CXW1

Thanks Mick, I have got this picture but it is very grainy. The above photo is much clearer and provides some nice detail of the cylinders. The above picture of 1129 looks like it has a slightly longer smoke box so it might have been taken after the superheater was fitted in 1930. It also looks like it has ross pop safety valves rather than the Ramsbottom 'trumpet' that I found in my spares box.

Evening Mick, I must have done a decent job so far because I didn't actually say what it was and you have guessed correctly. For the non-NER people out there it is an A7. In reality it wasn't that difficult a thing to guess as it clearly isn't an A6 or A8. The plan is to build an early example with a Diagram 55 boiler, shorter smokebox and Ramsbottom safety valves. The safety valve casting is a spare part from a Dave Alexander J27 that I've had for years - just shows you should never chuck anything out because it might come in handy one day. No idea what the chimney is or where it originally came from, and I probably won't use it. I am working from a photo of No. 1129 in the RCTS book. I am aware that there is a Little Engines kit for an A7 (if you can find one) but I've always thought that this somehow never really captured the prototype. I assume the picture of 69772 was taken somewhere in Hull? Cheers Chris

You may have noticed that I often have a few things on the go at the same time. I tend to get a bit bored with models as they get close to completion and the D24 is a prime example of this. I think this is because I get more enjoyment and satisfaction from taking a few bits of brass and other parts and making something that works rather than fitting handrails and painting it. The D24 will get painted and lined in due course. Over the past couple of weeks, I have started working on something else and I think it is about time it made an appearance on here. I fancied a change from Hull and Barnsley locos, so we have gone back to the North Eastern. Here is a photo of the works foreman thinking it is a bit of big brute, and he is also slightly puzzled about how to make some outside cylinders. It will hopefully turn out OK in the end. Everything is presently held in place with that essential engineering solution (Blu Tak).

Interesting stuff as ever Mick. As I mentioned in my previous post I really do need to make a layout for the locos to run on but I'm lacking space to do anything of any note. I have been thinking about a small corner of Cannon Street goods depot or somewhere like that unless anyone has any decent alternative suggestions. Something to ponder over the winter I think.

Thanks Shez, it is always good to hear personal stories like that. It is my intention to build a small layout for the Hull and Barnsley locos to run on, but I need some kids to leave home first so I can acquire a bedroom. Until then it will be a 'shunting plank' in the garage. I don't have any personal connection to the Hull and Barnsley area - I think I just like the look of the locos. I grew up within sight of the line up to the steel works at Consett but all of the good stuff like 9Fs had gone before I was born.

I have made a bit of progress with the D24 over the past few evenings. There are still a few small jobs to do on both the loco and the tender - the tender needs handrails and lamp irons fitting, and the loco needs some brakes, sandboxes under the footplate and the smaller secondary splashers on the front driving wheels. Apart from that, it is nearly time for a good clean-up and a first coat of primer. The tender spring and axlebox castings aren't 100% accurate, but probably close enough for me. I think the castings are a LMS/Fowler pattern from Comet which I have altered slightly. Unfortunately there isn't a huge range of available castings and other bits and bobs when you decide to model one of the less well known railways..... Cheers Chris

Ray, I agree with everything that burgundy and everyone else has said above. I started scratch building locos 4 or 5 years ago and it is very satisfying when you end up turning some bits of brass etc into something that works. My preference is to build models of relatively obscure prototypes which are not available in kit or RTR form - this way you are likely to end up with something which is unique and clearly 'yours'. I have concentrated on the Hull & Barnsley Railway and less-well-known North Eastern prototypes (single wheelers, crane tanks etc). I find that I get just as much enjoyment from doing the initial research as I do actually building something. I started off with simple 0-6-0 locos with inside cylinders and followed the KISS principle. As others have already suggested, 0-4-4 locos can be more challenging to get 'set up' correctly. However, if you have experience of 0-4-4 kits and know 'how they work' you will be OK. What you will find is there is plenty of constructive support on here whichever way you decide to go. Cheers Chris

The N12 is more or less finished - still needs a crew (as do a few other locos) but painting gadgies isn't top of my priority list. Now - back to the D24......

Morning Mick, I agree the lining looks a bit 'odd' compared to standard LNER practice. However, there is a line of beading on the cab front which runs all the way down to the footplate which prevents the lining taking the usual shape of something like a Worsdell tank loco that we are all familiar with. The side tank is effectively a separate fabrication to the cab and this seems to be standard design practice with Stirling-designed H&BR tank locos. As I mentioned yesterday there is a difficulty in identifying red lining against a black background on old photos, but there is definitely evidence of a separate tank panel lining in the Yeadons book. The rest of the lining on the cab is more of a guess but I have tried to follow the original pattern of lining as it was on H&BR locos. The problem we have with the less-photographed loco classes is the fact that they didn't carry red lining after 1928 and I doubt if there is anyone alive today who can confirm with 100% accuracy how things actually were? And it has a High Level gearbox.... Cheers Chris

