a few months ago but I don’t have a copy.

 

My main interest is ex-NER and ex-Hull & Barnsley locos and I have started a thread over on the kitbuilding and scratchbuilding section for all of that stuff. As Twizell is an industrial loco I thought it was better off here.

 

Are there any other models of Tanfield locos out there?

 

Cheers

 

Chris

 

[Gordon A]

 

Copied from Tanfield railways web site

(https://www.tanfield-railway.co.uk/index.php?mact=LISETRLocomotives,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01item=Twizell&cntnt01category=Operational&cntnt01returnid=50  )

 

Joicey Collieries No.3, TWIZELL, Robert Stephenson & Co. Works No.2730

Works History:
TWIZELL was built by Robert Stephenson & Co Ltd at their Newcastle upon Tyne works. She is an 0-6-0T with 17 x 24″ inside cylinders, 4ft diameter wheels, weighing 41 tons. She was ex-works on 17th March 1891 as Works No.2730.

Working History:
As No.3, TWIZELL, she was delivered new to James Joicey & Company′s Beamish Railway in County Durham. Here, she was one of three 0-6-0T and two 0-6-0ST locos working the system, linking Beamish Air, Beamish 2nd, Beamish Mary and East Stanley Collieries. This joined the North Eastern Railway at Beamish Junction on the Pontop & South Shields branch, a distance of just under 5 miles.

She was based at Beamish Engine Works shed, which was located on the north side of the works and where all the repairs were carried out. Ownership of the system passed to the Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Collieries Ltd in November 1924. On Vesting Day on 1st January 1947, ownership of the system passed to the newly formed National Coal Board and, in that year, TWIZELL received a new boiler.

By September 1951, she had moved to the nearby Handen Hold colliery, returning to Beamish by June 1952. As she had to work over British Railways tracks at Handen Hold and Ouston Junction, she was registered by the British Transport Commission as No.1513 in 1952. She also acquired an NCB plant No.2520/69, which was painted on her front sandboxes, above her worksplates.

Following the construction of a link to Handen Hold colliery by the NCB in 1954/55, the steeply graded branch between West Pelton and Ouston Junction was closed. TWIZELL had moved back to Handen Hold colliery by March 1958, only to return to Beamish shed by July 1958. In 1960 she received a new firebox from W G Bagnall Ltd, Stafford, under their order 9094 and was retubed at Beamish, returning to Handen Hold colliery in January 1961. In February 1961, a raft of wagons ran away from the screens here and into the loco shed, pushing TWIZELL half way out of the shed end wall. In August 1961 she returned to Beamish shed, but moved back to Handen Hold shed in July 1963, when the Beamish Engine Works shed was closed.

The NCB closed the Beamish Railway in March 1966 and, after a period in storage, TWIZELL moved to Morrison Busty Colliery at Annfield Plain in Febrbuary 1968. This journey was undertaken in steam over part of the British Railways (BR) system, including descending the Waldridge incline. At Morrison Busty, she worked traffic from the colliery up to South Moor, then reversing back up to the junction with BR at Oxhill on the Beamish to Annfield Plain line. She was found by the crews here to be prone to derailment, usually the middle wheels dropping inside the rails.

Preservation History:
With the closure of Morrison Busty looming in October 1973, she was acquired by the North of England Open Air Museum and moved to their store at Marley Hill engine shed in March 1972. Here she was joined by other engines destined for the Tanfield Railway before she moved to Beamish museum in October 1977.

At Beamish, her overhaul was commenced, but not completed and she moved back to Marley Hill engine shed in 3/1995. TWIZELL is on a long term loan to the Tanfield Railway and, following the completion of her 15-Year overhaul, entered traffic in the first half of 2010.

Photo: TWIZELL in Andrews House Station, by E.Garrod.

Status: Operational, Marley Hill Shed

[Sandhole]

That is Bloody Lovely!!!

[CXW1]

Thanks for the comments. I spoke to my dad last night and he said that the current status of the real Twizell is 'non-operational'. It is having some boiler tubes replaced. Work started on this a few months ago but stopped when the lockdown was imposed. 

[eastworld]

I've always liked the real Twizell and this model captures it very well!

 

Stu

[Corbs]

I love it - I actually saved the pic I saw of it when I saw it on FB as I think Twizell is one of the most well proportioned industrial locos and your model looks brilliant.

[CXW1]

Corbs, excellent - thanks for posting this. I've been meaning to go back through the Tanfield FB and twitter pages to try and find this picture so you have saved me a job. I think I said previously that there was a picture of the model sitting on the footplate of the real loco but that is clearly a breeze block. I was nearly right. 

 

Cheers

 

Chris 

[t-b-g]

When I saw the photo, my first thought was that it must be a Kitson. With the rounded tank tops and curved bunker back, it looks like a close cousin of the LD&ECR 0-6-0T (LNER Class J60). I attach a snap so those not familiar with the J60 can see what I mean.

