Y6 Tram engine

[Poggy1165]

I seem to recall a pretty comprehensive article in the modelling press about the Y6 tram engines. In fact I've an idea it was written by Iain Rice and included some drawings.

 

I've looked through umpteen magazines and cannot find it. Am I suffering from delusions, or can someone point me to it? 

 

[MarcD]

I cant recall seeing an artical on the tram loco. I have a lot of books on the W&UT and the Yeadon's for LNER's 0-4-0Ts. i'm building from there. Jim McGowan's kit is very good.

 

Marc 

[decauville1126]

I seem to recall a pretty comprehensive article in the modelling press about the Y6 tram engines. In fact I've an idea it was written by Iain Rice and included some drawings.

 

I've looked through umpteen magazines and cannot find it. Am I suffering from delusions, or can someone point me to it? 

It was , I think, in the long-defunct Model Railways magazine, which was the final gestation of what started out as Model Railway News. I have a photocopy (somewhere!) but think the cover had a GWR 14xx and autocoach at a station on the cover and it does list Wisbech & Upwell thereon. And yes, I'm sure it was in Iain Rice's inimitable style with handy little sketches.

[Devo63]

I remember reading the article on the Y6 but a search through my collection has failed to find it. The only thing I can find at present is an article from RM 7/61 by Rev. Awdry about building 'Toby'. It has 4mm scale drawings of front and sides and also a breakdown of parts for making the model plus a photo of the real thing.

 

Dave R. 

[loickebros]

I stand to be corrected but i think wisbech & upwell/toby steam trams were Y7's.

If i recall correctly the Y6 was used by the Yarmouth Union Railway and only worked out of White Swan Yard.(had a pint in the white swan in may whilst on holiday)

Hoping to model this in 7mm someday.

Dave

[Echo]

I am pretty sure the Y6 is correct for the W&U loco

 

Here is a drawing on the GERS site

[Edwardian]

I seem to recall a pretty comprehensive article in the modelling press about the Y6 tram engines. In fact I've an idea it was written by Iain Rice and included some drawings.

 

I've looked through umpteen magazines and cannot find it. Am I suffering from delusions, or can someone point me to it? 

 

Never mind the 'Ys' and wherefores, for 4mm scale drawings of the W&U 0-4-0 Tram, GER G15, see MRC Annual 1983.  I have a copy, so PM me if you would like one. 

[br2975]

I seem to recall a pretty comprehensive article in the modelling press about the Y6 tram engines. In fact I've an idea it was written by Iain Rice and included some drawings.

 

I've looked through umpteen magazines and cannot find it. Am I suffering from delusions, or can someone point me to it? 

 

The article was a 'two parter' IIRC (one part prototype info and drawings, second part modelling) and was by Iain Rice and appeared in Model Railways during the early 1980s.

.

If no one comes up with the info you want in the meantime, I'll check when I get home later.

.

Brian R

[billbedford]

I am pretty sure the Y6 is correct for the W&U loco

 

Here is a drawing on the GERS site

 

 

According to the RCTS books both J70s and Y6s were used on the W&U, Y6s were mainly used on passenger trains while the J70s work the goods. After the passenger service was withdrawn at the end of 1927 the Y6s were put into store and were only use to supplement the J70s during the suit season. Only two of the six Y6s survived after nationalisation , while ten out of twelve J70s became BR locos with four not withdrawn until 1955.

[Nearholmer]

Ah, the suit season, when the three-pieces were on the trees in abundance, and long trains of vans were needed each evening, to take them to the London tailors, so that they arrived freshly pressed for the morning sartorial trade. I Believe that there were even special trains on Saturdays, bringing the suit-pickers up from the East End, to camp in the fields for a week on a "paying holiday".

 

Sorry, the image was just too strong to resist!

 

More to the point, I did a quick google-round, looking for details of both classes last week, and there is a stack of interesting stuff on the web, including details of liveries, which surprised me by including a grey-skirted, dark-red top variant, in late GER days. Might also be worth trying The Engineer via Graces Guide for deeply technical information.

 

And, don't laugh when you look at this link, follow down to find some pretty sound modelling information http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/rm-1961-07.htm

 

K

[Bernard Lamb]

Model Railways Feb and March 1984 is the source of the Ian Rice articles.

It covers both the 4 and 6 wheel varieties.

Bernard

[BG John]

Four of them were withdrawn between 1909 and 1913, which seems like a great excuse to run them on other light railways, assuming the GER had sold, rather than scrapped, them. That was my excuse to consider building one, but it's been delayed for the foreseeable future.

[rue_d_etropal]

Body wise both clases look very similar. When looking at old photos it is the cab steps that are main difference, although the outside cylinders on the J70 do slightly stick out. Access panels are different as well.  I have the old drawings from RM , drawn by CJ Freezer.

