Johnson044

AAAh - found it! I knew your beautiful 4-4-0 reminded me of something!

I really love it. I've a thing about small 4-4-0's anyway! No - I think the raised round firebox was a good move. BP certainly made plenty of locos with this type of firebox. What would really help, I think, is an extra boiler band on the firebox immediately where the rounded curve of the firebox front meets the horizontal top, the boiler band continuing down to meet the rising curve of the splasher? Maybe paint the raised firebox front to resemble brass? What do you think?

I do so love a small 4-4-0!

Thanks RedGem- it's so easy to offend these days. What I like about this thread is that it explores what is often a very unusual side to the hobby, the wild ideas people have had, the inventiveness and (it's so easy to use cliches) the "thinking outside the box" - there- I've used one. Each and every one of the models on this thread is not just an example of someone's creativity - which is, after all, what RMWeb is all about - but is also a chance to own a model that someone's put a bit of their heart and soul into. A piece of art. Something someone's thought long and hard about - at night, on the bus, walking the dog - where and whenever- that person has contemplated at length how to recreate a detail or shape from whatever materials they've got or can imagine. I've really enjoyed this thread - keep up the good work!

The second is one of my greatest treasures. I dismissed it at first as from the auction photos I got the impression that it was recent- the sort of thing that is becoming quite common now - you sometimes see modern, large, crude Flying Scotsmen and Citroen 2CV's made out of tinplate from time to time in charity shops. Actually some of the cars aren't bad but I digress... The more I looked though I felt that this was something far more interested and at £35 something of a bargain. 32mm gauge but roughly to about Gauge 1 in scale and made mostly of wood, including some pieces of cigar box. Seems to be fixed together with fish glue. The iron wheels with their simple round openings are to quite a fine profile and the steel coupling rods have been well shaped. I've never had the paint analysed but an expert has looked at it and agrees that the degradation of the surface can only come from great age and can't be faked up. Various bits were detached including the front buffer beam, which I re-attached with the bare minimum of Araldite. Other than that I've left her exactly as bought. I'm ashamed to say that I lost the original paper pressure gauge face when I took the loco to show a friend, so I made a simple replacement and stuck it on with a tiny bit of pva, so hopefully it will peel off if by some miracle the original turns up in the hoover bag or somewhere. The real thing was built by W Fairbairn in 1858 and seems to have lasted up until about the turn of the century. Cant help but speculate that just maybe the builder of the model knew the real thing and just, just maybe the paint is the genuine Furness stuff? It would be nice! But I don't think I'll ever know.

Not sure if this is the best thread to post this on but as this involves things found on Ebay and very objects that have been instilled with someone's personal thoughts and desires I think they will probably fit in quite well. I hope you find them as interesting as I do. I've had these two locos for a while now (as you can see from the rather shameful dust accumulation - cotton buds & distilled water time I think!). Both came from Barrow-in-Furness but the separate vendors had no background or provenance. Firstly, here's a scratch built, mainly brass ext LBSCR I1X (I think!). In 0 gauge, clockwork, coarse scale. A bit short in the bunker dept but otherwise not a bad model at all and there are so many lovely touches. I love the little flap to conceal the key hole, the minimal control rods and the very fine bars over the rear spectacle lenses (glazed). I think the mechanism is an early Hornby Nr 2, with some good cast iron wheels. A slot for a rear coupling but no sign that one has ever been fitted. The motor runs very smoothly and powerfully in both directions. The name must tell a story... Following a very gentle oil round I'm just keeping her exactly as she is.

It looks cross!

Looking good! The 2-6-2 rather reminds me of the GWR absorbed locos from the Alexandra Docks Railway.

Ah - I see - thanks. 2.5 mm's quite a bit. Even with the axles shortened it looks like the outside face of the tyre nearly clouts the back of the solebar. A bit of a pain but fairly easy to solve though. Please keep up the excellent work. Really enjoy this thread.

Not a kitbash at all but a really rather nice item and thoroughly deserving of a good home. I'm not talking about the LMC coaches... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165201572566?hash=item2676c7f2d6:g:2nEAAOSwW2Fhn3JC All the bits seem to be there - but sadly no tender.

