2761

[The Johnster]

I bought a s/h 2721 at my (very good) local model railway emporium yesterday, bit of an impulse buy but I have work for it on the layout and, numbered 2761, it is the only 'correct' engine I possess, being finished in post war GWR 'initials' livery and shedded at Tondu in 1948 and until scrapping (1950?); there are other priorities ahead of renumbering the rest of the fleet to Tondu examples.  Of course the same priorities are ahead of impulse buying pretty little half cab panniers, but there you go...

 

I've dismissed this particular Hornby as a toy for years, but it has a few things going for it.  The big and unsolvable problem of course is the plastic 'skirt' below the boiler, a giveaway to the age of the moulding and frankly one that was a bit disappointing when the model first came out.  I'm going to have to live with it, and might hide a little with a few spare lamps and the fireman's bike. On the plus side, there are separate handrails, an attempt at raising the number plate and nicely printed numbers, not the worst Hornby interpretation of GWR green I've ever seen, and some nice moulded backhead detail.  I am sure I remember the early versions of this having 'one piece' stamped coupling rods, not to mention a flangeless pair of centre drivers; 2761 has proper, separate, rods and a flanged centre tyres, with of course a groove for the traction tyre. Many s/h 2721s seem to have lost their copper caps and whistles; they are present on my model.  

 

The conical chimney and whatever that upturned flower pot thing where the safety valve cover should be is will have to go of course, and I may have possible replacements on a withdrawn Westward 64xx that'll do the job. I will be replacing the centre drivers; I cannot be doing with traction tyres or the grooves for them, and that'll prolly mean a complete re-wheeling.  BR smokebox number is needed, but I can make one of those up myself, and perhaps an 86F shedplate, to make the point that we are modelling post nationalisation.  This is a loco nearing the end of it's working life and soon to be scrapped/allocated to the great roundhouse in the sky, so it needs to be pretty well weathered and worn looking.  

 

The asking price was £35, but when we test ran it in the shop it was obvious that the little beast was not at all well internally.  3 legged dog with the other legs lame and different lengths would be a kind descripiton, she lurched, lifted, jerked, and was clearly in a bad way.  Peter (Lord, of Lord and Butler) looked in the stockroom to see if there was another one, but we were out of luck.  He, optimistically in my view, put it down to the absence of the traction tyres on the centre drivers, but I think something much more fundamental is wrong with 2761.  Whatever it is, I am fairly confident that something that drastic must be something fairly obvious, and offered him a tenner for it as seen 'and I'll fit my own tyres'; he bit.

 

I did a bit of an exploratory lookover yesterday evening, once I'd worked out how the body came off!  First impressions were that a) the wheels were on upside down with the lubrication bosses on the coupling rods facing downwards.  Not rocket science to rectify.  b) The gears are pretty gunged up with lube and crud; even if this is not the cause of the 3-legged dog gait a proper cleaning and re-lubing a bit more sparingly... c) The rear axle has a lot of play in it, controlled by 2 springs mounted in the mazak above it, and I think I am getting warmer in my fault finding mission in this area.  Should the springs not mount onto spigots on a curved plate bearing down on the axle?  If so, this is missing.  d) The chassis binds a little being pushalonged with the motor out.  This is certainly an area that needs a bit of fettling up to run freely; I have not yet closely investigated the quartering, but my instinct is that it is more a matter of running gear.  There is a variable between next to no clearance and actually no clearance between the inside of the coupling rods and the brake gear moulded on to the plastic keeper plate, and the apparently excessive play, both side and vertical, in the rear axle, might well be fouling on this and literally tripping the chassis up.  The motor, separated from the chassis block, runs fine and is controllable down to a very low speed before cogging; it seems a quiet and well balanced little thing!

 

Other matters to be researched include whether or not 2761 had the hooks on the rear of the bunker that 57xx/8750s did which had the fire irons and the loco's bucket hanging from them, and whether a red backed set of number plates might have been provided by BR; your comments and observations would be welcome.