What is possibly interesting is that Awdrey seems to mix up the two classes, as I think it was a Y6 that initially inspired him, and the drawingsin RM have steps from the Y6 not the J70. Not  a big error if I am right about the simimilarities in bodies.

Reason I am checking out drawings is because I am doing a design for 3D printing, as I want one in HO, not OO. It is not a complex design, and if both classes have similar or same body then both classes can be done. Other scales can then by done by simply resizing the designs.

[Poggy1165]

Thank you all very much for so many helpful responses. Once again RMWeb proves how invaluable it is. I think - after Manchester Central Library - I have learned more off here than any other single locus in my life.

 

I picked up a cheap(ish) Skytrex body kit, and have added this to my long list of 'projects'. I have no obvious use for such a loco, but I couldn't resist the temptation. Putting together a working chassis for it should be 'good experience' - as one of my old bosses used to call it when giving me a really **** job to do.

 

The GE Society drawing is a steal at the price. They seem to be a very helpful, generous and progressive line society - and I think I might invest the cash to join. 

 

Once again, thanks to all!

[Nearholmer]

Rev Awdry definitely was not mixed-up between classes.

 

He says, in his article that I linked to, about building a model: "They were the 0-4-0 Y6, introduced in 1883, and the 0-6-0 J70, introduced in 1903. Both looked similar in general, but there were difference in detail. As my model was to be powered by a Romford motor bogie, it struck me that the four-wheeled prototype would be more suitable."

 

He also mentions getting drawings direct from Stratford, so he took it all pretty seriously.

 

The CJF drawing is in the article, too, and it is of the 0-4-0.

 

Kevin

[rue_d_etropal]

Awdrey mentions seeing one of the locos  on quayside lines, and from dates it sounded more like a Y6 ,although elsewhere he says he took inspiration from the Wisbech line. Also it is odd the drawing in RM is of a Y6  when the article is about building a J70. That is the mix up.

I am sure I have copies of those Model Railways magazines, the covers look familiar.

[Nearholmer]

Except that the article isn't about building a J70 (unless I've somehow got my wires crossed, and we are talking about different articles).

 

Here are title, subtitle, and author, copied directly from it: “Toby”, A 4mm. scale model of an ex-G.E. Y6 0-4-0 tram-engine using a motor bogie as a basis, by the Rev. W. Awdry.

 

Doesn't seem to be much confusion there.

 

Anyway, I leave that between you and the late Reverend.

 

Kevin

[Judge Dread]

Have you tried looking here? A masterpiece by Alan Price (no not that Alan Price).

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/4652-outwell-village/

No connection other than I did some of the wiring. 

[hayfield]

Thanks everyone for making this thread so interesting. I have an old Keyser's tram loco so have been interested in them for some time, never knew about the 6 wheelers and whilst reading the Awdry's article many years ago a great bit of refresher info.

 

Did I see Utwell at St Albans ? Certainly remember seeing either it or something very like it which was very impressive

[Nearholmer]

I don't think I've seen Utwell at St A, I would have remembered something that good, but then, I missed a few years until this year. However, I do recall seeing a very good model of the W&U that depicted four seasons, and I think that was at St A.

 

I can't recall exactly how the scene change happened, but it had four otherwise identical representations of a tramway passing some cottages in a street, one for each season, and was hugely effective.

 

K

[stewartingram]

I have the Model Railways articles in the loft, will have to get them out. I also have a pdf on the PC, converting a K's J70 to a Y6. I don't know where it came from, possibly the GER Society.

I also managed to pick up a 4mm etched kit from Connoisseur a few months back, which I am part way through building. As a local to the Wisbech area, these are of interest to me.

 

Stewart

[Nearholmer]

Additional thread, to allow us to talk about all sorts of rural steam tramway things, without totally diverting this thread from its purpose http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/113785-steam-tramways-rural-great-britain-ireland/

 

K

[Tony Davis]

With regards to the 4 seasons model, I came across an article about it's building whilst browsing some second-hand magazines. The basic idea was that it rotated along its length and shewed four season, each at  a different time in the tramways history.

[John_Hughes]

With regards to the 4 seasons model, I came across an article about it's building whilst browsing some second-hand magazines. The basic idea was that it rotated along its length and shewed four season, each at  a different time in the tramways history.

 

That's right; I saw it at York some years ago, and at the time it seemed the best thing in the show.

 

Mind you, the fact that you sat down to watch the 'four seasons' sequence probably helped!

[phil_sutters]

There is another thread on this topic to which I have just added two versions of a photo of a Y6, or as it was then a Great Eastern G15, at Upwell Station You can find the thread at http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/46936-wisbech-and-upwell/&do=findComment&comment=2401932

 

If you want to see one without skirts and in tip top condition, try this one