Dana Ashdown

Sophia, what's happened to your 0-4-4T conversion? I realised something's missing.

I hope everyone is enjoying being Gnome for the Holidays! I thought I should post some pictures of 2764 showing the body before and after priming. (Perhaps I should retitle this thread “Adventures in crude scale modelling!”) I’m trying to make this one a little different from 2744, so red frames; older style lamp sockets; and a larger cylinder cover. The lamp sockets are made from wire and small, squarish pieces of plastic. I bored the plastic for the wire (and my thumb — three times!) before cutting them. They’re rather primitive but hopefully will be fine after final painting. The steam dome finial is made from one of the broken pannier tank vents. This time, I only used one layer of thin plastic to represent the tank plates, but it still looks a little heavy. If I ever did another saddle tank like this, I would use paper instead. The handrail knobs and most of the handrails were recycled, although this did create a problem. The plastic knobs for the short tank handrails and the ones beside the cab doors were not bored all the way through, which leaves a neater rail. However, the ones used on top of the saddle tank needed to be bored through (its easier for me to fit the new rails that way), but being made of Delrin or some other slippery plastic, it took a lot of pressure to drill the hole all the way through. I did it, but the drill bit snapped at the top of the twist part. At present, the black parts are painted, leaving the green and Indian Red to be done. Lining to follow. Hopefully, it will look much better in a week or so. Dana

I would suggest that both a Planet and a Patentee should be produced. The Patentee was essentially an enlarged Planet, so there is something in common so far as the chassis goes (save for the trailing wheels on the Patentee). However, if I could only have one, it would probably be a Patentee, as it was the basis for a number of subsequent designs. Many would probably buy one just to use the chassis for their own engines.

Seeing that there is glue residue on the end where you removed the casting, try putting a bit of water on it to see if it softens the glue. If the glue is water-based, you might have a problem with the wood swelling or warping if water is the only thing that will release it. You could also try a small amount alcohol. If you're really "stuck," see if the museum there has a conservator familiar with old glue. They might be able to recommend something. Dana

As you may have gathered from my comments to Mikkel on Saturday, I have started work on No.2764. At that time, I was having second thoughts about keeping it as a pannier tank. Well, after all due consideration, its going to become another saddle tank, this time with Indian Red frames (or whatever might pass for Indian Red in the paint box). Jim Champ’s graphs show that saddle tanks outnumbered panniers four to one in 1914. And going back to 1907 or thereabouts, panniers were a rare beast indeed. So having one with Indian Red frames and one with black frames will cover the 1900-1914 era quite well. I can still do a pannier tank later, but there’s certainly no hurry on that score. I won’t go into too many details or pictures for this rebuilding. However, dismantling No.2764 revealed a flaw in the instructions that came with the engine. They say to remove the rear coupler and pry the body off at the back end with a small screwdriver. I tried, but it didn’t seem to work. Now, as I would think that the body is still the same as the original Margate design, I tried taking the body off from the front, as I did with 2744. Success. Clearly, Hornby was not paying attention when they prepared the newer instructions. Another thing I noticed is that the Chinese chassis offers no opportunity for providing any daylight under the body. For that you’ll have to use a Bachmann chassis. On the plus side, the more modern chassis is quiet and, after a little more running, I think the backwards motion has gotten better — not perfect, but definitely better — so there’s hope. Unlike the Margate engine, from which the separate details could be easily removed, the Chinese factory has used glue for some parts like the whistles, copper chimney cap, safety valve cover and tank vents (both vents snapped). The safety valve cover is actually hollow and the plastic a little soft. It can’t be pulled out by hand, and it didn’t take kindly to the pliers (smooth inner faces) when I tried removing it. The flange at the top deformed a bit so there are two flat spots on opposite sides. It had to be cut out to free it. At least the copper cap and whistle knew when to give up. The handle rail knobs weren’t glued (with the possible exception of the knobs on the cab sheet, where the wire seems to be glued to the knobs), but they were quite a tight fit. Curiously, some of the holes almost look like they were pierced with something hot rather than drilled. Learning from No.2744, I was able to get the bunker off a little faster this time. Nevertheless, the clips have been removed for easier replacement. As I wasn’t sure at first whether to keep the engine as a pannier or not, the modifications here were started first and are nearly complete, save for coal rails and an insert for the coal to sit on. I’ll add a small 7g weight inside the bunker, if I can slip it in. The pannier sides and smokebox front were also sawn off a little quicker and with less trimming needed. On the Chinese version, the single weight at the front of the body has been replaced by two long weights about a quarter of an inch square, one per side, glued to the bottom of the tanks. The glue was rubbery, so it wasn’t too hard to pry the weights out — you can’t cut the sides down otherwise. Since they don’t interfere with the new top, they’ve been glued back in place with construction adhesive. At the front of the body, where the weight was in No.2744, I glued a platform in place holding an extra 7g weight. The top is now fixed in place, as well as the front, and await trimming when the glue has dried. An observation about the width of the saddle tanks: As Miss Prism pointed out earlier in the thread, the saddle tanks on the 2721 Class were inset from the sides of the cab by several inches. I tried filing the sides back before, but there is only so much plastic you can remove, so that really became a non-starter. There is one possibility that might work. Remove the bottom of the two panniers (or as much as you can), saw or file some material off the bottom to reduce the width, and then reattach. If carefully done, this could give the desired result, but it would be tricky to get right. Technically, owing to the springs, either chassis is perhaps better for a 1854 Class than the 2721 Class, though neither is correct. However, the cab of the 1854 Class is higher so you would need to either raise it or replace it entirely. If you really want accurate, you’ll have to build a kit or start from scratch with good drawings. Personally, I’m happy to have something that does actually look like a saddle tank engine, to me at least, so I can live with the compromises. Not to say that I wouldn’t welcome a RTR saddle tank in Edwardian livery… I just don’t think it will happen any time soon. Dana

