Mr Craven's engines - LBSCR 1870s

[ianmaccormac]

Looking good Eric! I am still suffering with a bad back so am making short sit downs in front of the computer but had to admire this!

Cheers

Ian

[burgundy]

Ian

Thank you - and I hope that your back improves (not least as I shall be looking for a coupled loco on which to try out the new chassis jig)!

The body and tender got a coat of rattlecan red primer yesterday - but, with the strength of the wind, so did quite a lot of the surrounding area (as I prefer to spray paint outside). Anything more precise is going to have to wait until the weather settles down (and ideally warms up) a bit.

Best wishes  

Eric

[burgundy]

One small fitting that remains to be attached to the tender is the Stroudley and Rusbridge alarm mechanism. This was an early electrically operated "communication cord" - in the days when most other railways were using long lengths of string. It is the rather small device at the right hand side of the tender with the bell clearly visible.

494-Glynde-a (2).jpg

As a point of correction, a discussion on the Brighton Circle e group has pointed out that the device illustrated here is not the Stroudley and Rusbridge equipment, but an earlier system employed under J C Craven.  

Best wishes

Eric

[burgundy]

April and May have slipped by since any tangible progress was reported on this thread, so an update is perhaps overdue.  

Quite a lot has happened, but most of it in the painting and lining department, which should, of course, feature in another part of the forums. From another point of view, the less said about my painting and lining the better and I resolved, yet again, to get some lessons in how to use an airbrush. The lining (using transfer lining tapes) is simply time consuming and tedious, but fortunately I was in a position for a couple of weeks when I had quite a lot of time to spare. My younger daughter has just produced our first grandchild and we went to stay for a couple of weeks to help out through the initial period of sleepless nights. There are a limited number of things that a grandfather can contribute, so I took the loco and lining with me, so that I could  keep quiet and out of the way when not required (but I did do my fair share of getting up burps and being sicked over)!

The final coat of varnish went on yesterday and so the sunshine this morning seemed like a good opportunity to take some photos - if nothing else, larger than life photos are a very good way to reveal all the little things that need fixing.

The list of things that still need to be finished includes

- fixing the safety valves, threading the levers through the weatherboard and attaching them to the balances which in turn attach to the firebox backhead

- coal 

- a footplate crew

- couplings

- Westinghouse pump and plumbing

- alarm bell on the tender

- number plates and finally

- some very gentle weathering.  

And yes, I did cheat and copped out of putting reverse corners on the lining on the axleboxes!

Best wishes

Eric

[Oldddudders]

Exquisite, Eric! Yes, do hold the hand on the weathering - your paint-job deserves to be seen properly.

[Adam]

That's wonderful Eric. I know that we all dwell on the deficiencies of what we produce, but the - almost - end result is really something, especially in Stroudley's typically Victorian livery. 

 

Adam

[Crichel Down]

What a beautiful model.

 

I hope that some of us might get to see this wee beastie in the flesh in the near future.

[burgundy]

I hope that some of us might get to see this wee beastie in the flesh in the near future.

 

Dieppe could easily make an appearance at a future meeting of NWSEMGSAG. If you meant the granddaughter, that would involve a trip to Atlanta.............. 

Best wishes

Eric

[James Harrison]

Stunning.  Absolutely stunning. 

[ullypug]

Very nice Eric.

If you squint, it almost looks like the WC&P's first Clevedon or Weston Furness Sharp Stewarts...

Nice paint job. I look forward to seeing it in the flesh so to speak.

[Mrkirtley800]

Very nice looking loco, Eric.  How did you persuade the lining around the splashers.  I have tried to line out my Midland locos with a lining pen but am really not happy with the result.  Using transfer lining would, perhaps, be the answer.

Derek

[burgundy]

How did you persuade the lining around the splashers.  I have tried to line out my Midland locos with a lining pen but am really not happy with the result.  Using transfer lining would, perhaps, be the answer.

