Countdown to Christmas... An Advent Challenge

[65179]

9 minutes ago, Sithlord75 said:

Is that one which was needing work when I was there Nick?  And when are you planning on modelling it?  Lent?

 

He needs to abstain from RMWeb for Lent so we can give up feeling inferior (in modelling terms) for 40 odd days 😉 

 

Simon

[Nick Mitchell]

21st December - Quality Control

 

In my grand plan, I was going to reveal the injector and ejector today - the last of the really fiddly details, before everything started to come together. I'm afraid you'll have to wait for those, while I catch up with some un-planned work to fix a problem that had become apparent recently.

 

Sometimes when building a model, I slowly become aware of a problem, but try to convince myself it isn't really there.

The issue festers, until eventually I come round to the idea that I can't live with it, and I need to sort it out before carrying on. Well, this is one of those occasions.

 

The first thing that struck me recently was that the middle section of the footplate was bending up slightly, just in front of the side tanks. I'd been trying to convince myself this was an optical illusion, caused by the "set" in the valance, but eventually I had to admit the truth.

The second realisation was that the smokebox and boiler were not in line with each other. In fact, neither were horizontal. The firebox sloped down and the boiler sloped up.

 

In the picture below, with the top edge of the firebox/boiler lined up at front and rear with one of the lines on my cutting mat, the "dip" in the middle is subtle, but obvious.

Also apparent in the picture is an unsightly gap between the firebox and cab front, caused in part by the firebox bending down.

Who says I don't do cruel close-ups, Simon??? @65179

 

 

There is no support in the middle of the firebox/boiler unit, and I can only think that when I soldered on the dome, either I pressed down too hard and bent it where the firebox/boiler joint is, or else the heat from soldering the dome travelled along the boiler and softened the joint enough to allow it to sag.

 

With the smokebox being fixed to the saddle, if the boiler tube was sloping upwards, it was now obvious why the front of the footplate was also bent upwards.

 

The repair was something of an experiment, and turned out to be easier than I had feared.

I fluxed, then heated the joint between the boiler and firebox from underneath with the largest bit I have for my soldering iron, and once the boiler tube was hot and the solder flowing, I pushed down on the crescent support that is pegged into the firebox front. I felt the whole thing move, and I was able to adjust it until the top was straight and level.

 

The (posed) photo below shows how I propped up the front end so I could push down. It could all have gone so horribly wrong!

 

 

After the adjustment, a gap appeared between the smokebox and boiler, which I tried to fill with solder. It made a bit of a mess...

 

 

...but it cleaned up okay:

 

 

While I was in the mood for filling gaps, I attended to the joint between the firebox and cab front.

This was an altogether neater procedure. I fluxed the joint, placed a small piece of solder on the cab front, heated it from the inside, and watched in wonder as the solder melted and flowed into the crack. No cleaning up required!

 

 

 

The repair operation seems to have been a success, with the top of the boiler and smokebox once again straight and level.

The tank stays became detached from the boiler and needed re-soldering, as did one of the mushroom vents, but that was a small price to pay, I feel.

 

 

The positive side effect is that the previously bent up footplate sections are also once again straight.

 

 

I ought to post some forward progress as well as details of the repair, so here are the first of the handrails on the smokebox sides.

The "knobs" are etched, and the rails 8 thou. plain steel guitar string.

 

 

[Nick Mitchell]

10 hours ago, Sithlord75 said:

Is that one which was needing work when I was there Nick?  And when are you planning on modelling it?  Lent?

Not quite. This is "Cumbria", a Hunslet Austerity - big brother to Beatrice if you like (although younger).

She's been "lent" (sorry!) to us by the Furness Railway Trust, and has been doing sterling service at Embsay for a number of years, on and off. (In fact, I had my first ever turn as a cleaner on her many years ago.)

 

I think the engine you're thinking of is Wheldale - another Austerity and also painted red, so it's easy to confuse them.

Wheldale belongs to the railway, and is currently under restoration. If all goes according to plan, she may be finally back in action in around 12 months time.