That will be interesting to see. As I plan to do mine as built, with full lining, the front frame and cab are the main parts that need to be rebuilt. Knobhead did one a number of years ago that looked quite good: Dana

You would ask. Actually. I've started on No.2764. The bunker extension has been removed and the space filled in. Although I was going to do it as a fully lined pannier, I'm having second thoughts about it. Looking at Jim Champ's graphs in his gwr.org pannier article, it occurred to me that just before the Great War there were four times as many saddle tanks as there were panniers. Logically, it makes more sense to me to do another saddle tank, especially one with red frames, lined cab and bunker, and the early lamp holders. And having done one, I should be better at it now. One thing that might hold me back is the paint for the wheels and frames. I have a tin of Precision LNER Oxide that is a close match to the Indian Red in Great Western Way (2nd ed.), at least according to the test card I painted with it. However, in practice, it looks a too light (see my SE&CR L Class referred to below). Bachmann's rendition of Indian Red on my City of London looks quite red, and very close to Humbrol's current Rail Paints acrylic Crimson Lake. My old Lord of the Isles actually has what looks to be an acceptable version of Indian Red. I seem to recall a contemporary description of GWR engines saying that passenger engine frames were redder than goods engines. I could be wrong, but it might have been in the material you transcribed some time ago from Moore's Magazine or one of the other publications. I do also have my old Airfix 6100 class that I want to redo as a 3150 Large Prairie; a Collett 1400 Class that I actually bought new to convert into a 517 Class; two second-hand Mainline Dean goods, at least one of which will be altered to pre-grouping condition; and a Bachmann 4300 Class Mogul. The Mogul really only needs the rivets removed from the tender and the vacuum tank underneath altered to bring it to 1913 condition, and then repaint and lining. I also have a second-hand tender-driven Hornby 2800 Class that needs the outside steam pipes removed; as No.2859, it is technically pre-grouping, so no lining as correct in this case. For practice, I made a South Eastern & Chatham L Class out of an old Tri-ang Southern L1 Class, that I finally finished a few months ago. Its not perfect, but I like it. Shameless plug: At the moment I actually have more SE&CR locomotives than pre-Great War GWR engines. How this happened I don't know — something about green engines, maybe — but I'm not complaining.

Well, I thought there would be a chance to get light under boiler with the Chinese-made 2764, but no. The chassis is quite blocky, similar to the older Bachmann 5700 chassis, so absolutely no opportunity. (Perhaps just as well, in my case.)

