Wright writes.....

[New Haven Neil]

Yes, Michael!  There's a cracking photo of a similar loco in one of Ricey's books, which is what was in my mind.  It's enough to make you go pre-grouping......Llanastr sort of layout....oh noooooo!!!!

 

Checked - it's a Rhymney loco similar if not identical to your link.

Edited May 8, 2014 by New Haven Neil

[Tony Wright]

Yes, Michael!  There's a cracking photo of a similar loco in one of Ricey's books, which is what was in my mind.  It's enough to make you go pre-grouping......Llanastr sort of layout....oh noooooo!!!!

 

Checked - it's a Rhymney loco similar if not identical to your link.

Neil,

        You're very close!

[Michael Delamar]

its not 00 but it is standard gauge?

[New Haven Neil]

Way out of my field, Tony, but any interesting looking loco attracts my attention!  I like the uncommon, maybe growing up next to the Westoe/Harton electric system did it, and also gave me the soft spot for industrials I have.

 

I'm gagging to know what it is........

[New Haven Neil]

its not 00 but it is standard gauge?

 

oh, there's a thought...broad gauge or convertible????  Full marks on thinking outside the box Michael.

[coachmann]

If it's not 00 gauge and the engine did not run on 4' 1" track, it must be either EM or P4 yeh?

Edited May 8, 2014 by coachmann

[Michael Delamar]

Its something antwacky

[New Haven Neil]

It's no gauge at the moment Larry!

 

C'mon Tony, this is killing me.....

[Tony Wright]

It's no gauge at the moment Larry!

 

C'mon Tony, this is killing me.....

It's a Brecon & Merthyr 0-6-0 Saddle Tank Class 1, being built in EM Gauge. The kit's by REDCRAFT and it should be an interesting project. The myriad variations amongst the 12 locos throughout their lives are just that - myriad! How many are catered for, I don't know yet. The instructions are basic and contain some 'inventive' spelling, syntax, punctuation and grammar.The parts list and identification drawings (from memory, and it's a long time ago) remind me of the offerings of 3C. It should be fun. All that said so far, the frames and rods (despite the need for 'specialist' tools) are very accurate and match exactly. A good omen?

 

When finished, it'll run on Rob Kinsey's Merthryr Riverside. Yet another example of horse trading................................. 

[New Haven Neil]

Oh, interesting!

 

Googling brings up 'Cymbeline' which is a B&M long boiler saddletank and I got all excited but she's not double framed. Interesting old locomotives though.

 

I look forward to seeing her built.  This has awakened my interest in industrials, I have a 80% built 7mm Impetus Hunslet 16" somewhere, I really should finish her.   Now I think about it I also have a Centre Models 4mm version too, although built to early 80's standards (MY early 80's standards - ie not very good at all!).  I recall the ECM motor and 60:1's were not exactly a success.

 

Tony, your prodding to get us to build something is working!

[LNER4479]

 

 

 

Any guesses? 

Is there anything that excites the modelling mojo more than the sight of a crisp set of etches, freshly unwrapped from their packaging? Looking forward to seeing it grow, Tony (distressingly rapidly no doubt!)

Edited May 9, 2014 by LNER4479

[coachmann]

Is there anything that excites the modelling mojo more than the sight of a crisp set of etches, freshly unwrapped from their packaging? Looking forward to seeing it grow, Tony (distressingly rapidly no doubt!)

I agree. A pal showed me some as-new vac-wrapped K's kits yesterday for a GWR Dukedog and Dean Goods and even though they would be as useful as a one-legged man at as a$$ kicking party on my layout, the old building 'bug' almost tempted me to purchase them!

Edited May 9, 2014 by coachmann

[Adam]

Interesting, not least because, in the bottom of a box, I have one of the very same kits in its original incarnation, sold by C.J. Lester. An interesting looking loco (which is why I bought the kit) and a very similar Neath and Brecon railway machine lasted at Alnmouth with the NCB into the very early '60s, This is the proviso I will be using when mine gets built!The kit - based on my assessment of it at any rate, will provide for either as built or GW style cab/bunkers, while the boiler seems more suited to the GW replacements some of these received. That said, the smokebox door supplied is incorrect for that boiler and too thick for the dished version as originally fitted.

