Wright writes.....

[65179]

Because you can't have too many 8Fs  here's Killamarsh a few years earlier (1938) from a different angle (Rail-Online)

 

https://www.rail-online.co.uk/p77103013/h93249e66

 

Simon

[Compound2632]

53 minutes ago, 65179 said:

Because you can't have too many 8Fs  here's Killamarsh a few years earlier (1938) from a different angle (Rail-Online)

 

https://www.rail-online.co.uk/p77103013/h93249e66

 

Ha - timber buildings. Just as well given the subsidence evident here, that bedevilled the North Midland line. Undermined by its own success.

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, Clearwater said:

Hi
Continuing the coach building theme/questions, when it comes to painting, do you prime the aluminium roofs in the same way as the brass?  I'd assume so but would welcome advice!

Thanks

 

David

Good evening David,

 

Halfords rattle can acrylic red oxide primer for the sides and grey primer for the roofs as a rule, though I have used red on top. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, landscapes said:

Hi Tony

 

I spoke to Gareth at Replica Railways this afternoon, to enquire if they had any of their B1 tenders available?

 

Unfortunately they stopped making the B1 many years ago, Gareth did say he may be able to obtain a B1 tender body only without the chassis if that would be of any help to you.

 

Regards

 

David

 

Thanks David,

 

Such is the altruism of correspondents on this thread, I've been offered three B1 tenders already, all FOC. 

 

Many thanks Gordon, Tom and Graham....................

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[bbishop]

6 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Thanks David,

 

Such is the altruism of correspondents on this thread, I've been offered three B1 tenders already, all FOC. 

 

Many thanks Gordon, Tom and Graham....................

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

Now he has to build two more locomotives .......

 

Hat, coat, door,  Bill

[Theakerr]

Funny someone mentioned sludge trains.  I have several spare B1 tenders and was thinking about converting a couple.  However, pictures of these much loved vehicles are sadly lacking.

[Clive Mortimore]

6 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

Blimey - Tony will be able to model a tender sludge carrier train at this rate ...

Or a snow plough.

 

[great central]

13 minutes ago, Theakerr said:

Funny someone mentioned sludge trains.  I have several spare B1 tenders and was thinking about converting a couple.  However, pictures of these much loved vehicles are sadly lacking.

 

I doubt that B1 tenders would have been used as sludge carriers because, by the time they became available following withdrawal of their locos the purpose for having them would have gone also.

Most of the ones I  have seen photos of were pre-grouping tenders, GN ones around Grantham and Colwick.

A number of B1 or possibly V2(?) tenders did get converted into snowploughs.

 

Edit: see Clive's post above, he beat me to it by a few seconds

Edited February 18, 2021 by great central
Missing word

[Tony Wright]

36 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Or a snow plough.

 

Or for battery storage/electricity supply.

 

Page 35, bottom image in my Into The Blue, Irwell Press, 2014. A pair of V2/O2/K3 tenders at Tinsley. One has 'DANGER high voltage current KEEP AWAY' painted on its side. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[cctransuk]

6 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Or for battery storage/electricity supply.

 

Page 35, bottom image in my Into The Blue, Irwell Press, 2014. A pair of V2/O2/K3 tenders at Tinsley. One has 'DANGER high voltage current KEEP AWAY' painted on its side. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

Commonly known as load banks, I believe; used for testing diesel electric locos, presumably after overhaul.

 

I'm guessing here; but perhaps they had the equivalent of large electric kettle elements, with which to dissipate the generated electrical energy as heat, into the tender tank full of water?

 

.... or not?!?

 

John Isherwood.

[CF MRC]

They may have been a salt bath. Two electrodes from a generator into the electrolyte to see how many amps the generator would make under load.  They are sometimes used to make a showman’s road locomotive chuff at traction engine rallies. 
 

Tim

[Clive Mortimore]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

Or for battery storage/electricity supply.

 

Page 35, bottom image in my Into The Blue, Irwell Press, 2014. A pair of V2/O2/K3 tenders at Tinsley. One has 'DANGER high voltage current KEEP AWAY' painted on its side. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

1 hour ago, cctransuk said:

 

Commonly known as load banks, I believe; used for testing diesel electric locos, presumably after overhaul.

