Coarse scale Gauge 1, the meanderings of

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Hello all,

 

I think this is my first new thread in 2 years! Anyways, here’s the story. For years I’ve wanted to build a tinplate gauge 1 layout. I even went so far as to acquire this 1909 Bing brakevan in early 2022.
 

 

However I could never find a loco that was under the price of kidney until earlier this week when I saw that a well known coarse scale dealer in New York had a rather nice Bassett Lowke 112 tank for sale. I sent them a cheeky offer and to my joy and horror it was accepted! 
 

Here are the sellers pictures:

 

 

 

 

Currently all the track I have is a small circle stolen from our LGB Christmas train, but eventually it will become larger. There are no concrete plans for track plan or anything yet, but it may be interesting to model part of a terminus and use the automatic reversing feature that Bing engines had.
 

The layout may or may not end up outside. Due to the dismantling of a wall we now have a surplus of large dressed stones that would be a very good base for some track. I’ll do a bit of surveying today.  
 

Douglas

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Due to the recent flooding in NYC the engine had been delayed in the mail by a week so nothing has happened with that. It is expected to arrive Thursday.
 

However some work on the “layout” has been done.

 

This has been in the form of repairing this signal I made a few years ago which took a tumble off a shelf a few months back.

 

 

Station master Mudge has also arrived from eBay. He is a repainted W. Britains figure from the set made for Bassett Lowke in 1924.

 

 

Douglas

[bluestag]

What gets a Yank doing MR in 10 ga?   Or are you a Brit?

 

I run LNWR in 7mm, but am a Yank.   In CA.

 

I recently failed my Brit test by not knowing the date of the Gunpowder Plot.   My Brit friends were horrified by my ignorance.    I know it happened, but when was inconsequential to me.

 

Oh well.   Much work to do!

[Florence Locomotive Works]

On 17/10/2023 at 22:58, bluestag said:

What gets a Yank doing MR in 10 ga?   Or are you a Brit?

 

I run LNWR in 7mm, but am a Yank.   In CA.

 

I recently failed my Brit test by not knowing the date of the Gunpowder Plot.   My Brit friends were horrified by my ignorance.    I know it happened, but when was inconsequential to me.

 

Oh well.   Much work to do!

Half Brit, my dad was born in Liverpool and I spent a lot of my early life in New Zealand which is strange mix of English, German and American railways on an jungle-like island.
 

Glad to know someone is modeling the LNWR in the USA, i heavily considered doing a OO LNWR engine shed layout at one point. Cost threw that out the window.

[J. S. Bach]

8 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

...snip... i heavily considered doing a OO LNWR engine shed layout at one point. Cost threw that out the window.

And that reddish #112 was cheap?

[Florence Locomotive Works]

7 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

And that reddish #112 was cheap?

Cheaper than a OO MPD layout I can assure you. Building that in this country would cost several thousand.

[J. S. Bach]

With your skills, I thought that you meant scratch-building just a shed; well, engine house. Note that I did not really see the word "layout" as I read the post. Now, I understand.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

After another delay, the engine finally arrived yesterday afternoon accompanied by much jubilation in the streets. 
 

 

Here it is, in all it’s very well soldered together glory. Much of the paint is original, but a lot of the running plate has been repainted in the past. Whoever restored it was quite good at lining because it is just as good as the original Bing lining. They did neglect to paint the buffer beams which I have now done.

 

 

Having got the engine out of the box and acquired a key from the local clock shop, it refused to run. I thought the issue was a stick governor, and so began taking the mech out of the body to have a look. 

 

 

After taking apart the motion and releasing the brake, it suddenly burst into life (and scaring me as it is jolly loud). The problem ended up being the crosshead hitting the connecting rod due to the cylinder has been bent inward slightly in shipping. 
 

The key I bought for the engine was far to small to wind it up fully as I couldn’t get enough leverage on the small flat. So I made a new one, in the shape of a carriage door handle. 
 

 

I the soldered the shank of the old key into a hole drilled in this new handle, the result being a very ergonomic key with lots of leverage.

 

 

The engine now being capable of being fully wound, (though I prefer about 3/4) it runs very well and quite smoothly. It has no trouble pulling my brake van loaded with 5 lbs of steel offcuts so should have little trouble with some Midland bogie coaches when I can find some.

 

 

Douglas