Pragmatic Pre-Grouping - Mikkel's Workbench

[PhilJ W]

Is that a toolbox sat on the front of the left hand tank?

 

[Regularity]

No. It’s just pleased to see you...

[Mikkel]

16 hours ago, Miss Prism said:

I had to pick myself off the floor on reading Mikkel was going all modern and doing a pannier!

 

Yes, it does feel very modern! I'm not abandoning Edwardian days as my main period, but would like some 1914-1919 themed stock. Open cabbed panniers, wagon pooling (more foreign stock) and some motor lorries for a bit of variety. 

 

 

13 hours ago, Brassey said:

Early panniers were flush riveted but note distinctive rivets on the front.  Kidderminster shed circa 1914:

 

 

Excellent and interesting photo, thank you! Yes I had noticed that front with the rivets like that on other classes too, I'm not sure if it was 100% universal, but it's certainly a good period indicator so I'll go for that. Will make the tanks fully flush too.

 

 

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Is that a toolbox sat on the front of the left hand tank?

 

 

Do you mean to the right of the sandbox? I think it's the cylinder cover lid. Period photos show that locos often ran with them open. 

 

[PhilJ W]

5 minutes ago, Mikkel said:

 

 

 

 

 

Do you mean to the right of the sandbox? I think it's the cylinder cover lid. Period photos show that locos often ran with them open. 

 

No, on top of the tank, looking at it again I think its something in the background.

[Mikkel]

Tardis? 

[MrWolf]

It appears to be the top of the chimney of a building that is on a much lower level than the track. I could well be wrong, but it doesn't quite line up with anything on the locomotive.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2020 by MrWolf
SNAFU

[57xx]

On 26/12/2020 at 14:53, Mikkel said:

We have been working on panniers:

 

Source: Getty Images. Embedding permitted. Caption: Sparks Fly As Rail Workers Using Oxy-acetylene Torches Start Cutting And Breaking Down Older Great Western Railway GWR 1076 Class Steam Locomotives At The Locomotive Graveyard Of The Swindon Railway Works On 14 May 1935 

 

 

"Cor blimey Bert, this dome ain't 'arf 'eavy!"

"Tell me abawt it Fred, me back's a gonner!"

"Don't put it down yet lads, I need to get a few more frames in the can..."

[MrWolf]

Those fitters are lucky that it's not a TV crew filming them. They'd be lifting that dome cover off and back on again all afternoon.

[brumtb]

2 hours ago, Mikkel said:

 

Yes, it does feel very modern! I'm not abandoning Edwardian days as my main period, but would like some 1914-1919 themed stock. Open cabbed panniers, wagon pooling (more foreign stock) and some motor lorries for a bit of variety. 

 

 

 

 

 

As  with all pre grouping periods, WW1 is full of interest and lots of scope for research, my own period of the moment is 1918 to 1923, a bit more modern but still very much like your description.  As always I'll follow with interest.

Tony

[jcm@gwr]

4 hours ago, Mikkel said:

 

Yes, it does feel very modern! I'm not abandoning Edwardian days as my main period, but would like some 1914-1919 themed stock. Open cabbed panniers, wagon pooling (more foreign stock) and some motor lorries for a bit of variety. 

 

 

Ah, so it's all about not having to model more dung!

[Mikkel]

17 hours ago, brumtb said:

As  with all pre grouping periods, WW1 is full of interest and lots of scope for research, my own period of the moment is 1918 to 1923, a bit more modern but still very much like your description.  As always I'll follow with interest.

Tony

 

Thanks Tony, yes the immediate post-WW1 years don't seem to have received much attention among modellers, yet like all transition periods it seems an interesting period. 

 

The same can be said for the War years themselves, I suppose. We know about the ROD stuff and troop movements of course, but apart from that what did the GWR look like in those years? Plain and drab towards the end, no doubt, but what else? Did Gvt control affect the more mundane branch operations, for example? There's a book on my wish list: 

 

 

- although I think it's more of a social history.

 

 

15 hours ago, jcm@gwr said:

 

Ah, so it's all about not having to model more dung!

 

  More a question of wanting to have a go at this lot, a motley collection of motor vehicles.

 

 

Edited December 28, 2020 by Mikkel

[Northroader]

You were asking about the small pipes along the right hand side of the boiler. When they were built as saddle tanks, they were fitted with a Roscoe lubricator for the cylinders, the small brass cylinder tucked down behind the chimney. Digging in RCTS part one, it says from 1892, the position was changed to the side of the smokebox on new engines, and from 1900, sight feed lubricators fitted in the cab were introduced, gradually replacing the older types. This became a standard fitting from 1909. I would suggest that the pipes would be there from when the panniers were fitted, if not before, so don’t scrape them off.

