5&9Models

Well, I've had to do a bit of homework on this one. Burtt, Bradley and Ahrons all discuss Gray's engine, and Burtt shows an example (Fig.11) of what he calls No.49 of the LB&SCR. Ahrons also provides a drawing but this time of one of Gray's engines for the Hull & Selby where he was Locomotive Superintendent before coming to Brighton. These two drawings match. However, David Joy made a drawing of Gray's 'Express engine for the LB&SCR' and that's the one also illustrated in The Engineer (pictured above). I now have a good copy of this drawing (can't share here for copyright reasons) but it confirms without doubt that it is one of Gray's LB&SCR engines built by Hackworth's 1846-48. Many thanks to Tom Nicholls for buying me a copy of the drawing! Therefore, Burtt got it wrong. He clearly made no reference to David Joy's archives but chose to illustrate Gray's Brighton locos with a drawing of one of Gray's Hull & Selby engines (lazy?). Bradley didn't bother to provide an illustration and to be fair to Ahrons, he shows Gray's H&SR engine not his LB&SCR one. So, to answer your question, the loco will look like that one from The Engineer, not the one in Burtt's book as I think that's a red herring!

Fantastic to see that Burgundy, thanks for sharing!

Great photo! The Great Bear is a magnificent beast but I know which of those two I prefer...!

Correct. Sometimes they had vents and doubled up as dog boxes but yes, these ones were for luggage in the absence of a roof to put it on.

Absolutely beautiful. Thank you for the detailed build description, really interesting. Looking forward to seeing it in place too.

Maybe RMWeb should run a survey of the most tedious jobs in the world of Railway Modelling!

Thanks. Yes, I haven’t posted the tender details as yet but will do so when it’s a bit more sorted. I hope the motor unit will be available as a kit. Need a few more weeks to work on it yet though.

Hi George, yes they're very similar in size.

Hi Ian, Thanks. I think they might be ok in 3.5mm, I'll have to measure one and give you some external dimensions... and then get round to writing some instructions!

Another of my 'seemed like a good idea at the time' projects last summer was to create kits for each of the principal carriages of the London & Birmingham Railway. Once again this was to be another diversion from Bricklayers Arms but a change is as good as a break, no? Together with a good friend Tom Nicholls who has provided endless information, drawings, research and above all encouragement, I started at the bottom with the intention of working my way up. In other words, the first was the open third class carriage (if you can call it a carriage at all) and the open-sided second. These have been created as fairly straightforward cast kits with one resin-cast block for the seats. This turned out to be quite a good idea as making seats in styrene is very boring indeed. The sole bars, axle guards and springs are all part of the side so the carriage went together quite quickly. The buffers were turned in brass and set in a mould to produce a quantity of castings suitable for both types of carriage. I haven't bothered with any form of compensation with these as they really are so small it hardly seems worth the effort. In fact they are that small one would fit neatly inside your average 10ton coal wagon (yes, I tried it)! The open-sided second required a little more work in that I made little turned pillars to support the roof which was made of brass sheet gently curved to the correct profile. These carriages also had brakes, the brakesman sitting amongst the passengers and hopefully not being too distracted from his job by the odd glimpse of a ladies ankle. The handle is operated through a hole in the end panelling which presumably gave the brakesman a view forward or back as required, although a roof top seat like the braked First class carriages would have been much more useful in that respect. The enclosed Night Second is a work in progress and artwork is currently being drawn up by a fellow Brighton Circle member to produce the two types of First class as etched kits. More about these in a future blog when I finally stop fussing over the detail and agree to send the artwork to the etchers!

Thanks Mikkel, that made me chuckle. Well spotted re the dome. The white metal one is actually a casting taken from the brass one which I made first. I tend to put any masters I make into a mould so I’m ready when all those people contact me desperate for an 1838 Rennie pattern dome. I know once word gets out it’ll be like Black Friday at Primark…!