No.2744 is now, for all intents and purposes, finished! The satin varnish has done its job of bringing the colour down to a satisfying dark green. Oddly, the camera has rendered the green lighter than it actually is; and also shows green on the base of the chimney that isn’t there (honest), with shades of black elsewhere in one or two views (the filler looks black in some of the pictures, rather than green, for instance). Its probably the poor lighting. I found a piece of the plastic spray-bottle tubing I was looking for, but not the other buffer heads. Still, enough to make the existing buffers look a little more “Dean-like.” I cut collars from the tube about 1.5 to 2mm long and slipped one over each of the buffer shanks before gluing the buffers in place (the shortened buffer shanks won’t make a friction fit). A tiny rectangle of plastic glued on the collar creates the buffer step. The handrails, buffer heads, smokebox hinges and darts have all been painted “polished steel,” as per pre-Great War custom. The original copper chimney cap and brass safety valve cover are now glued in place. The safety valve lever is a thin piece of plastic which slots into the saw-kerf cut into the cab front before. The roof covers-up the rest of the slot. A thin piece of metal would have been better, but I didn’t think about it till after. The whistles and vacuum pipes came with the engine. The link couplings are current Hornby offerings. The hooks and links probably should be painted “steel,” but for the moment I’m worried that the paint might stop the links from moving. Numbers on the buffer beams are from the HMRS GWR sheet. For the coal in the bunker, I glued coal dust on the bottom, then glued larger pieces on top. These are quite chunky, as was common at the time, so the fireman will definitely need his hammer! An attempt to fit a wooden floor to the cab failed when the maple veneer I used started to curl, so out it came. Cutting it into individual boards might have have been better. So, I resorted to using Humbrol 93 for the wood (my usual choice), making sure to use a thin coat so the black underneath shows through — this gave it nice dirty wood appearance. Some pencil lines drawn across made the board seams. Humbrol 93 was also used to paint the rolled-up canvas at the back of the cab roof for an old and grungy look. Snapping everything back together was another matter. Body — no problem, it was always something of a loose fit and remains so. Roof — again, no problem. Bunker — problem. The clips on the back of the bunker have no flexibility, which made it hard to get it off in the first place. The instructions tell you to use a small screwdriver to pry open the clips, but I ended-up using a large one. Back in 1980/1, if you wanted to fit the Zero-One control to this engine you had to remove the bunker, open a small rectangle at the bottom, and feed leeds from the motor through the bunker and out to a separate van which housed the computer chip. I never used Zero-One, but I can imagine the frustration those of trying to get the thing off and then back on again. Failing to push the bunker back on, I trimmed the base of the clips with a knife. This worked somewhat, but one side still wouldn’t seat properly, leaving an annoying gap at the rear left corner. So I pried the bunker back off and snipped the bottom of the clips off entirely, leaving the posts to register the fit. Success. Friction holds the bunker in place just fine without any need for glue. Whilst the saddle tank plates generally lack the subtlety that paper might have given, from “normal viewing distance” they do give a reasonable impression of iron plates, even if there are no rivets. The single layer of plastic sheet is fine. Regrettably, the edges of the double layer section in the middle tend to cast a prominent shadow when lit from the front or rear. Conclusion: Either limit the plating to a single layer, or leave it off entirely. My preference at the moment is to just do a single layer, probably using the cruciform pattern used for 2744 but shortening the “transepts” to just below the level of the handrail. That would maintain the impression of plates without being too obtrusive. Overall, I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. Yes, there are things that could have/should have been done better, but it does look like a saddle tank engine (albeit somewhat generic in appearance — dare I say “impressionistic”), especially from “normal viewing distance,” so for me its mission accomplished. So, after forty years, No.2744 continues to be the Christmas present that keeps on giving! Now I have to do No.2764. The plan is too keep the panniers, but backdate the bunker, paint the steam dome and safety valve cover brass, and apply lining, as they probably did in 1910. I am tempted to do another saddle tank, only with red frames and lined cab and bunker, but that can wait. Dana

I've sometimes wondered if you reverse ends, so the motors at the front, that you keep the cab free. But usually if the motor intrudes into the cab its probably too big to fit under the front — unless its a saddle tank, in which case there might be room.

We’re in the paint shop now. By way of a quick update, here are four before-and-after views showing most of the the engine in primer; and the engine painted dark green (a vintage tin of Humbrol HB 1 Dark Green) and black. With the varnish applied, the green is very similar to the original Hornby colour. The spectacle rims will need a bit of cleaning before the satin varnish is applied. As I can’t find the alternate buffers that I have, the old ones will probably be put back on, and the buffer beams repainted and numbers applied. Not forgetting whistles, vacuum pipes and link couplers. Lastly the handrails and smokebox handles will be painted polished “steel.” Once I get everything done, the copper chimney cap and brass safety valve cover can be glued in place, and the roof and bunker snapped back on. Then a coal load in the bunker. Tools and crew will have to wait, although I might try making some tools out of brass rod. Maybe make a tow rope to hang off the hooks as well. Dana

Those are very nice drawings Jim. I think the Nellie chassis would be too big for these, although I would have to find mine to be certain. However, the small Hornby chassis used for GWR No.101 et al might work. The body might be a problem, although I can imagine someone doing a 3D print.