 

I will update with progress on the attempt to make the lame whole again; I'm hoping it will not defeat me and provide me with the satisfaction of a good runner for a tenner.  If not, I will continue to work on the body, and try to source a replacement chassis; I assume a Jinty/Thomas/J50/E2 one will be ok.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BG John]

I'm quite impressed with the basic body. Lots of little bits could be improved, but it seems a good starting point. I'm planning to convert one to an 1813 class as it was when they first got panniers in 1904. It will be in EM, and get a Perseverance chassis. Hopefully I'll be able to give it some daylight under the boiler.

 

I've actually got three bodies, only one of which came with a chassis, and all bought quite cheaply on eBay. I've also got a spare chassis I bought separately. One loco will be left pretty much as it is, with the wheels pulled out to EM, and hopefully with the tyred wheels being replaced with normal wheels pinched from the other chassis. Another will be the 1813 mentioned above, and the final one is due to get some serious butchering to something far more interesting!

[The Johnster]

Bit of a curate's egg, isn't it, BG, good in parts.  Thinking about daylight under the boiler, but I don't have confidence in my ability to make such a complex cut without messing it up, so I'll put up with it.  A new chassis is probably going to be the answer to my problem, but I'm determined to have a go at the old one first; as I say the motor is a sweet little runner and would be a shame to waste, and I'm relishing the challenge for now.  If the chassis block is worn and the axles cannot rotated freely or there is a bit missing over the rear axle, I'll give in and buy a new chassis, but I ought to be able to get this one running properly, or at least satisfy myself as to why it won't!

 

I will probably also need another chassis as a wheel donor to get rid of the grooved wheels that are supposed to have tyres, which means I may as well get a runner anyway...  It has also occurred to me that, even though the loco is a Tondu resident, I will still ultimately want etched plates for it!  But it'll relieve the situation once it is running; I currently have 5 trains and 4 locos, which is about 2 less than Tondu shedmaster needs to run the service, allow for one under repair, and have a spare.  

 

Baccy are supposed to be bringing out a re-released 4575 soon, whatever they mean by 'soon', which will be a spare for any job on Cwmdimbath, and may one day follow up on their promise to bring out a new 94xx, which will look fine on my coal train and release my 56xx for B set and other freight work along with my 57xx.  I am envisioning 2761 on pickup duties for now (currently shared between 56xx and 57xx), and ultimately provide a workman's of either Ratio 4-wheelers or Triang clerestories (which will have to be re-bogied) as a nod to the Glyncorrwg workmens' just over the mountain, perhaps still in wartime plain brown livery, so the model won't be a complete waste of time and money, impulse buy or not.  Until I get around to a 42xx, it'll be my only Hornby loco!

[BG John]

I'm about start practising loco butchery on a variety of Hornby 0-4-0s, so by the time I get to the 2721 I hope to be quite proficient!

 

I got the number plates for my 1813 from Narrow Planet, and I'll certainly use them again. I'll be building No 1817, and when they sent the proof before etching, the spacing was wrong due to the narrow numbers. I e-mailed a photo of the prototype, and they corrected it with no problem. The end result is just right. The prices are great too.

[lapford34102]

Hi,

Worth a look if you've not seen this

 

http://www.gwr.org.uk/pro2721.html

 

Stu

[The Johnster]

I'm about start practising loco butchery on a variety of Hornby 0-4-0s, so by the time I get to the 2721 I hope to be quite proficient!

 

I got the number plates for my 1813 from Narrow Planet, and I'll certainly use them again. I'll be building No 1817, and when they sent the proof before etching, the spacing was wrong due to the narrow numbers. I e-mailed a photo of the prototype, and they corrected it with no problem. The end result is just right. The prices are great too.