Last year I embarked on an ambitious project to scratch build no less than four locomotives by Messrs Rennie of Blackfriars, London. In 1838/39 the brothers constructed five engines for the London & Southampton Rly., and two for the London & Croydon Rly. It is clear from studying the drawing published by Brees in his 'Railway Practice' that the design was a combination of Stephenson's Patentee and the popular and sturdy 2-2-2 by Sharp & Co of Manchester. However, having no previous experience in the field, the minute books at Kew tell us that all seven engines were miserable performers constantly requiring attention to keep them in service. Two further examples of this type were built for the London & Brighton and two more were built and exported to Germany. Despite a growing reputation for shoddy workmanship, in 1841 Daniel Gooch commissioned Rennies to build two engines of the Fire Fly class for the broad gauge GWR. Gooch supplied patterns and templates to ensure the engines were built exactly as he intended and since the Fire Fly's were a modification of Stephenson's superb Star Class, these two engines named Mazeppa and Arab were excellent. At the time they entered traffic they were the most powerful of their class having slightly larger cylinders than their stablemates. The result of this order was that Messrs Rennie now had experience of building a 'proper' locomotive and based on this they then built three further engines, Satellite in late 1841 for the London & Brighton Rly, and Man of Kent and Kentish Man for the Joint Committee of the L&CR and the SER in 1842/43. Contemporary reports tell us that all three were a roaring success. As a representation of Rennie's locomotives I chose to model Croydon, Satellite and Kentish Man (the fourth being a duplicate Satellite in 00 for a friend). To save making frame sides again and again I decided to make one master for each side of the sandwich frame, set them in a mould and cast them, then assemble each side frame as a proper sandwich. This saved a lot of time especially with duplicating Satellite. The buffer beams are universal so they were also made as castings as were a number of other parts required in number. The tender was also made in this way and treated as a 'kit', after all I need four of them. The idea is that a simple motor bogie unit will go in each tender and this universal power unit will be easily produced for each loco. Croydon is taking shape. I made masters for the boiler, firebox and smokebox for all the locos and cast them from resin to reduce weight. Having moulds for each of these units makes them interchangeable and potentially useful for future projects too. Creating Croydon's distinctive octagonal dome was fun...! Satellite is just balanced in its wheels for this trial fitting. This one is in 00 so quite a bit of material had to be shaved out of the boiler, firebox and smokebox in order to fit the wheels in what is realistically the wrong place! The splashers will remain polished brass and should look quite grand in the end.

They look superb, well done!

An excellent choice of layout, I’m really interested to see this one take shape. A friend of mine is currently drawing up three LCDR brake coaches for etching which may be ideal for this project. Feel free to message me if you’d like further details.

Excellent work and a very attractive, purposeful looking wagon too.

Thanks Mikkel. Trouble is I built them both at the same time so I don’t even have that excuse!

Although somewhat irrelevant to my overall project south of Old Father Thames, I confess I've always rather fancied the look of these sturdy GER open wagons. So it's been a pleasure to revive these two ex-Woodham Wagon Works kits of both 1870 and 1883 versions. I managed to complete the 1870 one which is my personal preference but then struggled to find a period photo of the 1883 edition which is why it is as yet unlettered or numbered. I also fouled up a bit with this one by setting the solebars too far apart and causing all sorts of difficulties fitting the springs, doh! I think this is one for the 'You get the general idea anyway' shelf! It was only when I came to photograph them I realised (when they fell between the rails) that I'd fitted them with 00 wheels...what is wrong with me?! Note to self: do try to pay more attention in future! The 1870 version. The 1870 version...again! The 1883 version (work in progress).

Well the GWR did like to do things differently didn’t they! Pop goes my theory!

It was quite common on early loco tenders for other railways too. I wondered if it was to do with the fact that they burned coke which is very light. Therefore you would need more support under the water (which is the heavy bit) and considerably less under the coke. On a six-wheel tender it would make sense to focus the support under the water by moving the middle axle back? Attached pic of Stephenson six wheel tender of the 1840s by way of explanation.

Thanks Mikkel. No, sadly no new camera yet, still saving for a new phone which should do the job.

Ah yes, they look superb. As you say it does add a good deal of authenticity to the models. I haven't done my SER wagons as you can see but I did apply it to my early Brighton cattle wagon. It took a bit of courage slapping white paint all over a perfectly presentable model but it was worth it in the end. Chris

Thank you C126, much appreciated.

Jonathan enjoys his job at Bricklayers Arms. Usually he is gainfully employed tending to the bovine guests arriving at the cattle yard. He couldn't say for sure what happens to them once they leave the yard, but given the profusion of tanneries in he area we can be fairly certain it is a one way trip. He makes their lives as comfortable as he can whilst they are in his charge. Occasionally there are sheep to manage but these are less rewarding owing to their irksome tendency to bolt. However, today does not look like it is going to be so enjoyable. He has been given the task of whitewashing the new cattle wagons arriving this morning, they are larger than the previous wagons. He thinks this is a direct result of two beasts jumping out on their journey through north Kent and being, as reported in the Illustrated London News, 'dashed to atoms' by a train passing in the opposite direction. The whitewash will no doubt end up on his clothes, his shoes, and on his hands and face. Jonathan is diligent but clumsy and we think he may need to move his tub much closer to the wagon! It was fun to build the SER cattle wagon with doors open for a change, something you don't often see. But perhaps I need to get out more...

Thanks Ray, I do wonder if the greyhound had a cellar as well from when the frontage was at ground level. You can see from the attached, taken from the minutes of the Bricklayers Arms Extension Committee held at the National Archives in Kew, the massive compensation William Rolls received. Apparently in todays money his £2310 would be worth in excess of £287,000! William Peirse received a fair chunk too, about £62,000 in today's money.

My version of Greyhound Place. I've not included some of the features in the old photo as they were later additions/alterations post dating my era which is c.1845. This photo was taken before I added the bridge road and railings, and before the whole lot was added to the layout.