Leaderboard

As my posts on this project have been a bit few and far between I think a quick catch up is in order - 7mm scale Dudley trams running on 24.5mm track and starting on the rolling stock first. Although I am quite prepared to hand build the real track I really needed something a bit quicker and simpler for to test out the tram chassis design. At the end of the day if we can't get the trams running properly we will not proceed with the project. Set track would be ideal but unfortunately Hornby don't do 24.5mm gauge - or do they? A few years ago I put down some track that had belonged to my late Father in Law so we could play trains with his stuff just as he had enjoyed doing. This board was still hanging around and then I had a brain wave! I took up the double track and re-laid it with the gap between the two circuits being 24.5mm. The scale 3ft6in stock can then run on the outside edge of the inside circuit and the inside edge of the outer circuit. I 3d printed some very simple track gauges to keep everything in place with the only other inconvenience being having to cut a couple of pieces of track to make everything join up properly. It is running on DC at the moment with my trusty old Clipper but once happy with the design everything will go DCC. I put both the test chassis through their passes which has been most useful and various changes are to be made for the forthcoming models. I will devote a blog to the delights of these chassis soon.

This Peckett, believed to have been built circa 1920, was registered with the British Transport Commission and despite the steam ban arrived at the yard in 1973 under its own steam, via BR metals. It's former workplace was just up the line at Small Heath gas works. It was a regular performer at Strong's and was found to be useful in the winter months, with its Stones turbogenerator and large electric lamps. It had originally been built for Hadfields for use at their Sevastapol Works, in Sheffield. In1977 a group of enthusiasts attempted to buy it, but found the frame was bent and it also required a new firebox. It disappeared soon after, presumed scrapped.

Progress has slowed recently due to warm weather and some health issues. However, the loco is now complete except for the smoke deflectors and cab side cinder guards. The tender is well advanced, the main outstanding tasks being fitting the axlebox/spring castings and completing the front platform and draw bar. Here we see the current state of play. Dave.

This Dorman-engined Hibberd is believed to have originally been built in 1956 for a cement works in Kent. It was sold to a contractor in 1964 and was used on various tracklifting contracts around the country in the wake of Beeching's closures of unprofitable lines. It was seen in the Camden yard of Alfie Solomons Ltd. in 1967 and by 1974 had turned up at Strong's yard, in Small Heath. It doesn't appear ro have been very popular with the drivers and spent a lot of time at the end of the Metal Box siding at Watery Lane. By this time, Charlie Strong (Small Heath) Ltd. had become part of the Shelby Group, who negotiated a contract to shunt the Metal Box works in Small Heath. It is supposed that the loco was bought for this purpose but most of the shunting appears to have been done using the scrapyard locomotives. By 1978 it seems to have disappeared, presumed scrapped or sold.

Seeing promotional photos of the Dapol / Rails version of my loco helped me appreciate how wrong my base model was, mostly by omission but also how striking all the external “plumbing” work can be on these lovely locos. No two A1Xs appeared to have the same pipe configurations but fortunately excellent photos of the prototype No 4 gave me a suitable starting point. The various missing parts were cut from Brass rod and as they were copper in the original, I set about some simple electro-chemistry to copper plate them. The pink of the fresh metal quickly oxidises to the normal brown of copper oxide once removed, natural weathering. At this point the main additions are in place but the grossly oversized Salter Valves are still pending Then added, being positioned correctly nearer the steam dome and downsized by more than 50%. There are several minor extra additions required including Cab control pipes and Westinghouse fittings, of these more later.

The many limitations of the old Hornby Terrier model are well known and some fall beyond being worth fixing. The main problem is the model represents the much earlier (pre-1920s) A1 Class whereas both WC&PR Terriers were rebuilt and reclassified as A1X Class while still owned by the LB&SCR. Most visual of the errors are the sandboxes of the A1 type incorporated above the front splashers, on the model these are solidly built plastic moulding in the main body and along with an extended boiler would require radical surgery skills beyond my grade. All the same I figured it was still worthwhile addressing as many of the other omissions and errors as I could with a view to having rather less of a “Pig’s Ear” of a model. First up the Bunker / Cab areas. Both the rear window grills and cab grab rails are solidly molded in the bodywork and hence grossly over scale. These and the original Coal bunker rails were replaced. The upper array of Tantalum Capacitors of the Stay Alive fits snugly into the enlarged bunker space custom fitted into the rebuilt upper bunker section. Frame 2 has my original effort using incorrect spectacle grills, replaced with the correct configuration in the completed job.