Another Mystery Manchester Loco

[5050]

Following my 'vintage' purchase last year at the Manchester Exhibition (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/105846-mystery-manchester-prairie/) I found another one this year on the club sales stand.  It was probably there last year as well but I was engrossed in the Prairie purchase and a Southern loco obviously didn't register on my radar.  This year however I was more aware of the possibility of further 'archaeological' finds and this is it.  It is a Southern Railway N1 Mogul, all scratch built including a virtually complete Tender, but still needing a cab, boiler fittings, brake gear and motion to get it looking reasonably complete.  The workmanship is good with Nickel Silver bodywork and a hefty chassis of 1/16" brass.  The motor is a 7-pole Romford (Bulldog?) and the wheels (Romford or Cimco?) to EM gauge.  The pony truck is  sprung with an interesting arrangement of a long horizontal('ish) spring which provides both lateral and vertical springing. Two-railing is achieved by sawing through the wheel spokes on one side and filling with what I assume to be epoxy.  Perhaps it was originally built as 3-rail?  Pickups in a hefty brass strip bear upon the wheel backs.

 

So far I haven't managed to get any life out of it despite re-soldering a loose wire and cleaning parts of the wheel treads and pickups.  Might the motor have a fault I wonder as I can't see any evidence of shorting out.

 

Here are some photos -

 

First a general overview of the elements that make the whole.

 

A top view of the chassis.  Note the long spring controlling the pony truck.

 

The underside from the front.

 

The underside from the rear

 

Side view of the chassis showing the cut spokes.

 

Underside of tender.  The 'drawbar hook' is sprung, being mounted on a bent loop of brass strip.

 

Another u/s of tender.  Outer wheels are 'rigid'. the centre pair can move vertically but are 'loose', not sprung.

 

At some time I might have ago at completing the body work but will require a decent drawing for this.  Could anyone point me in the right direction?

 

As last year with the Prairie, your comments on this little beauty will be welcomed.

Edited December 5, 2016 by 5050

[Jon Fitness]

That's a nice bit of "heavy engineering"! I'm sure you've checked it all out but, the brush spring looks to me to be missing some insulation on one side, is it shorting straight across?

JF

[D51]

The Romford Series IV motor was a deluxe in its day, but as Jon points out the insulating sleeve on the brush spring seems to have slipped off shorting the motor out.  The wheels are also Romford with the tender using Peco Insulaxles.  The cylinders seem to be Mazak castings but I cannot think of their origin. Did Jamieson make a kit of this type?

 

Frank

[5050]

That's a nice bit of "heavy engineering"! I'm sure you've checked it all out but, the brush spring looks to me to be missing some insulation on one side, is it shorting straight across?

JF

Thanks for noticing that, I've completely missed it!  Not used to 'pre-can age' motors these days!

 

I wondered if it could be Jamieson, I'll have to have a look through my Hamblings catalogue.

 

Just found this old advert from MRN 1953.  this is the motor -

 

However, it looks as if the bottom half of the 'gearbox' has been removed, possibly to replace with an EM axle?  On first glance I can't see how the motor is secured into the chassis.  I'll have to do some more 'archaeological digging'!

Edited December 6, 2016 by 5050

[5050]

Just checked and there is some insulation behind the brush. It's very small but perfectly formed and seems to be doing its job OK.

 

So what else could be wrong?

 

Apart from it just being knackered!

[D51]

You are correct, the bottom of the gearbox has been cut off for some reason.  The motor should be secured to a frame spacer piece by a 4BA bolt on the bottom pole-piece, opposite the slotted bolt which can be seen on the top.  The wire from the pickups to the brush is far too heavy gauge.

 

The chassis side frames seem to be sawn and filed, rather than stamped as they would have been with Jamieson.

[tamperman36]

try putting power to the tops of the brushes directly, this will give you some idea if there is any life or not.

[russell price]

something similar to this old battleaxe, it was intentionally weathered when it was built in the 50s and despite appearances still runs like a dream.

[5050]

Thanks for reviving this old thread, I must admit that I had almost forgotten it but now I'll have to dig the loco out and have another look.  With ExpoEM North/Autumn in Wakefield later this year it would be nice to get it running along with the Prairie tank - which runs very well!