rowanj

Unusually, an N10, North Eastern Kit from ArthurK, has a very mixed train heading north for who knows where, Presumably it is a trip from Heaton Yard, but after that...? Lord President has a Saturday extra from Waverley to Leeds. There are some splendid photos by Keith Pirt of her standing pilot at York and I have used her as an excuse to get her to Edinburgh, where Haymarket will have been thrilled, no doubt, to see her.

Having just acquired a Sonic A5/1,as an experiment, which may be of interest, I have attempted to use a decrepit Craftsman body to produce something like an LNER-built A5/2, For all its' faults, building it was great fun, and at least it is better than how it started. Tony used to encourage posts of folks' efforts here, but they seem to have dropped off recently.

A5/2 now heading back to Newcastle, and then on to Saltburn via the Coast route through Sunderland and Middlesbrough. It unexpectedly passes the Sonic Models A5/1 waiting to leave the sidings.

Thanks, Mark. The Isinglass drawing was invaluable, as was the Yeadon volume. Next time I see an unbuilt Craftsman kit at a feceny price, I may have a go at building another- it was good fun. All the best

A5/2 69839 has an SLS Special from Saltburn to Ponteland as it emerges from Scottie Bridge heading north. It will take the North East curve at Benton Quarry junction, follow the Blyth and Tyne past Benton and Longbenton then take the single line curve around/behind Gosforth Car Sheds before joining the Ponteland line. The loco represents the LNER builds modified for the LNER loading gauge, How I did it, warts and all, is described on my loco building thread,

Just to summarise, Cab reprofiled, and fromt spectacle plates altered. New cab rof formed and detailed. New re-shaped frame extensions fitted. Vacuum steam pipe moved to LH side. Sandboxes fitted to footplate top,. and covers added behind cab steps. Plates added behind bunker bars. LNER GS buffers and steam heating pipes added. Cab handrails fitted.Plate added to rear cab. Backhead and cab floor fitted. Repinted and lined - Railtec lining transfers.windows glazed, coal added. Ross Pop safety valves, whistle, chimney and dome altered. The Isinglass drawing and yeadon volume were invaluable in this work. Whether the conversion is worthwhile or succesful depends, I suppose, on ones willingness to accept compromise. Most of my issues stem from the state of the starting point, and in hindsight, I wish I had removed and replaced the valences. I suppose I could have unsoldered the whole lot, but I didn;t and need to live with that decision. Assuming this was a Craftsman kit, I see no reason why an unbuilt one could not be altered to get an A5/2, It might also be possible to make some of the extra changes to get the correct modified dimensions of footplate and tank sides. As for altering a Sonic model, the changes needed to the cab would take a better man than I, but I imagine the other changes are doable. Hope this has been interesting. My workbench is now bare.

Well, you can't make a silk purse out of a sows' ear, but I think it looks a bit better than when it started, and looks more like an A5/2 than an A5/1.

A coat of paint hides a multitude of sins, but also reveals a few more. After a bit more work, the loco will get a couple of coats of black and then lining. A rummage through the drawer revealed I had no suitable curves, and am in despair with the current state of Modelmaster, so will try Railtek, who have proven in the past to be fast and reliable. so the next post should wind up the A5/2 saga.

Then it was just a case of adding the final details. Etched models can look a little bare, so I like to add as manybits and bobs as possible. The cab roof was soldered in place, and the prominent rain strips and vent added.The kit had Ross Pop safety valves, but they looked too large/crude so I replced them with brass ones. the whitemetal whistle had broken off, but, again, I found one on a brass casting in the ubiqutous spares box.GS buffers at the rear and steam heating pipes at both ends were added, and, finally sandboxes above the footplate were shaped from a whitemetal casting, sandpipes to the rear wheels The front ones will go pn the chassis upgrade when I fit the missing brakes Then up to the layout to see if it worked.

Rummaging around the spares box produced a dome and chimney. I can't remember the original source, but they match the drawing almost perfectly. Perching them on the loco, with the frame extensions fitted, persuaded me that I may as well carry on and finish the loco, for all its' faults. The drawing showed a cover of some sort behind the cab steps, which was missing from the model -were they sandboxes?- so they were cut from brass and provided a suitable base later for a sanding pipe for the rear wheels. Some of these locos kept the GC buffers, and others got GS ones. The kit had GS ones on the front and GC on the back, and as my model got the GS ones, I pulled the unwanted ones out, trusting I had a spare set to replace them somewhere. The A5;s were built with 5 bars on the bunker. Most A5/1's lost one , but, luckily, the A5/2;s kept the 5 bars, and this is was was on the kit. A few were plated- one actually was plated outside the bars- and I thought I may as well plate mine, just to add a bit of difference. This was done on the real thing to stop coal dust getting into the cab when coaling at mechanical plants. On my loco, the "gap" above the coal level-below the roofline,was empty, whereas the plan and photos show a sort of plate which obviously stops coal, and anything else, getting into the cab. I just soldered a peice of brass from the inside of the cab to fill it up. All I added to the interior was a backhead (which meant I had to cit the rear shaft from the motor) and a cab floor.