This is interesting! I didn't know you had already done something on this engine. Although I'm not sure if they are exactly the same, but the Bury's supplied to the London & Birmingham are well documented in Harry Jack's Locomotives of the LNWR Southern Division (The Railway Correspondence & Travel Society, Sawtry, England, 2001). There are some drawings that might be useful. To my eye the dome over the firebox seems a little too low, relative to the boiler barrel, but thats how it is in the picture, so I wonder how much of the boiler shell was original.

Now that you mention it, that did come of oddly, didn't it. At least 2744 is almost done! The coal rails have been made and fitted. The uprights are recycled staples, these being chosen because they are flat, much like the real thing. The horizontal rails are made from 0.5mm brass rod. Everything is glued together, so its not exactly robust, but it will do for now. I noticed that on a number of tank engines around 1900-1910, an iron or steel sheet was fixed to the inner face of the rear coal rails. You can see it in the picture of No.2742, posted above, which must be pre-1906. This was probably an intermediate step between open coal rails and filled-in rails. Latterly, solid fenders were used, especially after the Great War, and certainly by the 1920s. That said, a number of saddle tanks and panniers did receive coal fenders quite early, so a fender might be acceptable, depending on the particular class. For 2744, I’ve attached a strip of plastic to the rear coal rails to represent the sheet. When I get around to backdating No.2764 to circa 1910-14 pannier tank condition, I might do infilled coal rails. All the hand rails are on. I was going to reuse the original steel(?) rail but, when I tried to narrow it, one corner snapped, so I resorted to brass rod with the original plastic knobs. The other handrails have brass knobs with the exception of the two on the footplate. I ran out of knobs so I just used bent rod with a few blobs on the corners to represent knobs. (I expect this was done at Wolverhampton during the last heavy repair!) Brass spectacle rims made from brass rod have been fitted to the cab. The tool hooks on the bunker are also made from brass rod — they should probably be flat strip but I didn’t have anything on hand. The lamp brackets at the front are made from staples. Apart from doing something about making provision in the coal bunker for an extra weight and coal load, all I have to do now is clean everything up (including glue strands) and then prime and paint. After that, I’ll put everything back together. If you haven’t seen it already, Mikkel has posted his conversion of a Hornby 2721 Class body to an 1854 Class pannier tank on a Bachmann body to 1919 condition. I’m really looking forward to how he makes out: I have attached two articles from Locomotives and Railways — Volumes 1 to 3 (1900-2) available as PDFs from Google Books — showing two rather unique Great Western saddle tanks. One is No.15, a small 0-4-0ST, said to have originated as a standard Bury 0-4-0 of 1847. The other, No.13, a large 4-4-0ST, featuring a Dean front bogie. For your further delectation, here’s a picture of No.45, another 0-4-0ST, built at Wolverhampton in 1880 from the Stafford Road Works web-page: http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/Museum/Transport/Trains/gwr/factory2.htm In his GWR.org article on 4-coupled tanks (http://www.gwr.org.uk/no4-coup-tanks.html), Jim Champ says it was: “Noteworthy only for being the only conventional 0-4-0T built at any GWR works it was scrapped in 1938 yet ran only 430,000 miles in those 58 years.” Doubtless, these three are covered in Volume 6 of the RCTS series The Locomotives of the Great Western Railway. Dana

That's wonderful work, Mikkel! I'm not quite as ambitious, so my pre-Great War pannier 2764 conversion/alteration (when I get round to it) won't be as accurate as yours, but I can still learn a lot from your experience here. Looking at the Bachmann 5700 in your pictures, I was surprised to see that as good as it is (especially compared to the old Hornby version), the body is not vastly superior to Hornby's 2721 Class, though the chassis obviously is. Though definitely not an expert on GWR locomotives, I thought I would hazard that the position of the chimney is not a guarantee of the engine being superheated or not superheated. From the gwr.org section on pannier engines, referring to the photo of 2752: "2721 class 2752, with its chimney in the forward position, has never been superheated, although it has been fitted with an S-shaped blastpipe casting used for locos that have been superheated. Any superheater elements in its boiler will have been removed." So, clearly, reference to the books is a must, as would be a good photo for the chosen period. Unfortunately, there's no picture of your chosen engine.... (and for many of us, not enough books). Decisions, decisions.... Dana

Indeed, often its the journey that matters, rather than the destination. Or in this case, learning how to do something new. By way of a brief update. After spending most of last Sunday up a ladder, I've only managed to make and fit the coal rails. However, if it rains (or snows) this weekend, I'll have no excuse!

