Mol's MSC Hudswell Clarke 204hp Diesel

[Mol_PMB]

Hello!

I'm a new member on the forum and this is my first build thread, so please be gentle...

 

The Manchester Ship Canal Railways have been described as the largest industrial railway in the UK, not just when the canal was being built but through until the 1960s.

Though in the 20th century it's debatable whether it was an industrial railway at all: the MSC Railway was a statutory railway company, one of the few which escaped nationalisation. Hopefully it's close enough to be in this part of the forum.

 

In  the 1950s the MSC Railway operated about 75 steam locos and nearly 3000 wagons. The majority of their steam fleet was built by Hudswell Clarke, and they clearly had a good relationship with that company.

In 1954 they borrowed two different diesel locos for trials, which were not entirely successful. However, at the end of the 1950s the MSC Railway placed an order with Hudswell Clarke for several diesels, as follows:

• Two 0-6-0 diesel-electrics of 430hp, numbered 4001 and 4002
• Six 0-6-0 diesel-mechanicals of 204hp, numbered D1 to D6
• One 0-6-0 diesel-mechanical of 106hp, numbered E1

These were delivered in 1959-1960 and after the teething troubles were resolved they all settled down as popular, useful and reliable locos. One of each type is preserved, scattered around the UK.

A further batch of locos was ordered and these were delivered in 1962:

• Eight 0-6-0 diesel-mechanicals of 204hp, numbered D7-D14. These had subtle differences to the previous batch D1-D6.

Some of these locos remained in use into the 1980s.

The MSC later changed their allegiance to RR-Sentinel locos for further orders, but more of that in due course once I've finished this one...

 

I decided to model one of the 204hp locos. Attached is a photo of a new one, at the Hudswell Clarke factory.

There are some nice photos of the MSC diesel locos at work, both on normal freight trains and hauling a railtour, on this website:

https://www.branchline.uk/album-new.php?id=365

 

I actually started this build on Christmas Eve but I have been struggling to set up an account on RMweb. Thanks to Andy for helping me sort that out, now I can start posting the images.

I've got a backlog of about 2 weeks work to post before I get up to date with the current status. I can't decide whether a photo of the current state of the model would be a spoiler?

Anyway, that's probably enough prototype background, I'll do another post for the start of the build.

 

 

 

[Mol_PMB]

In between the two batches of 204hp diesels for the MSC, Hudswell Clarke built ten similar locos for British Railways. These were numbered D2510-D2519, and delivered in 1961. D2511 is preserved at the K&WVR.

A kit for these BR locos is available from Mercian Models, and I decided to buy one of these to convert to the MSC variant. At first glance they look pretty similar. It was a while since I'd done much serious modelling so I ordered a complete kit.

There was a few weeks wait before the kit turned up (to be fair the website did warn of a delay when I ordered it) but fortunately the postman brought it just before Christmas so I had a good block of time to work on it. Not much else to do in Tiers or Lockdown!

Attached is what I got in the kit. (note that the distorted etch of the coupling rods was my fault, I dropped it when putting them out for the photo).

The kit seems to have had an interesting pedigree, initially being developed for an earlier class of Hudswell-Clarke diesel, and also being re-scaled from 4mm to 7mm scale. As a result the collection of parts is a little bewildering, for example there were 7 buffer-beams in 3 different materials! And those bent coupling rods don't matter because they were for the 4mm scale version <phew!>

 

So far, so good. I have lots of bits to work with, hopefully most of them will be suitable for my MSC loco.

[Mol_PMB]

I decided to start with the cab, as the cab back is one of the differences between the MSC and BR locos.

The BR locos have a bonnet at the short end, whereas the MSC locos just have a low gearbox cover.

This meant that I had to fill in a large cutout in the cab back using a spare piece of brass from a corner of the etch fret, and to modify the window shapes. I did this in several stages to avoid the cab falling into lots of pieces half way through.

Then there were some details to add such as the beading strip (from scrap etch borders on a previous kit), a lamp iron, a headlight (from odd bits of tube) and an electrical socket (also a piece of tube). I also drilled some bolt holes for attaching the gearbox cover, and some small holes to mount the windscreen wipers.

