Justang

Thank you very much for the information, that's very helpful.

Hi everyone, I was wondering if I could ask a question. How are the wheels attached to the axles on a Hornby 0-4-0 chassis (like Smokey Joe), and how are the coupling rods held onto the wheels? I plan to take apart an outside cylinder version of the chassis, but I am not quite sure how to remove these components. Thanks

Looks good! Seems like it would look a bit Beyer Peacock if you made it a 2-4-0t.

Thanks for all of the kind messages. Its great to see that so many people are interested in what I post here. That's a good idea and I think its what I ought to consider in future when I try to make freelance locos. Thanks for commenting. Hopefully I will soon be able to post another update. I have plans for what to do next with the metro tank and I really want to return to working on the Great Bear. I think I just need to take a bit of time to work out what needs doing, and how to go about working on it. Thanks for all of the interest people have shown.

33C, your skilful abilities have once again proven to be outstanding. Thanks for sharing these with us.

I think the spikes on the front are for the route indicator discs. Considering that the Hornby E2s have not been manufactured for a long time, perhaps converting Thomas' would be a more sustainable way of making extended water tank E2s.

That looks really nice. I quite like the angular, yet streamlined, shape of its features. The image might seem steampunk, but wasn't that a feature of Great Western engines since broad gauge days? Their management seemed quite keen on keeping to tradition, whilst wanting their railway to seem modern. The logo on the smokebox door seems to fit with this modern image, whilst being traditional in what it represents. I don't see why that streamlined concept would seem ridiculous. I like it.

That's a shame. Thanks for the info, that's useful to know. I think I will still consider downloading it.

I had had plans to get the free version of Fusion 360, but this does not make it seem so great. If I were to download it now, would I have the opportunity to opt-out of future updates, or are they compulsory once the app is downloaded? Thanks

Thanks for the information. If I were to try to modify a Jinty to look like an earlier locomotive now, I would probably do it differently. I think the features that you've pointed out are definitely things I would change. I did not know the side tank keyholes were for sandboxes, so that is quite useful to know. I don't think that making the tanks narrower, like I tried to, would make the engine look like an earlier design, having looked at early 0-6-0Ts. I think next time I try backdating a model to a freelance design I ought to research what early locomotives of a similar design would have looked like.

This post will be an update for my progress on the Metro Tank. When I removed the splashers in the last update, I noticed that the bottom half of the boiler was missing in order for the original chassis weight to fit in it. Since I had turned the chassis around, the weight was no longer taking up space in the boiler. Therefore, I decided that I ought to fill the gap in the boiler. I first built a basic structure for a thin curved piece of styrene to sit on. Then I stuck a few thin curved pieces of styrene on top before sanding them smooth. I then fitted the lower boiler structure to the underside of the boiler and stuck it in place. I used styrene strip to put boiler bands over the lower boiler. Conveniently, the boiler is removable The next job was to backdate the cab of the model. I first removed the original cab sides. Then, because I couldn't be bothered to cut out new cab sides from styrene, I just modified the original cab sides by rounding the cutouts with a file. I then used thin styrene strip to act as the beading for the modified sections of the cutouts. I narrowed the cab front and this is what the cab sides looked like on the model. I then made a new backside of the cab and I cut out pieces of styrene with round window holes to fill in the original cab front windows. I also made a new cab roof from half millimetre styrene. This is what it looked like assembled. The next task was to make new outside frames for the front wheels. The original outside frames looked alright, but they were not in line with the vertical beam which the footsteps are attached to. The reasons for this were that 00 is not scale standard gauge and that I think the footplate on a 14xx is wider than on a Metro Tank. I will change the width of the footplate later, but the next thing I did was to remove the original vertical beams which the footsteps were a part of. I also removed the original outside frames for the front wheels and cut out the axle boxes and springs to keep them for use later on. I then cut out a paper template to use for the outside frames and footstep beam. I put it on the model to see if it was the right size. It looked the right size so I cut around the template on styrene and filed it to the right shape. I have cut out another outside frame/beam for the other side but I haven't filed it to shape yet. So that is my progress on the Metro Tank so far. I haven't done much to it, but hopefully I can get it finished soon (perhaps by the end of this year).