 

I'm guessing here; but perhaps they had the equivalent of large electric kettle elements, with which to dissipate the generated electrical energy as heat, into the tender tank full of water?

 

.... or not?!?

 

John Isherwood.

Hello Tony and John

 

John is correct. Tinsley, and Gateshead both had ex LNER group standard tenders for load banks. You cannot test the output of a electric generator without applying an electric load. The tenders as far as I know were full of just water (I may be wrong) for keeping the large resistors cool which were hung in the water. The loco would be placed next to the load bank and wired up. The output from the generator would be recorded as each additional resistor was added to its electrical load, simulating the work the traction motors would have to do hauling a train.

 

Other locations had purpose built huts with a tank to cool the resistors.

[Tony Wright]

Thanks John, Tim and Clive,

 

The breadth of knowledge on here is staggering........................

[Northroader]

You just had big plates which could be raised and lowered into the liquid. It was a very dilute solution of something or other, not just pure water. The resistance varied in proportion to the area of plate immersed. The process was limited because it couldn’t take a full load, and as has been said, cooling was a problem, so you could just do a quick check on limited load.

There were also resistance banks mounted on road trailers, with powered fan cooling, that could be towed round depots. These were more portable, but had similar limitations. Usually if you were fairly confident there wouldn’t be a major failure, the depots preferred to do test trips with an empty train.

[Iain.d]

Door hinges…these are mine. Hopefully not too late.

 

The Stanier FK utilises brass pins, the head flattened in a pair of pliers, and filed to shape. The shank of the pin is about .65mm so a corresponding hole was drilled in the door frame and soldered from the rear. The inability to get an easy supply of drill bits and the inefficiency of filing pin heads made this an unattractive long term prospect!

 

 

The Stanier TK uses ‘T’ door handles fitted into .5mm holes and soldered from the rear. These are Comet handles and have the advantage of having the little…not sure how to describe this, so bear with me… wider bit before the ‘T’ that stops them being inserted too far into a door handle hole in their normal use. On pulling the tail of the handle through the hinge hole with a pair of pliers you get a resistance before this wider bit gets pulled through, it sort of clicks into the hole and gives a really tight fit, so when soldered from the rear, the solder has little opportunity to run through the hole and fill the door seam.

 

 

These are both Comet sides on Hornby 1980s ish Staniers. I know full size hinges should should stick out further on the bottom hinges but I'm happy with the look of these, its just another compromise. The door bumps are .45mm wire.

 

On the BSL/ Phoenix GW D94 BSK below, I used flattened pins. As the sides are aluminium, the pins have a blob of solder on the rear to secure them; a bit like a rivet. The wooden roof looks better from a distance and I should have scribed the door lines to better effect.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Iain

[SP Steve]

12 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

Commonly known as load banks, I believe; used for testing diesel electric locos, presumably after overhaul.

 

 

Not only ex loco tenders were used for this purpose. I remember attending the 1984 Doncaster Works open day at which 37.044 was hooked up to a mobile load bank. Numbered as internal user 041620 (ex Dia 1/208 12T Vent Van B770697), the vehicle was one of two (the other being 041619) containing two banks of load resistors which could be configured to give up to 15 different load settings. No liquid coolant was used with waste heat simply venting through hatches in the roof.

 

https://departmentals.com/photo/041620

 

As I recall staff had coupled up some external panel meters which allowed visitors to observe voltage / current readings with 37.044 under power.

[Tony Wright]

Geoff Haynes brought around some locos for me to photograph this morning (he sits in his car while I take pictures of them!). 

 

 

Bought off eBay by one of his customers (builder unknown), ready painted. Geoff's job was to line and apply varnish. 

 

 

All his work, in P4. 

 

 

Again, all his work, in O Gauge. Very impressive!

 

 

And, an interesting comparison between his O Gauge 8F and the OO Gauge DJH one I built of late, which Geoff also painted/weathered. 

