A 7mm Manning Wardle L class.

[Izzy]

Back in the mists of time, well nearly 30 years ago, I obtained secondhand a kit to produce a cheapish and simple MW for 7mm. It was a mix of etchings and castings, nicely done, to be used with an OO gauge Tri-ang/Hornby 3F Jinty chassis, the wheels having alternate spokes cut out and mounted on longer axles to suit O gauge. This might seem weird these days but you have to remember that at that time 7mm RTR was pie-in-the-sky except for the odd bit of Lima. It was either kit or scratch build anything, wagons, carriages, locos etc. and costs were substantial for the time whatever. S7 was just emerging and Slaters were starting to make a range of plastic centred wagon/coach & loco wheels. How times have changed….

 

The kit provided for both open and enclosed cabs and deciding to make a chassis myself out of brass and use home machined cast-iron wheels I slowly realised that it would be possible to make two locos with a bit more scratch building in the mix, one with each type of cab. I was of course totally innocent in respect of the myriad differences existing with MW’s or any other industrial loco at this point in time. I just had a small plank type light railway layout using GE type locos, F7,Y6, J67 etc. and thought a set of alternate light railway suitable ones would be nice.

 

It turned out to be another of those steep learning curves and to cut a long story short I eventually ended up almost entirely scratch building the first loco which became an ‘old’ class I MW with an open cab and original square riveted tank. I then started on the second with the enclosed cab to find that really only the later/larger K & L class ones had them, got distracted with other things, with all the parts being stored away and eventually forgotten.

 

Fast forward to earlier this year – time travel! - and while having a bit of a sort out I got the bits together and thought I would finish it off as a change from what I was then doing. Several aspects soon turned out to be quite wrong and no doubt why construction originally stalled, the double boss wheels etc. and so it ended up being another mostly scratch build job to produce a later type class L. In common with the other MW and a Hudswell Clarke it has now been given a High Level roadrunner+ 60-1 gearbox (originally I made home brew 80-1 boxes for them) along with being sound fitted via Zimo MX645’s. I used high ratios to help the small can motors I used, Anchoridge TA12’s and a Mashima 16x30 and provide decent pulling power with good slow running. This was of course originally on DC.

 

Recently I mentioned on another thread I had made it and a request was made for some shots. I then thought perhaps a photo sequence might be helpful since I had taken shots at certain points. I often do this now to help remind me what I did and check there are no glaring errors. An always to hand iphone is a very useful tool to have these days as shots often show up aspects that may be glaringly obvious but which you just don’t see, the wood-for-the-trees kind of thing.

 

You’ll have to allow for it being to a fairly basic standard. It still needs weathering and a crew (some O men) adding. I also think the screw couplings are a bit oversized, Slaters I believe, just what was to hand, and perhaps a vacuum pipe needs fitting. But it runs and sounds okay which is the main thing. Anyway, I hope the pics & captions might be useful to someone.

 

As it had originally been started.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And reduced back to it individual parts...

 

 

 

 

New footplate along with longer boiler.

 

 

 

The chassis is simple and basic. A few bits of K&S brass strip. Holes to take the turned square bearings just made into slots to drop the wheels in/out, with hornguides with screw adjustment to stop them rotating in the slots and set the ride height. The wheel castings were treated to a mini-drill experience to remove the second boss. The Mashima 16x30 is mated at this time to an original home brew 80-1 gearbox.

 

 

 

 

It's a bit of a jump forward but here's the current underside view with the HL box and the sound fitted bits. Doesn't look wonderful but it's all hidden the right way up!

 

 

 

 

Body mostly done

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The springs. I milled a little section from which I cut the hangers for both MW's. They seemed to vary between locos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nearly done

 

 

 

 

Primer.

 

 

 

 

On test on my little plank layout with the rest of the loco stock.

 

 

 

 

And - mostly - finished. The etched numberplates had been waiting for it for quite a while......

 

 

 

 

 

Bob

 

Edited April 3, 2022 by Izzy

[doilum]

Fabulous.

Who did the wheel castings?

[Izzy]

19 minutes ago, doilum said:

Fabulous.

Who did the wheel castings?

Thanks. They are Wednesbury wheel castings. Not sure if they are still produced today. You could get them machined to suit but I just got the raw castings and did them myself to what I wanted, finescale profile mounted on 1/8” axles via Tufnell bushes. These had the second boss removed using a diamond cutting disc in a mini drill. I am of the opinion that cast iron wheels with hard brass wire scraper pickups gives possibly the best and most reliable current collection I have encountered. With the other MW I have cleaned the wheel treads once in the 30 odd years. 
 

Bob

[doilum]

Thanks. Walsall models ( I believe to be a successor) are still going strong. I have recently had a set of drivers for my Seagull project.

[Izzy]

That’s good to know. As stated on their website they machine beautifully, no lumps or hard spots, and produce a very nice surface finish. Real quality castings.

[jdb82]

A beautiful piece of work! I especially love the springs. A little extra effort certainly makes a world of difference. 

 

The cast iron/brass combination for current collection is interesting. If cast iron is so effective, I wonder why most modern tyres are steel? Is it just price, or more to do with ease of machining I wonder?

[Izzy]

Good quality cast iron is a bit of an art, it can be terrible to work if not done right. Easily machined steel is easy to get, so wins out on cost, availability etc. Just liable to rust in the wrong conditions….

 

Thanks for the kind words.

 

Bob

[jdb82]

15 minutes ago, Izzy said:

 Just liable to rust in the wrong conditions….

 

I used to live in Brunei - the tyres in the humidity there rusted almost as soon as I took them out of the packet..... and even before I took them out in some cases!