 

As for making a model... I have no plans at the moment, but never say never!

 

I took this photo of Cumbria tonight, in company with the other service loco (Bagnall 'New standard 18"' No. 401) ready to double-head some empty stock back to Embsay after switching out Stoneacre 'box. (Beatrice was standby loco today)

 

[Nick Mitchell]

22nd December - Ejector

 

So, we come at last to the vacuum ejector - and a very ticklish job it proved to be.

 

What you see as the "lump" on the side of the smokebox on Midland / early LMS locos, connected to several pipes, is the large ejector - used to "blow up" vacuum rapidly to release the brakes. The small ejector, used for maintaining vacuum as the train is running, is hidden in the cab.

 

The large pipe alongside the boiler is the exhaust from the small ejector.

The pipe which continues forwards alongside the smokebox is a combined exhaust from both ejectors. This pipe enters the smokebox about half way along, but a handrail continues from it to the front of the smokebox.

The pipe descending from the ejector which disappears behind the side tank is the train pipe.

 

 

I started with a cuboid of brass the basic dimensions of the large injector body, and drilled holes to locate the small ejector exhaust pipe, combined exhaust pipe, and train pipe, and then attempted to shape the brass.

 

Below is the embryonic ejector, seen from underneath, with the combined exhaust pipe-cum-handrail attached.

You may be able to make out the holes drilled for the train pipe and small ejector exhaust pipe.

The pipes are all 0.5mm (representing 3" pipe). The exhaust pipe is brass tube, with 8 thou steel wire inserted for the handrail part. The other pipes will be nickel silver.

 

 

Here the two exhaust pipes have been soldered to the injector body (it's the right way up this time), and the train pipe just balanced in place.

 

 

Holding things becomes a problem once too many parts are joined together, as there is a high risk of existing parts moving or detaching when more parts are soldered on.

 

To mitigate this while soldering the train pipe, I embedded the workpiece in blu-tac, which did the trick.

 

 

The photo below shows the ejector loosely in place, allowing me to measure where to cut the rods, and also where to introduce bends and kinks etc.

You can also see a small square of nickel silver soldered to the side of the smokebox to represent the flange where the exhaust pipe bends in.

 

 

Once I was happy with the fit, the main parts were fixed to the loco. Three handrail knobs hold the small injector exhaust pipe. I soldered the ejector body to the front of the side-tank for rigidity. The front of the combined exhaust is soldered directly to the flange.

 

 

 

I could have left things like that, with the main pipes and shapes captured, but there are a few more fiddly details that can add to the character and general "busy-ness" of these locos.

 

There is a valve with some pipes that sits on top of the ejector body. This is controlled by an operating rod from the cab, which pulls a lever. I decided to see if I could make a representation of these details.

 

The valve body is another length of 0.5mm tube, with 0.25mm rod protruding from it. To make the operating lever, I squashed the end of a piece of wire in the vice, and bent round the non-squashed end to make the curved pipe above the valve.

 

I'm not sure of the function of the other pipe that sticks up and forms a square, but the pieces were held in alignment for soldering with my previously mentioned Pritt Stick trick, sticking them to a piece of copier paper.

 

 

Soldering them to the ejector body was very difficult, and I did have things fall apart a couple of times. I tried supporting things with blu-tak again, bit that wasn't really successful on the side of the boiler. Using thin card and layers of paper to back things to the correct distance from the boiler and smokebox worked much better.

 

A final detail is a small pipe (made from 0.2mm copper wire) that joins the train pipe to the exhaust.

 

 

Although it was a bit of a pain to make and took me a very long time, it really adds to the character of the locomotive, and I'm pleased with the final result.

 

 

[queensquare]

Superb work as usual Nick. I’ve just done the ejectors on the pair of 483s I’m finishing off and, needless to say, mine are more akin to a sketch than yours!

 

Merry Christmas 

Jerry

[tapdieuk]

Fantastic work and write up. 

It shows what's achievable in this scale.

Will

[Blandford1969]

Wow that is incredible.