We must have had the same childhood! I'll probably put up with the Chinese chassis for now, especially since there's no layout to run it on. Either that, or never run it backwards. Thank you Mikkel. I think its a matter of seeing where you want to go, and figuring out how to get there. In this case, how close were the saddle tanks and panniers in general layout, and can the two be reconciled. In my case, that came by way of a pill bottle, but a plastic pipe or tube of similar dimensions would have done (though not if I have to buy 8 feet of it!!!!).

Mikkel, you make it look so easy and so good!

The question arose about the reliability of the Hornby chassis, so I gave 2744 (Margate-made) a test run. I can’t remember when I had it going last — Maybe 30 years? Maybe more? Happily, no problems at all, and that’s without any lubrication! Naturally, its noisy by modern standards, but no complaints from me. So far as I can tell, the rear axle is unsprung. It’s the original version from October 1980, so the mechanism was probably changed sometime after. On the other hand, 2764 (Chinese-made) proved reasonably quiet and fairly smooth moving forward. Going backwards, it remains relatively quiet, but there’s a jerkiness to the motion. I bought this engine second-hand a couple of years ago for conversion, so never tested it until now. It should be fixable, or perhaps smooth out after some lubrication and running-in. The steam dome and chimney have been glued in place. I made the chimney longer than necessary, so once the glue was set I filed it down to a more realistic height. It might still be a touch too high, but it looks fine. I’ll glue the copper cap and safety valve cover on after the engine has been painted. Steps have been added to the sides of the saddle tank. These were made from Evergreen angle sections, cut down to size, and then filed to the final depth after they were glued on. I can see from the picture that some glue smears need to be removed. The filler cap for the tank is also done. The hinge and screw clamp assembly are made from recycled staples. I didn’t know how high the cap should be. Some were quite low, and others high, and some were just right. Mine is high. I made the lifting rings following Mikkel’s example, except I cut the bolts/pins from a piece of steel cable strand, because the strand was thicker than the brass wire on hand. The rings themselves were made from brass rod, formed into loops using a pair of fine needle-nose pliers. I couldn’t get the rings perfectly round, so the more pointed part is glued against the bolt/pin. A little more filing was done to the cab roof to remove vestiges of the moulding and file marks. Also, I cut a slot in the front of the cab for the safety valve lever. The slot is off-set to the left side, as per photos, so the lever is actually coming out diagonally to meet the safety valve. This seems to have been done to avoid the whistles. I’m not sure if I should fit the lever before painting, or wait until the safety valve is glued into place. The spectacle rims are still to do. At this point, the saddle tank needs to have the handrails fitted, and lamp irons added to the front. The grab-handles on each side of the footplate, above the steps, might have to wait till later because I’m short a knob (I lost one before). I’ll drill the holes anyway, and maybe put one in. The moulded hooks on the buffer beams were removed before, but the stubs still need filing and holes drilled for faux-couplings. Also, the buffers may get modified if I can find some small tubing and buffer heads I’ve got somewhere. The coal rails will be made out of brass rod, but I need to get some epoxy first. I could use Evergreen strip instead of brass; its flat, but probably a bit too flimsy. The handrails, tool hooks and upper lamp iron will probably be added to the bunker after the coal rails are fitted. Dana

I expect yours will be much neater than mine, so I certainly look forward to seeing how you do. How about posting a picture or two?

