MikeOxon

Not in 1st class carriages but they were on 2nd and 3rds, where a guard rode inside the carriage to operate them. Lovely rendering in Fusion 360!

I think you make a good analogy with IT procurement. So often, the difference between serving a small number of clients and one for thousands of users is completely ignored and the system falls flat on its face when overwhelmed. In the case of Aeolus, smaller driving wheels, new cylinders and valve gear made it into a useful small engine, rather then a grossly inadequate express engine.

Attributing a boiler explosion to lightning does seem to fall into the 'humbug' category!

Lardner also wrote 'The Locomotive Engine Familiarly Explained and Illustrated', 1840, which can be downloaded from Google Books. I have not actually read the text but found the series of illustrations of Stephenson's Patentee engine and tender (starting on p.385) of considerable interest. I had searched for a full copy of these in several other books but many internet books do not have the plates scanned properly.

Another of Dr Lardner's pronouncements, on hearing that Brunel was proposing to build SS Great Western for the 3,500 mi (5,600 km) transatlantic passage to New York, was that: "it was perfectly chimerical, and they might as well talk of making the voyage from New York to the moon... 2,080 mi (3,350 km) is the longest run that a steamer could encounter – at the end of that distance she would require a relay of coals."

There was a sliding door in the partition and blinds on each side of the windo so that occupants could have privacy if they wished. See illustration from D.K. Clark’s ‘Railway Machinery’, vols. 1 & 2 (the plates), 1855.

You ave mastered the 'Render' options in Fusion 360 far more than I have! I must try exploring these capabilities in more detail. You were lucky to find an older post that still has its illustrations. I also made some divided 1st class compartments with central partitions.

Thank you Mikkel. From my own reading, it seems that Gooch was very much a man who led from the front. There are plenty of records of his 'hands on' approach to sorting out the problems of Brunel's unsatisfactory engines. There is also the story of how he and Brunel spent a night in the engine shed, sorting out the draughting of North Star, which greatly improved its performance. The infamous Dr Lardner had asserted that air resistance restricted the maximum speed of the engine to about 30 mph but the improvements to North Star soon proved him wrong!

At the end of my previous post , I wrote that the engine and tender would next enter the paint shop. Because the various major components (boiler, firebox, etc.) were all printed separately and simply plugged together, it was easy to paint each part in its appropriate colour, with no masking required. I use acrylic paints, which I like to apply in the manner of water colour. I use an alcohol/water mix to ‘wet’ the surface and then add pigment to achieve the desired depth of colour. For the boiler and firebox, I used ‘Rustoleum Painters Touch’ Dark Green, which has a distinctly bluish hue, mixed with black to achieve my preferred broad-gauge ‘dark blue-green’ appearance. Other parts were painted black, with GWR Coach Brown for the frames. Smaller areas were Chinese Red for the buffer beam and Antique Gold for the bright-work. Once the painting of the body was completed, I added a few small parts, including the curved brackets at the outer ends of firebox and smokebox. I actually printed these brackets together with a set of wheels since, when laid flat on the printer bed, small parts like these only take a few minutes for the whole batch to complete, Small Parts on Printer Bed I have found that the gelled type of superglue is good for attaching such small items. I apply a thin film of glue to the mating surfaces, using a cocktail stick and, while gripping the small part in a pair of tweezers, press it firmly into position against the main body. I check under an illuminated magnifier, to ensure that the alignment is correct. Bracket attached to side of Smokebox By using a very thin film of glue, I ensure there is no unsightly overspill and the joint sets almost immediately. Unfortunately, I couldn’t use my favourite technique of fusing parts together with a soldering iron, because they are in visually exposed positions and the tiny areas involved are too difficult to melt cleanly, without damaging the surface finish. With the brackets attached and the wheels fitted, my models of Aeolus and tender now look like this: Fresh from the paint-shop – Aeolus and tender As I have mentioned before, when commenting on earlier posts, one of my aims in building models is to visualise the progress of engine design throughout the early years of railway development. I find that models do this for me far more effectively than viewing 2D illustrations. For example, this photo of 'Vulcan' (a sister engine to ‘Aeolus’) looks fairly normal, when seen in isolation, but put a model against later designs and the differences in 'scale' become immediately obvious. I am now able to place my model of ‘Aeolus’ head to head with my model of ‘Argus’ , a member of Gooch’s pioneering Fire Fly class: My models of Aeolus and Argus, head-to-head The undersized boiler and lightweight frame construction are clearly seen in ‘Aeolus’, which was originally built in an attempt to meet Brunel’s virtually impossible specifications. When Gooch built his Fire Fly class, he recognised the need for adequate boiler size and heating surfaces, together with robust components able to withstand the rigours of regular express operations. ‘Aeolus’ was built in 1837, while the first of the Fire Fly class appeared in 1840, showing remarkable development within just a few years. Gooch went on to produce the much larger 4-2-2 ‘singles’, staring with ‘Iron Duke’, built in 1847. I only have a model of one of the later re-builds of these engines but the dimensions were much the same as the original engines – the comparison below shows the extraordinary increase in size that these engines represented: My model of Aeolus with Rover-class 4-2-2 My model shows ‘Aeolus’ following a re-build in 1843, which turned it into a small but useful engine for light duties. Apparently, she served for a short period on the Abingdon Branch, which happens to be my home town! This type of usage could be seen as a precursor to the small-engine auto-trains, introduced by the GWR early in the 20th century. Abingdon Station c.1863 Mike