These photos show the modified cab rear, compared to the cab front still in the etch. Initially these were both identical.

There is still some evidence of the modification in the window frames, more of that later. I think the middle window ought to be a fraction wider too, but I'm not quite sure it's worth doing.

[Sweet pea]

Welcome to the forum. Nice start this is a build I will watch with interest. 

Plenty of members on here will help you with your build if you need advice.

[Mol_PMB]

Next up was the cab front, which required an exhaust cowl and a horn. An etch was provided for the exhaust cowl, which I curved round a piece of tube and soldered, so that the tube protruded slightly as per prototype. I chose one of the four horn castings supplied and used a small piece of brass angle to mount it. Then I used some brass wire and tube to represent the air line and its connections to the horn.

A few bolt holes, small holes for the windscreen wipers, and that's the cab front done. A bit easier than the back!

[Mol_PMB]

Now onto the cab sides. As with the cab back, I added strips of raised beading rather than just rely on the half-etched lines in the kit.

Then it was time to think about the handrails. The kit provided some handrail knobs which are not correct for the MSC locos, or indeed for the BR ones. Not sure why there were there really, another bonus for the bits box along with the spare horns!

The handrails on the MSC locos weren't as high as on the BR ones, so the top hopes were in the wrong place. All the holes were far too big for a scale handrail wire, possibly a legacy of scaling up the kit from 4mm to 7mm.

Fortunately I had some strips of rivets left over from a previous etched kit. I drilled small holes mid-way between two rivets, then cut the strip and rounded the ends. These were used to cover the oversize holes and to represent the handrail fixings. I'm actually pretty pleased how well this 'bodge' has turned out.

The handrails (and the door handle) are 0.6mm copper-coated steel wire, purchased for catenary wire though probably originally made for MIG welding.

Finally I filled the old holes at the top with a short length of brass rod soldered in, and sanded them flat.

 

[Mol_PMB]

The final part of the cab was the roof. This was supplied mostly half-etched to make it easier to form, with two raised strips for the rainstrips. In reality the rainstrips are angle iron, so I soldered some thin brass strip alongside the etched strips to represent that.

After some careful measuring I also filed a notch in the edge of the roof for the exhaust pipe, as illustrated on the attached photo of a partly-dismantled loco. The exhaust cowl in the kit had been a bit deeper so that the exhaust pipe would come in front of the edge of the roof and wouldn't need a notch, but I had reduced the depth of the exhaust cowl when I built the cab front as per prototype.

I also cut two lengths of brass tube to fit between the front and rear of the cab to strengthen the half-etched roof.

Finally I cut a block of wood the correct size to fit between the size and ends, to help me assemble the cab square. The one in the photo was my first effort from balsa, but I wasn't happy with it so I made one from 'proper' wood which I used for the actual assembly.

 

[Mol_PMB]

So to finish for today (which actually covers several days work), the cab assembly.

I had intended to fix the cab front and back to the wood block with small woodscrews, but I couldn't find my pot of them so I drilled and tapped the wood to 8BA

I did the soldering on a piece of glass to keep everything square. A few tacks, a lot of checks and then soldered the upper half of all the corner joints. Then I soldered in the roof reinforcing tubes and removed the wood block.

I then soldered the lower part of each corner.

Finally I added the roof, which I had approximately pre-formed beforehand.

I should have straightened the horn before I took the photos, don't worry I have done now!

 

I was quite pleased with this, it definitely captures the look of the MSC loco cabs and encouraged me to move on to the bonnet. It's not perfect but in most respects I think it's 'good enough'. The camera tends to pick out all the little blemishes that the eye wouldn't notice when it's shunting trucks on my imaginary layout!

 

[Sandhole]

That's looking REALLY good, my friend.
Regards,
Chris.

[Mol_PMB]

1 minute ago, Sandhole said:

That's looking REALLY good, my friend.
Regards,
Chris.

Many thanks! Watch this space for more updates. 

[Sandhole]

I'll make a point of following this.

[Barclay]

Looking great - the MSC railway is a favourite of mine so I will be watching with interest.

[Mol_PMB]

So, moving to the bonnet.