The saddle tank top has been fitted and glued to the engine body, along with the smokebox/tank front. (Please note, the chimney, steam dome, safety valve cover, cab roof and coal bunker are not properly fitted in these pictures.) Prior to gluing the tank top on, I drilled four reference holes marking the locations of the safety valve, steam dome, filler cap, and chimney. I don’t plan on using them to fix anything in place — except perhaps for the chimney — but they are there just in case and I can see exactly where everything should be. There were a couple of small gaps which needed a spot of filler, but otherwise it works! I was thinking about enlarging the spectacles, but there’s not enough clearance to do so. However, I’ll make some brass rims to go around them. After the glue was set, I did some final adjustments to the forward end and then glued the smokebox front on. This was left slightly oversized so it could be filed to conform exactly to the tank top once the glue was dry. I don’t no why, but it looked like it needed a face at this point! JimC will be happy to see that I’ve added some “plates” to the saddle tank. Since these tanks were fabricated in three sections, I made a cross-shaped base with thin plastic card, with the long axis running along the length of the tank top. Over this I glued a rectangular “plate” athwartships across the middle. Its not perfect, but does roughly mimic the tank plating. The only problem I encountered (apart from it not being quite centred at the cab end — how that happened I’ll never know!) is some puckering caused by the glue softening the plastic. I expected this, but once painted it shouldn’t be obvious. For the steam dome, I cut the dome off the pannier top. After trimming round the base, I shaped the bottom with a medium half-round file to match the top of the saddle tank. As found, the dome is too high, so I cut about an eighth of an inch out of the middle. This is easier said than done and, although the cuts were definitely not square, by turning the top relative to the bottom the errors cancelled each other out…. panic thus avoided! I cut the chimney out as well, but only for the base. I’ve glued some plastic tubing on for the chimney proper, leaving it longer than needed until I can see how high the stack needs to be. The copper cap from 2744 will go on top. Ideally, there should have some kind of inner core to keep everything in place. The same tubing will be used for the base of the filler cap. The D-shaped mounting pin was cut off the safety valve cover, and the bottom filed to fit it the curve of the tank top. I won’t glue it on until the painting is finished. I thought about swapping 2744’s plated safety valve cover with 2764’s, but the Chinese must have glued theres in place because I couldn’t pull it out. By swapping them, I could have painted the steam dome and safety valve cover on 2744 with matching brass paint, leaving the shiny one to 2764 (which will have a painted dome as befits 1910-14). As it stands, since 2744 will keep its black frames, the steam dome will stay painted — but the safety valve will still be sparkling! Isn’t Swindon wonderful!! The roof that comes with Hornby’s 2721 pannier tank engines seems a bit thick, so I filed the top down so its flush in the middle. Lastly, the smokebox door was glued in place. I don’t have any brass replacement door handles on hand, so I carefully sawed and trimmed underneath the moulded ones to open them up a bit. It sort of works. I may replace them later, or not. I thought about putting a ring around the smokebox using some micro-strip or brass wire, but I’m still not sure. Technically, the door is not correct for this period, but when the front is painted it shouldn’t be too obvious… unless of course you know about these things. Consequently, I shall try to remain blissfully ignorant! I’m tempted to make the cylinder cover under the smokebox door larger, as per 2742’s in the picture above, although there is not a lot of room there. I still have to fit steps and lifting rings to the saddle tank, and drill holes for the handrail knobs. I might leave the latter until the tank has been primed (it will be easier to see where to drill that way.) Lamp irons will also be needed. As the pictures show, the coal bunker has also been modified. The first cut was made horizontally (relative to the engine) to remove the fender, following the top of the moulded handle rails. I didn’t know if it would be needed again, so best to save it. The cut was just above the front of the bunker, so I filed the top down to make everything level. The next cut was made horizontally on the backside of the bunker just beneath the two bumps pretending to be hooks. I used the bumps to guide the saw and made a very shallow cut (not quite as deep as the plastic is thick). Lastly, a vertical cut from the top to remove the bunker extension. This left the internal supports/clips inside the rear wall of the bunker intact. With a little clean up with a file, I was able to glue a thin piece of scrap plastic card on the back. (If the cut had been deeper, I would’ve used thicker plastic.) I trimmed the card after the glue had set. A narrow piece of thicker plastic scrap was glued along the inside top to reinforce the edge. The flares at the top of the bunker were made from slices of same tubing used for the chimney. These were mitred at the corners and glued to the sides of the bunker. The one on the rear was fitted first, then the side pieces, which were left overly long so they could be trimmed after. When the glue was dry, I filed the top of the flare even, then faired the bottom edges with a round file to smooth the transition. Its not perfect, but it will do. While I as was at it, I removed the moulded handrails. Coal rails are still to do, plus handrail knobs and hooks on the rear. I’ll make the same changes to 2764’s coal bunker when the time comes. By the way, as noted above, 2744 will be finished with black frames and no lining. Much as I would like to see this engine with red frames and lined cab, my planned 1907 setting really puts it into the black frame era (which would also allow me to run it as late as the Great War). Two other factors really convinced me: one, that I didn’t have an appropriate shade of red/brown for the frames. (What I have actually matches the colour chip in Great Western Way, 2nd ed., but looks too light in reality.) And two, that black would better hide the chassis’ shortcomings. No.2764 will be modified for the 1910-15 period (keeping its panniers), complete with lining, so 2744 and 2764 should make for an interesting contrast.

