Help please - Nth Staffs (LBSC) Railmotor

[bundeena2230]

Hi, having just won a Nth Staffs Railmotor etch on ebay, and a book "North Staffordshire Album"

 

I am left with a body etch of great quality, but no idea on what to do for the loco, for which ebay has blessed me with the sides and ends.

 

However, I am now at a loss for the following, to which I reach out into RmWeb land for some insight (thanks in advance)

 

The loco from the etch gives me the sides, but not the

- wheel diameter eg was it 4ft ?

- was the frame of the loco separate to the loco, and swiveled slightly in front to the coach body ?

 

I thank anyone that has the time to help on this one.

 

ALSO

 

 

I sent this email to Andy last week - what do you think ???

 

I'm an old dude

scratch build sometimes

kits the rest - nothing off the shelf

 

I dont have a layout (ex divorce, no house)

 

So I gain my pleasure from making models.

 

 

Now, it appears to me, that so many of the 60+ generation are dying, never making "that" layout

So the son, whatever goes up into the attic and sees a trip to Spain.

 

ebay gets a glut of LMS, or SR or whatever he was into - bits he was working on get left in the bottom draw.

 

So like me and you, there are a hundred of things half started - no instructions as they are now in the "todo" file (not the kit box)

 

Onto ebay they go, and mugs like me buy them happily to do "one day"

 

BUT - there is no assembly instructions, or as per my recent purchase of an ebay -North Stafford Railway Railmotor - next to no images.

 

Would you consider, on your web site, a repository for people to post a scan of the included assembly instructions, for kits, many of which are now long gone, but since granddad has died, here is one.... no bogie, not wheels, etc...

 

I would be happy to scan EVERY piece of faded and obscure pieces of paper, to upload them for the EVER INCREASING tide of granddad is dead kits that are hitting ebay.

 

Time and time again I see on your site, people asking for help from people that have this kit, as they have purchased a granddad kit, missing, a, b, c etc

 

 

 

As this is increasing as the old modellers die off (God forbid)

May I suggest a repository for scanned doco for kits,

 

Eg. Mallard / GWR Railmotor 57ft / blah

 

and perhaps a link from there to what it looked like, as in, here is poddy123's uploads of the real one,

and (B)

what he did with it

- i) my photos of my loco

 

As kits become more a thing of the past

perhaps those of us who persevere can benefit from structured help.

 

Potential models do NOT end up in the bin

 

A call to arms for those of us who have made a kit, and still have the doco.

 

Unless we do this, everything we have done will be forgotten and our memories will become dust.

 

Please see my entry http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/957/entry-7786-making-a-mcgowans-wd-2-8-0-austerity/

 

I look forward to your thoughts

Kevin

[Nick Holliday]

In answer to the first question, the wheel diameter as quoted in Ken Hopkins' North Staffordshire Locomotives is 3' 8" for both driver and trailing wheel, with a 9' 6" wheelbase. The boiler barrel was 3' 9" in external diameter, pitched 6' 6" above rail level, the chimney being at a height of 13' 2". This, and the similar LBSC railmotor, are articulated, with the carriage resting on the rear of the loco section. A good elevation drawing of the first 2 of these (the third had a higher elliptical roof) can be found in R W Rush's book on Steam Railmotors (Oakwood 1971) whilst a poorer one can be found in his later(?) album of NSR rollign stock drawings, a companion volume to the history you have got.

As the etching you have is from Worsley Works there will be no instructions, as their etches are described as "scratch aids" and the only advise you will get is that they have been designed to be built along similar lines to Comet coach kits, and you are directed to their website for "instructions". This does not help the construction of the locomotive section though.

Whilst I appreciate that producers such as Worsley do not have the time or resources to produce full assembly instructions, it would be helpful if they, and others such as Peter K, could make available simple marked up scans of the etch, identifying what some of the more obscure small items are meant to be, so that at least one can attempt to match them to a photo or drawing. The producer of the original artwork will surely know what each bit was intended for, even if the builder then has to work out how to shape/assemble the bits, and this simple(?) proposal would make some of the more complex etches more buildable and encourage more purchases.

[relaxinghobby]

Is this the one? From the book North Staffordshire Railway Locomotives and Rolling Stock by R. W. Rush Oakwood Press.

 

[bundeena2230]

In answer to the first question, the wheel diameter as quoted in Ken Hopkins' North Staffordshire Locomotives is 3' 8" for both driver and trailing wheel, with a 9' 6" wheelbase. The boiler barrel was 3' 9" in external diameter, pitched 6' 6" above rail level, the chimney being at a height of 13' 2". This, and the similar LBSC railmotor, are articulated, with the carriage resting on the rear of the loco section. A good elevation drawing of the first 2 of these (the third had a higher elliptical roof) can be found in R W Rush's book on Steam Railmotors (Oakwood 1971) whilst a poorer one can be found in his later(?) album of NSR rollign stock drawings, a companion volume to the history you have got.

As the etching you have is from Worsley Works there will be no instructions, as their etches are described as "scratch aids" and the only advise you will get is that they have been designed to be built along similar lines to Comet coach kits, and you are directed to their website for "instructions". This does not help the construction of the locomotive section though.

Whilst I appreciate that producers such as Worsley do not have the time or resources to produce full assembly instructions, it would be helpful if they, and others such as Peter K, could make available simple marked up scans of the etch, identifying what some of the more obscure small items are meant to be, so that at least one can attempt to match them to a photo or drawing. The producer of the original artwork will surely know what each bit was intended for, even if the builder then has to work out how to shape/assemble the bits, and this simple(?) proposal would make some of the more complex etches more buildable and encourage more purchases.

 

Thanks so much for this, its so good not having to work off a photo.

 

I am amused that when I realised with the position of the piston, that this was a penny farthing.

 

I agree with what you are saying, so when I do this I will make an effort to put down as much information as I can. This is what my second rant was about, what happens in 5 years with people dying ?

 

I will look for that book, thanks for the tip, and I will let you know how it goes when I start after Christmas.

 

All the best from a stinky hot Sydney

Kevin

 

My guess to the articulation is based on this image, I can see where it would turn from this.

.

[bundeena2230]

Is this the one? From the book North Staffordshire Railway Locomotives and Rolling Stock by R. W. Rush Oakwood Press.

 

Better than a thousand words.

Thanks heaps for this - The book of knowledge (Google) came up lame.

 

Speaks volumes for rmweb

[Nick Holliday]

Just a caveat on the drawing. For some reason its quoted dimensions differ from those in the Hopkins' book I quoted, and also with the draughtsman's other drawing in his railmotor book, which, for copyright reasons I wasn't going to upload.

Also, as I noted, Railmotor 3 had a completely different roof profile on the locomotive portion.

[Guest Natalie Graham]

NRM has quite a collection of detail drawings for the railmotor under the Stoke Works collection but there doesn't seem to be a general arrangement drawing except for one described along the lines of 'coloured drawing of railmotor'.

[Penlan]

Unless we do this, everything we have done will be forgotten and our memories will become dust.

Unfortunately, our own memories are the one thing we do take with us.

[Steve Sykes]

NRM has quite a collection of detail drawings for the railmotor under the Stoke Works collection but there doesn't seem to be a general arrangement drawing except for one described along the lines of 'coloured drawing of railmotor'.

Might be worth looking at the Beyer Peacock collection on the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry website, though it isn't the easiest interface to deal with.