I think toolboxes were usually green. It amuses me that we always try to achieve a perfect finish on our models but photographs show that those early iron-built engines had surfaces that were far from smooth - see, for example, the photo you posted on April 7th and I've seen much rougher examples in other photos. Of course, it appeals to me because I don't get 'perfect' surfaces from my FDM printer! Mike

Your colour on my screen looked rather bluer than 'pre-1928' green and, therefore, more like the 'Holly Green' of 'pre-1881' times. The current GWR franchise claim to base their 'visual identity' on the early broad gauge green - this colour is defined in the Wikipedia UK Railways Colours list as #0a493e, which can also be represented as RGB= 10, 73, 62 or HSL= 170°, 86%, 29%. I've now found your thread at https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/171250-gwr-broad-gauge-bogie-class/ which I shall follow with interest. It's great to see these once semi-mythical broad gauge engines receiving more attention from modellers. 🙂 Mike

Your model looks superb. I especially like the way you have done the brass beading around the edges of the valances to the splashers. The colour looks great too. Congratulations 🙂

From another source, I learned that Edward Tertius Campbell died, bankrupt in 1887. There was also a major scandal concerning one of his daughters, who died of alcohol poisoning aged 33. The way in which all that industrial enterprise disappeared from the landscape within a few years is a salutary comment on the transient nature of human endeavour. Campbell's Buscot Factory (colourised) Mike

You are right about the steps, Mikkel. It's actually made from three photos, stitched together by using Microsoft ICE software. I should, perhaps, explain to readers the 'secret' of Amy's paintings, which were created using Dynamic Auto Painter software on some of my layout photos. It was seeing your 3-plankers that inspired me to add a couple to my layout. I have a feeling that my layout may see a 3D-printed model of 'Edith' in the not-too-distant future - I'm pretty confident that it will be a unique model 🙂

Thank you for commenting, Compound2632. I suppose it shows that my wild speculations regarding tramways around North Leigh were not completely beyond the realms of possibility - it just needed someone with more money than commercial sense to turn up in the area 🙂