I'm sorry to hear that. Frankly, I haven't actually run mine for years (or should I say decades), although I never had any problems with it before, so far as I can remember. I'll try mine on the test track sometime and see what happens, though I expect it will need a drop of oil. Generally, I've found the old Tri-ang-Hornby mechanisms to be fairly reliable and easy to maintain, although slow motion can be problematic at times. However, I have a pulse controller (also decades old) that does make controlling them at slow speeds much better. Dana

Thank you all for your helpful comments!. Well, things have moved on since my last post… After looking at the alternatives, I decided to use the original pill bottle for the saddle tank top. The taper was a problem, but, it could be compensated for. So, I cut the bottom off the bottle, then cut it roughly to length. As it turns out, the plastic was somewhat flexible (but still stiff) and I was able to cut it lengthwise with cutters. I made one “half” a little bigger than the other, but I wound up using the smaller “half.” To JimC’s point of laminating the saddle tank from plastic card, that would certainly have worked too. I also wondered about brass sheet. But Jim’s idea of applying panels to simulate the individual iron sheets certainly parallel’s my own thinking. I have very thin plastic card that I can use; either that, or paper. With a top for the saddle tank, there was no excuse not to start. So, I went ahead and cut off the sides of the panniers along with the front of the tanks and smokebox. I made the first vertical cut directly in front of the cab, using the cab as a guide. This cut goes to the point where the tanks start to turn under which, conveniently, coincides with the top of the moulded grab handles on the tank sides. The second vertical cut was made immediately behind the smokebox, using the back of the smokebox as a guide. This cut is deeper, and reaches the level of the hinge for the front cylinder cover. Don’t go any deeper, otherwise you’ll cut into the front sandboxes. Next, I removed the front of the smokebox and pannier tanks by making a horizontal cut along the hinge-line of the cylinder cover. Use a fine saw, being careful not to cut the cover itself. This should free the front. Having done that, I used a fine saw to cut off each side of the panniers at the level of the top of the moulded grab handle on either side. It’s better to take too little off than too much. Also, be careful not to cut the pieces that hold the front weight in place. (I lost one piece, but it wasn’t critical.) I used files to even up the cuts and smooth out the rough edges. I should say that I did try to narrow the base of the panniers, but I stopped because I was afraid that I might reduce the thickness gluing surface too much. I’ll see if more can be removed once the top is glued on. The saddle tank top required more fettling. Actually, it took me longer to fit the top than to cut and trim engine the body. First, I had to compensate for the taper. Second, I had to bring it to a point where the saddle top was able to clear the cab windows. I got there eventually, as you can see in the pictures. I won’t do anything further on the saddle tank until I glue it in place. For the new front (the white part in the pictures above), I made a few measurements, then sketched out a pattern on paper. Once cut out, I used the pattern to trace the outline on some thick plastic stock. This was cut out and shaped roughly to size. I finish shaping it after its been glued in place. I salvaged the smokebox door for reuse. Basically, it was just a matter of cutting away the plastic around it, then filing the back until its just the door and hinges left. This will be glued onto the new front. Its probably not correct for the period, but I'll see if I can make any alterations. One final bit was trimming the corners of the weight to give some clearance to the top. I hacksawed the top corners off and then ground some the the front the clear the new front. The weight goes in from the top, so once the top is glued down, the weight can’t be removed. Off the chassis, the weight makes the body nose dive. I'm not sure if anyone has seen Mikkel's blog, but he did the SE Finecast 1854 Class Saddle Tank about six years ago using a Bachmann chassis: Clearly something to aspire too. Dana

This is a possibility but, with the motor driving the front axle, there may not be much in the way of daylight to be seen. However, I'll have a look at the Chinese version which drives the centre axle.

So far as I know, the Hastings Car Train and the Folkestone Car Train had the only clerestories on the SE&CR. The coaches making up the Hastings train were sold to Pullman after the First World War, but I'm not sure about the Folkestone set.