 

The advantage of the GW boiler is that items such as smokebox doors and the appropriate chimney (my kit only has one for the B&M version) can be had from Mainly Trains and Gibson respectively though the B&M round-topped cab is more elegant in my view. Happily at least one of these had both and that's the version I will produce. Yours will be long finished before that! Some were built by John Fowler of Leeds and many of their documents and drawings are in the Museum of English Rural Life at Reading. Some of the works photos certainly are but I haven't yet made time to go and have a look.

 

http://www.reading.ac.uk/adlib/images/nof/fowler/photos/tr_fow_ph2_2/223.jpg

 

Good luck with it.

 

Adam

Edited May 9, 2014 by Adam

[gr.king]

By way of providing proof for Tony of the fact that I've actually STARTED a job I'm meant to be doing for him, and (for others) in the prevailing spirit of "can you tell what it is yet" (if that phrase is legally permissible in view of proceedings begun today), I offer the following image, multi-layer expansion links and all....

 

[micklner]

Thompson

 

 

p.s A A2/3 is just beginning !!

Edited May 9, 2014 by micklner

[davidw]

Thompson

 

 

p.s A A2/3 is just beginning !!

Agreed or left of field even a V2 Edited May 9, 2014 by davidw

[Tony Wright]

Interesting, not least because, in the bottom of a box, I have one of the very same kits in its original incarnation, sold by C.J. Lester. An interesting looking loco (which is why I bought the kit) and a very similar Neath and Brecon railway machine lasted at Alnmouth with the NCB into the very early '60s, This is the proviso I will be using when mine gets built!The kit - based on my assessment of it at any rate, will provide for either as built or GW style cab/bunkers, while the boiler seems more suited to the GW replacements some of these received. That said, the smokebox door supplied is incorrect for that boiler and too thick for the dished version as originally fitted.

 

The advantage of the GW boiler is that items such as smokebox doors and the appropriate chimney (my kit only has one for the B&M version) can be had from Mainly Trains and Gibson respectively though the B&M round-topped cab is more elegant in my view. Happily at least one of these had both and that's the version I will produce. Yours will be long finished before that! Some were built by John Fowler of Leeds and many of their documents and drawings are in the Museum of English Rural Life at Reading. Some of the works photos certainly are but I haven't yet made time to go and have a look.

 

http://www.reading.ac.uk/adlib/images/nof/fowler/photos/tr_fow_ph2_2/223.jpg

 

Good luck with it.

 

Adam

Luck?

          It's lucky I've built over 400 locos down the years, otherwise this would have been impossible.

Burn the instructions - it's impossible to build in the way prescribed, at least in my experience and opinion. No datum marks are given for handrails on the saddle or smokebox - surely essential when the bits are supplied flat. You'll need rolling bars. bending bars and a vocabulary of profanity! 

 

The hard bits are now done and I'll post further pictures soon.

[Adam]

Luck?

          It's lucky I've built over 400 locos down the years, otherwise this would have been impossible.

Burn the instructions - it's impossible to build in the way prescribed, at least in my experience and opinion. No datum marks are given for handrails on the saddle or smokebox - surely essential when the bits are supplied flat. You'll need rolling bars. bending bars and a vocabulary of profanity! 

 

The hard bits are now done and I'll post further pictures soon.

 

I'd agree with all of that - the boiler and saddle tank will be replaced on mine and the functional bits of the chassis used with severe modification. Not a good kit by any standard. 

 

Adam

[Nimbus]

By way of providing proof for Tony of the fact that I've actually STARTED a job I'm meant to be doing for him, and (for others) in the prevailing spirit of "can you tell what it is yet" (if that phrase is legally permissible in view of proceedings begun today), I offer the following image, multi-layer expansion links and all....

 

STA79344.JPG

 

Looks reminiscent of the A1/1 which I persuaded my Dad to build for me from a MRC series in 1964.

 

The Nim.

[Tony Wright]

I'd agree with all of that - the boiler and saddle tank will be replaced on mine and the functional bits of the chassis used with severe modification. Not a good kit by any standard. 

