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Steam Loco Cab to Tender Weather Sheets


M.I.B
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I can remember seeing photos of engines with sheets from the rear edge of the cab roof, down to the tender top.

 

Was this random sheet used by crews?

Was it a set item cut and formed and stowed somewhere ( where?) when not required?

 

If they were in common use, why have I never seen anyone model them? (model railways only ever run in the sunshine.......)

 

 

That brings me onto another thought regarding modelling and weather - but perhaps for another part of RM web.

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I can remember seeing photos of engines with sheets from the rear edge of the cab roof, down to the tender top.

 

Was this random sheet used by crews?

Was it a set item cut and formed and stowed somewhere ( where?) when not required?

 

If they were in common use, why have I never seen anyone model them? (model railways only ever run in the sunshine.......)

 

 

That brings me onto another thought regarding modelling and weather - but perhaps for another part of RM web.

 

Anything of this type was considered non standard. I have been on an SR rebuilt Pacific that was fitted with a heavy rubber sheet fitted to the cab roof and resting on the tender front plate. It was a nuisance ending up on your head at every crossover. The benefit in terms of crew protection was marginal unless running in reverse in monsoon rain conditions. Remember that the heat on the footplate was fairly intense and trousers and jackets wetted by rain were dry in minutes anyway.

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If they were in common use, why have I never seen anyone model them? (model railways only ever run in the sunshine.......)

 

It is difficult to model them effectively due to the tighter than prototypical curves that are used on model railways. This means that 1) the loco-tender gap is typically wider than prototypical, and 2) the relative motion between the loco and the tender is exaggerated. I have seen them modelled on some of my friend's A4s as a piece attached to the loco that will slide over the tender - on the A4 they can be almost horizontal.

 

On some locos they were obviously a fixture - the NRM City of Truro includes the supports that were fitted to the tender for the rear edge of the cab sheet.

 

Adrian

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I've always assumed that the ones used on GWR open cab engines were standard stores item. Stays were slotted into brackets on the tender or bunker and many of the early saddle tanks had a row of hooks on top the cab to which the front of the sheet could be attached. Often they were stowed rolled up on the cab roof. There are some photos, but most were probably taken in fine weather show don't show the sheet either stowed or deployed. As to models, I've seen a few with rolled up sheets made from tissue or cigarette paper, but can't remember exactly where.

 

Nick

 

ps. that reminds me that I still haven't added the hooks to the cab roof on my buffalo...

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They were also stowed, rolled up and held rolled by straps, underneath the rear edge of the cab roof. They seemed to be a fairly permanent fixture on some locos e.g. a 63XX on the Reading Pilot and I suspect that applied in particular on locos with low tenders. And they were given a degree of flexibility because they were not attached directly to the supports on the tender but via a coil spring on each side (if they were fixed properly that is). Lots of crews didn't like them because they tended to make cabs too hot but in bad weather on a long tender-first trip or with a lot of standing around they did help to keep the weather off.

Blackout sheets - which could be seen in use on tv yesterday afternoon on Channel 12 in a programme about the railways in the last war - also enclosed the sides in order to prevent any light escaping.

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Blackout sheets - which could be seen in use on tv yesterday afternoon on Channel 12 in a programme about the railways in the last war - also enclosed the sides in order to prevent any light escaping.

 

I had wondered about the sides so thanks for clarifying.

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They were also stowed, rolled up and held rolled by straps, underneath the rear edge of the cab roof.

 

I can supply these in 7mm cast in resin, precurved to glue under the roof. Not in my catalogue but I take them to the shows I do.

 

Phil

Port Wynnstay Models

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Thank you all. Lots of good points as usual.

 

I was aware that they would be difficult to model whilst deployed for the reason stated.

 

I was going to model one rolled up, probably using cigarette paper.

 

I am "post-war" GWR so no need for the full blackout kit.

 

I guess that the Station pilot would do a lot of sitting around, hence he need for some crew protection. The remainder - aerodynamics and speed would blow water over and past the cab top, and it was hot, so there was hardly any need.

 

I will have a go at one rolled up under the cab roof edge. If it looks any good I will post.

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Low GWR tenders had extended brackets for these sheets. (They can be seen in the above photo.)

 

At least one R-T-R model has them rolled under the cab roof, but I can't remember which off hand.

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Hello, M.I.B.