The main parts provided in the kit are the front, the wrapper, the side doors and the plate that is spaced off the top of the bonnet.

Accurately forming the wrapper and holding it to shape would have been difficult with just the front, but fortunately my prototype doesn't have a rear bonnet so I also had the end of that to use. However, the etched parts were't quite the same width and their top curvature wasn't quite symmetrical, so that obviously needed correcting.

Two sets of side doors were provided, I suspect one for the original 4mm model and a more detailed one for the 7mm scale version. In each case there were a few spare doors which was fortunate for my prototype: the BR version has one set of shallower doors and 3 sets of deep ones but I needed 4 sets of deep ones.

The 7mm scale bonnet doors were designed so that the louvres could be angled into 3 dimensions which on the face of it is a great idea. However, they appeared to have been slightly over-etched and there were only very thin bits of brass connecting the louvres, which had a lot of space around them. I tried forming the louvres on one of the smaller doors as a practice, and found it very difficult to get them consistent. It was also possible to look right though them through all the gaps, whereas the real ones can't be seen through except maybe from a very low angle. I tried soldering a solid sheet behind but I still wasn't happy.

In the end I decided to use the simpler 2D etch rather than make a mess of the 3D ones. On the real locos the louvres are rather under-stated and I think this is a better match, if a little flat.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 12, 2021 by Mol_PMB

[Mol_PMB]

Now to the wrapper itself. A quick measure up identified that it wasn't quite symmetrical; this was most obvious with the holes for the handrails at the radiator end but the problem was actually that one side of the bonnet was 1mm longer than the other.

I trimmed it to be symmetrical. I also drilled additional holes for the extra handrails I needed, and for the side lights and extra mountings for the plate on top of the bonnet.

More holes were drilled in the sides so that I could fix the door overlays from behind.

A more significant modification was to cut a large rectangular hole in the top, underneath the separate plate. I am hoping to fit sound to this loco, and I'm planning to place the speaker in the bonnet so this will let the sound out.

Then I soldered on the doors.

I also used some wire to represent the door hinges a bit better. My slightly messy soldering of these reminded me why I had drilled all those holes in the wrapper so I could solder the doors themselves from the back!

 

[Mol_PMB]

Next step was to form the bonnet to shape. I made something to form it over by soldering a length of brass rod to the edge of a piece of brass sheet, to help me get the radius right and the bend true. The photos show the process.

 

Once the shape was a good fit to the front and back, I soldered them in place. The MSC locos have a different radiator grille arrangement, so I used what should have been the front adjacent to the cab, and what should have been the back of the rear bonnet was set back a little from the front and the reason for this will become apparent later.

 

On its own the bonnet is now starting to look the part.

 

Placed against the cab, a small problem becomes apparent. The adjustments to make the bonnet parts symmetrical have overall made it about 0.5mm lower, and it is now a bit too low against the cab and exhaust cowl. I haven't yet decided how to solve this.

 

 

[Mol_PMB]

The next stage was to add the cover plate on the top of the bonnet. The kit made provision for mounting this by providing a hole in each corner, but in reality there were eight bolts in total as shown in the photo of the real one.

I represented these with tiny brass rivets soldered into place. I carefully curved the plate to match the bonnet top and then soldered the rivets into the holes in the bonnet too.

 

Then it was time to do the handrails. Again, the kit included handrail knobs but the prototype does not have them. I made some 'staple' shapes from brass wire and inserted these from the inside of the bonnet and soldered them in place. That way, there was a reasonable thermal mass and security of the protruding ends, so that when I soldered the longitudinal handrail in place, the supporting stubs wouldn't become unsoldered.

 

I trimmed the protruding brass wires and sanded them to produce a series of aligned stubs. I then used the copper-plated steel wire to add the longitudinal handrails soldered to each of the stubs. That captures the effect of the prototype quite well.

 

The details of the handrails around the radiator were quite different to the BR prototype represented by the kit, so I needed to drill and fill some holes. I then added the grab rail for access to the radiator filler, and the two vertical handrails on each side. Earlier I forgot to mention the angle-iron (brass) step associated with these handrails, you can see that in the photos too.