 

 

I've had recommendations for Narrow Planet before and will very likely be using them for my renumbering scheme.  Of the locos I possess besides 2761, one is an ex-Airfix 61xx renumbered as 4159, to become 4145, my Baccy 57xx is to become 7770 (I like the way that scans), my Mainline/Baccy hybrid 56xx (ML body running on modern Baccy chassis) will be 6601, and the Baccy 6412 will be 6410.  As I say, it is more important to finish and stock the layout first, but matters are moving towards a state where this sort of thing can be considered... 

 

I am not sure if NP can supply smokebox plates and shedcode plates, but it would be lovely if they do!!!

[The Johnster]

Hi,

Worth a look if you've not seen this

 

http://www.gwr.org.uk/pro2721.html

 

Stu

 

 

Certainly worth considering Stu, but first I would need to try to ascertain if 2761 had 'fishbelly' coupling rods and o/s brake rodding at the end of it's life at Tondu; my default would be that, since Hornby have modelled it in the 'fluted rod inside brake rodding' condition in late GWR 'initial' livery, it probably didn't; Hornby have perpetrated many a crime against decent modelling over the years but they usually get their liveries right even if the colours are a bit off....  The various rebuilds that 2721s went though are a complex and ill-defined issue; some were built new while others were rebuilds of earlier engines, some even had round top firebox boilers and saddle tanks refitted after being converted to Belpaire panniers (not by my period, though), and there were all sorts of differences that had crept in by the end of their lives, some with 'full' cabs, I.e. cabs with extended roofs and backsheets, being virtually indistinguishable from 57xx.  They are less a class than a general grouped description of a variety of engines with some common features.  To complicate matters further, 57xx style chimneys were used on a number of locos, irrespective of half or enclosed cabs!

 

The drawback of course is the intrusion of the motor into the cab, which I am not sure at all about on a loco with such an open cab arrangement.  My instinct if I were to adopt this method would be to model the loco with the canvas weather protection sheet in place to hide the interior of the cab, but I have to say I like the idea of the open half-cab. a nice connection to the Dean/Armstrong GWR almost forgotten in the period I am modelling.

 

I have a Baccy 57xx and am enamoured of it's slow running, though, and while the Hornby chassis might run well enough for the loco to be used on workmens' and the like, my intended use on the pickup might well benefit from Baccy's slow controllability.  Whatever the outcome, and we are very early doors at the moment, I appreciate the information and advice; thank you!

[BG John]

There's not much difference in the basic dimensions of the 2721 and the Bachmann bodies. I wondered if a finer model could be produced by altering the Bachmann body, but I'm too much of a cheapskate to try it .

 

My period of interest is 1905, which is before any 2721s received panniers. The 1813s went into the works first, and got the panniers intended for the 2721s, which is why I'll be doing 1817, that got them in 1904. It must have been one of very few panniers to have had Indian red frames, and no lettering on the tanks, which should cause a few raised eyebrows amongst the "experts"!

[The Johnster]

I think the main difference between 2721 and 57xx 'bodies' is the valancing below the footplate and the depth of the pannier tanks, I mean the top to bottom dimension, which is noticeably bigger on the 57xx.  This could cause problems if you were trying to convert/backdate a 57xx to a 2721/1813.  Good luck with it, though; have to admit I'd not thought of doing it that way!

 

If you want an oddball pannier to play with the experts' heads, the Hornby 2721 might be capable of being mangled into a GW rebuilt Rhymney Railway 'K' class; saddle tanks replaced by panniers on an outside framed 0-6-2T...

[BG John]

If you want an oddball pannier to play with the experts' heads, the Hornby 2721 might be capable of being mangled into a GW rebuilt Rhymney Railway 'K' class; saddle tanks replaced by panniers on an outside framed 0-6-2T...

Too modern! And unlikely to be found on a sleepy West Country branch line .

[The Johnster]

Too modern! And unlikely to be found on a sleepy West Country branch line .

 

First time I've ever heard a Rhymney K described as too modern, but point taken.  Not modern enough for my blt; they were all gone by the early 30s.