 

 

So it was a surprise to see that it wasn't anything to do with the Kitson design at all.

 

Another lovely model Chris. 

[CXW1]

4 hours ago, t-b-g said:

When I saw the photo, my first thought was that it must be a Kitson. With the rounded tank tops and curved bunker back, it looks like a close cousin of the LD&ECR 0-6-0T (LNER Class J60). I attach a snap so those not familiar with the J60 can see what I mean.

 

 

So it was a surprise to see that it wasn't anything to do with the Kitson design at all.

 

Another lovely model Chris. 

 

It does have a Kitson look to it.

 

It was built by Robert Stephenson & Co, who I think also built the 3 J80s for the Hull and Barnsley a year or so later and couldn't be any more different. 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2020 by CXW1
Spelling

[CXW1]

Its been a while since this thread was last updated. My dad built the body of a High Level Armstrong Whitworth shunter about 12 months ago and gave it to me to build the chassis and make it work. Thanks!!

 

The loco has been finished as No. 2 as preserved at Tanfield (minus the lining) and hopefully it won't be too long before it can be delivered to its native North East to keep the model of Twizell company. 

 

 

I ended up half-making my own chassis after struggling with the chassis in the kit. Like all High Level stuff the chassis is superbly designed but it is designed to take 2mm axles. I assume that these would have been available at some point (Sharman, perhaps?) 

 

I initially used Alan Gibson L&Y Pug wheels which are designed to be used with a standard 1/8th inch axle. Alan Gibson supply bushes which reduce the axle bore from 1/8th inch to 2mm but unfortunately I couldn't get on with these and the thing wobbled all over the place. This is entirely down to my ham-fistedness rather than any issues with the kit. To cut a very long story short I ended up damaging the original chassis and using some of it (jackshaft, connecting rods, motor etc) and using the original frames as a template to make new frames which can accommodate 1/8th axles and Markits wheels. 

 

On the new 'home brewed' chassis the jackshaft is quartered and connected to the front driving wheels (as on the prototype) rather than using the 'illusodrive' system in the kit. 

 

With the benefit of hindsight it may have been better to just ream out the axle holes on the original chassis to accept 1/8th bearings in the first place before starting to build it. 

 

The main thing is that it has turned out OK in the end and it runs well (and apologies to Chris G for making a right old mess of his kit)!!

 

 

Cheers

 

Chris 

 

 

 

 

 

[alexl102]

That's absolutely lovely. I was just thinking a couple of days ago how much I'd love a model of Twizzell in OO. You should be well pleased with that!

[CXW1]

I might change the title of this thread to 'Geordie Industrials' or something along those lines because there isn't one of these at Tanfield, but it is a model of a loco that was very much built in the North East.

 

This is a scratchbuilt Chapman & Furneaux in EM gauge and it has just trundled off my workbench this evening.

 

 

 

The full details of the build are over on my workbench thread but I thought I would post a picture in the industrial section for the record. 

 

Chapman & Furneaux took over the better-known Black Hawthorn of Gateshead in the 1890s - they existed for a short time before themselves being taken over by R&W Hawthorn & Leslie of Newcastle. Records suggest that Chapman & Furneaux only built 70 locomotives in their short existence and I'm not aware of any preserved examples. 

 

The model is of 'Lintz No. 2' which was built by Chapman & Furneaux in 1900. My late grandfather used to drive the real loco when he worked at Lintz Colliery near Burnopfield in the 1920s. 

 

I just need a little industrial layout for it run on now.....

 

Cheers

 

Chris

 

Edit - to point out that the loco is a model of the one that I use in my name picture/avatar whatsit.

 

 

Edited May 31, 2022 by CXW1
Update

[CXW1]

Apologies to anyone who has already seen this over on my main workbench thread, but here is my recently completed scratchbuilt model of R&W Hawthorn 'Enterprise'. The real one is preserved at Tanfield but not restored. 

 

I guess this is my interpretation of what it might look like if it ever were to be restored. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is EM gauge with a nice High Level gearbox and motor, Gibson wheels and nothing particularly ground breaking. 

 

The name and works plates are from Narrow planet. 

 

Cheers

 

Chris 

 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2022 by CXW1
Correction

[Sandhole]

Useless information post.
In the 90s there was a cottage industry kit manufacturer called Chilton Ironworks. They produced a small, but tasty, selection of North East types.
The Stephenson/Hawthorns 0-6-2 Lambton tanks, an ex-Taff Vale 0-6-2, also used on the Lambton system. A NER 0-6-0 saddletank.
They projected a kit of Twizell and an NER 0-6-0 long boiler loco as well as a kit for the NSR New L Class, that worked on the Bridgewater Colliery system.
They produced a range of contractors wagons very similar to the wagons produced by RT Models.
Chilton then completely disappeared.
I'd love to know if anybody in RMWeb land has ever seen and built one of these kits. Their range was very 'tasty' and I for one would be in the market for, at least, a couple of them.
Chris.