[Sandhole]

36 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

The next stage was to add the cover plate on the top of the bonnet. The kit made provision for mounting this by providing a hole in each corner, but in reality there were eight bolts in total as shown in the photo of the real one.

I represented these with tiny brass rivets soldered into place. I carefully curved the plate to match the bonnet top and then soldered the rivets into the holes in the bonnet too.

 

Then it was time to do the handrails. Again, the kit included handrail knobs but the prototype does not have them. I made some 'staple' shapes from brass wire and inserted these from the inside of the bonnet and soldered them in place. That way, there was a reasonable thermal mass and security of the protruding ends, so that when I soldered the longitudinal handrail in place, the supporting stubs wouldn't become unsoldered.

 

I trimmed the protruding brass wires and sanded them to produce a series of aligned stubs. I then used the copper-plated steel wire to add the longitudinal handrails soldered to each of the stubs. That captures the effect of the prototype quite well.

 

The details of the handrails around the radiator were quite different to the BR prototype represented by the kit, so I needed to drill and fill some holes. I then added the grab rail for access to the radiator filler, and the two vertical handrails on each side. Earlier I forgot to mention the angle-iron (brass) step associated with these handrails, you can see that in the photos too.

This is looking REALLY good.

[woodenhead]

51 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

The next stage was to add the cover plate on the top of the bonnet. The kit made provision for mounting this by providing a hole in each corner, but in reality there were eight bolts in total as shown in the photo of the real one.

I represented these with tiny brass rivets soldered into place. I carefully curved the plate to match the bonnet top and then soldered the rivets into the holes in the bonnet too.

 

Then it was time to do the handrails. Again, the kit included handrail knobs but the prototype does not have them. I made some 'staple' shapes from brass wire and inserted these from the inside of the bonnet and soldered them in place. That way, there was a reasonable thermal mass and security of the protruding ends, so that when I soldered the longitudinal handrail in place, the supporting stubs wouldn't become unsoldered.

 

I trimmed the protruding brass wires and sanded them to produce a series of aligned stubs. I then used the copper-plated steel wire to add the longitudinal handrails soldered to each of the stubs. That captures the effect of the prototype quite well.

 

The details of the handrails around the radiator were quite different to the BR prototype represented by the kit, so I needed to drill and fill some holes. I then added the grab rail for access to the radiator filler, and the two vertical handrails on each side. Earlier I forgot to mention the angle-iron (brass) step associated with these handrails, you can see that in the photos too.

You've done this before haha

 

Very neat soldering.

[Ruston]

27 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

You've done this before haha

 

Very neat soldering.

And a very neat workbench. I don't think he's real. Must be a robot or something.

Edited January 12, 2021 by Ruston

[Mol_PMB]

11 minutes ago, Ruston said:

And I very neat workbench. I don't think he's real. Must be a robot or something.

I like that ! You should see the pigsty I normally work in when I'm not taking photos...

 

With the soldering, I keep the job clean, use Carr's green flux and 145 degree solder (the good old leaded stuff) and a temperature controlled iron set to 350C. I try and get in and out quickly.

I also think how to hold the parts before making the joint. Sometimes burnt fingers and swearing are the best approach, but often there's a better way. For example you can see with that little grab rail I left one end massively over-length so I could hold it while soldering, then trimmed it afterwards. Or going to the effort of drilling all those holes to solder the bonnet doors from the inside.

 

More to come, though I confess the build thread is making faster progress than the loco this week!

 

 

[Regularity]

9 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

I try and get in and out quickly.

Essential skills for a burglar, but not for a lover...

[Mol_PMB]

43 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

You've done this before haha

 

Very neat soldering.

Thanks!

It has been a while since I did any brass soldering (probably nearly a decade) so I had a practice on an etched wagon kit before starting the loco.

That proved to be more challenging than I had expected too, but it's in the paint shop now and is what I've been working on just now.

It was good that it was challenging because it prepared me for the loco!

 

In due course I might do a thread on the wagons too, not a detailed thread but a portrait of each one and a brief description of the work done. None of the MSC Railway wagons are quite 'standard' and I am modelling individual wagons based on photos. I also have plans to do a rake of private-owner tar tanks.