[Nick Mitchell]

23rd December - Injector

 

No. 9 Class H Exhaust Steam Injector to be precise!

 

The injector is arguably the most important piece of equipment on a steam locomotive. Without any of the other gadgets, the worst that can happen is that people need to walk home. If the injectors fail, the worst case scenario is an express journey to the great model railway exhibition in the sky...

 

 

The one which is visible on a Fowler 2-6-4T by the fireman's side footsteps is complicated by being able to use either live steam or exhaust steam, the latter supplied via a grease separator along the chunky pipe under the side tank. (The other live steam injector is smaller, and is hidden between the frames under the cab.)

 

My model is a simplified version, featuring only the major pipes which are visible.

 

I made the main body on my lathe, turning the various diameters. The central section, which is roughly cuboid, was turned as a cylinder then filed square by locking the lathe headstock in various orientations. I used the same technique to file a hexagon on the live steam inlet end of the injector, in order to represent the massive nut there... a bit of frivolity, but why not? I also centre-drilled this end of the injector while it was in the lathe to locate the pipe.

 

To turn all the diameters, I finished one end, filed the mid-section square, then parted off and reversed the piece, holding it by the finished end in order to turn the other end down to the various sizes.

 

In the picture below, the injector has been reversed ready for turning the second end:

 

 

Something went wrong with the intermediate pictures, so We need to skip to the finished article.

 

 

As already mentioned, the fat pipe (0.7mm nickel silver) is the exhaust steam supply pipe. There should be three other connections - live steam, water and delivery. Only one of these has been portrayed (reaching up then bending under the cab), because the others are so well hidden I couldn't see where they went in any photographs!

The pipe descending from the injector is the overflow.

The thin rod (0.25mm nickel silver) reaching up to the cab is actually an operating rod from the fireman's controls.

 

 

The sequence of assembly was as follows:

• First I fitted the exhaust steam inlet pipe, which acted as a convenient handle.
• Next I drilled a hole in the flat top of the mid-section to accommodate the vertical pipe, and soldered that in place.
• The injector was then mounted on the loco by soldering the remote ends of the two pipes under the footplate behind the valance.
• Once the main body was in the correct place, I soldered a strengthening bracket (bent up from a bit of scrap etch) to the footplate behind the centre of the injector. The injector was then clamped against this with tweezers, and soldered to it, making everything much more rigid. The excess length of the bracket was then trimmed away, and it was filed flush with the bottom of the injector body.

The photo below, taken from underneath, shows this strengthening bracket, and next to it the control rod, which was soldered in position immediately afterwards.

 

• The overflow pipe was the final addition. Made from 0.45mm nickel silver, this was bent to shape and soldered to the back of the footsteps first. It was then adjusted so that it touched the injector body in the right place, and a solder joint made. I didn't fancy my chances of being able to drill a hole accurately in the curved part of the injector, with it's diameter being so small. The flange is an etched crankpin cap washer.

 

 

The exhaust steam pipe bends up under the tanks near the front, and in some photographs, it is possible to see it under the corner of the valance where the footplate changes height.

 

I decided to solder an extra section of "pipe" in place to represent this:

 

 

It is more visible from certain angles:

 

 

The other thing I've done is to permanently attach the smokebox door, now that all the soldering round the smokebox is complete.

There's a little bit of a gap around the front ring and the smokebox outer wrapper, so I have used Araldite to fix the door, hoping that this will fill the gap nicely as well.

 

 

[Nick Mitchell]

24th December - So Close!

 

There are still a few little jobs outstanding on my list, but I've come very close to meeting my Advent Challenge.

 

Thank you to all those who have read my ramblings, commented and reacted, and generally spurred me on. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up some momentum after Christmas and get the thing properly finished and painted.

 

 

 

[garethashenden]

Well Done!

[John57sharp]

Marvellous!

[Nick Mitchell]

Update

 

I stopped working on this loco on Christmas Eve, having almost completed my challenge. While the loco ran and I was happy with it, there were still a few jobs left on my list, and I recently started working through them.

