LNER4479

Well, tried to switch to a bit of detail this evening but it was a bit laboured.

This is the boiler unit, being turned into a pin cushion with various pilot holes for the correspondingly various fittings.

Now, I wonder if I can find a suitable chimney / dome (etc) in this lot?

Trouble is, I couldn't ... really! Spent too long trying to find something suitable. In the end, turned down the chimney supplied in a Jamieson Std 2-6-4T kit I happened to have at hand(!)

It all took ages but here's the 'draw stumps' picture, with chimney, dome and top feed in place.

As last year, I'll keep plugging away over the coming days and weeks and see if we can't get the bally thing finished at last.

'Night ...

Well, I don't think I'd use them these days, that's for sure. There's plenty of subsequent soldered connections added which more or less renders them obsolete - the rear one will be hidden by the side tanks in any case. The only problem with removing them now would be the holes left behind; I might file them down a bit before painting.

Meanwhile:

Let's see if we can make use of the remains of this MRJ LMS valve gear fret (last used in anger for last year's Patriot project). Fairburn connecting rods are a bit shorter than 4-6-0s so a bit of cutting and shutting is required.

Crosshead / piston rod assemblies already made so a fairly simple job to fit the newly made up conn. rods.

And now a first trial fit. All seems to go round OK.

Right - time for tea 😉

Well, might not look like much, but ...

Chassis cleaned and reassembled and, with a few tiny tweaks, passes the roll test with coupling rods on 🙂

And, half an hour later ...

Here's some detail to add:

The angled brackets, supporting the front running plate. Very noticeable in front end photos. I must have intended to fit them as there's corresponding slots in the frames.

And fitted.

You might have already spotted what my last hour or so handling the thing closely has confirmed - my standards have possibly improved a tad over the last 35 years ...

hmm ...

Perhaps we should cut to the chase and just see if we can get the bally thing to 'go' after all these things (and not to overly fret about the details).

Firstly, a strip down/ clean up of the chassis is in order I think, as things have become a little tarnished and congealed over the years.

And as some have previously doubted (in jest?) the integrity of these little challenges, then I've included a time check above ...

Well, here's to 2024 everyone 🥃

At least one person has spotted that there hasn't been a Christmas challenge this year. Well, if you haven't already spotted it, then the Grantham parallel thread reveals that we did a festive season escape to the Swiss Alps this year.

However, that doesn't mean that we can't have a NYD challenge instead!

So what's going on here, you may well ask? A little explanation is called for.

I'm sure there may be longer running loco build projects out there but this one has certainly racked up an impressive(?) total. Many years ago, before virtually every loco type was available RTR and many kits were crude approximations at best, I resolved to scratchbuild a Princess Royal for my Dad's 50th birthday. Flushed with the success of that, I thought I'd do another scratchbuild - a Fairburn 2-6-4T. And here it is, some 36 years later!!!

Just to show how long the Carlisle candle has been burning, the choice was based on the fact that (apart from there being no RTR version at the time) they saw use on the famous Bradford-Hawes 'Bonni-face' service through Garsdale. So the loco will still has a purpose all these years later. Apart from acquiring one as a Shap banker, I have held off acquiring the present day RTR version, always intending to finish this build ... one day.

As you might be able to see, all the main assemblies are built. The remaining work is to motorise and detail. Realistically, it's not going to be anything like finished today but, on the basis of 'I've started so I'll finish', let's see how much progress we can make at least ...

You might have thought we'd have gone the whole hog and gone up the Jungfrau on a day like this ... but our timings didn't allow.

Instead, we had the train down the other side to ourselves, making good use of the pully-down windows. 20 mins of pure Alpine perfection. They hardly need captions.

Ice station Zebra? That's the Junfraujoch, Europe's highest railway station, perfectly silhouetted against the clear blue sky.

Looking in the Wengen direction, the mountainside village visible centre left is actually Mürren, on the opposite of the Lauterbrunnen valley. Presiding over it, towards the centre is the 007 Schilthorn summit. Last went up there in 2018. Also no time for that today - but perfectly happy just to have been in such fab conditions.

My fave Swiss destination is actually canton Graübunden and the incomparable Rhätischebahn. But when conditions in the Bernese Oberland are like this, it is pretty special.

Further change at Grindelwald for the Wengeralpbahn and the dramatic hill climbing (and descending!) ahead. You can see the route ahead of this remarkable cog railway, snaking up the hillside in the distance; also the new Jungfrau express cable car run (Grindelwald Terminal to Eiger Glacier).

Well above the snow line now, as we skirt the side of the Eiger with ski run beside us.

The 'classic' view at Kleine Scheidegg as a Jungfrau train rolls in.

We'd kept an eye on the weather forecast and held off going the day before. A good call, as it turned out, being greeted with conditions like this😎

Several posts coming up, as file sizes quite big:

Day 2 (23rd) based in Luzern saw us take the also rather excellent Zentralbahn Panoramic Express service on the metre gauge to somewhere you might have heard of ...

These 7-car sets include a full-blown restaurant car. Not over expensive and not over patronised - what's not to like?

And with tempting views across lake Brienz, anticipating fine conditions for the scenery to come.

Change at Interlaken (Ost) for the fab BOB trains. It's looking good.

Hope everyone's having a good festive season?

We haven't had a travelogue for quite some time, so how about some images from our just-returned-from Christmas escape?

Having successfully dodged a wildcat strike affecting Eurotunnel, we stayed local to our base on our first day out there, for a day of:

Planes ...

Trains ...

... and ... er ... Ships!

Perhaps not too difficult to guess where we went? If still struggling, perhaps this one might give it away:

Next - the sun comes out and the scenery delivers.

Some more from the recent photo bank.

Whilst clearing Upperby of stock (for now), we get a first impression of what Upperby yard might look like.

The sort of fish train (express goods) heads south, nearing the top of the southbound climb away from Carlisle (under the control of the trusty Duette!)

A reminder that this part of the layout crosses over the top of the northbound lines out of Dentonholme.

The train arrives at a rather congested Central. However, a route is clear through plat.2. Fixed formation (not to be shunted!) trains do not necessarily need to be berthed in the goods yard at Central ...

Round the other side, in the true fiddle yard area, the core of the fish train can be seen in the cassette road, about to be stored out of the way (for now) ... hence the flexibility of running through the station.

Anyhow, wot's 'e been getting up to on 'is workbench these last couple of weeks?

I'm ever so glad you've asked me that. Apparently, some people recoil in terror at the very mention of the name 'Brassmasters'.

That makes it sound like a challenge to me. And I do rather like soldering things up from brass (or nickel silver) etches.

Some parts are indeed insanely small.

Especially when it'll either be difficult or downright impossible to see once the vehicle is on the track?

Completed inner frames, at least so far as can be done before fitting wheels and affixing in position.

So here we have the visible (outside) tender frames.

Soldering on those rivetted strips - that was fun (not!)

Rear buffer beam ...

... front dragbox

Ok, so perhaps you might be getting an idea now?

I won't leave you completely in suspenders on this occasion. The eagle eyed might have spotted the slightly closer wheelset spacing - this is indeed an LMS 3,500 gallon tender. It's for a Jubilee project - but which one?