[The Johnster]

Progress!  Took the little beast to pieces properly today, gave everything a good squirt of Maplins spray electonic cleaner, which physically blew quite a bit of the crud off and dissolved the rest very effectively.  Attacked the worm and gear with a stiff toothbrush and they came up gleaming.

 

As I said, my first suspicion was the springs holding the rear axle, which I believed should have some sort of curved plate above them to bear down on the axle.  The relevant service sheet is 251, which does not show any such plate; apparently the naked ends of the springs bear directly onto the axle, which looks a bit wrong to me but I might be happy to concede that Hornby know what they are doing better than me yet...

 

Anyway, I've re-assembled the chassis, without the springs for now as I wanted to remove them from the equation in the interests of deductive fault finding.  Immediately the thing runs better, can be pushalonged without seizing and will even roll free for a short distance.  With the motor back in, it ran, fairly sweetly after a few minutes bedding in; 2761 works!

 

We're not completely out of the woods yet, as she is a bit light to pick up current well (wheels and pickups are clean) and, with the rear axle floating around in a square channel and able to go anywhere it wants, pickup here is poor as the wheel backs move off the copper strips.  I've crammed some blu-tack into the front end of the boiler, and the next job is to refit the springs and see if I was wrong and the poor little thing was just gunged up all along; if this works, it should improve the pickup situation.  I have insulfrog points.  Using extra pickups from a vehicle in the train won't cut it as this is a terminus, and she will have to be able to run around light engine.

 

Runs quietly and smoothly, a hint of a tick with something trying to bind or catch in reverse, probably brake detail but not serious.  Not as good as my Baccy 57xx or 64xx, but controllable down to about scale 10mph, ok at a push for passenger work.  But not a hopeless case!  She seems hardly worn, and it looks like somebody has hobbled her by being a bit enthusiastic with the lube.

 

Running loco for a tenner and a bit of faffing; I am a happy bunny...

 

Further eventual improvements will be to replace the centre drivers which have a groove in them to take a traction tyre; I hate these and will not be fitting them, and if the pickup problems persist arranging pickups on the centre wheels as well.  The loco as supplied by Hornby is fundamentally an 0-4-0 in pickup terms, and needs all the help it can get.  More weight as well; she is not a reliable starter at the moment and my instinct, backed up by the fact that a gentle downward pressure on the top gets things moving, is that the engine is too light.  Haven't tested her under load yet, but my heaviest train is 10 loaded coal and a van, and I think she'll be able to cope with that ok.  I was going to model the bunker nearly empty, but a bit of weight that end might not come amiss either and it'll prolly end up full with a bit lead under the coal.

 

Then I can start worrying about the tapered chimney and the upsidedown flower put where the safety valve cover should be...

[The Johnster]

I have now put the springs back in their place and will concede that Hornby know more than I do about designing chassis, whether designed clever or not.  2761 now picks up much better from her rear wheels, and the only remaining running problem is the lack of weight which means that the Finger Of God has to be used to start her off.  

 

I may be able to dig out an old set of Romford 40:1 worm and gear set from one of the scrapboxes, in which case the ultimate re-wheeling will incorporate a re-gearing as well, which should result in a good enough slow runner.  If mazak rot doesn't get her first, she should outlive me!

[57xx]

Certainly worth considering Stu, but first I would need to try to ascertain if 2761 had 'fishbelly' coupling rods and o/s brake rodding at the end of it's life at Tondu; my default would be that, since Hornby have modelled it in the 'fluted rod inside brake rodding' condition in late GWR 'initial' livery, it probably didn't;

Don't be fooled into thinking they did any special research into their chassis ~40 years ago. The only reason it has the fluted rods/inside brake rodding is that it is Hornby's ancient standard 0-6-0 chassis that they threw under loads of models including the 2721, the 57xx and Jinty.

 

A cracking buy for a tenner though, mine was always an excellent runner.