 

Thorough testing on my Jubilee Challenge "Coal Hole" layout, with its reverse curves and gradient changes indicated the need to file the frames to give a little more clearance around the pony truck and bogie as they were catching in certain circumstances. My thinking is that if a loco will happily negotiate this fearsome little layout, it will behave on anything else I'm likely to every build.

 

Once that was sorted out, the next thing was to make an Electra coupling dropper from 10 thou. steel (guitar string) and solder it to the pony truck:

 

 

The pony truck will be sprung, the idea being to have two fine spring wires fixed to the main frames, and passing through eyes on top of the bogie. The eyes were made from a spare part from a wagon kit (a vacuum brake operating crank - usefully with two holes the correct distance apart) soldered carefully in place.

 

 

Below you can see the springs (another straightened out Farish coupling spring) fitted round the pony truck bearing. This was quite a fiddle to get in the right place. In the end I resorted to holding the cut end of the springs in a big blob of Blu-Tac while I soldered the bent round end.

 

 

The springs angled down provide both a little downforce for road holding, and also some centre-springing. They can be threaded onto the pony truck (with difficulty!) as it is fitted onto its bearing...

 

 

The dropper passes under the buffer beam and is shaped to clear the cosmetic coupling hook as the pony truck swings: 

 

 

A similar dropper was then made and added to the rear bogie:

 

 

Next on the list of details to add were vacuum pipes and lamp irons.

The vacuum pipes were made to the usual recipe of 0.45mm copper wire, with 0.2mm wire wrapped round to form the various details.

The lamp irons on the footplate are N Brass etchings. There are half-etched holes in the footplate indicating the positions of these. I toyed with the idea of soldering wires into the holes and squashing them flat to form the irons (I've done this on at least one other loco), but the footsteps are directly under the holes for the outer irons, making drilling the holes a trickier proposition.

With the cusp filed away, I think the N Brass ones look the part.

 

 

Soldering the rear lamp irons onto the ledge behind the bunker was particularly tricky. I needed to work out a way of holding them in position, which i eventually did by sliding a piece of card behind them, and pushing down on the bent-up flat bottom part.

I did loose several in the process of finding the right technique, and came very close to leaving them off altogether, but as usual insanity prevailed...

 

 

Now we come to the bit I've been putting off. The valve spindle crosshead guides.

On most locos I've built that have Walschaert's valve gear, these are bracketed off the valve covers. Here, they are on a separate bracket, and from a model point of view, look to dangle from the footplate.

I had two problems to solve - 1) how to position them so that there would be enough room behind them for the combination levers to swing, and 2) how to make sure the (live to the frames) combination levers couldn't short against them.

I came up with the idea of mounting them on a thin piece of plastic.

 

Here I am constructing the crosshead guides by securing the components to a piece of paper with Pritt Stick to hold the bots in registration.

 

Two completed brackets. The vertical rods need trimming back a little.

 

 

The brackets above were superglued to a piece of 10 thou plastic card, which was then trimmed around the outline - with a protruding lip along the top edge that could then be glued behind the footplate valance.

 

Here's the left hand one in place, with the chassis in place to check clearances:

 

 

Looking up from underneath, thou can see the thickness of the plastic, and the fact that the clearance is almost nothing. 

 

 

Here's the other side. Because the valance steps out over the bracket, it is only held properly at the rear end.  I hope they don't fall off!

 

 

I think that's it as far as body detailing is concerned, and I can finally move on to putting off painting the thing.

I still need to fit the decoder and stay alive, which will sit in the bunker, but things are edging closer to completion.

 

[Caley Jim]

Superb, Nick. Makes me glad that CR locos in my period of interest were relatively unencumbered by all these little details! 😁 

 

Jim 

[Nick Mitchell]

I've made a bit more progress on and off over the past 6 weeks or so.

