45568

The B2 is another of those Thompson locos. that I find fascinating. I remember in my 'Ladybird Book of British Locomotives' there was an illustration of 61616 'Fallodon' which was my introduction to the class. Moving to the 1990sand I obtained a Crownline kit to convert the Hornby tender-drive B17 to a B2. My adventures with that project are described here... Hornby B17. 6/4 or 4/1? Hornby B17 variants.Now with B2 added! - Modifying & Detailing RTR stock - RMweb As mentioned above, I purchased a Railroad loco-drive B17 with a view to updating the B2. However, problems with fitting B1 cylinders and valve gear plus deterioration of my original B2 body work put an end to that idea and the B17 was sold on. Having several of the latest Hornby B17 and B1 classes, my thoughts turned again to a B2. Thorough reading and research led me to the conclusion that the way to go would be to add B17 wheels to a B1 chassis, adjusting the fittings on the B1 body to B2 configuration. According a victim was sourced from Ebay and work commenced. Choice of B1 model. My first purchase was the apple green 61310....bad move! This loco. is fitted with electric lighting with associated conduits etc. which entails removing them from the boiler and smokebox, a tedious and time-consuming job which has the potential for disaster. My second purchase was 'Stembok' , which is ideal, no conduits or lighting. Incidentally both of these models were lacking their smokebox door handles, easily replaced with Nairnshire models examples, but odd all the same. It will pay to look at the B1 before purchase to make life easier when converting, e.g. 61243 is a non-starter because of the footplate infills. I obtained the necessary Hornby B17 spares from Peters Spares, his service was as usual excellent. Required are a full set of B17 driving wheels, and I also purchased a B17 bogie for one conversion. If you are modelling 61639 then you do not need to change the bogie as it ran latterly with a B1 bogie. Rather than use Hornby B17 bogie wheels, an alternative would be Gibson 'Darlington' bogie wheels, in facy they may be a better option and it saves the cost of a B17 bogie. Now let us begin... Separate the body and chassis, I started work on the chassis to make sure it would work! The Chassis: With the chassis separated, remove all sandboxes and sandpipes from the chassis. Leave the brake gear alone. On my first model I stripped the chassis completely removing valve gear, cylinders, motor etc. which later proved un-necessary. The second model was treated as follows. The chassis was turned upside down in a cradle. The keeper plate undoes with cross-head screws, (3 or4). It is pulled away carefully and the bottom part of the keeper plate with the brake mouldings can be separated. Each driving wheel has two brass bearings, I found it was possible to undo the rods from each wheel on each side in pairs, remove the B1 wheel, replace with the B17 wheelset, and replace rods. The best order is Wheelset 1, wheelset 3, then saving the most complicated till last, wheelset 2, with all the valve gear! We now come to the first problem. On the B1 chassis all three wheelsets have two small bearing each. The B17 wheelsets have identical bearings on set 1 and 3, but 2, the drive axle, has a larger bearing which will not fit the B1 chassis. The answer is to remove a wheel from one of the redundant B1 wheelsets and obtain a small bearing. Then remove the wheel from the B17 driving axle on the side with the large bearing, replace with the B1 bearing and replace the wheel, ensuring that quartering is as original. The B17 driving axle can now be placed in the chassis and the valve gear re-attached. The pick-up baseplate can now be put back, adjusting pick-ups as necessary to clear the larger wheels. The base plate with the brake gear attached can now have the screwholes elongated to move the plate forward to allow the brakegear to clear the wheels, this really is trial and error. It is necessary to trim the upper part of the middle brake gear to clear the wheels. When this is done the baseplate can be screwed back to the chassis, check that all wheels have sideplay and brakegear is not binding.... then test under power. You should have a B1 chassis running with B17 drivers quite smoothly! Bogie wheels can now be exchanged if required, The B17 bogie is slightly bigger than the B1 bogie and will foul brakegear if exchanged. So use the B1 bogie with your wheels of choice. The Body: Strip all small fittings from the footplate carefully and store them safe, they will be reused. These are the sandbox fillers, lubricators and other small fittings, The exception is the front sandbox on the right hand side, this is in roughly the right place. Strip all the sandboxes and the footplate supports from underneath the footplate. Remove buffers and cab steps. All of the items are glued into position and will usually respond to gentle persuasion, do not be tempted to be too rough or they will deform and are difficult to replace. We have fitted larger wheels, and so the wheels will foul the bodywork in several places. Material needs to be removed carefully from around the splasher area and under the cab, There is no magic formula for this, I used a variety of stones and burrs in a minidrill to clear the areas under the footplate around each driving wheel set. Pay particular attention to clearances on wheelset 3 under the cab, it needs a surprising amount to ensure the wheels have sideplay and are not catching at the top. I found it best to work on each wheelset then place the body on the chassis and check for sideplay or fouling. It also shows up when the body is screwed down in place, you might think it is all good but.. try some more!! Small splashers are filed to shape from styrene, or can be liberated from the old Hornby tender-drive B17 body if you have one. Chimneys are tricky. DMR models list a B17 chimney which is ideal. It is a lost wax casting that requires a fair amount of work to seat well. I found with my second model that the top can be removed from the B1 chimney. This top can then be filed down to just the rim and reaffixed to give good likeness. Bufferbeam and steps: The bufferbeam and cab steps require height adjustment as well. Glue a piece of 40x40 thou. styrene to the top of each set of cab steps, and to the bottom of the bufferbeam. When this has set hard take a small square file and file the buffer fixing points down to the new base of 40x40. Cut another piece of 40x40 to fit at the top of the buffer fixing points, the new fixing points are now in the modified buffer beam. Smooth down to ensure a good finish. Painting: You should now be ready to paint by your preferred method. Both of my examples were hand-painted using Humbrol 104 from an unopened tin that is around 30 years old. It was beautiful to brush with, smooth and easy to apply. I gave three coats over three days. Lining is Modelmaster dark orange, I am getting to the end of my stock and resupply seems well-nigh impossible. I have has good service from Jim over the years and have championed his products, but I still have an order outstanding from April and have given up. Plates and numbers/emblems are from Fox, and lovely they are especially the 'Footballer" plate! All the small fittings can now be placed back on the footplate using photographs as a positioning guide. I found a lovely pic of 61639 broadside on using google and 61639. Tenders: This is down to you! The B2 class ran with a variety of tenders. I was fortunate enough to pick up an NER tender from a Hornby Q6 for 'Fallodon', and beautiful it is! 'Norwich' trails a modified 'NE' tender utilising bits from the Crownline kit. "Royal Sovereign" can use the B17 4200 gallon tender. All thoughts, comments and questions welcome. Apologies for the lack of in-progress pix, it really was a trial and error exercise! Cheers from Oz, Peter C.