Next stage was to fabricate new frame extensions of the revised shape. This was easier than I feared. I just copied the Isinglass drawing, cut out the frame extension from the drawing, then sellotaped it to a piece of brass. I cut it to the aproximate width, then used the Dremel to"file" it back to the shape needed, using the drawing as a guide. I did mess up one part, but otherwise I found it pretty simple. Better modellers than me will just measure, scribe and cut, The rough edges were filed back, double-checked against the drawing, touched up here and there, and that was it. It seemed to make a big difference to the model, and my morale, when this was tack-soldered in place.

Seein strangers at little Benton is all very well and good, but this is what I really remember- a procession of J27's. often running tender-first- taking coal one way and bringing empties back the other. 65834 has one of the more unusual turns- 24.5T wagons for one of the Staella Pwer Staions on the Tyne, to the West of Newcastle.

The LNER builds for the NE originally had the same frame extensions as the original GC locos, but ther were complaints that the shape made oiling points difficult to access., As a result, they were all modified, and this is such an obvious visual difference between the 2 sub-classes that it must be addressed unless the, model is running as originally built, So the GC frame extensions were unsoldered from the footplate and smokebox, along with the front cylinder cover. The latter was melted by the soldering iron, and turned out to be plasticard. As can be seen it all revaealed a bit of a mess, so at this point- probably a bit late in the day, I began removing all the pintwork ready for, hopefully, reassembly as an A5/2.

The beginning of the rehabilitation. A start was made on lowering and re-profiling the cab roof. This involved altering the front spectacle plates from the double window-i.e with a curve over the firebox- on the GC locos, to a single window along the line of the tanks. i was in several minds about how to do this, and did consider just cutting out a new spectacle plate.In the end, I fabricatesd a part with the correct shape window, and soldered this behind the original, thus "blanking out" the unwanted window. It leaves a thin recess, which I'll probably just hide with filler when the time comes.

You are right, of course, John. Actually, rather than post updates as I go, In this case I was so lacking in confidence that I could get all this to work that I just stored the photos until it looked as though I might finish up with an A2/1.8 or so.The loco has been stripped back to bare metal- the paint just peeled off and I wonder if it was ever primed. I am a fair bit further on now- a backhead and cab floor have been fitted, and once painted, I'll fit the roof. So more to come.

With the cab roof off, it looks even worse. The vacuum steam pipe needs to come off, as the A5/2's were LH drive. It was just a bent piece of wire, through a hole in the smokebox, then held by a couple of split pins. Still is disassembly mode, the frame extensions and cylinder cover have been removed., as has the paint from the tank and bunker sides, ready to tackle the cab. The paint actually scraped off, as it did from the boiler when I got round to that. The front cylinder cover actually melted as I was unsoldering the frame exyensions- it was made from plasticard. And I thought my loco building was bad..At this point, I was ready to throw in the towel.

Well, as I'm somewhat down the road with the A5/2 conversion. I'll start with a few photos. These show what I'm trying to get to, and the original state of the model I'm working on. My ongoing consolation has been that it couldnt finish up any worse than it started. At that stage, all I had done was to release the chimney, dome and cab roof. I knew I had the replace the boiler fittings, but thought I could re-use the roof

It would be a very rare bird on the QoS North of Newcastle too, Tony. While I suppose it did happen from time to time,an A4 was not the usual motive power.Haymarket A2 and A3. were the rostered locos. I have a couple of photos of Highland Chieftain on the train, with the only photographer evidence of an A4 being Golden Plover at Queens Street in the 60,s. Merlin/Eric may know better.

A bit further North, BITTERN has the all=c;ear from the 3-way splitting distant, From our spotting position, we could only see the Home and middle distant, which usually meant a [assenger train and therefore something interesting with the potential for a cop. The left hand distant contolled the North West Curve to Benton and then on yo Newcastle on the electrified North Tyneside loop, A 3rd rail also allowed access to South Gosforth sheds where the EMU's were stabled. It was lifted in 1990 after the closure of Nestle's factory at fawdon and ICI at Callerton on the former Ponteland Branch.. but was interesting for a few years as freight traffic shared tracks with the Tyne and Wear Metro .The RH distant contolled the North East Curve, and was also electified, it too joining the North Tyneside loop. There were occasional express electrics which joined the ECML to give quicker access to and from Central, and a few Blyth and Tyne services also used it , rather than the more usual trip to terminate/start at Manors North. It still exists, and will become busier next year with the reopening to passengers of the line to Ashington. I have been watching a passing loop being put in where I live to allow a half-hourly service, due to begin in Summer 2024. The cost of upgrading 18 miles of freight line is many many millions, and will have taken 4 years from when work started. So anyone lookong to get a local line reopened- I wouldnt hold your breath. A Tyne Dock 9f heads home, light engine, after taking an oil train to the Esso Refinery at Whitehill Point. The loco is an-ex-GBL Evening Star, with a tender body from a GBL 76xxx. I forget the tender type, but remember checking when I put the loco together that it was correct. Additional fittings were from the Dave Alexander Tyne Dock kit -air pumps and so on. Another resource much missed...