 

[Mol_PMB]

My next move was to create the radiator grille. Again this is very different from the BR loco which the kit was based on, so had to be entirely scratchbuilt.

The front of the bonnet is largely open, with an expanded metal diamond grille which gives a clear view through to the radiator and the plates at each side which guide the air to it.

I has some mesh with exactly the right character and almost the right spacing, but it was aluminium. I did a trial to see whether it could be fixed in place by soldering between two strips of brass. It seemed to work...

 

When I was making the two internal bonnet formers match each other, I also shaped a third piece the same from a scrap of thicker brass sheet. Using a piercing saw I then cut most of it away so that could form the edge of the radiator grille. I checked it was a nice fit in the front of the bonnet and then tried to solder the grille in place. This was a complete failure! I sanded the solder off and started again!

In reality the grille is surrounded by some angle iron. I used some fine brass angle to represent this, and soldered it in place (with mitred joints) on the front of the surround, leaving a small lip inside. I then cut a rectangle of the aluminium grille to fit within it. That looks better!

 

I haven't fixed the grille in place yet, partly because the piece wasn't entirely flat (it been in the bits box for decades). I ordered a new sheet of the aluminium grille, and an etched brass diamond mesh too. Fairly soon I will decide which option to go with.

 

Above the grille there is a red plate which is actually in front of the bonnet wrapper on the real thing, and has some prominent bolts around the top. I marked out a rectangle, used a rivet punch to represent the bolts and then soldered it on the upper part of my radiator grille surround. I then filed it to shape, just slightly bigger than the grille surround so that it would cover the front of the bonnet wrapper. Finally I soldered on the Hudswell nameplate (the only piece from the kit used in this sub-assembly).

 

I am going to leave this piece loose for now (though it's a fairly good fit in the bonnet and can be posed in place for photos). In due course I want to represent what can be seen through the grille, but before that there will be some wiring for the headlights and sidelights that surround the radiator. Writing that, I realise the prototype picture I've uploaded isn't the best example because it's one of the first batch of locos which had a different arrangement of lights to the one I'm modelling. Never mind, I'll find a better photo when I write about the headlights.

 

Now, enough writing, I'd better get back to the workshop!

Mol

 

 

[Rick_Skateboard]

Excellent work on the grille, it really looks the part.

 

Rick

[Mol_PMB]

The next step on the loco was the fuel tanks, which are in front of the cab on both sides.

The etches for these are simple but the curved corners formed up nicely with the same jig I used for the bonnet.

Then I needed to add the fuel tank filler and breather on top of them. These are difficult to see in many prototype photos from ground level, but are very obvious on a model viewed from above.

 

One of these locos survives, the former MSC D1. In normal times I would have planned a visit to see it, but in COVID lockdown that's obviously impossible.

I contacted Pete and Andrew Briddon, who until recently owned the last survivor of this class. At the time I hadn't realised they had recently sold the loco and I had hoped they could take a few pictures of several details on the top surfaces for me.

That was no longer possible as the loco had moved to the other end of the country, but Pete went beyond the call of duty and trawled through his previous photos of the loco for me. A very helpful chap!

 

The kit etch included a representation of the bolted-on panel on top of the fuel tanks, but it was rather 'flat' compared to the real thing. I drilled holes in the centre of the raised lumps and made some pieces to fit in them.

At the front is a breather, which I made by soldering several pieces of fine brass tube inside each other (Russian doll style) with a piece of brass rod up the middle. I shaped the curved top by sanding it freehand.

Behind that is the fuel filler cap. This is lower than the breather but is still a cap overhanging a narrower diameter tube. I'm not sure D1 still has the original filler as the older photos show a chromed cap. I decided to use a small brass nut on a length of brass rod, all soldered in place.

Not perfect but I think it captures the feel of the prototype much better than a flat etch. Of course I had to do it all twice, once for each side.  

 

Compared to the wagon kits which I had been finishing in a day or two, this loco is more of a marathon. Spending most of an evening on small details like fuel tank fillers seems disproportionate but it is satisfying and I'm enjoying it, which is the point of the hobby after all.

 

Though I do confess that sometimes I have to put the loco to one side and get some more instant gratification with a wagon kit!