What to do with Smokey Joe

[Sir TophamHatt]

I'm sure many a modeller has had one of these at some point.

It was the first ever train I bought as a young teenager thinking it was "cool" and after near on 20 years, it's time to actually run it!

 

The main question: is there something I can do with it?

 

I thought perhaps it could be the train for the kids so if it gets ruined, doesn't really matter, considering I was going to sell it as I'm not that attached to it. But it's worth more than the £10 I've seen others go for.

 

Thinking of chipping it with a cheap chip to keep costs down although I'm not sure if there's space.

 

Or can I recycle the chassis and put another body of something on it?

[Phil Bullock]

Pierre le Brun has hard wired a chip in his SJ STH - appears on Abbotswood from time to time when my attention wanders.....

 

Phil

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

...The main question: is there something I can do with it?...

It can be improved in appearance to better represent either of the CR or NBR types.

 

You want a good decoder to tame the F1 performance of one of this vintage. The motor is perfectly satisfactory, but the direct gearing  and small reduction ratio are not helpful. There is ample space inside for a Lenz standard, and a positive cavern relative to the Zimo MX600. I'd try the Lenz first, but probably end up paying the couple of quid extra for the Zimo for this one, for the extra adjustments to tame any wayward tendency.

[The Johnster]

My local shop, Lord and Butler, has a whole shelf of them all lined up in the second hand section.  Personally, I think the model has too many fundamental problems to be of much use; older versions like yours are far too fast and cannot be controlled down to the very slow speed needed for a dock shunter as has been said above, and the driving wheels are too large, which is obvious on such a small loco and further upsets the slow running.  The motion flies around in mid air without the slide bar of the prototype, and it all looks a bit tragic.  I suspect if I had one that I had no emotional attachment to it would be given the opportunity of an exciting new career in landfill...

 

More recent versions are better runners and could potentially be worked up into a half tidy loco; detailing, crew, etc. and new correct diameter wheels, then of course the body'd sit too low on the chassis and would have to have new mountings to restore the buffers to a height where they match the other stock...

 

But I would not attempt any of this unless I was modelling the Caley and had a dockside on the layout; their use in real life was very restricted.  The Triang Hornby version is a bit toy-like and ideal for kiddies' starter sets; easy to put on the track, goes around no.1 curves, and robust.  The chassis is a pistoned development of Polly, which was a bit like a Y4 but never claimed to be a model of anything, and appears under the 101 and GKN tank as well; the toy market is catered for by a plethora of bright, colourful, and irrelevant liveries.  101 never ventured beyond Swindon Works yard AFAIK and the GKN only worked at Dowlais steelworks; I cannot envisage a layout on which either could legitimately be used, but of course it's down to your interpretation of Rule 1.

[DCB]

Its a great little train.  My son had the "Desmond" version, the chimney had broken off and I made a brass one for it.  Goes like a Rocket.  I get it out and look at it every now and again.

I tried an upgrade on another Hornby 0-4-0T but its pretty hopeless.  The plastic chassis has a limited life, the axle holes elongate, the gearing is ridiculous, the motor is big and ugly, and the wheels are non see through toy wheels.

I like the wheels, pop the tyres off, make up a mandrel to take the tyres and set them in the lathe and cut the centres out to leave just a small lip for the pick ups to bear on, you need a very sharp tool, Then pop them back on and you can see through the spokes for a 200% improvement in appearance.

You could fit Romfords and top hat bushes which should give the chassis a much longer life and let you use a standard 1/8th axle gear set.  The Motor is supremely ugly and much too fast, a smaller motor is easy to fit. Mine came from a CD drive, but you can spend £20 on a model railway one.

The cross heads simply don't exist, I don't have an answer for that, the con rod can be shortened easily enough but.

The loco is significantly over scale length .

I quite fancy trying to make one into a BPGVR 0-6-0ST but that will mean binning 90& of the loco

I guess a permanently coupled coal wagon "Tender" with the DCC gubbins in is probably optimum for a DCC conversion.

[cypherman]

Hi all,

I would at least do something with that awful valvegear. I do like the idea of adding a small coal truck for use as a tender. You could also remove the steam chests and valve gear, add skirts and make it a tram engine.

[The Johnster]

I'd use a 4 or 5 planker cut down as the 'tender', and be very tempted to permanently couple it and use it as additional pickups.  A proper mineral, 7 plank, will look far too big and ruin the driver's view rearwards, important on a shunting engine mixing it with the road traffic on the docks around sharp curves!

[davetheroad]

Here's mine undergoing mods. The tender was originally a Bachmann shunters truck. It is radio controlled and battery powered with the battery in the tender. Or you can have a smaller battery in the loco for shorter run time. The receiver is in the loco. The loco will perform a cameo role trundling gypsum wagons around

 

 

[JeffP]

Converted one to an LNER Y9 once in P4. Easy enough. Scratched the chassis.

[cal.n]

I believe Branchlines do a replacement chassis with new valve gear.

 

Although a downside is that it will no longer be able to achieve escape velocity.

[rue_d_etropal]

For OO standard gauge, not much can be done, but in large scale narrow gauge(O16.5 and Gn15), a bigger body means more weight can be added and according to a couple of very experienced and well known exhibition modellers, they can be tamed and run very well.

There was an article in RM a couple of years ago on ghow the gearing could be altered.

I would suggest starting something narrow gauge. As they can be picked up cheaply, if mucked up, cheap to replace.

Smallbrook do a lot of nice narrow gauge bodies to fit SJ chassis.

Edited August 25, 2018 by rue_d_etropal

[alastairq]

http://gn15.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9941&hilit=Hornby+0+4+0+re+gear

[RJS1977]

Also, look at the Pugbash, Nellibosh and Desmondifications thread...

[GDR]

On 25/08/2018 at 14:51, cypherman said:

Hi all,

I would at least do something with that awful valvegear. I do like the idea of adding a small coal truck for use as a tender. You could also remove the steam chests and valve gear, add skirts and make it a tram engine.

I have read that they managed with a sack/bucket of coal in the cab when just working in a yard.

[Steamport Southport]

13 minutes ago, GDR said:

I have read that they managed with a sack/bucket of coal in the cab when just working in a yard.

 

Or coal piled on every available space.

 

Not the same class, but you get the idea.

 

Ben Brooksbank via Wiki.

 

 

 

Jason

 

 

[ScRSG]

Shown before on the "Pugbashes" thread but here you are, Caley and NB -

 

 

 

From memory, Falcon Brass chassis, and basic Hornby wagons for the tenders.

 

Chas

[Barclay]

For anyone wanting to use one there is also the option of having it as an industrial loco as I have done, because it is a standard Neilson design, sold to industry, with examples surviving into the late 60's at at least one Scottish colliery. Their cabs were more like the NB version than the Caley though, and it does require surgery - this one uses a shortened body on a Branchlines chassis.