 

Adam

 

 With regard to the Redcraft B&M 0-6-0ST, it's almost akin to scratch-building, but the parts have already been cut out for you. The problem is some of those parts don't fit properly - some too wide (bunker front on B&M version) and some not big enough (cab/roof section, also on B&M version). However, nothing was insurmountable and the rest of Friday, yesterday morning and a fair bit of today brought it to the level shown in the final picture of this post.

 

It's also very conveniently been designed for EM or P4. Users in OO will have to modify the splasher apertures and fill in the gaps! 

 

 

Though the boiler and smokebox wrappers are formed for you, that's all. Making that saddle tank was fun. According to the instructions, the formers for it should have been fixed to the boiler first - note the slots. How in heck were you then meant to solder the saddle on?

Putting the boiler formers together on an armature makes fitting them much easier.

 

 

Soldering together the smokebox wrappers. A cocktail stick ensures accurate alignment. 

 

 

Almost there, though adding cab and bunker beading (not supplied) and making provision for the vertical handrails (none made) will take a bit of time. Then there're the outside cranks to fit. Time so far? About 20 hours. Will another ten hours be enough? There's also a heck of a lot of cleaning up to do!

 

And then folk wonder why the price of RTR models is rising, especially where the highest level of detail is expected (and demanded). Anyway, if the RTR stuff gets too pricey, might we see a return to folk building models again? I wonder what the price comparison between a relatively 'inexpensive' kit such as this might be in comparison with an RTR equivalent (even though there isn't really one). 

Edited May 11, 2014 by Tony Wright

[Paddy]

Looking really great Tony - well done Sir.

 

Paddy

[LNER4479]

 With regard to the Redcraft B&M 0-6-0ST, it's almost akin to scratch-building, but the parts have already been cut out for you. The problem is some of those parts don't fit properly - some too wide (bunker front on B&M version) and some not big enough (cab/roof section, also on B&M version). However, nothing was insurmountable and the rest of Friday, yesterday morning and a fair bit of today brought it to the level shown in the final picture of this post.

 

DSC_7385.JPG

 

Almost there, though adding cab and bunker beading (not supplied) and making provision for the vertical handrails (none made) will take a bit of time. Then there're the outside cranks to fit. Time so far? About 20 hours. Will another ten hours be enough? There's also a heck of a lot of cleaning up to do!

A veritable work of art! Sounds like it was a challenge - but no match for someone building their 401st kit(!)

[Tony Wright]

A veritable work of art! Sounds like it was a challenge - but no match for someone building their 401st kit(!)

I don't know about a work of art, veritable or otherwise, though some contemporary works of art mystify me as to how much talent the creators actually have. Can they draw? I wonder.

 

As for a match, it was a close-run thing. And, there are still those cranks to fit!

 

For students of Brecon & Merthyr locomotives, I put my hands up now as to the 'accuracy' (or lack of it) of this creation. Some of this is down to the kit - the spectacles are much too big and too high up, the dome is too squat, the cut-down safety valves I'm not sure about (the originals were way too high and inappropriate for the period modelled), the chimney might not be tall enough, the toolboxes I had to source from the scrap box (none was provided) and though sandboxes were etched, they were the wrong shape. These, too, came from the scrap box. The smokebox door, though, is not fitted as a mirror image - these locos had the hinges on the RH-side.

 

One to avoid? If you want a B&M outside-framed 0-6-0ST and you're not prepared to scratch-build one, then no.

 

As mentioned, a full report will be appearing in BRM.

 

 

 

That's enough of peripheral pieces of antiquity for now!

[Mallard60022]

Patience of a Pope Mr W.

I'd have 'accidentally' burnt that in the oven (whilst it was 'drying off' and paid the person a fine for doing said action   . Worth every penny that particular trick, with a heap of  scrap like that.

Reminds me of when I almost bought a Falcon Brass kit..........

However it is looking handsome in a saddle tanky sort of way.

Give me a  Millholme A2/3 anytime............................

Oh, must get ready. I should be on the A1 by now..........(no not Tornado, in case you are wondering). 

Phil

Edited May 13, 2014 by Mallard60022

[gr.king]

It is of course always open to any who consider the model you've built to be inaccurate, to build one that is accurate in order to demonstrate the proper way to do things.