GWR ex-Barry Railway Class D 0-8-0

[RosiesBoss]

Introduction

 

Regulars of this site may be familiar with my liking for obscure GWR locos, as seen in Ref.6

 

This paper describes yet another, whose story is well described in Refs. 2, 3 and 5. Drawings are found in Refs. 1, 3 and 4.

I was drawn to this loco due to its similarity to a NSWGR design I knew when actively photographing the last steam locos in NSW in the early 1970s. (See also Ref .7)

 

 

A tank engine version of this design was built for the South Maitland Railways:

 

This is a parallel story to the Barry Railway Class H and Pt Talbot Rly 0-8-2Ts, whose design was developed from the Barry Railway Class D and which I modelled in 2021:

 

So far as was feasible, components recovered from scrapped models were utilised for the chassis. These included an Athearn H0 2-8-4 chassis block and a Tenshodo H0 2-8-0 chassis block. Both of these had been purchased second-hand “as is” with faulty final gears.

 

Athearn chassis:

 

Athearn parts:

 

Tenshodo parts:

 

The Athearn chassis had almost perfect axle spacing, but its final gear had split. The Tenshodo chassis had good wheels but a stripped final gear. Both had similar working axleboxes, so the Tenshodo wheels could be swapped to the Athearn chassis and fitted with a new nylon gear set from my spares box. Screws for the coupling rods had the same 1.4mm threads on each model and so were interchangeable.

 

Cylinders, coupling and connecting rods could be adapted from the Athearn ones.

 

Parts List

·         Recycled chassis (see above)

·         Slow- running 12V motor from scrapped VCR

·         Nylon gears

·         2mm dia steel shaft

·         Brass bearing from Peco Wonderful Wagon (front thrust bearing for drive shaft)

·         Silicone rubber tube  - for flexible joints in drive train

·         Silicone adhesive/filler – to mount motor on tender chassis and provide acoustic insulation

·         Copper tube for boiler, firebox & smokebox

·         Brass & copper sheet for other body parts

·         Domed button – for smokebox door

·         Ozzy Brass H0 NSWGR buffers & scale couplings

·         Dummy tender axleboxes and springs – from redundant GBL A4 tender chassis

·         Sandboxes & dome: 3D designed and printed

·         Chimney: home-turned brass

·         Safety valve base – Re-purposed push-button from scrapped battery-powered counter

·         Ramsbottom safety valve – Wombat Models spare part for H0 NSWGR C30 class model

·         Whistles – Peter’s Spares

·         Backhead – Recovered from body  of scrapped Tri-ang Dean Single (contemporary with the BR Class D)

·         Brass handrail knobs – Mainly Trains

·         Slater’s phosphor bronze strip for tender pickups

·         Rectangular-section brass tube

·         Alan Gibson 4842C 14mm dia tender wheels

·         0.4mm dia phosphor bronze wire – for handrails

·         Beaded jewellery wire & beads – for fittings on front of leading sandboxes

·         8 BA screws, washers & nuts

·         1.4mm screws

·         Black insulating tape – for boiler bands

 

Paints  & Transfers

·         Revell 93 Copper

·         Humbrol 16 Gold

·         Humbrol 33 Matt black

·         Aerosol spray satin black

·         Humbrol 60 Matt red

·         Tamiya XF69 NATO black

·         Humbrol 135 satin clear

·         HMRS Loco transfers

·         Home-printed number plates

 

Construction

The Athearn split chassis was electrically converted to one with conventional pickups. I chose the “American” system, with one side of the loco live to one rail and the chassis of the tender live to the other rail. I also chose to mount the motor in the tender, with a flexible drive to a simple gearbox in the loco chassis.

 

Cylinders – trimmed of overhead valves and filled with Araldite, then re-shaped:

 

Slidebar supports – as received and also after modification:

 

 

Bare chassis – trimmed and ready for reassembly:

 

Chassis - fitted with Tenshodo wheels and nylon final gear:

 

Body construction followed the same principles detailed for GWR 3251 in Ref.8.

 

Footplate assembled with buffer beam, valences, drag box, dummy rear frame and splasher cutouts:

 

 

 Splashers & Cab added:

 

 

 

Boiler and fittings assembly:

 

Loosely fitted to chassis:

 

More details:

 

Backhead :

 

Tender:

 

Inner  chassis, fitted with pickups and drawbar:

 

Footplate, with dummy outer frames, drag box & buffer beam:

 

 

Test fit, with motor:

 

Assembled with steps, loco chassis, flexible drive & tension-lock coupling:

 

Dummy axleboxes/springs added:

 

Donor body:

 

Parts:

 

Reassembled:

 

Complete with buffers and handbrake lever:

 

Rear toolbox added:

 

Finishing

 

Almost ready for paint: 

 

1387 was not destined to last long after Grouping. It was sent to Swindon for some attention but was withdrawn in 1927 and placed on the Sales List, where it was photographed, still fitted with its BR Ramsbottom safety valve.  The contemporary photo (Fig K55 in Ref 2) seems to show it in plain black, with no GWR insignia. That is how I chose to complete it.