[MrWolf]

17 minutes ago, Mikkel said:

 

  More a question of wanting to have a go at this lot, a motley collection of motor vehicles.

 

 

 

I suspect that many of us are afflicted with the same problem.

[Mikkel]

46 minutes ago, Northroader said:

You were asking about the small pipes along the right hand side of the boiler. When they were built as saddle tanks, they were fitted with a Roscoe lubricator for the cylinders, the small brass cylinder tucked down behind the chimney. Digging in RCTS part one, it says from 1892, the position was changed to the side of the smokebox on new engines, and from 1900, sight feed lubricators fitted in the cab were introduced, gradually replacing the older types. This became a standard fitting from 1909. I would suggest that the pipes would be there from when the panniers were fitted, if not before, so don’t scrape them off.

 

Thanks very much, that is exactly the information I was looking for. I don't have Part 1, and sometimes forget that it covers details like that. Really must get it.

 

 

42 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

I suspect that many of us are afflicted with the same problem.

 

Oh yes! That said, the plan is to  employ these road vehicles as "period markers" for out-of-period running sessions. I find that such sessions help contain the urge to go off on a tangent and start whole new layouts on a whim. This is the bay platform at Farthing much later than my normal modelling period.

 

 

Edit: Supposedly 1947 as I have other stock with later insignia for these sessions, but the roundels are a bit misleading....

Edited December 28, 2020 by Mikkel

[MrWolf]

I must admit that I have had similar ideas. I do have a number of 1950s cars, it would only take a few items of BR liveried stock to turn the clock forwards 20 years.

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, Mikkel said:

 

Thanks Tony, yes the immediate post-WW1 years don't seem to have received much attention among modellers, yet like all transition periods it seems an interesting period. 

 

The same can be said for the War years themselves, I suppose. We know about the ROD stuff and troop movements of course, but apart from that what did the GWR look like in those years? Plain and drab towards the end, no doubt, but what else? Did Gvt control affect the more mundane branch operations, for example? There's a book on my wish list: 

 

 

- although I think it's more of a social history.

 

 

 

  More a question of wanting to have a go at this lot, a motley collection of motor vehicles.

 

 

If your seeking information about the Great War I would suggest signing up to the Great War Forum.

[Mikkel]

Thanks Phil, hereby done!

[57xx]

20 hours ago, MrWolf said:

Those fitters are lucky that it's not a TV crew filming them. They'd be lifting that dome cover off and back on again all afternoon.

 

Been there, done that with the Scrapheap Challenge crew lol

"Can you repeat what you just said about the clutch there so we can film it?"

Not easy trying to repeat it and sound natural and not coming off like some wooden "scripted reality" actor.

Edited December 28, 2020 by 57xx

[MrWolf]

Oddly enough, I was alluding to that and some of the restoration shows of 20 years ago. What a pain in the *** those camera people were. By lunchtime it was often a case of "Have you ANY idea of just how ####ing heavy this axle is?"

[Mikkel]

Following up on the useful suggestions above, some more work on the 1854 PT.

 

As suggested, the styrene sheet that I fitted to hide the motor has been replaced with strips of brass sheet each side to avoid potential warping.

 

 

 

Testing for shorts showed no problems. The tank sides have been sanded to suit the pre-1917 flush-riveted look.

 

 

 

The front also needed work. As it comes, the Hornby body has a Churchward pressed steel front. I rather like it.

 

 

 

But pre-1920 tank fronts tended to be plain, so it was all sanded away. A ring was added to the smokebox door, not quite the dished look but better than nothing. Alan Gibson door darts fitted, and new steps from scrap bits of brass.

 

 

 

Also tank vents made from bits of filed styrene, and Alan Gibson tank fillers.

 

 

 

The lower cabsides are too narrow on the Hornby body, so these were extended.

 

 

 

Finally, plated coal rails have been fashioned for the (still loose) bunker.

 

 

 

As always at this point she’s looking a little fazed, it's the darkness before dawn.

 

 

Edited January 3, 2021 by Mikkel

[Coal Tank]

Nice work Mikkel

[Brassey]

That's coming together nicely Mikkel.  I have an old Wills open cab Pannier that still hasn't been finished.  I intend to put lifting rings on the tanks but don't seem to get round to it before another project beckons.

[Mikkel]

Many thanks everyone 

 

Brassey, with your impressive range of current loco projects I think you're excused for not worrying too much about those lifting rings!

 

 Meanwhile at Swindon (is it really Swindon?)....

 

Source: Getty Images, embedding permitted. Caption: 1875: Men at work in the Great Western Railway works in Swindon.

 

Edited January 4, 2021 by Mikkel

[bgman]

Very interesting photograph.

 

Is that chap trying to file a horn block on top of the wooden horse ? He'll be there for ages ! 

[Mikkel]

Yes it is all a bit odd! This version here should allow zooming in.