Imaginary Locomotives

[Accurascale Fran]

...None of that I can actually put into the model, mind, but as a back story, perhaps.

 

Please stick up a picture on here when you complete the project, I'd love to see it!

[DavidBelcher]

 

What then transpired is well documented, but I have to say, the Raven scenario would have undoubtedly given us an electrified Anglo-Scottish mainline decades earlier than was the actual case.

 

Dave.

 

Raven was something of an innovator, and as well as main line electrification the NER's embryonic cab signalling system would probably also have become more widespread if he'd been made CME at the Grouping.

 

David

[definate maybe]

Not so much of a never built but back in the 1990's Railway Modellers inside back cover always used to feature an advert including Mehano's Blue Tiger, which in real life I believe was a demonstrator built by Bombardier. I often considered the possibility of this machine coming to the Uk for trials and an order being made, in a similar fashion to FY & ARC with the 59's. I think its a brilliant looking Loco and bring the idea up to date reckon it would look great in Freightliner livery, with possibly this class ordered instead of the revolting 70

[S.A.C Martin]

Please stick up a picture on here when you complete the project, I'd love to see it!

 

Not quite done yet, but see what you think of the styling (ignore the paint, I'm experimenting with shades of green).

 

 

 

[Mr Brunel]

Looks excellent, my only recommedation would be to streamline the deflectors slightly (i.e. a gentle curve going into the fairings)

Aside from that, very good.

[JimC]

Here's a slightly different scale of what-if, and a very cruel camera. First time I've tried doing anything like that but far too much room for improvement. Maybe paint will help.

[Horsetan]

Looks excellent.....

 

I actually spat my glass of Chablis over my keyboard on seeing that!

 

Then again, the Germans did build something roughly resembling it. It was the Baureihe 10 pacific on the DB, and there were only two of them. The design was the last fling of express steam for the DB.

[S.A.C Martin]

I actually spat my glass of Chablis over my keyboard on seeing that!

 

Cheers

 

Then again, the Germans did build something roughly resembling it. It was the Baureihe 10 pacific on the DB, and there were only two of them. The design was the last fling of express steam for the DB.

 

Oh good, not entirely wasted a life-expired A4 bodyshell then!

 

It's just a bit of fun for a competition between a group of mates. Nothing more - nothing less. I'm making it for the fun of it. I'd actually forgot how much fun modeling could be, after a year and half of checking numbers, rivets and liveries. This is what you might describe as "letting off steam".

[S.A.C Martin]

Here's a slightly different scale of what-if, and a very cruel camera. First time I've tried doing anything like that but far too much room for improvement. Maybe paint will help.

 

I like the thinking behind it - you never know, it might well have happened. I think IRL it might have had perhaps a smaller style of bunker, bit like the 0-6-0 at Didcot that was Swindonised, but it looks the part to me.

[Horsetan]

....Oh good, not entirely wasted a life-expired A4 bodyshell then! .....

 

Have a look at the Br.10 here

[S.A.C Martin]

Have a look at the Br.10 here

 

 

I stand corrected - what was the thinking behind the casing, Horsetan?

[Horsetan]

 

I stand corrected - what was the thinking behind the casing, Horsetan?

 

It was an attempt at semi-streamlining. Nothing quite as heavy as the cladding which had been applied pre-war to the 01.10s, 03.10s a couple of 03s, plus the Br. 06 and 19, it was meant to give some modernity (this was in 1959) without the maintenance inaccessibility. The bulbous front panels, for instance, were hinged, and could be swung open like the wing of a beetle.

 

Thing is, the three-cylinder design was quite heavy - axleload was 22 metric tonnes at least - so the two Br.10s' sphere of influence was quite limited. You can still go and see 10.001 in preservation but I think it is unlikely it will ever steam again. Some of its inside motion is missing.

 

10.002 was cut-up at Offenburg as late as 1972 after spending at least four years as a stationary boiler.

[S.A.C Martin]

It was an attempt at semi-streamlining. Nothing quite as heavy as the cladding which had been applied pre-war to the 01.10s, 03.10s a couple of 03s, plus the Br. 06 and 19, it was meant to give some modernity (this was in 1959) without the maintenance inaccessibility. The bulbous front panels, for instance, were hinged, and could be swung open like the wing of a beetle.

 

That's a rather clever idea that, the hinged panels.

 

Thing is, the three-cylinder design was quite heavy - axleload was 22 metric tonnes at least - so the two Br.10s' sphere of influence was quite limited. You can still go and see 10.001 in preservation but I think it is unlikely it will ever steam again. Some of its inside motion is missing.

 

Very interesting - thanks for the heads up Horsetan. Worth looking into that.

 

10.002 was cut-up at Offenburg as late as 1972 after spending at least four years as a stationary boiler.