 

 Results

 

 

Reflections

 

Because of the motor location, there was room to use quite a large and powerful unit. There was also plenty of space in the boiler for ballast lead. Consequently, the model is very powerful. It is very smooth in its operation and a delight to watch with a long string of PO wagons, with wheels rotating at only 40 RPM  (or even less).

 

It was challenging to assemble, but well worth the effort.

 

References

1.       E.R.Mountford: “The Barry Railway – Diagrams and Photographs of Locomotives, Coaches and Wagons” (The Oakwood Press, 1987)

2.       RCTS “The Locomotives of the Great Western Railway – Part 10 – Absorbed Engines1922-1947 (RCTS, 1966)

3.       J.H.Russell: “A Pictorial Record of Great Western Absorbed Engines” (OPC, 1978)

4.       Model Railway Constructor, Jan 1952

5.       https://www.rmweb.co.uk/blogs/entry/25115-barry-railway-d-class/

6.       https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/179599-gwr-absorbed-locos-on-carmarthen-junction/#comment-5223498

7.       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales_D50_class_locomotive

8.       https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/175034-gwr-3232-class-2-4-0-kitbash/

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

That’s amazing! I’m a sucker for pregrouping and eight coupled locomotives, and this ticks both boxes very nicely. Weren’t these originally a cancelled order for Norway?

[RosiesBoss]

Thank you for your kind comments.

 

You're almost right. Not quite cancelled, but unpaid by the Swedish and Norwegian Railway, and so returned to the maker (Sharp Stewart) who re-sold them to the Barry Railway.

 

Full details in Ref 5 (above).

 

Regards,

 

Rob

[The Johnster]

The Barry bought them for the short-haul but very heavy transfers between Cadoxton Yard and the dock lines.  The layout at Cadoxton Jc was of four roads, two pairs of up and down, and there were two pairs of crossings from the yard.  In order to minimise the length of time the junction was blocked by these slow-moving 100-wagon coal trains, the usual practice was to run two of them in tandem, heading for the four roads that descended the incline to the dock level.  One pair led to no.1 dock and the other to no.2.  Observing this move from the eastern end of Cadoxton's island platform must have been spectucular, as one passed either side of you going flat out at maybe 10mph...

 

Watching them returning in tandem off the dock up the bank with 100 empties each would have been impressive as well!  Cadoxton yard was a sizeable installation on both sides of the Barry Main Line towards Pontypridd, and it is still a bit of a shock for me to see 1970s housing on the site when I pass it.  It remained in use for stabling wagons for a few years after the main line closed in 1963, but was gone by 1970.

[88C]

Rob, I really enjoy looking at your South Wales locos and this D class really got me interested. With my Grandparents living in Barry and overlooking the railway my interest in Great Western and the Barry Railway was, I suppose, natural. Anyway back to your model, it is only the 3rd 00 model that I know about, the first was built by Dr Charles Donovan which I saw in about 1990 and his models inspired me to model the Barry Railway. The second is my own scratch built model, details are somewhere on my Llanforen thread, this completed models of each Barry class of locos. Finally there is your superb effort, well done.

 

Brian

[88C]

Correction, I posted the build on another thread, long since disused and the photos have gone so I'll post another of the finished D class.

 

 

Brian

[Camperdown]

Thanks all, very interesting.  Wikipedia says the Barry Class D were a standard Sharp Stewart design originally intended for the Swedish & Norwegian Railway.  I know nothing about the NSWGR, but this was presumably another Sharp Steward order, leading to the family resemblance.  Regardless of that, it's a very handsome loco, especially in the dark red livery.  I find I want one too.

[RosiesBoss]

The NSWGR locos that inspired this build all had "porthole cabs" designed by William Thow.https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/thow-william-8801

 

The 2-8-0 T class (later D50) were designed in conjunction with Beyer Peacock  and were delivered from 1896. Sharp Stewart were never involved. Many classes of NSWGR locos shared the same style of cab. Here are some of my images:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were several other classes that disappeared before I had the chance to see and photograph them.

 

I could find no link between Thow's designs and the Barry Class D. I remains a mystery for me.

 

I hope this departure from the main topic was of some interest.

 

Regards,

 

Rob

[Camperdown]

Thanks for the additional information about the NSWGR locos.  If they are mostly BP designs then the family resemblance with the Barry class D remains a mystery, as you say.  I had a look at the engine diagram in the Russell book on GWR absorbed engines and the class D is quite a small loco, for an 0-8-0.  I wonder if the size is comparable with the NSWGR loco, or whether they only look the same when not placed side by side.

[RosiesBoss]

G'day, Camperdown,

 

Thanks for your query. I'm afraid the Barry and NSWGR locos just look generally similar in style. They are different in detail as seen when comparing GA drawings:

 

I hope this clarifies things.

 

Regards,

 

Rob