Mosston over Moss: Building a Coarse Scale garden railway

[Nearholmer]

Yes, I’ve since been educated that the 513 tender really belongs to a different Bing loco.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

I think I may have found a bit of history relating to my engine. It is coming from a seller in Freeport New York, and appears to be part of a huge and rather valuable collection of coarse scale European trains. I went and googled Freeport, to see if there were any notable people who might have fancied an O gauge stately home railway, and I found this on Wikipedia. 
 

"In the late 19th century, Freeport was the summer resort of wealthy politicians, publishers, and so forth. At the time, travel from Freeport to New York City required a journey of several hours on a coal-powered train, or an even more arduous automobile trip on the single-lane Merrick Road."

 

Certainly food for thought. In other news I have created a “clean assembly*” area for working on clockwork locos and live steam stationary engines.

 

*semi!

Edited November 7, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Florence Locomotive Works]

20 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Yes, I’ve since been educated that the 513 tender really belongs to a different Bing loco.

513 is the number for the LNWR Precursor class, I don't know if Bing made one. Or they just tried to sell a GTF as a Precursor, since the only difference is smokebox length, and the bridge in between the splashers.

 

Edited September 9, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Nearholmer]

Or, its the number of a different Midland Railway 4-4-0.

 

Or, its the number on the tender of Bing's 'Apollo', which I think is how I've been fooled - somebody hitching this tender to a Midland livery GtF, in the same way that somebody hitched a Hornby tender to yours.

 

 

Edited September 9, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Mark Carne]

3 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Or, its the number of a different Midland Railway 4-4-0.

 

Or, its the number on the tender of Bing's 'Apollo', which I think is how I've been fooled - somebody hitching this tender to a Midland livery GtF, in the same way that somebody hitched a Hornby tender to yours.

 

 

That's a correct match. Plenty of Apollo variations, just like Georges. I think I've said before, I've 10 Georges, and all different.....

 

Mark

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Lowko arriving in a few hours, it wasn't supposed to arrive for another week!

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Engine arrived few hours ago. I tried to wind it up, and realized I don’t have a suitable key! So every time it is to be run, I have to take the mech out and use my brass lined parallel jaw pliers. Oh well, could be worse. It runs smooth as silk though, and all gears work. Anybody know some alternatives for a key? Anyways here’s a video with 2 Bassett Lowke mk 1s on. 
 

 

Edited September 10, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Nearholmer]

20 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Anybody know some alternatives for a key?

 

Put it in forward gear and gently push it round the track backwards, or hold it on its back and use your thumbs to turn the wheels. 

 

Anything other than using pliers on the winder, for two reasons: you will damage the winder, and if the spring "goes" without the loco housing around it to contain it, you could get a very nasty injury, and a job in pirate films.

Edited September 10, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Florence Locomotive Works]

2 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

 

Put it in forward gear and gently push it round the track backwards, or hold it on its back and use your thumbs to turn the wheels. 

 

Anything other than using pliers on the winder, for two reasons: you will damage the winder, and if the spring "goes" without the loco housing around it to contain it, you could get a very nasty injury, and a job in pirate films.

Glad to be aware of that.

Edited September 10, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works
Horrific spelling

[Florence Locomotive Works]

16 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

 

Put it in forward gear and gently push it round the track backwards, or hold it on its back and use your thumbs to turn the wheels. 

 

Anything other than using pliers on the winder, for two reasons: you will damage the winder, and if the spring "goes" without the loco housing around it to contain it, you could get a very nasty injury, and a job in pirate films.

Just tried the reverse method, and it most certainly did not agree with the gear selector. Thankfully nothing broke. I think I’ll try and find a suitable socket.

[Nearholmer]

Hmmm ........... I wound mine that way before posting the advice, just to make sure that it was the same in that respect as other mechs. Are you sure you haven't got the brake on, and that forward and reverse both engage correctly?

[Florence Locomotive Works]

44 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Hmmm ........... I wound mine that way before posting the advice, just to make sure that it was the same in that respect as other mechs. Are you sure you haven't got the brake on, and that forward and reverse both engage correctly?

Not quite, as I'm still getting used to which lever do what. I pushed it back half the track length and very little had been wound in, and the forward/reverse selector jammed. I had to wind it up with pliers very slightly and then let it free spin to unjam the selector. But yes everything seems to be working as it should with no unusual noises.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Well it seems to be working now, but doesn’t run as far as when wound up from the shaft.