The electrickery was the last excuse I could use to put off painting. Having worked out which solder pads were for what on the decoder (with a much appreciated nudge in the right direction from Nigel Cliffe) I made a little stay alive:

 

The decoder is so small it sits comfortably between the motor terminals - suitably insulated with Kapton tape:

 

Wires for the stay alive are routed under the motor, past the gears and up on top of the bogie. The capacitors will stick up into the bunker:

 

So... to the paint job... I tried UPOL Acid #8 etching primer from a can rather than Precision 2-pack primer, having had it recommended.

It's done a nice job, although I don't think the surface finish is quite a smooth as the smoothest I've achieved with Precision. Having said that, I have not achieved consistent results with Precision, and this is much better than a loco covered in cobwebs...

 

 

 

The top coat is Humbrol gloss black, thinned approx. 50:50 and applied with an airbrush - the shiny surface being the best for lining and transfers:

 

 

 

Having finally begun the paint job, I realised I hadn't yet given the loco an identity.

 

Usually, one would choose a suitable loco and build a model of it, but since this one grew out of a test-build for the kit instructions, I am in the position of having to work out what I've made a model of!

I had to find a loco with the same combination of features, and ideally one which lived in the North West of England shortly after nationalisation.

To add to the challenge, I wanted one that hadn't been fully repainted since the war, so that the last vestiges of lining might still be visible, giving me an excuse to practise lining with a bow pen, and then being able to obliterate most of it with weathering in case of disaster.

 

Fowler tanks weren't that common on the Central Division - at least not on the Lancashire side of the Pennines. Most of the pictures of 2-6-4Ts on suburban services round (for example) Rochdale seem to feature Stanier tanks (@VRBroadgauge???)

Wigan Central (23D) did have a couple at Nationalisation, however, and between February and December 1948, 2323 was on loan there.

Built in June 1928 it features a Fowler cab and smooth tank sides (tick).

It received lined black livery with block gold shaded red numbers shortly before the war (tick).

I have found a photo from around 1950 showing the loco still had tall straight tank vents by then (tick), and also retained its LMS livery (tick), albeit with BR number, which it received in August 1949

It got its new smokebox and cylinders in 1946, so had outside steam pipes by my time period (tick). The only doubt I have is whether or not it would have received a full repaint into unlined livery (with serif lettering) at this time...

 

 

I've spent so long looking at this photo that I can convince myself the lettering is any style!

 

I'm waiting for some new block-style transfers to be delivered, and in the meantime, I decided to tackle the lining. We're into cruel close-up territory now.

The first picture is of the straight lines ruled onto the fireman's side - complete with gaps, lines crossing over, blemishes, etc. (oh - it's paint on my finger, not blood!) The lining paint is Humbrol gloss red. This is as thin as I could get the lines to reliably come out of the pen.

 

 

With the corners cut back and the curves painted in with a brush, things are looking a little better. It's not perfect, but it will be weathered!

 

 

The drivers side has been done as well. In context, it doesn't look too bad so far...

 

 

[nick_bastable]

a very neat stayalive solution although finding CT decoders is like a holy grail  Im due to finally fit a stayalive when I work up the courage  ( may take a afew months ) what size capacitors have you used ?

 

excellent as always

 

Nick B

Edited August 9, 2023 by nick_bastable

[Nick Mitchell]

10 minutes ago, nick_bastable said:

what size capacitors have you used ?

Hi @nick_bastable, they're 4x 16v 220uF tantalums in a size D package.

Since I bought them, I've seen higher capacitance available in the same package - useful if you have less room.

[queensquare]

5 hours ago, Nick Mitchell said:

Hi @nick_bastable, they're 4x 16v 220uF tantalums in a size D package.

Since I bought them, I've seen higher capacitance available in the same package - useful if you have less room.

 

Hi Nick, stunning job as ever. You may have seen over on my Bath thread that I have now fitted my first stay alive and now realise just what a game changer it is. Ive used the Youchoos board which works very well but want to move on to home brewed packages, primarily for the space saving. Do you still use the same resistors etc that you outlined in your MRJ articles or have you found better ones and where do you source them.

 

Jerry, a definate convert! 

