Hornby Bullied Pacific Tenders

[sandwich station]

I noticed today on Exeter's tender, that the ladders seem to be round the opposite way to all my other Bullied's which are 3 BoB's, 1 Merchant Navy and 1 rebuilt West Country.

 

I had a look on the web and whilst most of the pictures I found were the same as Manston, there was evidence that some were the other way. In all I found 3 that were, Taw Valley (preserved condition), Ottery St Mary (preserved condition) and an unrebuilt West Country in early BR Livery but I can't see the name or number.

 

Is there some sort of logic to this, or is the Hornby Exeter and mostly the preserved locos been assembled wrong?

 

 

Manston is on the left. Exeter on the right.

 

[Dunsignalling]

Having the loops inside was the original arrangement and they were round-topped when the locos were built.

 

It was subsequently considered safer to have them on the outside and the new ladders had flat tops with rounded corners.

 

It was a gradual process and Exeter's tender should have had them replaced during the rebuilding process although it did not stay with 34001 afterwards.

 

Hornby's 'Manston' represents the loco as running from early 1963 when its tender was cut down and presumably got new ladders (hence the electrification flashes) whereas 'Exeter' was rebuilt in 1957 after which it ran with a different (cut-down 5500gallon) tender.

 

John

 

Edit: Bigbee Line (post 3) suggests that the change was connected with the tenders being cut down. This seems logical but I wouldn't rule out the later type appearing on the odd high sided tender (if they needed replacing, they'd get whatever the current spec was at the time) 

[The Bigbee Line]

I'm not sure. But there may be some safety logic. When originally built with the full height sides, the grab was on the inside. Only one grab so as not to pinch the fireman when climbing. The non grab side would have had the tender side to grab onto if required. When the tenders were cut down, there was nothing to catch the fireman if he fell outwards, hence the change to put the grab on the outside.

To clarify more original pictures need to be checked.

p.s. one preserved loco has one hadder with two grabs and the other with one on the outside.

 

Anyway that's only a theory.....

[toboldlygo]

I noticed today on Exeter's tender, that the ladders seem to be round the opposite way to all my other Bullied's which are 3 BoB's, 1 Merchant Navy and 1 rebuilt West Country.

 

I had a look on the web and whilst most of the pictures I found were the same as Manston, there was evidence that some were the other way. In all I found 3 that were, Taw Valley (preserved condition), Ottery St Mary (preserved condition) and an unrebuilt West Country in early BR Livery but I can't see the name or number.

 

Is there some sort of logic to this, or is the Hornby Exeter and mostly the preserved locos been assembled wrong?

 

 

Manston is on the left. Exeter on the right.

 

IMG_8592.JPG

 

Exeter is correct and Manston is correct.

 

Hooped are the original SR design, the square BR design.

 

If memory serves 34001 - 070 were originally fitted with the hooped style, 34071 - 110 were equipped from new with the square style. Those of the original batch had theirs replaced over time - usually when the tenders had the raves removed (cut-down), the exceptions to that were the first three 4,500gl to be modified which retained the hooped (SR) style initially.

[sandwich station]

Thanks guys, at least that puts my mind at rest that Hornby have got Exeter right.

 

And yes, that is correct about Manston being from 63 onwards. I just dug out a Hornby Collector magazine from 2003 where it was sold as a limited edition of 500 representing it in it's final days under BR ownership.