Hi Andy, Rather than answer your questions piecemeal and there does seem to be some interest in the conversion, over the next couple of days I will describe the work more fully in the modified RTR thread and place a link to it. As you can see, answers from the Antipodes suffer from time difference!! Cheers from Oz, Peter C.

Andy, Regarding the B2 this pic might help inspire you? It is basically a Hornby B1 fitted with driving and bogie wheels from a Hornby B17, (Courtesy of Peters Spares), and the tender is from a Hornby Q6. It is easier to work with a B1 as the brake gear etc. is the correct orientation for a B2. This shows the other B2 I completed earlier, which keeps the B1 bogie wheels as it was so fitted. For Royal Sovereign, you can use the standard 4200 gal tender as fitted to the current B17s. Hope this helps. Cheers from Oz, Peter C.

I like the look of this, what is the price likely to be, and what is involved with dissembling the K3? Cheers from Oz, Peter C.

SNEAK PREVIEW PIX Hornby 2021 RANGE...! From a top secret location the following models of a Thompson B2 and revised D49/2 Hunt snapped by our spy. At this point several large gentlemen in suits appeared heading straight for our intrepid snapper, so in best 'News of the World' tradition, he made his excuses and left quickly. Cheers from Oz, Peter C.

Will the model allow these to be represented? Cheers from Oz, Peter C.

Whenever I see one of these I imagine wearing a long black leather coat, black Homburg, and saying, "Ve vill ask zer questions". Cheers from Oz, Peter C. PS Dave Davies of the Kinks used to own one of these.

People interested in the development of the A class may well be interested to read about their West Australian cousins. A new book just available from RHWA. Cheers from Oz, Peter C.

The X CLASS ERA in Western Australia, An illustrated history by Peter Gould. For the first time all in one book, the story of 48 locomotives that ushered in the modern era on WA railways. The X class were unveiled with great promise, then suffered so many problems as to cast doubt on whole idea, and bring about a royal commission. But WAGR engineers eventually solved the problems and these engines went on to give three decades of service all over the system, whether on the express passenger trains or with goods on the most remote branch lines. Peter Gould has researched and recorded their design and construction, the problems operating in WA's harsh environment, the royal commission and politics and their service life. Each of the 48 locos has an individual entry with photograph and life history notes. More than 200 pages, A4 size, numerous photographs mostly in colour. An excellent book for those interested in Australian locos. as well as the origin of the CIE A class and the BR Co-Bo. Link to RHWA website. http://www.railheritagewa.org.au/sales/sales_1.php Cheers from Oz, Peter C.

Cheers from Oz, Peter C.

Beat me to it! I'm interested in doing the same thing having had success with the J68 and NLR tanks. Cheers from Oz, Peter C.