I almost bid on that. I've been thinking about buying a rake of these - they seem so reasonably priced. I've bought a Brougham from Parliamentary Trains to go on the carriage truck I've cobbled together on an old brake van underframe but not had a chance to open the box yet. What were the problems you encountered? Looks like you've made a pretty decent job so far.

Also found this amazing beast. Maybe if the order had been cancelled and NBL found itself with the locos on its hands? I've not given any thought into the economic / political situations prevailing at the time but without the cow catcher, headlight, the (?) in front of the safety valve and with normal British drawgear and buffers maybe the Furness or G & SW might have ended up with them in an alternative universe?

Here is one of the Cuban MW 0-6-0ST's that was so brutally mistreated:

Yes - that's the one. There seem to have been two MW outside cylindered 0-6-0's imported to Cuba direct from the Boyne loco works. Not sure of date. Suspect early 1870's. Sorry - 2'6" not 3' gauge. Here's the one at the Christina Station museum. I seem to remember an article in Heritage Railway a few years ago which showed not much more than the wheels and frames so (if it's the same loco, which I suspect it is) someone has either cannibalized two together or retrieved the boiler from somewhere and re-united it with the under-works. The smokebox and cylinders look to be representational rather than original part or true replicas though.

Oooh! That little 4-4-0 is shaping up beautifully. There's something of a Highland "Loch" about it. Any thoughts on a tender? One from a K's Kirtley 0-6-0 would suit very well and give a suitably Beyer Peacock look. Or maybe one from a Tri-ang Caley single? Very much looking forward to the end result.

Actually I'm completely wrong - the photo isn't standard gauge at all! May well be the 3" loco I referred to- but the only image I've ever seen of that just showed the mortal remains, which consisted of not much more than the frames and wheels.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the remains of a 3" gauge (or thereabouts) conversion of a Manning Wardle loco could still be found in Cuba until recently - May even have been an outside cylinder tender loco similar to the Pentewan Railway ones- but I can't immediately find any info to help jog my memory. A quick web search for "Manning Wardle Conversion Cuba" came up with this rather brutally treated standard gauge specimen however. Not too far removed from the Terrier conversion but boy oh boy what a horrid thing to do.

This is such a precious gem. Very much in the same genre as Edward Beal and PD Hancock. This really is pioneering stuff and true railway modelling. Such a far cry from today when we have it so easy- everything here made from whatever was to hand - and the real thing was probably trundling around in that very livery. All the model's history is in the top half-millimetre of its surface. Just some simple rods, the gentlest of cleaning and pride of place where she can be seen and kept safe! An absolute little beauty!

That has been so imaginatively and thoughtfully done. A really fine piece of work.

...and why not? A little healthy pedantry is good for the soul (hmm- maybe?)! If we're going to be truly pedantic the book's original caption says it's one of the "most unique" locomotives ever built- surely something's either unique or it isn't - there are no degrees of uniqueness. I didn't know the difference between a Meyer and a Garratt - It does look like the water tank is underneath, which would probably help with providing a better centre of gravity for what must have been quite a top-heavy loco.

I'm really enjoying this thread - you've caught the railway so well and your buildings particularly are beautiful. I first read about the line in Harold Bowtell's "The Dam builders' railways from Durham's dales to the border" and finally had the chance to visit and walk the line to Gairs colliery. What a wild and remote place. Hopefully I'll get my hands on a copy of Lord Carlisle's Railway soon. Please keep up the good work!

I think the Kiwis had a go at something quite similar - this one's more of a Garratt!

Surely a downsized Bulleid pacific has been imagined and very ably created recently? I refer of course to 33C's splendid "Sea Battle" class?

Here's an interesting precedent. The Kiwis tried a 2-6-0-0-6-0 in 1906, a Vauclain compound known as "Pearson's Dream". Seems to have been reasonably successful at what it was intended for (the Rimatuka incline) but intensely disliked by the crews, probably because it was so ferociously hot and it was also extremely heavy on fuel. Very much a one-off.

...and yet more! A bit bigger, this one. It's not a kit bash - more a lawnmower bash. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165036541696?hash=item266cf1c700:g:vo8AAOSw3BphJn3V Definitely wild though! I love it!