Chris's cheaper motors are very good. I have used both the 1020 and 1015 versions. Here is a picture of the 1020 motor with a High Level Lo Loader gearbox. The motor, as you say, was £9.50 and the gearbox was £16. I am very happy with how it performs. No connection with High Level other than being a satisfied customer. My observation is that the motor looks very similar to that which is fitted to the new DJH offering. I have also used Mitsumi motors as supplied by John Isherwood for around seven quid - also very good. Thanks Chris

Another busy evening in the paint shop. The paint job on the J71 was nice and easy, the N12 not so easy. According to Yeadons the N12s were lined black up until the painting economies of 1928, so lined black it is. One of the skills I would like to develop is hand lining using a ruling pen but until then it is Fox Transfers and a fair amount of patience. I still have the other side to do but that is for another day. The lining itself is not so obvious to the naked eye as it appears in the photo. A coat of varnish will tone things down. One of the problems of using black and white photos for reference purposes is the fact that red lines tend to not show up very well. I am reasonably confident that the red lines are more or less how things may have been in reality, but it is very difficult to be 100% sure. Either way I think it looks OK. The cab roof on the N12 still needs to be fitted. The roof has been left off for the time being while I do some basic detailing of the cab including knocking up a basic backhead. I would say that the backhead is representative rather than 100% accurate - in reality very little of it will be seen once the driver and fireman are in situ.

It is a London Road Models (ex MSE) Hull & Barnsley Railway horsebox - more pictures back on page 3.

The J78 is 100% scratchbuilt in brass. I had just finished it before I started my workbench topic and unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the build. However, it follows my usual methods shown on here. Fortunately there are plenty of photographs of the 2 prototype J78s. I also had the Y7 kit (Alexander Models) and the J79 which were used to make an educated guess on the dimensions given their similarity. Key dimensions like the overall length and wheelbase etc can be found in the relevant RCTS volume. The boiler is brass tube and the rest of the body and crane was cut from brass sheet with a piercing saw. The safety valve and chimney castings are from 247 Developments and the buffers are from Lanarkshire Models. No idea where I got the tank fillers from. The chassis was constructed using the same methods as per the J79 chassis a couple of pages prior to this. However, the wheelbase of the J78 (6ft & 4ft) and the dimensions of the body meant that the gearbox drives off the middle axle - the rear and middle axles are rigid and effectively work as a pair, and the front axle is in Alan Gibson sprung hornblocks to give some basic compensation. Off the top of my head the J78 has a High Level road runner compact plus gearbox (60:1) and a Mashima 1015 motor. Hope this helps.

I finally got round to buying some paint from Halfords a few days ago and a break in the rain meant that I could go outside and do some spraying. The J79 (Connoisseur body and scratchbuilt chassis) was first in the queue and will hopefully be followed by the J71 and N12 in due course. I have used Halfords satin black for the body and this will be toned down with some varnish and weathering at some point. There are still a few jobs to do inside the cab (glazing, crew etc). Fortunately the roof is a separate assembly which is easily removed to allow access. The picture below shows all of the North Eastern Railway 'H' classes. From left to right are Class H, H1 and H2 (latterly LNER Y7, J78 and J79). Please ignore the mess in the foreground. Cheers Chris

A bit of progress on the tender this evening. Still plenty to do, but I'm sure you get the general idea. I have also done some work on the cab interior - the backhead (just visible) is a casting from North Eastern Kits. I also have some nice lost wax pipework and other details from the same source but these will be fitted after painting.

Thanks. The kits are certainly 'of their time' but they can still be turned into something half-decent. I don't know if you have seen the whole restoration story on the previous pages but it was the starting point that was 'average' rather than the finished result. The kit was originally put together about 40 years ago and has received several modifications over its lifetime which didn't do it any favours. I'm pretty happy with how it has turned out - I'm not one for blowing my own trumpet but it is definitely a 'silk purse out of a sow's ear' job. Good luck with yours if you dig it out. One of the good things with Y8s is the fact their small size means they don't take up too much time and money. Cheers Chris

I have started adding some of the fiddly bits to the D24 including my least favourite job - the one-piece hand rail. I tend to find that it usually takes a few goes and a bit of swearing to get this right but on this occasion it worked first time. Probably more down to good luck than anything else. The prototypes had a curved reversing lever (see photos on the previous pages) but I will fit this and the ejector exhaust pipe after painting and lining. Apologies if my terminology for various components of a steam loco aren't 100% correct. Cheers Chris