[The Johnster]

The problem is that I don't have a photo of 2761 in her final state at Tondu, just the Rail UK website list which shows that the loco was there from 1948, withdrawn from there, and not transferred away in the meantime.  I am only guessing 1950 as the withdrawal date, but am flexible enough about dates to give the little engine a home on Cwmdimbath if it was in service at Tondu after January 1st 1948.

 

Unlike the class that is your namesake, 57xx, 2721s came in variations on a theme.  I have seen photos of locos with, perm any combination you like from the following, saddle tanks, pannier tanks, saddle tanks having replaced panniers after works visits, fluted rods, fishbelly rods, straight unfluted rods, parallel chimneys with or without polished copper caps (and of course the ones without may have been dirty/painted over or replaced with cast iron caps, we don't know), 57xx type chimneys, half cabs, full cabs, cab handrails like 57xx, cab handrails like the Hornby model with the rear one proud of the bunker side sheet and the front one as a rearward extension of the cab side sheets. fat drivers and thin firemen...

 

I have certainly seen photos of 2721s with fluted coupling rods, half cabs, parallel chimneys, and late GWR 'Initials' livery, taken during BR service.  I have also seen a 1951 photo of such a loco in austerity black livery with 'grotesque' GWR initials; sadly it's a Merthyr engine and not 2761 as I'd like to model that livery!

 

All I can say with certainty about this model is that there were none with saddle tanks after 1927 and that 2761 was at Tondu in 1948; I'm winging it a bit beyond that.  I'm happy to give Hornby the benefit of the doubt with regard to the livery and the coupling rods, in spite of the crimes against modelling and any sort of veracity they perpetrated with the original 2721 and their 8750.  I am, perhaps a bit hopefully, basing this on the fact that 2761 has been re-chassised from the original Hornby 2721 which had flangeless centre drivers and one-piece coupling rods (as you say, the loco was simply plonked on top of the generic/Jinty chassis like the 8750), because it seems daft to me even by Hornby's sometimes odd standards to produce proper, '2 piece' coupling rods without confirming that they were correct; I might, I concede, be being naive...

 

Now, this revamped chassis raises further doubts and questions, because it is not to the same wheelbase or wheel spacings as the Bachmann 57xx one, being longer in both respects.  I am making an assumption that Mainline got the chassis more or less correct for the 57xx and that the current Bachmann one preserves the wheelbase and wheel spacings to fit the old Mainline body moulding however much it has been tweaked in the meantime.  This raises the possibility that the revamped Hornby chassis may be one of two things, another generic Hornby 0-6-0 chassis (I suspect it is identical to the one under current Jinties, J50s, etc), or a new chassis that they tried to get as right as they could but were tied to the old body moulding's splashers and had to preserve the incorrect wheel spacing and wheelbase.  I just don't know;  2761 is proving a b%&@*r to pin down both in prototype and model form!  But Hornby must have chosen the number with some deliberation rather than pulling it out of a hat, and a Tondu loco is probably not the first thing I'd think of as a mass seller, so I'm hoping they were trying to get it right.

 

One has to make a decision without being in full possession of the facts, backup information, or one's marbles sometimes, and I have decided under the authority of Rule 1 that 2761 is alive and well (by the desperate standards of a post war newly nationalised railway having to bang on with obsolete and run down equipment) in GWR Initials livery with a parallel copper capped chimney, half cab, and fluted coupling rods, at Tondu, post nationalisation and perhaps a little into the early 50s.  Having got her to run, this evening's session has seen the start of my gilding the dubious lily that is the Hornby body moulding.  The flower pot has been prised off and pinged away I wot not where; no matter as I will not be using it again.  For anything.  Ever.