It has been a while since my last post, so this will be a post to explain my plans and progress. Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who has liked posts on this topic, followed or left a kind reply. It's great that so many people are interested. I have been a fan of Thomas and the Railway Series for basically my whole life and I have recently found it great to see how people like Corbs, NeilHB and Knuckles have modelled it. These people originally inspired me to try it myself, and I want my version of Sodor to be different and original. I really like how Corbs' take on Sodor is so original and creative, yet still represents a version of Awdry's Sodor. Obviously, by modelling the Railway Series, I am not being completely original, but I want my version to have differences. The first change I would make is to move back the date of the formation of the NWR to 1923, to fit with the grouping. In Awdry's Island of Sodor book (kindly sent to me as a PDF by Corbs a while back), he states that there were 3 standard gauge railways on Sodor before the NWR. These railways were: The Sodor & Mainland, Wellsworth & Suddery, and the Tidmouth Knapford & Elsbridge. The latter 2 had planned to amalgamate, but instead became a part of the NWR in 1914. As I would be pushing back the date of the NWR's formation to 1923, this would allow the Wellsworth & Suddery and Tidmouth Knapford & Elsbridge to amalgamate in 1914. This leads to the problem of what to call this amalgamated railway. I have been thinking about this railway for the past month or two, and a few weeks ago I had come to the conclusion to name it the "West Sodor Railway". I had chosen this name as it fits with the initials of the Wellsworth and Suddery Railway, meaning that after the amalgamation they wouldn't have to change lettering on rolling stock. The other day I looked on the Corbs' Cobbling topic and found that he had already had plans for a "West Sodor Railway". I do not know whether in Corbs' universe his West Sodor railway is a replacement of the Wellsworth and Suddery (like how he replaced the TK&E with the TK&F) or more similar to what I had planned. Either way, my West Sodor Railway will not be based on his, but I look forward to seeing the finished Terrier that Corbs is repainting at the moment. I have decided that I want to model a transition period at the time of the 1923 grouping. This will allow me to have models in liveries of the NWR and its predecessors. Before its amalgamation with the TK&E, I plan to have had the Wellsworth and Suddery as having been a railway which was focused on freight duties primarily, and the Tidmouth Knapford & Elsbridge will have been a railway with many industrial, privately-built engines. This would have been a lot like Colonel Stephens' Railways, or possibly even one of them if he would have owned any railways as far north as Sodor. I have plans for the Sodor & Mainland to have been a passenger railway primarily. The Peel Godred Joint Railway would have been a joint venture between the West Sodor and S&M railways. This would have been built some time between 1914 and 1923. The Sodor & Mainland Railway would have been, in my universe, one of the first railways of Sodor. They would have had Sharp Stewart engines and second-hand locos. By 1923, their line would go from Vicarstown to Killdane, with a branch line to Norramby. Their engines would have a blue livery which would be similar to the Peel Godred Joint Railway. The Tidmouth Knapford & Elsbridge was a light railway on the west of Sodor. It would have been run by small locomotives from various builders, including Neilson 0-4-0ST 12 inch mineral locos (known quite often as "coffee pots"). Awdry originally intended for the engines on this line to be vertical boiler locomotives, but I like Neilson engines more. I have a 3D-printed Sharp Stewart 0-4-0ST kit from Shapeways which will become a loco for this line. The engines of the TK&ER will have been in different liveries and had different names. The Wellsworth & Suddery Railway would have been a railway which ran in the south west of Sodor with a branch to Brendam Docks. They would have bought a few Manning Wardle 0-6-0STs in their early days, before buying old Metropolitan Beyer Peacock 4-4-0Ts some time around 1900. This railway would have had a red livery, which would be inherited by the West Sodor Railway in 1914. The West Sodor Railway would have existed from 1914 to 1923 and would be an amalgamation of the TK&ER and the W&S. A young Topham Hatt would have been in charge of the railway's works, keeping engines and rolling stock running. He would rebuild engines with cabs where necessary and convert the Metropolitan 4-4-0T tanks to tender engines. He might have also bought some old Adams Radial Tanks from the LSWR to convert to tender engines. He would also introduce new powerful 0-6-0T locomotives and an 0-6-2T (which would be used as a banker for the Maron Hill incline). The railway would have a similar red livery to the Wellsworth & Suddery. Going from Killdane to Peel Godred, the Peel Godred Joint Railway would be a joint venture between the West Sodor and Sodor & Mainland railways. Locomotives and rolling stock would have been provided by both the WSR and S&M, and the railway would have had a blue livery similar to the S&M. The North Western Railway would be formed in 1923 as an amalgamation of the West Sodor, Peel Godred Joint Railway and Sodor & Mainland railways. The locomotives of the railway would be painted in a similar blue livery to the S&M. Sir Topham Hatt would work as CME for the railway, keeping the railway running whilst trying to save money. He would buy an old pannier tank and a Metro Tank from the GWR to run trains from Tidmouth to Arlesburgh and 2 Scottish engines for use around the railway. So those are my plans for the history of my version of Sodor. I have organised this post very badly, but hopefully it makes sense. My plans aren't particularly inventive, but I think they will allow me to model an interesting version of Sodor. I'm not likely to represent everything of this universe in model form, but having an outline of the universe planned helps to maintain continuity. At the moment, I have been working primarily on making my Metro Tank, but I will have more projects to finish afterwards (such as the Great Bear and the Star). I will post an update on my progress soon, but I first need to find a way to prepare the photos for it without going over the file size limit of RMweb posts. Thanks for reading, Justang

That looks to me like it's been made from a Kitmaster Italian Tank kit.

The cab design of the Caley 262 class is quite similar to the cab on a Triang Nellie. One could put a Nellie cab on a Smokey Joe to make a model similar to the prototype.

The main part of the Dapol kit which i thought would be useful is the outside frames and possibly parts of the tender. I agree that for the actual, working chassis, a nellie chassis might be the way to go.