Derek

 

Derek

The splashers are actually the easy bit, as the lining that is available for the Stroudley passenger livery provides arcs that match the relevant wheel diameters. There is also "inside out" lining for the curve on the sandbox. Where it falls short is the much sharper curve that goes round the opening on a Stroudley cab (not a problem on this loco) and all the twiddly bits around the frames. In those cases, my approach is to cut out short sections of straight or less curved line and piece it together in a series of tangents. A touch of MicroSol helps it all to settle down flat. The frames on this one were an absolute killer and had me wondering whether a lining pen might not be easier!    

Hope this helps

Best wishes

Eric      

[Adam]

Idle curiosity department: who does the Stroudley lining? That's a new one on me. Is it a commercial product or available through, say, the Brighton Circle? Still impressive nonetheless.

 

Adam

[burgundy]

Idle curiosity department: who does the Stroudley lining? That's a new one on me. Is it a commercial product or available through, say, the Brighton Circle?

 

Adam

Adam

They are available through the Brighton Circle and are an example of the group getting together to fill a gap in the market in which we were unable to interest commercial suppliers. Similarly, the kit is the product of a Circle member, who was interested in the early Stroudley period.   

Best wishes

Eric   

[Adam]

Thanks Eric - I ask because I have a Hornby/Dapol body for 'Brighton Works' in its BR guise and this, of course, has the wrong splashers. The easiest wasy to correct this would be to slice them off and start again, the more so because the smokebox needs work too and if a transfer could be had this might push the loco' to the head of the works queue...

 

Adam

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

... do hold the hand on the weathering...

Warmly seconded. We should never forget that not only was there the cleaning labour available to the railway, and the pride in being the high speed transport system; but it was also easier to keep locos clean. No superheating. So what came out of the chimneys was not 'glued on' as badly as later became the case with higher temperature cylinder lubricants.

 

Looks very lovely in the layout scene, with the fairly fine looking ballast up to the rail webs as seen in so many Victorian era photos.

[Mrkirtley800]

Thanks Eric, I will give it a try.  Have to re-line a Midland Railway Johnson Compound, with all the twiddly bits, so we will see.

Derek

[burgundy]

I feel terribly flattered by all the comments on this thread and the "likes" and "craftsmanship" votes, but can I draw out a significant lesson in all this? This is the third etched brass kit that I have ever built. I admit that I have been building other kinds of kit for a long time, starting with 2/- Airfix Spitfires (which dates me) and I have graduated through whitemetal locos and assorted rolling stock. But the resolve to tackle the heap of etched kits, and the black arts of metalwork, only hardened two and a half years ago when I retired from full time work. Since then, I have built Washington and a little saddle tank, which was described in MI5. I hope that each has shown an improvement over the one before and the learning curve has certainly made each one slightly less of a struggle. But, to my mind, the key lesson is that, if I can do it, so can almost anyone else. The first step is to get over the JFDI moment (Kindly Just Do It) and after that patience, perseverance and a fair amount of profanity will get you a long way. So, I sincerely hope that this thread will encourage one or two others to "have a go" and get their fingers singed.

Best wishes

Eric        

[burgundy]

Down to the final stretch - and I hope that I shall not be accused of milking this thread too much!

The most ticklish bit was fitting the safety valves – which involved attaching the salter balances to the firebox backhead, then soldering the levers between the top of the balances, through a hole in the weatherboard and onto the rear of the valve casing. Poking a hot soldering iron into a narrow space, which you have just spent some weeks painting and lining, is one of those moments when you take a very deep breath.

The Westinghouse pump had been painted and drilled for the pipework, so it was a relatively simple matter to attach it to the side of the firebox and to add the plumbing. The kit of parts for the communication bell on the tender was assembled and glued in place, as were the number plates. A crew was recruited to populate the footplate and remove the Marie Celeste look. My original intention had been to use Aidan Campbell figures, which are rather more colourfully dressed than modern image footplate crews, but all the photos that I could find seemed to suggest that by 1870, it was already the norm to wear overalls – although I don't know whether this was a company issued uniform.

I opted for Alex Jackson couplings which meant that it was not really feasible to add the screw coupling on the tender or the three link on the front. I also bottled out of fitting the air pipes which hang below the buffer beam (rather than standing up like a vacuum pipe).