 

 

[APOLLO]

Lovely locos - but far too clean. And where is the cotton wool !!!!!!!!! (One of Dad's photos - Rylands sidings Wigan 1966/7)

 

 

Brit15

[APOLLO]

This may be of interest Springs Branch around 1966/7. The new diesel depot is being built. The 8F has an interesting number plate, curly numbers, the only loco this late on with this style of number plate I seem to have a photo of. At least she still has one, unlike the Black 5 next to her.

 

 

Black 8's, common as muck round here back then, but sadly missed now.

 

Brit15

[CF MRC]

Geoff  Haynes’s 7mm scale 8F is very impressive, but if I might be a bit picky, the oil/muck on the slidebars would only rub off where the slippers of the cross head rub, not over the whole surface. 
 

Tim

[Tony Wright]

16 minutes ago, CF MRC said:

Geoff  Haynes’s 7mm scale 8F is very impressive, but if I might be a bit picky, the oil/muck on the slidebars would only rub off where the slippers of the cross head rub, not over the whole surface. 
 

Tim

As on mine, Tim?

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

My Hornby A2/2 arrived today........................

 

 

I watched with considerable interest the discussions on several threads about these new locos, several of which comment on 'poor' QC. 

 

All I can say about this example is it's 'perfect', with no poor-assembly issues at all (other than a backward-facing water scoop on the tender - removed and turned through 180 degrees!). 

 

I've added the loose bits and pieces, shortening the cylinder drain cocks. These are too long for an A2/2, but suit the forthcoming A2/3. Since these will be the same fittings, it's understandable; given that's easier to shorten such items than to lengthen them. 

 

I've also added a screw shackle to the front buffer beam (a curious omission by Hornby).

 

Strictly speaking, the vacuum ejector pipe on 60501 should be joggled at the front end, but this won't matter with this example because I'll be changing into 60502, which had a straight pipe. 

 

Performance is beautiful - quiet, smooth and powerful. 

 

I suppose build issues should be mentioned - there shouldn't be problems. The Hornby BR green has been questioned as well. However, when one looks at the alternatives for a 4mm A2/2, then it's a kit. If, say, it's a DJH one, the cost of the parts will be over £300.00 and building/painting it is way beyond the capabilities of many modellers. Beyond the capabilities of some of the critics as well? 

 

I'll be explaining the change to EARL MARISCHAL in due course.....................

 

 

[CF MRC]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

As on mine, Tim?

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

I don’t know Tony, as I can’t see them. 
 

Tim

[Tony Wright]

A most enjoyable afternoon has been spent thoroughly testing my new Horny A2/2 on Little Bytham....................

 

At first, I thought I'd do a comparison with my near 25 year old DJH prototype A2/2.

 

 

 

The top lamp bracket on the Hornby one will be replaced with a metal one. 

 

One interesting (very interesting?) point is the potential price comparison. Were I to build 60501 from the DJH kit for a customer (the kit would need alterations to the cab and tender for 60501/2, it really suiting 60505/6) and get Ian Rathbone (who painted this one) or Geoff Haynes to paint it, for the final price one could get six Hornby A2/2s! The equivalent of the whole class............ Food for thought.

 

 

Though the Hornby one is not as powerful in terms of pulling power as my kit-built A2/2s, this 13-car rake (mainly modified Bachmann Mk.1s with four kit-builds) was handled with relative ease, with (prototypically?) a fair bit of slipping to get it going. I'd imagine it's more than enough for most buyers. 

 

It goes fast as well..................

 

 

 

Once quality control issues are sorted out (and the 'problems' are not universal), it's a real winner in my opinion. 

 

 

[Tony Wright]

Running with a borrowed tender, the resurrected Bachmann B1 was given the chance to haul 'The Leicester' on Litle Bytham this afternoon.

 

 

Which it did with ease. 

 

I've also changed the bogie wheels as well - not perfect, but better than the original 'blobs'). 

 

The cab appears to lean back slightly (as with several prototypes?).

 

I'm astonished at how well this now runs - not as sweet as my Comet-framed ones, but 'brilliant' compared with most of the nasty split-chassis ones I've examined over time. 

 

Worth £30.00 for CRUK? That's what it'll go for.............