 

If you wish to model a G.W. 'storm sheet', you don't have to represent it rolled up. They were very often folded back over the cab roof and secured like this:

 

post-7462-0-23012600-1300240269_thumb.jpg

 

Great Western Railway No. 6833 Calcot Grange, a 4-6-0 Grange class steam locomotive, photographed at Temple Meads station, Bristol, England sometime between 1959 and 1965. Built 1937 and withdrawn from service 1965. Photographed by Adrian Pingstone, prepared for Wikipedia in January 2004.

 

I have always thought that this would be a good way to conceal the thickness of RTR cab roofs.

 

Hope you find this useful.

 

BR(W).

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Hello, M.I.B.

 

If you wish to model a G.W. 'storm sheet', you don't have to represent it rolled up. They were very often folded back over the cab roof and secured like this:

 

post-7462-0-23012600-1300240269_thumb.jpg

 

Great Western Railway No. 6833 Calcot Grange, a 4-6-0 Grange class steam locomotive, photographed at Temple Meads station, Bristol, England sometime between 1959 and 1965. Built 1937 and withdrawn from service 1965. Photographed by Adrian Pingstone, prepared for Wikipedia in January 2004.

 

I have always thought that this would be a good way to conceal the thickness of RTR cab roofs.

 

Hope you find this useful.

 

BR(W).

 

That is exactly how I have done this to my 22xx seen here on my layout.

The weather sheet is simply a piece of masking tape folded under and over the cab roof and suitably painted.

post-6768-0-26798100-1300261173_thumb.jpg

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2 beautiful photos. Thank you. I will have a go at the "folded over" version like Dukedog's photo. Funnily enough it is for a Grange model.

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On 11/03/2011 at 17:30, M.I.B said:

If they were in common use, why have I never seen anyone model them? (model railways only ever run in the sunshine.......)

Because you never saw the club layouts in the 1980s that featured my Airfix Dean Goods, which had a canvas sheet deployed and attracted much comment.  A lot of model railways do seem to only run in the sunshine, but mine doesn't...

 

On 12/03/2011 at 08:43, M.I.B said:

guess that the Station pilot would do a lot of sitting around, hence he need for some crew protection. The remainder - aerodynamics and speed would blow water over and past the cab top, and it was hot, so there was hardly any need.

The Reading pilot, as well as sitting around which can be very unpleasant in cold windy conditions, spent half of it's moving life running tender first.

 

I have a Wills 1854 half cab pannier in the 'to do' box, which I'm going to build a new chassis for, and plan to 'deploy' the cab sheet on this.  I've also modelled 57xx and 8750s with the side shutters closed; this is an easy modification, a bit of plastic sheet which can be pulled back as far as the door opening.  I model the South Wales Valleys, where if you can see the top of the mountain, it's going to rain, and if you can't, it's raining...

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The layout that C is going to run on is going to be set in South London on a wet evening in 1940... The sheet is kind of essential. Not only because of the supposed weather, or the lack of weather protection, but also blackout regulations!

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I do like the look of the "folded over" and rolled.  However the "deployed" needs a good choice of material - OO curves are tighter than real life so the material needs to flex, yet still look like a  crumpled tarp.

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9 hours ago, The Johnster said:

Because you never saw the club layouts in the 1980s that featured my Airfix Dean Goods, which had a canvas sheet deployed and attracted much comment.  A lot of model railways do seem to only run in the sunshine, but mine doesn't...

 

The Reading pilot, as well as sitting around which can be very unpleasant in cold windy conditions, spent half of it's moving life running tender first.

 

I have a Wills 1854 half cab pannier in the 'to do' box, which I'm going to build a new chassis for, and plan to 'deploy' the cab sheet on this.  I've also modelled 57xx and 8750s with the side shutters closed; this is an easy modification, a bit of plastic sheet which can be pulled back as far as the door opening.  I model the South Wales Valleys, where if you can see the top of the mountain, it's going to rain, and if you can't, it's raining...

When a mogul was used on the Down Pilot at Reading it seemed to invariably have the weather sheet in use during any sort of wet or very cold weather.  But once engines with larger cabs were in use on both Pilots deploying a weather sheet seemed to reduce particularly on engines with a 4,000 gallon tender.

 

GWR wartime blackout sheets covered a much larger area because they also extended down at the sides; according to some of those who had to put with them they were not much liked because they made the cab too hot and stuffy.

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