 

I have snipped off the chimney, painted in the plastic skirting below the tanks which was never there in reality in matt black, and given the lot a coat of matt varnish to tone things down a bit.  The safety valves and cover are to be replaced with one from a terminally non-running Westward 64xx, which will have to be painted brass (it is currently BR black) and I have snipped off the tapered chimney for replacement with the one from the above mentioned 64xx.  This, it turns out, is a turned brass affair; I don't think that came with the Westward kit and I must have bought it years ago at a show somewhere.  I have no recollection of doing such a thing, but that doesn't mean I didn't.

 

I have also painted any bits of the chassis in matt black that I found a bit bright: wheel centres, tyres, rods, along with the buffer heads.

 

Jobs pending:- file down chimney seating and fit brass chimney, paint chimney, buy brass paint next time I'm in town and paint the safety valves and cover, fit safety valves/cover (superglue), plastiglaze the cab specatcles, paint cab floor to represent worn dirty wood, pick out backhead detail (red for regulator handle and brake standard, white for gauges), paint rolled up canvas weather sheet light brown, put some lamp brackets on the front, some coal in bunker, crew, set of tools, lamps, and weather.  She needs to be quite dirty, I think; I would doubt that staff at Tondu had the same affection for such beasts as I do, and she must have been a pain to work on or try to keep running in her final years, with shot hornblocks destroying spring leaves and crew's spines, Victorian cork and tallow lubrication, and a requirement for odd spares to be kept and accounted for; they were probably glad to see the back of her!

 

She is not as good or reliable a slow runner as the Bachmanns, and has been allocated to the Cwmdimbath-Tremains ROF workman's service, a B set; the real service ran from Abergwynfi and was still running in the 1960 Summer timetable.  I'm well pleased with her for a tenner, though!!!

[BG John]

Some details from the RCTS book that might help:

 

• 2761 was fitted with top feed "at times", but no indication if it was in your period
• It didn't have an enclosed cab
• It was fitted with ATC
• It was one of only two of the class that exceeded a million miles
• None of the class got BR smokebox numberplates
• It's unlikely that any were repainted in BR unlined black
• Built 3/1900
• B4 boiler fitted 3/1913
• Pannier tanks fitted 3/1913
• Not superheated
• Withdrawn 3/1950

That's all the references I spotted to it.

[Mikkel]

Is this any help?

 

https://picclick.co.uk/Railway-Steam-Photograph-2761-At-Swindon-Works-122343812352.html#&gid=1&pid=1

[The Johnster]

Only massively, Mikkel!  I had never seen a photo of 2761 at all, never mind one in it's final condition exactly as I am trying to represent her; the photo is not dated but, from the livery and condition of the loco, can only be after withdrawal from Tondu.  Thanks to you and BG John, I have found out in a few minutes that 'my' loco is correct to the model in terms of body shape, never carried a BR smokebox number (although if you blow the photo up as much as my computer will go there is a mark that looks like it might have been left by an 86F shedplate), never carried BR black livery and therefore never had red backed numberplates.  Only a few moments before logging on to RMweb and reading this I dug up from RailUK that 2761 had been withdrawn on 31/3/1950, which sounds like an accounting date to me being the end of a month and she was probably out of use for a few weeks prior to that.  Good enough for my interpretation of period, though!

 

The photo reveals a couple of surprises.  Those coupling rods are straight, not fish belly, but not fluted, so Hornby are wrong, but so would a Bachmann 57xx chassis be in that respect as well, although it would have the correct wheelbase and spacing; no problem, I can simply take 'em off and swap 'em to the other sides of the loco, as the rear surfaces will be plain.  Biggest revalation is the livery, though; those are 'grotesque' (actually I think they're rather nice...) GWR initials, and that can only mean that 2761 in her final years at Tondu when I am modelling her was in wartime austerity GWR black livery.  I am delighted at this, as it is a livery I want to model.  I believe the initials were in a yellow/cream 'straw' colour, and came in one size, which looked a bit small on a photo I've seen of a 42xx with them.