Hi, I am about to order the Bill Bedford O4/7 body to fit on a Bachmann O4 loco. Any hints, tips, pointers or comments on the project from those who have completed one welcomed! Thank in advance, Peter C.

Chris F. and other Koala Club members, this one is for you!! https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-01/koala-returned-to-bush-after-scaling-smoky-cape-lighthouse/12722034 Cheers from Oz, Peter C.

Johnster, this topic details one I did earlier,from a Tassie supplier. He is also offering this cordon... https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GWR-Cordon-Gas-Wagon-3d-printed/303707622688?hash=item46b6628d20:g:pFoAAOSwaENd1Mp7 Cheers from Oz, Peter C.

A couple I remember from the 6.30 pm time slot in the late 1950s.. Colonel March Investigates The World of Charlie Chan, a Chinese detective with 'numbah one son'...! Cannonball, American truckers who seemed to get into fight with various baddies about an hour into their journey. Later on I remember a series called 'Six Proud Walkers', but cannot remember what it was about or who was in it!.. Mickey Dunne..a series starring Dinsdale Landen as MD, a small time criminal who never seemed to end up on top, very similar to 'Budgie', which starred Adam Faith as Budgie in a similar role. I wonder if they would have the same appeal now? Cheers from Oz, Peter C.

When I first went to CH I lived in Hall Green, about a 5 minute walk to the 11, and a bit further for the 32, for the city, altho' we often walked to the station for the train to Moor St. Moved to Moseley/Kings Heath in 1965, after which I walked to school mostly! I do remember a rake of wagons on that down refuge, complete with brake van. which we managed to sneak into a couple of times at lunch time for spotting and a ciggie,(both illegal). 55 years ago! Cheers from Oz, Peter C

That secondary school being King Edward VI Camp Hill School, my alma mater from Sept. 1962 to July 1969. A quick nip down to Hazelwell bridge from the Cartland Road entrance most evenings after school usually saw 2-4 trains within 30 minutes, then back up to catch the 11 home! A very busy line which ran across the bottom of the playing fields, it was a detention offence to cross said field to trainspot at lunchtime! I always take a run past Hazelwell when I'm back in Brum for a UK holiday. Cheers from Oz, Peter C.

With the 2020 Tour de France coming to its conclusion, this rare 80 y.o. photo from the 1940 TdF has come to light. Cheers from fortress WestOz, Peter C.

Don't think about climbing a tree to get away, they'll 'ave yer!!!!!!!!!! https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-17/stinging-tree-toxins-similar-cone-snail-venom-queensland/12669088 Cheers from Fortress WA, Peter C.

Hi Paul, I believe the B2 kit is very good, but etched brass is way beyond my soldering ability. I have looked in vain for a B2/B17 brass chimney for my conversions. I obtained a lost wax example from PDK models but it did not seem quite the correct shape to me. On the loco. above, I cut the chimney from an old Hornby tender-drive B17 smokebox and filed it to fit the B1 'box. still not quite right but... If DMR had their B2/17 chimney available separately it would be ideal. cheers, Peter C.

Hi Colin, Many years ago,(30?), I built a B2 using the Crownline B2 conversion kit, a Replica B1 body and a Hornby tender-drive B17..! The Crownline kit gave some whitemetal castings to covert the Hornby LNER tender body to an NER 4125 gallon type, with the cut-off raves. This fitted on to the Hornby chassis, which had the wrong wheelbase, but things were a little easier back then!! When I started this conversion, I used that same body on the latest B1 tender chassis, it looks the part and gave a little continuity between the two models. Hornby have a beautiful and accurate NER 4125gal. tender behind the Q6. I was lucky enough to pick up a cheap Q6 non-runner from Oz Ebay with this tender. I found the problem and sold the loco. body/chassis on UK Ebay for more than I paid, so I have the tender to use behind the next conversion, 61616 " Fallodon", which I remember from my Ladybird Book of British Locomotives!!! Dave Alexander used to do NER tender kits, and DJH have them in their range but do not sell separately. If you are really good with brass I believe Arthur K has etched kits in his range? Hope this helps, Peter C.

For completeness, a couple of pix of the NLR tank. Cheers from Oz, Peter C.

In contrast to Paul G's J68, mine on a Hornby 'Terrier' chassis. Very cruel close-ups, to my human?? eye it looks the part in a layout setting. The body moulding required a little bit of fettling for clearance to achieve a good fit on the chassis, and I took some time trying to get the best fit of the cab roof. good value for money IMHO though. Cheers from Oz, Peter C. Cheers from

Like this??? From Hornby B1 and B17 parts. Cheers from Oz, Peter C.

Here they are........... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAGR_X_class A very unusual loco., A relative of the CIE 'A' class, and a precursor of the much-loved??? Co-Bo. Cheers from West Oz, Peter C.