[65179]

9 hours ago, Nick Mitchell said:

I've made a bit more progress on and off over the past 6 weeks or so.

The electrickery was the last excuse I could use to put off painting. Having worked out which solder pads were for what on the decoder (with a much appreciated nudge in the right direction from Nigel Cliffe) I made a little stay alive:

 

The decoder is so small it sits comfortably between the motor terminals - suitably insulated with Kapton tape:

 

Wires for the stay alive are routed under the motor, past the gears and up on top of the bogie. The capacitors will stick up into the bunker:

 

So... to the paint job... I tried UPOL Acid #8 etching primer from a can rather than Precision 2-pack primer, having had it recommended.

It's done a nice job, although I don't think the surface finish is quite a smooth as the smoothest I've achieved with Precision. Having said that, I have not achieved consistent results with Precision, and this is much better than a loco covered in cobwebs...

 

 

 

The top coat is Humbrol gloss black, thinned approx. 50:50 and applied with an airbrush - the shiny surface being the best for lining and transfers:

 

 

 

Having finally begun the paint job, I realised I hadn't yet given the loco an identity.

 

Usually, one would choose a suitable loco and build a model of it, but since this one grew out of a test-build for the kit instructions, I am in the position of having to work out what I've made a model of!

I had to find a loco with the same combination of features, and ideally one which lived in the North West of England shortly after nationalisation.

To add to the challenge, I wanted one that hadn't been fully repainted since the war, so that the last vestiges of lining might still be visible, giving me an excuse to practise lining with a bow pen, and then being able to obliterate most of it with weathering in case of disaster.

 

Fowler tanks weren't that common on the Central Division - at least not on the Lancashire side of the Pennines. Most of the pictures of 2-6-4Ts on suburban services round (for example) Rochdale seem to feature Stanier tanks (@VRBroadgauge???)

Wigan Central (23D) did have a couple at Nationalisation, however, and between February and December 1948, 2323 was on loan there.

Built in June 1928 it features a Fowler cab and smooth tank sides (tick).

It received lined black livery with block gold shaded red numbers shortly before the war (tick).

I have found a photo from around 1950 showing the loco still had tall straight tank vents by then (tick), and also retained its LMS livery (tick), albeit with BR number, which it received in August 1949

It got its new smokebox and cylinders in 1946, so had outside steam pipes by my time period (tick). The only doubt I have is whether or not it would have received a full repaint into unlined livery (with serif lettering) at this time...

 

 

I've spent so long looking at this photo that I can convince myself the lettering is any style!

 

I'm waiting for some new block-style transfers to be delivered, and in the meantime, I decided to tackle the lining. We're into cruel close-up territory now.

The first picture is of the straight lines ruled onto the fireman's side - complete with gaps, lines crossing over, blemishes, etc. (oh - it's paint on my finger, not blood!) The lining paint is Humbrol gloss red. This is as thin as I could get the lines to reliably come out of the pen.

 

 

With the corners cut back and the curves painted in with a brush, things are looking a little better. It's not perfect, but it will be weathered!

 

 

The drivers side has been done as well. In context, it doesn't look too bad so far...

 

 

 

It's looking great Nick. What style of numbers does it have on the bunker sides? I've a loco that I can't finish until I can find or have produced block style cabside numbers.

 

Another option for your livery choices is that the shaded LMS letters had the shading painted out. Very common on the various 4-4-0s. I'm not so sure about the tanks.

 

Simon

[Nick Mitchell]

2 hours ago, queensquare said:

 

Hi Nick, stunning job as ever. You may have seen over on my Bath thread that I have now fitted my first stay alive and now realise just what a game changer it is. Ive used the Youchoos board which works very well but want to move on to home brewed packages, primarily for the space saving. Do you still use the same resistors etc that you outlined in your MRJ articles or have you found better ones and where do you source them.

Hi @queensquare, I'd seen your post - How appropriate you're Eureka moment happened in the Bath thread...

The resistor and diodes you see in the picture are indeed the same ones I've used all along - I'm still using up the original quantities I found on eBay, as written about in the MRJ article.