 

Sad ending that.

 

My inspiration for the look came from this loco, mind - a French four cylinder compound:

 

SNCF 4-6-4

 

I really liked the styling of this engine, and wanted to "gresley-fy" it to some degree in my freelance 4-6-4.

[DavidBelcher]

That's a rather clever idea that, the hinged panels.

 

Wonder if they were influenced by the LMS? 20-odd years earlier, smokebox access on the streamlined Coronations was by a very similar arrangement.

 

David

[Horsetan]

Wonder if they were influenced by the LMS? 20-odd years earlier, smokebox access on the streamlined Coronations was by a very similar arrangement.

 

More likely the other way round. The DRG streamliners (most notably the 01.10s) were up-and-running when styling for the Coronations was being finalised. Compare the DRG streamliners, and the LMS Coronations, and there is a certain similarity.

[S.A.C Martin]

More likely the other way round. The DRG streamliners (most notably the 01.10s) were up-and-running when styling for the Coronations was being finalised. Compare the DRG streamliners, and the LMS Coronations, and there is a certain similarity.

 

That's very enlightening!

 

You can certainly see the germanic influences in the coronations. Never realised that we (UK) were that influenced by the continent, if I'm honest. I know Gresley had his eye on Chapelon's comings and goings, but it seems to follow much more than that elsewhere. Was it Churchward who bought a De Glehn atlantic?

[JimC]

Was it Churchward who bought a De Glehn atlantic?

Three in fact.

But Churchward hd his eyes open far wider than that... You could argue that the Saints had American boilers and cylinders on Prussian inspired frames and superheat, (plus native valve gear) and the Stars added French bogies, divided drive and inside big end design.

The great man wasn't so much an innovator as an integrator, being able to see the best available practice from all sorts of sources and bring them together to create a harmonious whole that was even more than the sum of its parts. I suspect most really competent engineers will tell you that such is a rather greater achievement than coming up with a whole bunch of new ideas, some of which work and some of which don't.

[S.A.C Martin]

I thought I'd add another few pics of my totally wacky, totally fictional locomotive, with its paintwork finished (sans lining, which will be done this week) and its equally wacky, second tender (bashed from two A4 tenders stuck together, and modified, with a single tender chassis with buffers attached. Pretty similar to how Hornby did their second tender, bar the roofline which needs work).

 

 

 

[DavidBelcher]

That's very enlightening!

 

You can certainly see the germanic influences in the coronations. Never realised that we (UK) were that influenced by the continent, if I'm honest. I know Gresley had his eye on Chapelon's comings and goings, but it seems to follow much more than that elsewhere. Was it Churchward who bought a De Glehn atlantic?

 

In the 30s there was of course a lot of it (streamlining) about; the other class that springs to mind as following the bulbous trend is SNCB's streamlined 4-4-2s;

 

http://freddo.110mb.com/trains/belgian.html

 

Note the huge deflector plates!

 

The de Glehns on the GWR - having had one dismantled to study the finer details at close quarters, Churchward allegedly described them as "watchmakers' work" such was the mechanical intricacy!

 

David

[Guest jim s-w]

The irony of this thread is that people who build real locations will almost always have to scratch build everything on the layout and could arguably be those best suited to creating imaginary locomotives. While those building imaginary locations are more likely to use off the shelf buildings and are possibly less likely to have the skills to create imaginary locomotives!

 

Cheers

 

Jim

[S.A.C Martin]

The irony of this thread is that people who build real locations will almost always have to scratch build everything on the layout and could arguably be those best suited to creating imaginary locomotives. While those building imaginary locations are more likely to use off the shelf buildings and are possibly less likely to have the skills to create imaginary locomotives!

 

Cheers

 

Jim

 

Lucky all of my buildings on Copley Hill are scratch-built, then!

 

Don't think that says much about my own imaginary locomotive, but it's been fun just being creative for a change, rather than trying (and failing) to capture the real thing.

[mr b]

SAC Martin... maybee it would have looked better with A3 style german type blinkers ?

 

mr B

[Guest Max Stafford]

I think if you were to do another set from sheet brass and angle them in slightly at the top it would make a significant difference to the overall look, Simon. Perhaps about a foot lower too. Just an idea!

 

Dave.

[Butler Henderson]

I've just had the crazy idea of putting a bus body on a MGR wagon chassis What You mean they have actually done that Class 141 etc you say

[Adam1701D]

How about a semi-imaginary DMU? If the Cambridge - St.Ives line was refurbished, rather than turned into a guided busway then, who knows, we might have had WAGN-operated Class 150s, a bit like this...

 

 

The actual model is my trusty 150/2 testing out some 317 DTC graphics for a customer special commission.