I've been a bit quiet on here of late due to several reasons but managed to find a few hours this weekend to have another look at the old Ks Y8. I mentioned a while ago that it had developed a bit of a limp after initially appearing to run OK. To cut a long story short I ended up pulling it apart and starting again. I think part of the problem was too much 'slop' in the coupling rods so these were discarded and a new set made up from Alan Gibson 'universals'. I think another contributing factor to the poor running was trying to recycle/re-use parts of the original gears. These have been chucked in the bin and replaced with a High Level Roadrunner Compact Plus gearbox with one of Chris's new 1015 motors - much better. Pictures below show the new gearbox fitted to the chassis and a final one of the model after it was put back together. Still needs crew/lamps/weathering etc. I think this is as good as it ever will be given the distinctly average starting point. I'll hopefully get back to the D24 in the near future. I started work on the tender, but nothing worth taking pictures of just yet. Cheers Chris

Not a great deal of visible progress to report on the D24 but it now boasts a nice High Level gearbox in place of the single stage motor mount. I've got nothing against single stage gears in motor mounts but for whatever reason I couldn't get it to run as well as I'd like it to. There isn't much room between the hornblocks but I have managed to fit a Roadrunner Plus gearbox with one of Chris's new 1020 motors. Now that I'm happy with the running I will start on the small detailing jobs. I think the only visible development since the previous picture is the cab steps. I have again borrowed the J28 tender for the picture below and I will hopefully make a start on a new similar tender for the D24 next week. The photo also shows that there is a lot of cleaning up to do and some gaps to fill - not always visible to the naked eye. The boiler castings are still just plonked on if anyone was thinking they weren't straight. Cheers Chris

There might be a J78 kit in 7mm scale (possibly Furness Railway Wagon Co) but I'm not aware of a kit in 4mm scale.

Definitely a case of good taste and for that reason I'm not upset. I still think I'm safe with a J78 crane tank and a J80 in 4mm scale - surely no-one else has made either of those......?

Hi Paul I did follow your 398 build with interest and in the knowledge that I no longer owned the only 398 that I had ever seen... I have also thought about making one of the 398s with 5ft 8inch wheels - one day perhaps. Cheers Chris

I didn’t feel like doing much to the D24 this evening but did manage to make the cab steps. I didn’t bother taking any pictures. I have mentioned on here before that I don’t have a large layout and many of my locos spend a fair amount of time in their boxes. I occasionally get a few of them out to give them a run up and down my test track just to make sure they still work – fortunately, they usually do. I always like looking at other people’s models, so I have reciprocated and posted a few pictures of some of my ex NER engines that were made during the past 4 to 5 years but not yet appeared on here. The N10 is a modified Dave Alexander kit with scratchbuilt frames. The frames that were supplied with the kit were a strange affair with an oversize cut-out for the trailing wheel. This caused two problems – firstly there was a lot of daylight around the wheel (which isn’t there on the prototype) and secondly the frames extended into the cab which prevented the fitting of a cab floor. The replacement home-brewed frames have managed to eliminate these problems and I think it now looks more like an N10. The front and middle axles are in hornblocks which has improved the running qualities. The original gearbox and motor (plus a few things like brakes etc) were recycled from the original chassis. Dave’s kits always fitted together very well but I think on this one he got the shape of the cab cut-outs slightly wrong and I think that the boiler is pitched too high. Still a nice-enough model though. I think I had ran out of 'Ls' and 'Rs' when it got painted so it ended up in late period NER livery. The Y7 is also a Dave Alexander kit that I made a good few years ago and was pretty-much built ‘out of the box’. Next is an ex-NER Class 398 which I made 4 or 5 years ago. There was a huge variation within this class and no two pictures of prototypes appear to be the same. This one – No. 608 – was modeled from a photograph in the RCTS book. I now have some better-looking spring castings for the tender and I will fit these at some point. I also found a picture of the 398 having a run-out on Buckingham a while ago (picture taken by Tony Gee) Cheers Chris

A little more progress with the D24. The splashers weren't the easiest things to make thanks to the prominent brass beading. They were made by forming the tops from fairly thick brass strip (approx 0.7mm) and then fitting the splasher sides with a slight recess. The idea is when the loco is painted I will scrape the paint off the side of the brass strip to give the effect of beading. Not perfect by any means but hopefully it will look OK from normal viewing distance. The castings are still just placed on top of the boiler and a little more work is needed to get them seated properly. Next jobs on the body will be steps, handrails and making a start on the cab interior. I wasn't entirely happy with the way it ran using a single stage motor mount so I am going to use a High Level gearbox. With hindsight I should have gone with this option in the first place rather than being tight and trying to save a few quid. In other news the Ks Y8 failed its running-in test after initially running OK and has been sent back to the works. I'm not entirely sure what the problem is but it has developed a bit of a limp. The quartering seems to be OK when the final drive gear is disengaged so further investigations are needed. It has never ran well in 40 years and it continues to be a stubborn old thing. All good fun though. Cheers Chris

Lovely stuff. I was going to press the 'like' button but your BTP is way better than that. The etched splashers are particularly good - I didn't know that Nu Cast kits were supplied with such modern innovations!! Cheers Chris