Johnson044

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

How about a suitably vintage oil can? The hole in the footplate doesn't seem very big? Would add a splash of colour too?

I've received the Atlas Nord Atlantic - £4 plus P&P from Ebay. Mixed feelings. Dimensionally it seems to check out very well with 3mm to 1' scale. Tender is quite good but irrelevant - although it shares the bogie frame moulding with the loco. Strangely a bit wide in the gauge - about 15.5mm but the body width looks about right. Chimney is truly vile. The cylinders and valve gear are pretty horrid too. Bogie frame detail is good and I think the driving wheel centres could be used with some new tyres - Ultrascale do bespoke EM standard ones for about £3 each, so I'll look at getting some of those. As this moulding has a big carbon footprint, including many air miles and would probably otherwise go to landfill it will be nice to try to make something of quality (hopefully!) out of it.

Here's La France- probably many detail differences but also many similarities. The trailing wheels seem bigger on La France and the upper part of the cab is different

Thanks folks. The quality between models really seems to vary and in many cases creating something decent from them does look like an uphill struggle. However, the Nord Atlantic to my eyes doesn't look too bad, and the resemblance to La France is very striking. The tender is obviously not the GWR type that was used- a pity, because the mouldings do look good. There are a couple under a tenner on Ebay at the moment so I think I'll get one and have a dabble in 3mm. Have a relative who's of the 3mm persuasion and has a layout to test it on, should I ever finish it. If it checks out reasonably well dimensionally then a suitable tender seems to be achievable (maybe butcher a Tri-ang one or could perhaps use the Atlas City of Truro one but there does seem to be something slightly strange about it) and maybe the valve gear from a big N gauge loco? I almost wonder if the wheel centres could be used with some new metal tyres pressed on?

Hi all- not normally my field as I'm usually pretty exclusively 7mm scale but I keep seeing these Atlas Editions models on ebay and I wonder if anyone has any more experience of them? I see the Nord compound atlantic from time to time and it did occur to me that if it IS 1:10 scale, or thereabouts it would make a really good starting point for a 3mm scale GWR "La France". The tender should be easy and it would obviously need new frames, wheels and motion- but the footplate upwards and the front bogie and possibly the cylinders look pretty good. Before I go and add to the household atoms (admittedly I could hide this fairly easily) does anyone know (a) what these are made of - die cast? plastic? and (b) does anyone have a good idea as to whether they really are anywhere near 1:100 scale?

The long and short legged mountain variety? Anyone else remember The McTickles?

This is just so damn good!!!!! Entirely in the Craigshire tradition! Brilliant- keep up the good work.

The "W" on the G.Parry side needs re-doing, I think. The works plates are Kirtley Products printed paper ones, which aren't bad but they scale out at about gauge 1 so need to be reduced on the photocopier. The brake ratchets are Ambis etched ones.

Had another go at lettering a local POW wagon. Having finished one side I felt like something different and - well- you can't see both sides at once! It's an elderly Slater's Gloucester 6 plank wagon that I've backdated by replacing the sprung buffers with dumb buffers. The Francis Bliss side is based on a Frederic Biss wagon. Both sides are taken from characters in the Merrily Watkins series of books by Phil Rickman, dealing with the adventures of the Hereford Diocesan Exorcist.

A little progress with the freelance double-framed goods.The tender is starting to come together. Basically the underframe is a series of nesting layers with some false inner frames that the shortened axle ends run in,which means I can avoid having un-prototypical inside frames. Still a long way to go. I'm not happy with the front steps and may try to flare them into the footplate at the top a bit more. I found some etched coal sheets that will fit on topof the tender flare and make it look less LNWR- I think they will give the tender a certain Maryport and Carlisle-ish look, but I'm not yet convinced they will look right.

Wonder what became of them.

...I say mainly- "Hecla", the Jarvis Brothers' scale model of a Sharp Stewart Brecon and Merthyr / West Somerset Mineral Railway long boiler type is the exception. Very lovely model and far ahead of its time. I believe it had a rebuilt Hornby clockwork mechanism and the scale reversing lever in the cab had a linkage to reverse the clockwork drive.