This is the 16.30 Newcastle to Berwick, one of the last scheduled steam turns from Gateshead, which ended in 1964 when it became a South Gosforth DMU job. Having lost most of its' frontline work, BITTERN has a least got something to do. I have a photo with 60001 on the train, which was highly regarded at 52A. THe loco is a Wills kit on Comet chassis. Look at this mess. I'm trying to convert a decrepid Crownline A5/1 into something resembling an A5/2. So far. most of the work has involved dismantling and trying to sort out the cab, using Yeadon and an Isinglass drawings as the source. The loco is just having a run out to check the work so far hasnt ruined anything, To be honest. it could hardly be worse than the state of the original, picked up as a body shell painted with a 4 inch brush uing Hammerite- or so it seems. Perversely, when I stuck a set of Gibson frames under it, it ran as well as anything I had. Wish me luck. I'll be putting my efforts on my construction thread.

3 generations of suburban/local passenger motive power pass Little Benton South. The DJH A8 ahs a special from Teesside, probably a Race Special for Killingworth Racetrack Station. This is supported by the L1 in the sidings, which almost certainly has been sent there to free the platforms at Killingworth, RTR Bachmann,Iit was produced by them as a Darlington loco , so I saw no need to tamper with its' identity. The class 104, cut and shut from a Hornby 110, has just had a Horns and Whistles CD motor fitted, which has transformed the running. Looking at Youtube videos, this seems as easy a way as any to re-motor these old things, and I can highly recommend both the product and the service. Usual disclaimer. The train is a SO Alnwick-Newcastle. I re-motored all 4 of my "eligible" stock, including this tender-drive 9F. Again, running and pulling power is transformed. It has a fitted freight from Millerhill back to its' home at York.

I havent given up yet, and am taking photos as I go, but I'll not post any until I;m reasonably sure there will be an A5/2 lookalike at the end of it. I'm still waiting for the Isinglass drawing, bit the different dimensions of the tanks and footplate will just have to be lived with. Mark may be able to do something with an unbuilt kit, I have managed to lower the cab sides and front and rear spectacle plate, and re-shaped the roof profile, I need to check this when the drawing arrives, I'm going to tackle the single windows on the front spectacle plate, and have started to think about how to reshape the front frame extentions. Again, this would be easier with an unbuilt kit. Of course, I could just get an accurate 52F kit from Peter,,,,

The A5/2 will be a big job, perhaps beyond me. I got that body for, I think, £10 from a Show, with the intention of tarting it up, but it was a real mess, so I just renumbered it, after building a chassis. Now , looking at it again, I see lots of things it needs even before trying to convert it. The cab in particular is a mess, and the beading on the RH tank top is badly soldered, making it look as though the tank isnt level, which is possibly isnt. I;ve ordered an Isinglass drawing to see what needs altered for the A5/2,, and in the meantime, removed the cab roof, which always looked askew, only to find gaps filled with filler=plastic padding, I think. So I've cleaned the roof, and can now reseat it at a lower level- one of the necessary changes for an A5/2. I need the drawing to check the proper height. The chassis is a great runner, but is missing brakes on the centre and rear wheels. There is almost no space between the drivers, but after commenting on 46256's Claughton, I'd better have a go at fitting some, There is no detail or backhead in the cab, one of my bugbears, but the rear of the motor shaft pokes in, so I need to cut that off if I'm to do anything in the cab, hopefully without damaging the running. Like the classic Irish joke about the man asking directions - " I wouldnt start from here"

I'm not sure how this one will go, but "nothing ventured".... The backstory is the purchase, literally for coppers, many moons ago of an A5 etched brass body, presumably from a Craftsman kit. It was a real mess, and I always intended to see what could be done to improve it, but gave it up as a bad job. Ironically, the Gibson frames I put together produced a really nice running loco, and if you squinted at it from a reasonable distance..... I re-numbered it as an A5/1 which was briefly at Saltburn, but have now replaced it with the Sonic/Rails model. So the challenge is to get the Craftsman kit to look reasonably close to the LNER A5/2 version which is more appropriate to the ex-NER, I'll get an Isinglass drawing, and have found a couple of posts listing the main differences. Some will be fairly easy, some will just have to be lived with. If anyone has actually tackled this job, I;d love to hear from them- I know interest was revived when the Sonic model came out. Photos will follow.

I too have a beef about the RTR boys. I think it is ridiculous that I have had to build kits, and sometimes to have had to MODIFY them, to get the range of locos I NEED for my layout. 3 variations of B16, J21 and 25, D20, A8 Q7.It's just not fair!