North Leigh Station, with Goods Yard and Narrow Gauge System Beyond When I first decided to attribute the location of my small layout to North Leigh in Oxfordshire, the only basis I had was a map dated 1849, which shows a branch line from the OW&WR main line running south from near Stonesfield to Witney. Of course, this line was never built and Witney was eventually served by the now closed Fairford Branch described at http://www.fairfordbranch.co.uk/ , from which website the following map was taken, with permission: 1849 Map showing planned Witney Branch For more background information about my layout, see: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/blogs/entry/15925-read-me-first/ My ‘fiction’ about the Wilcote family turned out to have more truth than I realised, when I discovered the beautiful ‘Wilcote’ chapel in St Mary’s church at North Leigh, founded in 1438, containing the effigies of Sir William and Lady Wilcote. An extensive essay about the chapel by Kate Heard can be downloaded from https://docs-eu.livesiteadmin.com/9bfdcf97-cfb1-46b2-a0a3-c577f41b8f38/death-and-representation-in-the-fifteenth-century.pdf Wilcote Chapel, St.Mary’s North Leigh, photographed in 2016 The idea of a narrow gauge railway in the area still seemed to be entirely fanciful, since I knew of nothing similar in the Cotswolds region but then, ‘chance’ struck again, following a recent visit to an old riverside pub near Lechlade! An information board there described some of the history of the area, drawing attention to the extensive trade along the River Thames, with many wharves for loading local produce destined for London. Following up on this information, I looked at the 19th-century OS 25” maps of the area, which, to my surprise, showed an extensive series of tramways, leading from farms around Buscot to a Distillery and other industrial buildings situated by the river. OS Map Buscot (National Library of Scotland – Creative Commons Licence) The estate of Buscot Park is now managed by the National Trust and there is an article by John R. Gray on the web, entitled ‘An Industrialised Agricultural Estate in Berkshire’ From this article, I learned that, in 1859, Robert Tertius Campbell, recently returned from Australia, acquired the semi-derelict Buscot Park. The estate totalled 3,500 acres and included the parishes of Buscot and the depopulated village of Eaton Hastings. At Buscot, he devised a scheme to make sugar and to distil spirit alcohol from sugar beet. The distillery, built at a reputed cost of £100,000 on the island adjacent to Buscot lock, was opened in 1869. To collect the 10,000 to 12,000 tons of sugar beet per year from the farms, Campbell built a narrow-gauge railway (2’ 8” gauge), with over 6 miles of track, round the estate. Three 0-4-0 tank engines were supplied by Appleby Brothers of Southwark, and named after Campbell's daughters, Edith, Emily and Alice. I found a photograph of ‘Edith’ in the book ‘British Steam Locomotive Builders’ by J.W. Lowe. ‘Edith’, supplied by Appleby Bros., Southwark I now believe that this tramway system had several similarities to the system I devised around North Leigh, where it would have served to collect stone from the many quarries in the area and timber from the sawmills associated with the nearby Wychwood Forest. These aims seem to me at least as reasonable as the enterprise at Buscot! Sadly, the bold venture at Buscot failed after only 10 years and few traces remain on the ground today. Perhaps there were places not too dissimilar to those on my own layout, as captured by the brush of Amy Wilcote. Narrow Gauge Railway serving North Leigh Farms Sawmill near North Leigh Whereas the system at Buscot linked the farms to wharves on the River Thames, my imagined narrow-gauge system at North Leigh led to interchange sidings in the Goods Yard behind North Leigh Station, from where building stone from the quarries and timber from the sawmill could be transported to Oxford and other local towns. Transfer Sidings at North Leigh Goods Yard On the Buscot tramway system, the south-east terminus of the railway was at Oldfield Farm, where Campbell built a water-powered corn mill. Similarly, there was a watermill near North Leigh, which was a favourite place for Amy Wilcote to set up her easel. Sometimes, as I run my layout late in the evening, I imagine I can see her there: Water Mill near North Leigh At present, according to the message on this website “Image restoration from pre-May 2021 continues and may take an indefinite period of time.” The illustrations in this post will have to make do for all those currently missing from this blog. Mike

I think it must a 'trick of the light' but the footplate looks narrower over the front bogie than over the drivers in that photo.

It's interesting to see this photo immediately after No.40 'North Star' - the angularity is beginning to creep in with only the curve of the splashers to soften the lines. It's a good angle from which to view a Duke, as the set-back chimney looks a bit strange in more side-on views.

Nice clean exhaust - good Welsh steam coal - although a lot leaking from the cylinders. I enjoy these videos that bring the modelling to life.

I've done a little myself, although not to anywhere near the standard shown here. My approach has been to select the 'colour' mode of the various painting tools in Adobe Photoshop. There are various controls for transparency and flow of the colours being applied. The basic light and shade of the image is retained from the black and white original, so that the colour can be applied in quite large 'washes'. Great care is needed at edges and it is always advisable to work with the image at 'actual size' and to keep 'standing back', by reducing the size, to assess the overall effect. In this respect, I think it is similar to the ways in which artists approach the fine brushwork in their works. Unfortunately, most of my attempts on this site seem to have been lost in the general image cull since the recent crash.

I agree that there has been a major programme of 'cleaning up' many of our towns and cities in recent years. I was recalling my own impressions from the Lancashire of my youth, when black was the prevailing colour.

Excellent colourising by Adrian Knowles. I feel that we miss so much, with only B/W photos of the colourful Victorian world. Even those now- blackened walls and buildings were once clean bright stone.

I have tried re-loading the images into my 'Bodies and Components' post. That wasn't difficult but it then takes time to position them all into their correct locations within the post. There are 80 posts in this blog and many more in my 'Pre-Grouping' blog so re-entering them all is not a task to be undertaken lightly! I shall wait a few weeks and see if there is any improvement but, since most of these posts are somewhat meaningless without the images, I shall probably simply delete them, if the situation has not changed.

I once had a go at my own version of GWR streamlining in the 'Imaginary Locomotives' thread Mike

I've just found that some images which I can see in the post, disappear when I click on them with a message: This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below. <Error> <Code>AccessDenied</Code> <Message>Access Denied</Message> <RequestId>R4FCBHHG5D0N7FMB</RequestId> <HostId> upRfW0q2vDelYlH5gOmy0CLlfBDOevxlLBjaKM+AhjcI14Lk8iajbIk/TCW7lJcK/lNQcP2ZhGg= </HostId> </Error> Some other images open as expected. Perhaps, to someone more knowledgeable, this is a clue to what is happening? Mike