Popular Post Adam Posted May 22, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted May 22, 2014 (edited) A birthday present to myself, bought a few months back, is this Judith Edge kit for a diesel hydraulic built by North British. This type of 330hp 0-4-0DH was built for industry, but BR had a handful and a look the JE website will tell you about those but I wanted the industrial version, a pleasantly bulky thing which differed in many, many details from the BR versions. The ScR bought quite a collection of different types of NBL 0-4-0 and Mike and Judith will cheerfully sell you just about all of them. It assembles in the usual way for Mike Edge's designs with modular elements - bonnet/cab, footplate and chassis - all of which jig together and rely on each other to make assembly reasonably easy. The instructions assume that you know something about basic metal forming (why shouldn't they?) and that you are are capable of finding photographs to address which collection of details suit your chosen prototype. This is essential for this particular type; there seem to have been a collection of different bits which went together in various permutations, almost all of which are in the box with scale printouts from the CAD which answer just about any assembly question you might ask yourself. As such, it has rather flown together and I completely failed to take any pictures along the way so that we reach the point where the body and footplate are complete. There isn't much more to say except that I couldn't find part number 22 (risers for the inner cab floor). This doesn't matter since there is no shortage of scrap etch; straight, parallel strip, basically, to use instead. You can just make out that I've modelled the LH cab door open and added the large industrial headlights. Only the bezels for these are in the box, there were various styles and would be difficult to cast in resin but easy to make from scrap etch and shim. Basically, you solder the bezel to the scrap, centre pop the resulting sandwich and drill through to lend the resulting lamp a bit of depth. Then cut and file the thing to shape using the bezel as a guide, solder that to the top of the bonnet. Then cut a sort of squat 'T' shape from shim to represent the 'brim' over the top, form and test fit, trim to length and then solder in place. This can be filed up to shape and then the back filled with Miliput for the back of the fairing. The buffers, by the way, are Lanarkshire Model Supplies items intended for Austerity saddle tanks, 2-8-0s and 2-10-0s. These seem to be exactly what many of these diesels had. Not altogether surprising really since NBL built lots of the tender engines. Next for the technical bit, making it run. Adam Edited January 6, 2023 by Adam 20 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norton961 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Adam, I am interested in the build as I have just bought one to build in P 4. Are you doing an Industrial version or the BR batch and which motor and gear assembly are you planning to use? I noticed that for some of the BR versions that were sent to Crewe the steps just in front of the cab on the bonnet sides were taken of due to the proximity to the overhead wires. A photo taken of the Crewe trio taken after withdrawal also seems to show a taller exhaust stack. Keep posting the pictures! David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted June 2, 2014 Author Share Posted June 2, 2014 Hi David This is the industrial version, hence the headlight, among other details. The motor/gearbox I'm using is High Level's Loadhauler + with a 108:1 ratio with a Mashima 1424 and a flywheel driving the rear axle. This is the opposite way around to what Mike suggests in his instructions, mostly because I wanted the flywheel with compensation bearings on the front axle. Fitting this requires quite a chunk to be cut from the central frame spacer but this is quite big and there are plenty more so the structural integrity of the chassis isn't compromised. Obviously this renders the designed-in compensation arrangement unworkable but a simple 0-4-0 doesn't present any real problems and a flywheel isn't essential; for a small loco there's masses of space to fit everything in. There will be more pictures, just as soon as there's something meaningful to photograph! Adam Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norton961 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Adam,thanks for the reply. Interesting way of providing drive. I spoke to Mike Edge on Saturday and we discussed the need for some limited movement in one of the axles. The view is that an 0-4-0 needs some compensation not only in P4 but in OO because it improves pick up of current to the motor as there is only 4 wheels to collect current. Therefore I am going to stick with the motor driving the front axle with the rear having some compensation. David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted June 2, 2014 Author Share Posted June 2, 2014 Perhaps I should have been clearer - this loco' will be compensated! Since I want a flywheel and am driving the rear axle, I'm doing something different to what Mike suggests. They'll be a pair of hornblocks and a conventional beam on the front axle. I'm just fettling the rods now so that I can set these up. The flywheel is being fitted for the same reason the loco is being compensated, to improve pick-up and to ensure proper electrical continuity. The designed in system is very neat and will work well without the faff of setting up floating bearings: I've used the system Mike designed into his Thomas Hill 0-6-0 with good effect and shamelessly copied it on something else I'm building at the minute. Adam Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted June 2, 2014 Author Share Posted June 2, 2014 (edited) Just to show the state of play while the blisters from opening the rods out to suit the crankpin bushes subside, here's a general view of the chassis with the motor placed in the chassis to show the arrangement. The motor is rather bigger than is perhaps totally necessary but the real thing was a reasonably powerful beast for its size. Just my whim really. Adam Edited June 2, 2014 by Adam 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Michael Edge Posted June 3, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 3, 2014 Looking good as usual Adam, glad you're enjoying building it. The 440hp 0-6-0 version of this design is underway now, I started building the test etch at last year's Leeds exhibition. There are as you say a large number of variations in these locos, even within the BR batch, I've tried to put most of the bits on the etch but part 22 does seem to have disappeared along the way. I'd better add a note on the instructions about this. On the BR ones top access steps tended to be removed as electrification spread, the extended exhaust was on D2911 and 2913 at least. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norton961 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Adam, thanks for the clarification, your arrangement for the drive looks good and I will adopt your scheme as I like the idea of a flywheel. Mike any chance of posting a few photos of some industrial versions as I don't have any. David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 (edited) Thanks Mike, another note on the instructions that might be worth making is that the headlight bezel, if fitted, to industrials should be fitted with the bolts at 12 o'clock, 3, 6, 9. It's not immediately obvious from many photos (and needless to say, I've got it wrong on the cab backsheet). Otherwise, this has been trouble-free. David: A quick Google search (NBL shunter, NBL diesel shunter) is where I found the reference pictures I've been using. Here are a handful from Flickr if that helps: https://www.flickr.com/photos/31460388@N03/5039342781 https://www.flickr.com/photos/31460388@N03/5039343045 - note the 'industrial' shaped buffer beams and the absence of marker lights. https://www.flickr.com/photos/31460388@N03/5039341979 - this one is more or less a clone of some of the BR machines and, I think, is the same as the one below... https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=d2911 - This selection of images cover 'D2911', an industrial machine preserved on the Chasewater Railway masquerading as a scrapped BR machine. Regardless of the ethics of this, and I'm not mad keen, it sports a very odd shade of green... Adam Edited January 9, 2018 by Adam Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Michael Edge Posted June 3, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 3, 2014 The only photos I have that are my own are of the one we measured at Cottesmore. I have more detail ones but these will do to be going on with. The loco masquerading as D2911 at Chasewater is an ex industrial loco but more closely resembles the BR ones. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 Thanks for these Mike - I can see that I have a few extra details to add to my cab interior later in the build. My fault for modelling a cab door open... Adam Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter220950 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Not sure if these are of any help, if you need blow-ups of the original photo's, which were taken on traditional film, just let me know and I can scan for you. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
25901 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Just last weekend I pull one of those NBL instrument panels out of store to paint up so it can go on display. Lovely little cabs on them and always warm, and for those that don't know the cab seats are the rear sandboxes Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 (edited) Thank you for those pictures Peter. Is that one of the ex-Cadbury machines? These were slightly smaller than the one I'm building but again, similar to a batch bought by BR and with a very obvious family resemblance. I think they're big enough for my needs but don't let that stop anyone else putting a word in. Thanks again for sharing them. I think Rom River Reinforcement were the outfit that had the standard gauge Kerr, Stuart 6W diesel for a bit weren't they? I've never been exactly clear what it was the company did that caused them to need railway locomotives. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/foxfield/rom_river.htm PS - actually, said Kerr, Stuart is visible in one of the cab interior shots... Adam Edited June 7, 2014 by Adam Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norton961 Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Thanks everyone for posting some really interesting photos. I have made a start on my Mike Edge kit but unlike Adam I am after much thought sticking with Mikes suggestion of driving on the front axle. However as I have a good stock of Portescape motors/gearbox I am fitting a 1616 version which should provide low speed running. I have some 1219 versions but they are to long for the loco. I have completed the basic chassis but will post some photos when I have progressed further. David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter220950 Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Thank you for those pictures Peter. Is that one of the ex-Cadbury machines? These were slightly smaller than the one I'm building but again, similar to a batch bought by BR and with a very obvious family resemblance. I think they're big enough for my needs but don't let that stop anyone else putting a word in. Thanks again for sharing them. I think Rom River Reinforcement were the outfit that had the standard gauge Kerr, Stuart 6W diesel for a bit weren't they? I've never been exactly clear what it was the company did that caused them to need railway locomotives. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/foxfield/rom_river.htm PS - actually, said Kerr, Stuart is visible in one of the cab interior shots... Adam Adam, Yes it's Ex-Cadbury No 12, one of two that were sold to Rom River on closure of the factory, they were 225HP machines, not sure if the loco was smaller, or if it was just a taller bonnet? Rom River make steel reinforcing bars for the construction industry, I caught up with the loco when researching Cadbury's and had the pleasure to drive it up the yard. The raw coil steel was brought in by rail, and moved around the yard, and into the factory, for processing, by the loco's. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted June 9, 2014 Author Share Posted June 9, 2014 Thanks for that Peter. The Cadbury machines were smaller than the version David and I are building which are 330hp types so yes, it's smaller. An interesting feature of the 225hp locos were the solid, spoked wheels fitted to some of them. I'm not sure that any of the larger locos were ever fitted with anything similar or, for that matter, why North British saw fit to do this in the first place. David - let's see some pictures. There should be lots of space for a Portescap in there. Mine has made it as far as primer but it's a bit murky to be taking pictures tonight. Adam Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Michael Edge Posted June 10, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 10, 2014 Cadbury's 225hp locos were smaller and significantly different to the 330hp ones. This is a whole family of NB designs, running from 225hp 0-4-0 up to 550hp 0-6-0, BR only bought one of this type - the 330hp 0-4-0s D2900-13. We are also working on the largest 440hp and 550hp 0-6-0s. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norton961 Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Atached is my limited progress on the NB 0-4-0 DH (I only started this week) showing the fitment of a 1616 Portescape. I am a big fan of these and I have been collected them from various bring and buy stands before they becanme very expensive. So on average I paid about £30.00 each for them rather than the £80 to £90 they fetch today. Next job is the coupling rods. From a construction point of view I found it easier by putting the axles through the soldered in bushes and then clamping the 2 side frames with all the frame spacers in place before soldering them all up, that meant I could make sure everything was square. My models are all in P4 and I am also attaching a photo of one of my other locos, an Impetus diesel which requires me to give it an identity before I weather it. David 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beatty 139 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Some time ago Railway Modeller had a drawing of 330 hp NBL, but I have not been able to track a copy down, could one of you good gentlemen point me in the direction which issue it was so I can try and track a copy down? Many Thanks Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted June 11, 2014 Author Share Posted June 11, 2014 (edited) Some time ago Railway Modeller had a drawing of 330 hp NBL, but I have not been able to track a copy down, could one of you good gentlemen point me in the direction which issue it was so I can try and track a copy down? Pass Andy - there's a copy of the CAD drawing Mike produced in the box so I haven't taken the trouble to look into this - I haven't needed to (and it's been years since I paid much attention to any of the monthlies) so can't help there. I like the Hunslet David, it's nice to see another Impetus kit built as I've made two myself and rebuilt another. There are threads on these elsewhere in this bit of the forum. If I get a minute later, I will stick the links in this one if you're interested? Anyhow, here is the current state of play. All the assemblies have had a coat of primer, the body grey and the chassis red oxide and then black. All these came from Halfords. You will be able to spot that I completely forgot to install the front sandboxes and rear sandpipes before I reached this point. Note that I have gone and fixed the sandboxes too far back from the edge of the footplate. Fortunately, this is easy to resolve! While I was spotting details missed, I spotted that I'd neglected to add the small handle on the battery box and, while I had some Miliput out for another job, took the opportunity to fill said battery boxes with a mix of the putty and lead shot. Every little bit of weight helps. Adam Edited June 12, 2014 by Adam 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beatty 139 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 I should say I have a vested interest in these locos as I used to own the one now at Chasewater, having purchased it from the Nottingham Sleeper company who had acquired it at the Chatterley Whitfield disposal auction some years before, its been through a few hands since, but I know the current owner for many years. The Judith Edge kit looks a grand job as usual but my chosen scale is 10mm/ft and although Michael has done a couple of kits for me in the past from 7mm up to 10mm i don't know if 4mm up to 10mm would be feasible as a simple job. I am sure Michael will comment if its possible and I will be digging deep into my pocket! As I am just finishing off my little SCW 18T Planet (another loco I used to own) the NBL would make another nice project for my railway, especially as it has plenty of space for the batteries and on-board radio control. I was even so rash yesterday as to have gone and ordered the wheel casting! Andy 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norton961 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Adam, your loco is looking good. I have finally decided that my loco will a BR one, circa 1966, green with yellow wasp stripes. I know that one of the locos at Wolverton was withdrawn without the warning stripes, but the majority acquired these stripes. I am trying to track down some photos of the Crewe trio with the extended exhaust pipe, but so far without success. My layout is based on a real location (Trench sidings in Shropshire) where there was a small interchange yard and a line from there down to a canal basin. Due to the curvature of the line and the location of a weighbridge in steam days a Pug 0-4-0 was used so I have updated the shunting with the North British 0-4-0 and assuming that one of the Crewe trio had been used. David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted June 11, 2014 Author Share Posted June 11, 2014 Thanks Andy, it's interesting to hear how the preserved example ended up where it is. I envy you your available space; I'm not sure I could find room for a gauge 1 0-4-0, never mind space to run one. Is this any use at all David? https://www.flickr.com/photos/barkingbill/2134090246/in/set-72157603696416788 Extended exhaust in place and at Rugby. Would this be the one that went to Wolverton? The smaller locos of the London Midland aren't really my beat! By way of a PS, in an alert moment, I photographed one of the modifications I made to the kit. Rather than mounting the brakes permanently to the chassis, I've opted to make them removable. The brake hangers are mounted on lengths of 0.7mm wire which feed into lengths of tube. I'm not sure whose idea this was but I first encountered it on a High Level RSH saddle tank and have adopted it, where practical, ever since. Adam Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norton961 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Adam, Thanks for the link to the photo, interesting that the steps on the side of the body front and rear have been very crudely removed. According to some sources these were removed from the locos working under the overhead wires including the 3 at Crewe. Also of note is that it is another loco without warning stripes in 1965! The loco at Wolverton was D2905 which was photographed in 1967 without warning stripes. The photo gives me a better clue as to the extended exhaust. A usefull reference source is the book "The Diesel Shunter" by Colin Marsden, which has some nice photos of the class in their early days. David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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