[david65061]

I built a couple of chilton iron works locos. They were very good and i wish they were still available today. 

 

I posted in the topic below on page 4 a long time ago but there is a picture of my kitisons lambton tank from a chilton iron works kit at the bottom of my post. 

 

 

David

Edited September 3, 2021 by david65061

[BMS]

Got a couple of unbuilt Chilton TV O2 0-6-2T (Kitson) - job for the next year..

Shame they disappeared after all the work they had done.

 

[t-b-g]

11 hours ago, Sandhole said:

Useless information post.
In the 90s there was a cottage industry kit manufacturer called Chilton Ironworks. They produced a small, but tasty, selection of North East types.
The Stephenson/Hawthorns 0-6-2 Lambton tanks, an ex-Taff Vale 0-6-2, also used on the Lambton system. A NER 0-6-0 saddletank.
They projected a kit of Twizell and an NER 0-6-0 long boiler loco as well as a kit for the NSR New L Class, that worked on the Bridgewater Colliery system.
They produced a range of contractors wagons very similar to the wagons produced by RT Models.
Chilton then completely disappeared.
I'd love to know if anybody in RMWeb land has ever seen and built one of these kits. Their range was very 'tasty' and I for one would be in the market for, at least, a couple of them.
Chris.

 

Me too! I wanted one of the 0-6-2T kits to make into the LD&ECR version but after waiting for long enough I ended up building one from scratch.

 

It has since been repainted in GCR livery and fitted with a better chimney.

 

 

 

[Sandhole]

3 hours ago, david65061 said:

I built a couple of chilton iron works locos. They were very good and i wish they were still available today. 

 

I posted in the topic below on page 4 a long time ago but there is a picture of my kitisons lambton tank from a chilton iron works kit at the bottom of my post. 

 

 

David

You make lovely stuff sir.
That's the first Chilton kit I've seen.
Oh I wish they were still in production. I knew the NSR tanks intimately and the RS&H 0-6-2s are another favourite as is Twizell.
They did produce unique prototypes.
Regards,
Chris.

Edited September 3, 2021 by Sandhole

[Sludger]

I believe John Elliot who was Chilton Ironworks emigrated to Canada.

 

Trev.

[Sandhole]

6 hours ago, Sludger said:

I believe John Elliot who was Chilton Ironworks emigrated to Canada.

 

Trev.

Thanks Trev.

Regards,
Chris.

[lanchester]

I have a vicarious connection with 'Twizell'. Back in the Seventies, when my late mother was a magistrate, she had the pleasure of sentencing some scrote who had nicked the nameplates off Twizell. I think said plates were successfully recovered. I forget the sentence, and any suggestion that Dad and I might have urged her upwards in severity would of course be against everything that British Justice stands for, But sometimes you have to do the right thing?

[CXW1]

3 hours ago, lanchester said:

I have a vicarious connection with 'Twizell'. Back in the Seventies, when my late mother was a magistrate, she had the pleasure of sentencing some scrote who had nicked the nameplates off Twizell. I think said plates were successfully recovered. I forget the sentence, and any suggestion that Dad and I might have urged her upwards in severity would of course be against everything that British Justice stands for, But sometimes you have to do the right thing?

 

I understand that Twizell was at Morrison Busty pit in the 70s, so I assume the thief would have been some wrong'un from Stanley. 

 

Before anyone takes offence at that suggestion I can confirm that I am originally from Stanley and could probably even suggest a few likely names.....

 

[CXW1]

On 03/09/2021 at 11:54, t-b-g said:

 

Me too! I wanted one of the 0-6-2T kits to make into the LD&ECR version but after waiting for long enough I ended up building one from scratch.

 

It has since been repainted in GCR livery and fitted with a better chimney.

 

 

 

 

Hello Tony

 

One of these is somewhere on my 'to do' list, but I would build it as the ex-H&BR version - was that a LNER N11?

 

I've got plenty of other part-built things to finish off first though including a nearly done Y8, H&BR G1 and a diesel shunter of all things.  

 

Which layout is it?

 

Cheers

 

Chris 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[t-b-g]

3 hours ago, CXW1 said:

 

Hello Tony

 

One of these is somewhere on my 'to do' list, but I would build it as the ex-H&BR version - was that a LNER N11?

 

I've got plenty of other part-built things to finish off first though including a nearly done Y8, H&BR G1 and a diesel shunter of all things.  

 

Which layout is it?

 

Cheers

 

Chris 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello Chris,

 

The layout is one of my little exhibition layouts, Church Warsop, a "what if" the LD&ECR had built a passenger station to serve the village. You are quite right, the ones the LD&ECR couldn't afford, which were sold to the H&BR were class N11. I am no expert on them but I think most if not all still had round top fireboxes at the grouping but otherwise they were similar. When the time comes, I can help out with a drawing.

 

Cheers

 

Tony

[5050]

I've gor several of the Chilton chauldron wagon kits in the different varieties.  Might get round to building them someday if I ever have a suitable layout!