Johnson044

If only one had been preserved!

Have finally made some progress with Cambrian / Furness Sharp Stewart 4-4-0 for the Ledsham & Hereford Railway. More or less complete and painted above the footplate. Much now done below. I've finally understood how the link motion works - it's very like that on the small Sharpie 2-4-0's for the Great Eastern. Cross about messing up one of the holes but it's non-working and I can't face re-making the part in question - it won't be seen anyway! Brake gear starting to take shape (Slater's plastic shoes). Just sandboxes, brake cylinder, current pick-ups and motor now- oh yes- and the painting bit!

I think the Eastern Counties 2-2-2 was the Eagle. There's quite a bit about it here: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/cambridge/index1.shtml Even smaller than Gazelle, I think. I'm sure I remember somewhere that it was so small that it ended its days reduced to a 2-2-0 with the boiler removed and some sort of man powered pedal arrangement but I'm probably wrong.

Yes- there are definite similarities. Also a resemblance to the Gloucester C&W works carriages for the Severn & Wye & Severn Bridge railway, which had a saloon with a verandah at each end. I built this one mainly to use up the bits left over after building a 4 compartment luggage 3rd.

Outside cranks started life as driving wheels on a Tri-ang L1. There's a tiny open frame motor vertically in the firebox and the nebulous valve rods both move back and forth at the same time, driven by a single eccentric on the driving axle. Actually runs quite well but never going to be expected to pull very much. Must get a crew one of these days.

Closest thing I can muster is this little contraption I built a few years ago. Very, very loosely inspired by a William Bridges Adams light loco / carriage combination, but an altogether heavier engine and a separate saloon. The valve gear is purely fanciful and I've no idea if the valves could ever be made to work with the valve chests under the cylinders (I think Webb double singles on the LNWR have something similar). Mainly plastikard with Tri-ang Lord of the Isles driving wheels. The saloon is made from bits from the carriages from the Minicraft Japanese Vulcan 2-4-0 kit, which is an absolute cornucopia of useful parts if you are interested in freelance 7mm scale modelling. The transfers have a bit of a visible film around them, which is a pity.

Isn't that delightful! The Prototype for Everything dept is alive and kicking!

Ok- to follow my earlier ramblings about late Victorian singles, I had a bit of an audit of my scrap box last night and had a notion for a further project (progress with which will, inevitably, be glacial). I've been hoarding odds and sods for a long time with the vague notion of constructing a further loco for the Ledsham & Hereford Railway and have, amongst other bits, a pair of 7' drivers, 1.5 pairs of 4'3" trailing wheels and some hand-cut frames for what I think might be an LBSCR Grosvenor 2-2-2- all cheaply won from ebay. I found this rather delightful 4-4-0 for the Paulista Railway in a book of photos of products of NBL co and its predecessors, and the family resemblance to my Cambrian / Furness 4-4-0 is obvious - so - the quickest and wobbliest of sketches at the scrag end of the working day. The L&H could maybe purchase an unusual export order that was cancelled. I've raised the boiler a bit to allow for the crank axle to move up by 9". Hm. Well - Laurie Griffin does a nice set bogie casting for an SE & CR H class which could be modified from inside to outside frame configuration so most of the bits beginning to fall into place. Not sure about the aesthetics yet- or the Ramsbottom safety valve on the same boiler as a salter balance one. I'll do a better sketch when I get the chance. Any comments much appreciated!

Quite magnificent. Well- no loading gauge issue here, I think. The 4-2-2 is no lightweight, either- the driving wheels on the "Imperial Yellow Mail Engine" are 7'.

I really love and appreciate public art, of which there is far too little in this country- and sometimes its excellent - historically accurate, witty and fun- but really can't see any appeal in the distorted B17 purporting to be a Great Western loco. It's like shoving any old bit of film of a black five with BR Mk 1's into a movie scene that's supposed to be set in the 20's - there are SO many examples (oh yes- anyone else enjoy the 1970's BR interior in "Dunkirk"?). It's a train- what are you making a fuss about? There is absolutely no reason why it can't be right. The Kenneth Budd mosaic, sadly destroyed in a wanton act of civic vandalism (or, just possibly, hopefully, maybe, buried for future archaeologists to marvel at) got it spot on. Rant Rant Foam Foam. Grrr.

Yes- the Shanghai-Nanking loco does look very Johnson/Deeley now you come to mention it! I don't think loading gauge was an issue on this occasion. Looks like it was also available in green, BTW, in which form the family resemblance to a Deeley compound is even more pronounced - just put your thumb over the trailing wheels and see! The Lovett Eames is a curious anomaly - I understand that the cut down cab enabled it to be tried out in the uk.

Gorgeous little beast!

That does make a lot of sense GWRSwindon. Wish i'd thought of it!

Just a further thought following the rather bizarre post I made the other day regarding a locomotive I had in a dream, and which perhaps I should have kept quiet about. This thread is all about alternative history and one thing that I do mull over from time to time is that in the 1880's and 1890's there was a considerable revival in interest in the use of a locomotive with a single pair of driving wheels for relatively light and fast trains. The Midland, Caledonian, GWR, GCR, GNR, NER and probably others all had examples- of modern 4-4-2 machines, sometimes simples, sometimes compounds. Mainly inside cylindered jobs. However, this seems to have been entirely confined to the UK. I'm really struggling to find a loco overseas from this period with single driving wheels - nothing around much after the mid 1860's that I can find. I'm sure there were probably many good reasons why this form of loco never left our shores. But what if? McIntosh provided the Belgian system with a whole range of very typically Scottish locos and with a bit of a nudge might he not have taken the Neilson Caledonian 123 as a possible design for adoption? Or the loco might even have perhaps been bought by Belgium rather than the Caley? I just wonder what scope there might be for overseas single driver express passenger locos if politics might have been different. Aside from Belgium, Sweden and the Netherlands inside cylindered locos weren't generally popular and so we would perhaps need to think of outside cylindered possibilities - these are few and far between and the earlier GNR Stirling, Caledonian and Great Eastern Sinclair ones are all that spring to mind. The only overseas singles that I can find are the "Lovett Eames" of 1882 and the amazing Shanghai-Nanking loco that was early Twentieth century. Anyone know of any more?

I've been following this general topic for a long time, being of the freelance standard gauge persuasion. The following very possibly Freudian and the result of too much wallowing in nostalgia,which is what I'm prone to do. Or maybe a Hamilton-Ellis book that I haven't opened for years was calling me. Ok - deep breath. I dreamed last night of railways, as I'm sometimes inclined to do but instead of the usual rather un-settling and barely remembered recollections of childhood wanderings through the ruins of Birmingham Snow Hill, last night's performance was vivid, detailed and fits in with this thread nicely. I was just going to write it down and send to a couple of like-minded 7mm chums but it does fit well here. I awoke with a detailed memory of a locomotive - basically a slightly enlarged Midland "Princess of Wales" in a rich golden brown colour, a wheel on the smokebox door instead of the usual darts, big lamps on the running plate and an air pump and all the plumbing. The tender was still on bogies but shorter and higher and I think the cab had side windows. All maybe something to do with Belgian or Dutch State Railways and in the vague and smoky confines of a big European station with lofty and spidery roof and low platforms. If I had the time or ability I'd try to draw or Photoshop the beast but have it in my head and may just add it to the list of projects. It was vivid and rather lovely and I would badly like to create it sometime. I may just pick up an N gauge Del Prado Johnson Single and something else from the range to provide a tender and make an unholy marriage of the two. Anyone else ever had a similar experience? Any thoughts or comments welcome.

I'm in love!

Any plans for that 8BA? Could you maybe fill the slot with solder and file the head to a small hexagon? You'd still be able to dismantle if you needed to. It's the only thing that jars in an otherwise really lovely model.

Coming together! Your best yet, I think- really enjoying this build.

...and it somehow convinces.

I reckon that's a Dublo 0-6-2 mechanism in there. Love it! Imagination and fun!

That's brilliant Snitzl! How do you envisage the "tender" shaping up? The only 2 wheeled prototype I can find is in the well-known illustration of Invicta on the Canterbury & Whitstable. BTW- I found your blog entry with the (oh so!) simple means of accurately making a template for new coupling rods. Thank you- it solves a problem that's been in the back of my mind for a long time and will work nicely, I think, in both 7mm scale and on a 3 1/2" gauge (very long term) project I have. Many thanks. john

I'm bowled over by this thread. It's utterly delightful. Craftsmanship and imagination. Love it. Allan Downes has already been mentioned but "Faberge Egg" springs to my mind also. I'm also reminded of "Pavane" by Keith Roberts - which, for inspiration into an alternative history - I hesitate to use the term "Steam punk", but that's possibly the right genre - is well worth a read. Please let us have some more updates. Have you had the little beastie running yet?

I've been really enjoying this latest build. The resulting loco really convinces. Like any really good freelance job when you first see it it convinces to the extent that your mind plays tricks on you- you know you've seen the loco before but can never place it... It's good - very good. Got me looking again at 4-4-0T's in general, and especially the rarer and more exotic ones. Just can't help wondering- any plans for an Auto trailer? The Taff Vale and Midland both used their 4-4-0T's for auto trains. The Midland, ex-M&GN one was particularly elegant, the TV one all a bit Heath-Robinson. The freelance world is so liberating. Any chance of a bit of a photo tutorial on how you do your rivets?

Just unearthed an ancient photo of a loco I made when I was about 15. I think it qualifies as a Jintystein, because it has a carved-about Rovex jinty chassis, with some Romford wheels. I think the boiler possibly came from a Ratio plastic kit of a Johnson Midland 2-4-0, the tender from which ended up trundling around behind a Tri-ang 3F. A long time ago and, for all its general wobbliness I do wish I still had it.

Morning folks- the scale's a bit big but how about this beastie? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7-1-4-gauge-live-steam-locomotive-chassis/114736999855