 

It also confirms that I will need to provide a grab rail above the leading footsteps, that the Hornby buffer shanks are wrong and need replacing, that I will not ultimately be able to live with the silly little mushroom things that Hornby think are tank filler caps (though the vents, which look even more like mushrooms, are pretty good), and that my ex 64xx turned brass chimney is a lot more like the prototype than the weird skinny tapered Hornby abomination.  It is a good guide to how far to weather the model, as well; if this is the scruffiest 2761 ever got in this livery, she's not too bad and you can read the initials clearly enough, 'not too bad' of course being the viewpoint of someone who remembers WR steam post 1962 when things got really rough!

 

A million miles would have not been bad going for a main line express loco; it is remarkable for an antediluvian pannier.

 

Thank you both very much for this, gentlemen, it is pure gold and the ghost of 2761 salutes you.  I am going to bed a happy bunny...

[Mikkel]

Going by your earlier posts, I thought you might like that livery 

 

I seem to remember that the bunker on the Hornby 2721 is a bit too long to fit any of the variations - but as you say the loco still captures the feel of the prototypes nicely as it is.

[The Johnster]

I do like that livery; with a scruffy matt finish and the small sans serif 'grotesque' initials it just oozes wartime austerity and dusty, bombsite, atmosphere.  You can almost hear Glenn Miller...

 

2721s seem to have had a lot of bunker, though I put that down to not having much cab.  But the feel of the loco is much less chunky than a Midland 1F half cab, and there seems more overhang at the back despite Hornby's slightly overscale lengthened chassis.  2761 is now painted in matt black awaiting transfers and weathering, the only relief to the livery being the whistles as I have never seen a photo of any loco in 'grotesque' without the brightwork painted over; makes sense as it was probably unwise to have sunlight reflecting off the shiny bits and attracting the Luftwaffe's attention...  As Hornby have moulded the padlocks on the toolboxes, I think a nice touch will be to pick them out in brass paint after weathering; they should really stand out.  I have fitted the old 64xx chimney and safety valve cover and they make a massive difference to the credibility of the model; when I have finished and added a crew I will take some photos and try to learn how to post them here!

 

Thank you again, mikkel, for your very kind interest and help!

[The Johnster]

BG John will be pleased to know that 2761 has acquired, as a result of his information, the ATC battery boxes from the dead 64xx.  The awful plastic coal from the bunker has been binned, but sadly there are moulded lugs in there to hold it, which means that I will not be able to model it half empty unless I perform more butchery than I am comfortable with; at least the new coal will be coal!  May replace the tank fillers with the ones from 6439 as well when I get back from my minibreak.

[Coach bogie]

One I have posted before, of my Hornby 2721 tank. I based this one on a shot I had with a rebuilt full roof cab. Chassis from a redundant Bachmann 57XX (which I had replaced with a K's early cab 57XX that comes without the topfeed). I just kept shaving the inside of the 2721 until the daylight appeared between the running plate and the tanks, which allowed the wider Bachmann chassis to fit. I replaced the brake push rods with the appropriate  shape ones.

 

 

Mike Wiltshire

[Prometheus]

I worked one of these up a while back, keeping the Hornby chassis because it ran quite nicely but repainting and adding detail to the body.

 

 

 

 

 

Tony

[NHY 581]

Nice work,Tony. Looks splendid!

 

Rob

[The Johnster]

Those are both nice looking models, Mike's and Tony's, and I am being given more ideas; good to see such different approaches to the finish!  The correct thickness of the cab roof makes a major difference, and now I've seen it I'll have to do it, and there is the temptation to invoke the atmosphere of a damp South Wales day by modelling the canvas sheet in place and converting the loco to a steam tent (did this many years ago with an Airfix Dean Goods to try to distract attention away from the gear train showing under the tender), and the posts for it to attach to are missing on Mikkel's photo of the loco at Swindon.  I assumed that's where they were but i it's nice to have it confirmed.  Daylight under the boiler might be doable, as might a better version of the pipework just in front of the cab under the tanks (6439 again?), and I have plenty to do yet to 2761.