Finally, I didn't have the heart to do any serious weathering – just some black powder on the tender top, which helps to tone down the red oxide, and a touch or two of “boltgun metal”, which highlights some of the metalwork, for example the chequerplate on the fall plate, the steps and the smokebox door handles. That aside, Mr Stroudley would find little to complain about to the cleaners.

And that is pretty much it. Maybe the next project should be something a bit more old fashioned?

Best wishes

Eric

 

[ullypug]

Very nice indeed Eric. It looks beautiful.

I dunno about the next project though. Maybe a Pendilino?

Or something else more modern image from the 20th Century!

[N15class]

I look forward to your next project.. This one resulted in a wonderful work of art.

[kirtleypete]

Thanks Eric, I'd missed that.....I'm just trying to source castings which is an interesting excercise, espcially that wonderful dome!  Don't tell anyone, but a Dean Goods might be closest............

 

Peter

[burgundy]

Polegate
How many pre-grouping railway companies can offer kits for two express passenger locos from the 1860’s? OK, they are actually both in 1870’s condition (as modified by Stroudley) and therefore join the other 1870’s Brighton locos, but I do feel remarkably fortunate to be so spoiled for choice when it comes to building such early pre-grouping locos. The cross-over years between J C Craven and William Stroudley appeal to me as one of the most interesting periods, with locos dating from the earliest days of railways on the one hand, to Stroudley designs that lasted until near enough the end of steam (the Terriers) on the other. Although 1870 marks the watershed between Craven and Stroudley, many Craven locos (and carriages) lasted well into the 1890s and much of Stroudley’s initial effort was directed towards maintaining and upgrading existing stock before he was able to introduce his own designs. As a result, for most of the 1870s, most mainline trains would have been in the charge of Craven locos – singles and 2-4-0s.
Whereas the preceding pages of this thread document construction of an etched brass kit from EBM for one of the dozen Stephenson singles of 1864, this latest section relates to the test build of a predominantly whitemetal kit for one of the 6 singles delivered in 1867 by Nasmyth Wilson. Their order was a classic example of “how not to buy things”, with the Loco Committee overruling Craven and then being faced with an inability to pay for the locos when they were delivered. Once in service, however, they seem to have been useful locos and all lasted in service for over 20 years.

The kit came to me from 5&9 Models with the body, including the outside frames, part built by Chris Cox, and an invitation to complete the trial build and finish off the instructions. The inside frames and the working bits of the chassis are in etched brass and nickel silver and have been provided by EBM. The artwork has been upgraded from that for the Stephenson single, which makes sense, given the similarities between the two designs. My brief was effectively to make sure that the two halves come together correctly and to be the first person to find any inconsistencies! The design has been modified to take account of the additional thickness of the footplate in whitemetal and subsequent assembly has identified other minor improvements that can be made to the artwork.

One advantage of whitemetal in this context is its weight! Dieppe has had weight crammed into every available space, but this loco (it has become “Polegate”) starts off with a hefty cast structure – not least the monster of a steam dome! Getting a single to pull a useful load is not just about adding more lead: you also have to make sure that the driving wheels stay in touch with the rails – which means some kind of compensation. In the absence of any better ideas, I have followed the same formula as for Dieppe, with three point suspension, based on the two driving wheels and a pivot in the centre of the leading axle, which is free to rock. The two trailing wheels are lightly sprung to stay on the rails but avoid taking too much weight. I have also tried to arrange the tender as a semi-trailer, Sharman fashion, to put some weight on the rear of the loco, to counter the mass at the front end.

One downside of whitemetal is that it takes up more space and this became apparent when trying to fit the motor into the wasp waisted firebox. Metal was removed from the inside face of the firebox very, very carefully to ease out the space for a 1424 flat can. The drive train is completed by a 68:1 gearbox from HighLevel.  
More details and photos appear in LB&SCR Modellers' Digest issue 5, which has just appeared on line.
Best wishes
Eric

Edited June 17, 2017 by burgundy

[kirtleypete]

Lovely stuff Eric!

Peter

[Argos]

Apologies for filling your notifications with likes Burgundy.

 

I missed this thread when you were undertaking the build.

 

My loss!

 

Superb modelling.