Colliery/Light Railway Fictional Tender Loco

[OliverRowley]

Hello all,

Currently I am working on a tender loco for my colliery light railway. Some of my big inspirations are:

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/profile/898-corbs/- Corbs built a Lambton style 0-6-0

https://www.lner.info/locos/J/j11.ph- A small tender loco built around the turn of the century

http://www.mining-memorabilia.co.uk/The_Harton_Coal_Company_And_Marsden_Railway.htm- Harton Colliery had multiple 0-6-0 tender locos that ran both coal and passenger working on the colliery railway. I have based some of my own collieries workings based on this!

 

In short, I want to build a tender loco for my own colliery. A loco that was built by a contracted builder for a pre-grouping company before being passed to an auctioneers who then sold it to my colliery. 

 

My first job was to source a body- this entailed searching ebay and shops until I found a whitemetal body for (ironically) a J11 altered to suit a generic 0-6-0 chassis.

I then had a nosey around my spares to find a possible tender, until I had this.

[OliverRowley]

Out to the shed I went, to trim the cabsides down to allow me to change the profile and give it a different appearance. I also cut the roof in half too. Leaving me very roughly with this:

 

Whilst in there I also found a Mainline BR Standard tender, which I love the shape of and the rivet detailing. However, the taller part wouldn't suit my needs so I trimmed it  giving me this:

 

Together they create this:

 

A very rough and scruffy start!

If you have any ideas for this project let me know!

Ol

[Ruston]

You're probably not going to want to hear this but if I was doing this I wouldn't start where you have.

 

I wouldn't have chosen that particular body, an LNER J11. It's got quite a high pitched boiler and a Belpaire firebox. Neither of these things are typical of the sort of mid to late 19th century 0-6-0 that was used at collieries.

 

A plastic body of something with a lower pitched boiler and a round-topped firebox would be a better starting point and be far easier to chop and modify than one made of whitemetal. You're going to have no end of bother clogging up files with that stuff and fixing and blending in parts and modifications will also be troublesome.

 

The original tender would be better than the BR Standard one to start with. It can be more easily modified into something more of the period and be rather more anonymous, which is really what you want when building something to be generic and not a specific prototype. That BR design stands out as being what it is far too much.

Perhaps @Corbs can advise on a better body to begin with?

 

Of course it's your loco, your project, but it's better to start with something that's going to give a more satisfactory outcome and better represent what you aim to make.

[OliverRowley]

18 hours ago, Ruston said:

You're probably not going to want to hear this but if I was doing this I wouldn't start where you have.

 

I wouldn't have chosen that particular body, an LNER J11. It's got quite a high pitched boiler and a Belpaire firebox. Neither of these things are typical of the sort of mid to late 19th century 0-6-0 that was used at collieries.

 

A plastic body of something with a lower pitched boiler and a round-topped firebox would be a better starting point and be far easier to chop and modify than one made of whitemetal. You're going to have no end of bother clogging up files with that stuff and fixing and blending in parts and modifications will also be troublesome.

 

The original tender would be better than the BR Standard one to start with. It can be more easily modified into something more of the period and be rather more anonymous, which is really what you want when building something to be generic and not a specific prototype. That BR design stands out as being what it is far too much.

Perhaps @Corbs can advise on a better body to begin with?

 

Of course it's your loco, your project, but it's better to start with something that's going to give a more satisfactory outcome and better represent what you aim to make.

Don't sweat it dude!

 

I agree and if I'm honest I was tempted by its cheap price and the fact it had been stretched to fit a chassis too big for it- thus giving me a loco with a more generic appearance. At least that was the first thinking! 

 

Noted! Thanks on reflection the B12 tender has better proportions!

 

I think I'll press on, but alter the backstory to have it as a later built loco just to suit what I have! My ear is still to the ground for cheap for small tender locos that would better suit the initial brief!

 

Thanks Olly

[Corbs]

I had a similar conundrum trying to find a suitable donor - I didn't find any RTR tender locos in the end that were small enough.

The Lambton 0-6-0s had nominal outside wheel diameters of between 4ft 2.5in and 4ft 7in (ish, depending on tyre depth) and coupled wheelbases between 13ft 6in and 16ft.

 

I think I found the J15 was the closest with 4ft 11in wheels and 16ft 1in wheelbase. My 'Lambtonesque' 0-6-0 is oversized really.

 

The tender from the Standard is also very large but in styling it is quite similar to some of the Philadelphia works-built tenders. These may have been new bodies on old chassis.

 

Lambton 26 had this along with the enclosed cab - note the tender chassis is quite old in design.

 

 

No.9 had a similar one. Both had tender cabs as they spent half their lives in reverse.

 

 

I've not had a great deal of experience with whitemetal (only a couple of kits) but I much prefer plastic to work with. My clumsy hands kept bending the whitemetal and I could never get the bits properly straight again or to fit together well :( 
Trying to solder it made me feel like I was going mad as either I'd accidentally melt it, or when trying to join one piece, another would come unstuck.

That said, maybe there are bits you can salvage like the chimney, dome, safety valves, splashers, buffers etc even if you didn't use the body?

 

[Johnson044]

On 24/10/2022 at 19:22, Corbs said:

I had a similar conundrum trying to find a suitable donor - I didn't find any RTR tender locos in the end that were small enough.

The Lambton 0-6-0s had nominal outside wheel diameters of between 4ft 2.5in and 4ft 7in (ish, depending on tyre depth) and coupled wheelbases between 13ft 6in and 16ft.

 

I think I found the J15 was the closest with 4ft 11in wheels and 16ft 1in wheelbase. My 'Lambtonesque' 0-6-0 is oversized really.

 

The tender from the Standard is also very large but in styling it is quite similar to some of the Philadelphia works-built tenders. These may have been new bodies on old chassis.

 

Lambton 26 had this along with the enclosed cab - note the tender chassis is quite old in design.

 

 

No.9 had a similar one. Both had tender cabs as they spent half their lives in reverse.

 

 

I've not had a great deal of experience with whitemetal (only a couple of kits) but I much prefer plastic to work with. My clumsy hands kept bending the whitemetal and I could never get the bits properly straight again or to fit together well :( 
Trying to solder it made me feel like I was going mad as either I'd accidentally melt it, or when trying to join one piece, another would come unstuck.

That said, maybe there are bits you can salvage like the chimney, dome, safety valves, splashers, buffers etc even if you didn't use the body?

 

Poor Nr 26! What did they do to you?

[OliverRowley]

Thank yous so much for the input! 

I am going to add overlays onto the cabsides, currently mocking them up so will post when I am happy.

Then Philly tenders look mega!

Much appreciated all