There are smaller resistors available (carbon film type on a little black chip) but I quite like these Mini-MELF ones.

[Nick Mitchell]

9 minutes ago, 65179 said:

What style of numbers does it have on the bunker sides? I've a loco that I can't finish until I can find or have produced block style cabside numbers.

Given that it hadn't received it's BR number until after it moved away from Wigan L&Y, I will put numbers to match the tank-side lettering on the bunker.

The ones I'm planning to use are Fox FRH2223 https://www.fox-transfers.co.uk/transfers/lms-lettering-and-numbering-late-1930s-60711

 

I'm currently pondering what style of number to put on the smokebox door plate. Would it have had a new number plate with its new smokebox in 1946, using the block style numbers? or when it received it's san-serif livery? Essery says that it is unknown which 2-4-2Ts received this style.

 

9 minutes ago, 65179 said:

Another option for your livery choices is that the shaded LMS letters had the shading painted out. Very common on the various 4-4-0s. I'm not so sure about the tanks.

 

I read in one of Bob Essery's tomes that the "typical" condition of these tanks by nationalisation would be yellow shaded red lettering. That's what I've used on my radial tank.

I'm thinking now that I could have spent far longer researching this, instead of finally getting on with it!!!

[65179]

2 hours ago, Nick Mitchell said:

Given that it hadn't received it's BR number until after it moved away from Wigan L&Y, I will put numbers to match the tank-side lettering on the bunker.

The ones I'm planning to use are Fox FRH2223 https://www.fox-transfers.co.uk/transfers/lms-lettering-and-numbering-late-1930s-60711

 

I'm currently pondering what style of number to put on the smokebox door plate. Would it have had a new number plate with its new smokebox in 1946, using the block style numbers? or when it received it's san-serif livery? Essery says that it is unknown which 2-4-2Ts received this style.

 

 

I read in one of Bob Essery's tomes that the "typical" condition of these tanks by nationalisation would be yellow shaded red lettering. That's what I've used on my radial tank.

I'm thinking now that I could have spent far longer researching this, instead of finally getting on with it!!!

 

Sorry, I'd missed the fact that you'd be doing it with the LMS number.

 

I've spent longer than is healthy looking at the early post-nationalisation condition of the Stanier 2-6-2Ts. Most have retain serif smokebox numberplates with tank numbers/letters as you describe.

 

Simon

 

 

[65179]

Not your loco, but I'd go for this style of smokebox plate.

 

Photo from Railway Photography site on smugmug. 2332 at London Road on 18 October 1946. The one or two photos in the same collection with locos with outside steam pipes and LMS livery also still have a seriffed smokebox number.

 

Simon

[ShadowinLinby]

23 hours ago, Nick Mitchell said:

Hi @queensquare, I'd seen your post - How appropriate you're Eureka moment happened in the Bath thread...

The resistor and diodes you see in the picture are indeed the same ones I've used all along - I'm still using up the original quantities I found on eBay, as written about in the MRJ article.

There are smaller resistors available (carbon film type on a little black chip) but I quite like these Mini-MELF ones.

To save me looking through all my MRJ pile, what edition was the stay-live article in Nick

[65179]

30 minutes ago, ShadowinLinby said:

To save me looking through all my MRJ pile, what edition was the stay-live article in Nick

 

278 and 279

[Nick Mitchell]

Getting there slowly... I never appreciated how lovely this livery actually is before. It certainly suits these Fowler tank locos, and it will be almost a shame to weather it!

 

 

21 hours ago, 65179 said:

Not your loco, but I'd go for this style of smokebox plate.

Photo from Railway Photography site on smugmug. 2332 at London Road on 18 October 1946. The one or two photos in the same collection with locos with outside steam pipes and LMS livery also still have a seriffed smokebox number.

 

You've convinced me, @65179

The Wild Swan profile lists one loco confirmed to have a sans-serif number plate (also not mine), but all the photos I have found so far show serif ones.

I'm happy with the way it looks: