Nick Mitchell

I was looking forward to somebody knowledgeable posting an answer to this question. There doesn't seem to be much information out there, which I guess is why nobody has posted a reply. After a bit of research, this is all I have managed to glean (mainly from British Railway Wagons Their Loads and Loading, Vol. 1): Wooden blocks used to prevent movement of loads would be nailed to the wagon floor, not wedged into the gaps. There is no mention of the size of these, but I guess if they were to be nailed, that would limit them somewhat. The example in the book of "timber chocks used to prevent longitudinal movement" is a photo of massively constructed cradles to support coils of thin steel. I can't find any reference for this being done for steel plates, however. The weight of the load combined with the friction of the wooden floor would probably keep them in place. If loading and unloading was to be done with a magnet, there would be no need for battens underneath or between the plates. in other situations, there would be a need to get ropes or hooks under the plates to lift them. There is a photo on p.49 of the aforementioned book showing several small steel plates stacked directly on the floor of a plate wagon with no visible means of securing them. The book says a load of plate steel shouldn't be higher than 4 inches below the top of the wagon sides, but in this photo some of them are level with the top of the sides. The next wagons in the train are carrying wider steel plates on wagons with no sides. Those plates are chained to the wagons, with two chains going across the load but none going along the load. British Railway Goods Wagons In Colour has a photo (p65) of some fairly chunky square section steel billets loaded in a plate wagon. The load fills the width of the wagon, but not the length, and there is no additional means of preventing fore and aft movement. I found a couple of other photos of wagons in trains, but they are too small to see the detail of how the load is or isn't secured. There are no obvious packing/securing pieces, however. In one (Freight Steam, p.55) there is a single long piece of steel seemingly strewn at a jaunty angle directly on the wagon floor. I'm conscious I haven't answered your actual question about how to represent the wooden chocks, because a) I don't know, and b) I don't think you need them. The models look very nice, by the way.

On a similar theme - because it is a curve not a sharp bend, how about using a skrawker to cut a series of closely spaced parallel grooves on the reverse?

You mean apart from adding weight for the Austerity to show how awesome it is? Partly to allow for social distancing on the train, we're having to run trains which are longer than can fit in the loops at Embsay and Bow Bridge. Consequently we're having to top'n'tail the train. Personally I'd prefer to have another steam loco on the tail. (There has been a second loco in steam every day as stand-by/rescue engine). In this direction, the diesel is providing no power, but is exhausting air from the vacuum pipe. In the reverse direction, the steam loco is doing not much more than heating the train. The theory is that the Diesel is off the end of the platform at Bolton Abbey (from where the Santa trains start and finish) so the public don't see it. The steam loco is at the end everybody arrives at, and parades along the length of the car park as it goes for water. Being a fireman on these turns is a bit like being a pop star, with crowds of kids waving at you. OK, maybe not quite a pop star, but it is good fun.

Beatrice now has her vacuum and steam heat pipes front and rear: On to the cab interior next... Away from the modelling bench, today I've been firing our covid-secure Santa Specials at Embsay. We have a new visiting loco in Welsh Guardsman - another Austerity. This one is not a Hunslet. Well, most of it isn't. It is actually constructed from parts of three different Austerities, like Frankenstein's monster. Maybe it should be called Welsh Guardsmen. For those of you who enjoy your industrial 0-6-0 saddletanks, here are a couple of pictures, and a video:

Only a tiny bit of progress to report over the last week or so, as I continue to add the final few details. Next to the smokebox, there are some grab handles which have been added in preservation, tucked in behind the sandbox filler lids. In the first photo, I have drilled holes for the grab handles, and also drilled out the half-etched sandbox filler lids, which were of the recessed-handle type. Beatrice (at least nowadays) has cast ones. I made new raised sandbox filler lids on my lathe from nickel silver rod. The mounting spigot, 0.7mm diameter, extends 1mm below the footplate, and will represent the tube connecting to the sandboxes themselves. The grab handles are 0.25mm wire. Also visible in the photo below are the recently fitted lamp irons, which are N Brass etchings (LMS type). The final details on the footplate are the brackets for stowing the fire irons on the fireman's side. These are made from wire and scrap etch. Next job will be the vacuum hoses. I suppose I ought to have steam heat hoses as well, seeing as this is a "modern image" model...

Actually, I think this is the same situation as the coaches, in that the most popular/useful part of the range had gone out of stock many years ago. Wasn't what was left and not selling the various pointwork etches? I batted my eyelids several times when the plain line etches became unavailable soon after I'd invested in the jigs and decided that this was the track system I was going to use... but other, easier, systems have come along since - just like the Farish coaches came along. A tempting offer... I'll have to see how much turkey is left over after Christmas...

This is a shame, but I understand the reasoning. I could convince myself that a rake of Mk Is were justified to keep all the Masterclass LMS coach kits company in my gloat box. Trouble is, the ones that have sold out are the common early varieties that it would be odd to not have. I appreciate the Farish ones are an attractive proposition, but given infinite time, skill and resource, I would far sooner have a rake of 1:152 kit-built coaches. The idea that everything sold by the shop is sooner or later a limited edition must surely account for the disappearance of stock into gloat boxes the world over, in a triumph of optimism over realism!

I will admit to having been quite sceptical about 3D printing for various applications in the past, but this is seriously impressive.

Another lockdown over, and once again I've been busier than ever with things other than modelling! All I've had time to do over the last 3 weeks is make the cab roof, and tweak the smokebox door hinge. The way the roof goes together is a nice bit of design. There is a half-etched roof proper, and then a smaller, full thickness, piece which solders to the underneath and locates inside the the cab walls. Obviously the inner piece needs to be carefully filed to a perfect fit before laminating, to ameliorate any wonkiness in the construction of the cab. So far so good, but then there is the roof ventilator. You may recall that I'd used the etched part for the cab roof vent as a coal door on the bunker front, so I needed to make a new one. Measuring the original in place in the cab was tricky. I resorted to holding various pieces of scrap etch up against it, and measuring those instead. Having made a perfect duplicate, when I placed it on the cab roof, it looked far too small. Photos of the real Beatrice as she is today confirmed this... So another, larger one had to be made - this time guestimating the dimensions. In the photo below, the second attempt is shown on the right: At least I now have a spare coal door for some future tank engine - assuming I remember where I put it! Here's a corner "borrowed" from a photo I found on-line, taken from the footbridge at Embsay. Looks like somebody has stolen the capacitors from the bunker... And my version, soldered in place, from a similar angle. I think it looks about right. This front view shows the aesthetic advantage of the two-layer cab roof design - in that no light shows through the crack between the cab front and the roof. This is something I've had issues with in the past. It does give a very thick cab roof, so I have chamfered the inside edges of the rectangular hole so when you look at an angle like this, the metal looks suitably thin. The list of details left to add is getting quite short now, and I'm coming dangerously close to the painting stage. I'll have to put it away and start another loco project or three before that happens... a Masterclass 8F has begun singing its siren song recently... I've just noticed that Rapido announced a OO RTR version of the Hunslet 16" a few days ago. Beatrice is included in the list of initial versions, but in NCB red with a stovepipe chimney. I wonder if there will be an N version at some point?

I really like what you've done there, Simon. I had been thinking how plain the castings looked, and will be pinching your ideas for my "bunch of fives". I used a "fabricated" approach to these on my Nigel Hunt Princess. I took the front of the etched "boxes" which Nigel supplies, and built up similar detail using wire. If I had allowed myself to use my lathe for the Jubilee, and made bespoke valves rather than using the Black 5 castings, I would have done something similar. Apologies for the out of focus photo, but here are the guides in their initial form. The bottom horizontal wire was squashed flat to lie next to the bottom edge of the etched piece. The vertical wires were soldered on, and then a slot sawn across them for the upper horizontal wire. The wires were all left very long and held in position on a piece of paper with Pritt stick while the soldering took place. For installing on the loco, the top wire was bent up and round the top of the valve spindle gland. (This is functional, and is made from 0.8mm o.d. tube embedded in the valve end cover - it protrudes about a mm...) The bottom wire was bent at a right angle and passes below the gland. The gap between them was flooded with solder. If you're interested in what's behind the valve spindle guide, the combination levers are "double jointed" at the top, with a valve spindle made from 0.45mm brass which is a good running fit in the gland tube. The end was squashed flat and an etched washer soldered on, then drilled through 0.3mm to take the pivot pin. The end of the radius rod pivots on the top pin. In the photo below, you can see my first attempt. Subsequently I replaced the union link and combination lever with ones from the Black 5 kit (as seen in the photo above.) I can't remember why, but I think I after staring at it for far too long, I worked out the union link shouldn't be fluted. The combination lever may have disintegrated. The Black 5 combination lever has thinner etched fluting, which enabled me to thin the edges down a bit more whilst maintaining the structural integrity. Below you can see that it is pretty much all flute, with no edge left after I was too enthusiastic with the file. Speaking of filing - the little ends of the conn. rods are joined to the cross-head with a flanged crank-pin. The flange was reduced in diameter, and using a gorgeous #6-cut swiss file I was able to file a hexagon on to the stub of the short end of the pin to represent the fixing nut. If anyone is looking for the split-pin across the front of the nut, they will be disappointed! The other end of the radius rod is pivoted to the bottom of the expansion link, which puts the loco in full forward gear. No reversing the gear here, I'm afraid... In the photo below, showing the joint, the rear end of the radius rod (designed to attach to the lifting arm) still needs to be cut off. In the view below, with the loco much more complete, I have tried to match up the positioning of two-part reverser reach rod above the footplate to the valve gear below: And the result of all this - well, with the engine in motion you can barely see any movement of the valve spindle! Here's a short video to prove it:

In my mind I have always likened Bill to Gandalf. When I was part of the Darkest Essex Area Group, he would appear intermittently to delight and amaze us with his wizardry. You could see the glow from his rail straightener from as far away as Chelmsford. These days when I drive to work on the M65 and pass the exit sign to Blackburn W, I always think of him. Not only was he an inventive engineer, he was incredibly encouraging to a newbie like me - as indeed were all the members of that group.

On my workbench earlier today was this pile of 100 Mod 0.4 18T spur gears, having been de-burred and tested. They are now winging their way to Shop 3 for sale to members. For anyone interested in how these gears are produced from blanks, I have made a little video showing the Association's machine in action.

GWR OK type?

Most definitely! I have one of these on my ever-expanding to-do pile, and you've given me lots of ideas to pinch. I especially like your way of springing the pony truck. Thank you.

Beatrice finally has her face. The handles are my usual handrail knobs trimmed to length and filed as round as I can Looking at this cruel enlargement, I'm thinking the hinge might need some slight adjustment. At least the bolt heads on the tank front are visible in this shot...

Here are a few more pictures. With the chassis in place, you can see the compromise with the balance pipe under the front end of the tank passing behind rather than in front of the ejector pipe. I have also fitted the steps on the tank sides, fixed the wonky grab handle, straightened the rear buffer beam, and fitted a lamp bracket on the smokebox. This latter item is actually a spare from my 9F kit. As well as the ex-Jinty brake hangers and modified LMS buffers, there is also part of a piece of Jubilee chassis somewhere on this loco... you'll never guess! This one shows off the reversing lever well. It also shows off the missing guard iron... I hope I will be able to effect a repair without ruining the lining on the frames(!) Now the driver's side is so "busy" under the tank, you need to look from the fireman's side for a good view of the bits between the frames. This might be more difficult once the fire irons are stowed along the footplate.

I've just spent an enjoyable few hours attending the 2mm Zoom Area Group. In the spirit of real area group meetings, while listening to the conversations, I was attempting to do a bit of model making. This morning I have added a few more details under the tank on the driver's side. The pipe between the cab and the smokebox carries the exhaust steam from the vacuum ejector which has been fitted in preservation. A lot of preserved ex-industrial saddletanks (including at least one Hunslet 16") have such a pipe on top of the tank, running close to the handrail. I think the under-tank arrangement is much neater. On the real loco, this pipe wriggles behind the balance pipe, but seeing as I have made the balance pipe part of the chassis, I am unable to replicate the precise arrangement. The pipe itself (and the vertical section joined to it) are 0.3mm nickel silver. Where it joins the smokebox, there is a flange made from 6 thou brass. In front of the ejector pipe is the operating linkage for the cylinder drain taps. The instructions suggested making this from wire. but I have used a thin part of the etched fret instead. Once I had filed the cusp off, it is about .25mm square. While this is over scale, it will be more robust than wire of the correct diameter, but more than that, having a flat surface it will reflect the light differently. The real thing is supported half way along - it runs in a slot in the top of a pillar. I have replicated the pillar with a length of 0.25mm rod. I filed a flat on the rear of the rod at the top end before soldering the operating rod behind it. I also spent some time readjusting the handrails that I had managed somehow to damage. looking at these pictures I have also noticed the grab handle in top of the tank has got pushed in at one side, and the rear buffer beam is looking decidedly wonky! Once those are tweaked, the tank footsteps are next on my list...

We're at the elite end of the hobby here Andy - invisible rivet counting. Besides, you know I've never shied away from adding details to my models that nobody will ever see. It is a natural progression to want to put stuff on there that I can't see either! Like the fabled emperor resplendent in his "clothes", I am confident that these "bolts" are now accurately positioned, and Beatrice looks all the better for them... The bolts on the vertical surface were pushed through from the other side (via half-etched dimples) and were never that well defined. You have to catch the light just right to see any sign of them, so photographing them is quite tricky. Some of the ones on the cab sides are similar. The strip round the smokebox wrapper suffered a bit with being taken off, cleaned, straightened and re-fitted, and the lumps have worn away somewhat. I believe a couple of them are more visible in the photo below?? If not, admire the long handrails I've just fitted to the tank instead.

Beatrice has had many modifications in preservation to make her really efficient and easy to operate, plus some cosmetic tweaks as well - but I am not convinced this is one of them. Primrose (another 16" that lives at Embsay) and Darfield (which visited a number of years ago) also have the bolts in line rather than staggered. There are photos on the web of Beatrice (and others) in industrial service with the bolts aligned, and I have even seen published Hunslet works photos of 16" locos with the bolts aligned this way (3855 is one such loco). Maybe this was something that evolved over the long period of time the class was in production?

Now we're back in Lockdown (although living in Pendle things haven't changed much), my attentions have returned to my "lockdown loco" Beatrice. I'm at the stage where I am able to write down a list of detailing jobs required to finish the loco, and it all fits on a single piece of paper! I have also used up all the bits I'm going to from the kit with the exception of the cab roof. The photos below show progress since I got the electronics up and running 2 months ago. Starting at the bottom, I have added the footsteps. The etches only included parts for the cab steps, so I had to make a matching pair for under the smokebox. The treads are 5 thou and the backing plate 10 thou, cut from spare bits of the etch. Above the footplate is the reverser reach rod, which passes through a slot in the cab front. Above that, you can see I've fitted a handrail to the bottom of the tank. Marking out and drilling the holes for the etched knobs was challenging with the footplate in the way... I fear there was a distinct lack of planning in my eagerness to solder the tank in place as soon as I'd made it. Still I got there in the end! On the smokebox is the front part of the bracket which secures the tank. This is actually the second time this has been fitted. In the kit it comes as one long strip. Only after I had fixed the strip (months ago) did I find out it needed a gap to accommodate the chimney base (like the real one). I also noticed that the bolt heads didn't line up with each other. Off it came, but it has now gone back in two halves, suitably trimmed and adjusted so the bolt heads (or what remains of them!) align nicely. At the rear end, the cab handrails have been fitted. These are 8 thou plain steel guitar string. I have also fitted the reversing lever in the cab (which is a real work of art). The two sides of the quadrant are separate, joined by 0.2mm wire at the ends, and the rod moves between them so it is possible to set the loco in whatever gear you like. I have gone for mid-gear, to match the position of the balance weight in-between the frames. On the cab back, the spectacle rings have been fitted, as has the single lamp iron. I bashed some 5 thou shim spare from the etch (I think this was originally intended as a smokebox wrapper) to make a raised cover for the coal space, which will accommodate the capacitors that proved to be just protruding. This will eventually be covered with real coal. Looking down on into the cab, you can see the coal door, which slides upwards to open. I'm now thinking I might have made a mistake with this - the part may actually have been the cab roof ventilator! Oh well, I'll just have to make another. It is perfect as the coal door though - a part of the real loco with which I am intimately acquainted.. The bracket for the brake handle is in the correct place, but the hole in the floor to accept the base of the shaft doesn't even nearly line up with it. Hardly a major problem, and just about the only part in the kit which hasn't fitted perfectly. The bracket holding the tank to the cab front shows up nicely in this view too. Moving round the loco, the handrail under the tank on the left side has been fitted too, as have the little grab handles next to the water filling hatch. Once the main handrails are fitted, only two little steps will remain to be added to the tank sides. Looking front-on, it is easier to see how I have cut the smokebox / tank front bracket strip to accommodate the chimney base. The smokebox door is just loosely placed at the moment. I think I will glue it on once the hinges and handles have been soldered to it. Lamp brackets still need to be added to the front end. The fit of the capacitors into the bunker is an incredibly tight squeeze. When fitting the body, the capacitors have to slide in almost all the way first, then the front can lift up. There is next to no clearance here either - either between the footplating for the boiler to fit through (I've managed to scratch some of the paint off) - or at the front end. I found it necessary to file a chamfer at the front corned of the boiler tube to allow it to bend up into position, which you may be able to detect in the picture. Most of this chamfer will be hidden up inside the tanks. Annoyingly, on the back right corner, one of the guard irons has broken off and I haven't been able to find it. I can make a replacement, but fixing it in place without destroying the paint work will be tricky. There are still a good many details to add, but she is really starting to look the part now.

You need this to pull it (as long as you get the number of rivets correct):

I'll happily take my share of the blame for such a superlative creation... I stand in awe of those who responded to my goading and have taken things to such an extreme level. Looking at the pictures of the plumbing - are the pipes solid, or are they micro bore tube? It is making me think of a Sindy dolls house my sister had as a child in the 80s. It had a kitchen unit with a tap that ran and a washing machine that "worked". There was a little battery driven pump inside it. I know it is completely infeasible, but wouldn't it be amazing to see the urinals flush...

Too many! (Sorry, Simon...) If I live long enough to build everything in my gloat box, there may eventually be four. I have two PECO bodies, and two Farish - though I don't have wheels or other parts for all of them. There is no layout planned to accommodate them all (or, for that matter, several of the other loco projects I have on my list) but I seem to like building steam engines with Walschaerts valve gear. Apart from them being a really nice looking loco (in my opinion) I have an affinity with the class. 5690 Leander was the first standard gauge steam loco I drove back in 2005 (not long after I had joined the 2mm Scale Association as it happens) when I had a bit more hair...

I like your thinking. The only fly in the ointment is that 45670 needs a riveted tender, and the model of 5682 has a flush one. This model was an impulse purchase, second hand at a show a couple of years ago. It wasn't part of the master plan, but something akin to love at first sight. The livery sold it to me, but before I saw it I hadn't realised Farish had done long firebox tooling as well as short firebox. The original plan was to make my other PECO Jubilee a red one, probably 5623 Palestine with a Stanier 3,500 gal. tender. I'd also like one with a Fowler riveted tender - there's a nice picture in a colour album I have of 5740 Munster with one of these in green, with a small lion... but that loco is another long firebox example. The only solution I can think of is to have even more Jubilees!

There are some photos of Jubilees early in their lives that clearly show at least some of the extra rivets that the PECO model has - so they haven't simply made them up. But I have now found a pre-war photo of 5604 confirming it did have the row of 3 pattern as you suggest at least by the time I am interested in. Never thought I would descend to rivet counting! I have a set for each of my Jubilees ready and waiting... I haven't thought that far ahead. What is the significance of that particular loco? (I feel like I ought to know, but am being slow on the uptake)