[J. S. Bach]

Does it have a reverse or are you limited to forward only? I ask as I am unfamiliar with clockwork mechanisms.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

1 hour ago, J. S. Bach said:

Does it have a reverse or are you limited to forward only? I ask as I am unfamiliar with clockwork mechanisms.

Both forward and reverse, and neutral which is more of a brake. It also has a centrifugal governor to prevent wheelspin when running “light engine.”

[sncf231e]

Buy something like these and you can wind any clockwork engine:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Pc-Clock-Winding-Brass-Key-Set-Odd-Even-Universal-Mantel-Free-Shipping/154016329173?hash=item23dc16add5:g:su8AAOSwYMlfF9CJ

Regards

Fred

[Florence Locomotive Works]

The only problem with those is that the brass shaft normally can’t stand the torque out on them.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

The plan as of now is to very and I mean very carefully file down the square shaft so that it fits inside my large Meccano key. Or will this weeken the shaft to much?

[sncf231e]

58 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

The only problem with those is that the brass shaft normally can’t stand the torque out on them.

I have these already for years and run lots of different clockwork trains. If the torque you perform is that strong you are ruining your locomotive! You should be more careful with these old toys.

Regards

Fred

[Florence Locomotive Works]

1 minute ago, sncf231e said:

I have these already for years and run lots of different clockwork trains. If the torque you perform is that strong you are ruining your locomotive! You should be more careful with these old toys.

Regards

Fred

I haven't ever actually done that, its just what i'd heard from someone on youtube who was restoring a Bing G 1 engine and his modern key snapped while winding.

[Nearholmer]

23 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

The plan as of now is to very and I mean very carefully file down the square shaft so that it fits inside my large Meccano key.

 

Please order a correct key and wait patiently for it to arrive.

The loco is patient - it waited perhaps a century for you to be its custodian.

 

 

Edited September 11, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Well I have been advised to purchase a new key, so I shall measure the shaft and try and find one, hopefully in the usa. As for it waiting a century for me to be its custodian, by the amount of use it appears to have had maybe not.

 

On closer inspection the tender really needs the painting strippiing and all parts being put into a rust remover, as it has corroded rather badly under the paint. As for the loco, its almost completely corrosion free. I think I will get some water soluble LMS decals to put over the logo. The logo looks like a midland one, but is in LMS colors, but if it was LMS its missing the circle. Perhaps a mistake, or the circle around it has worn away. Both seem unlikely to me.

 

I think I may do a "sympathetic restoration" on this engine, i.e. saving as much original painting and wear (wear as in patina, not scrapes /dents and the like) as possible and replacing any broken bits. The one thing I will add is a homemade LNWR smokebox dart, as the engine looks very faceless without one, and its a modification many period owners did. The entire front half of the running plate on the engine needs repainting, and so does the dome. The tender is a different matter though. I think I may just leave it as is, maybe with some yellow lining to make it look a bit better. However nothing has been set in stone yet. Oh, and then there's the font coupling. The original has been lost and replaced at some point with a very nice scale turned brass hook. However to affix it to the buffer beam the they passed the threaded shank through the existing slot, then got a 2 BA bolt (Meccano size I believe) and filed one side right down to just above the threads. Its rather fragile but it does work. 

Edited September 11, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Florence Locomotive Works]

The wheelsets also seem to have suffered from the one problem that seems to plague GtVs, which is the wheels slipping on the axles. And the previous owner took a very belt and braces approach to fixing it. Dumping loads of solder on the hubs. Again functional, but looks horrible. So that will be filed down slightly.

[Nortonville Phil]

Hello FLW,

 

Did you see the BL points for sale on eBay a couple of weeks ago by Railchief? He is an acquaintance of mine and lives in Oklahoma City. You might start watching his auctions as he is a big collector and ebayer and not so far from you. I live near Dallas.
 

 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

50 minutes ago, Nortonville Phil said:

Hello FLW,

 

Did you see the BL points for sale on eBay a couple of weeks ago by Railchief? He is an acquaintance of mine and lives in Oklahoma City. You might start watching his auctions as he is a big collector and ebayer and not so far from you. I live near Dallas.
 

 

Thanks very much for the info Phil, I will look into that. I can’t say I saw them, but I also wasn’t looking as I use Lionel track. Are you also a Bassett Lowke enthusiast?