Florence Locomotive Works

I would have done everything you said with the boiler and steam lines, except that the boiler was never designed to be removed from its pipe work, as there are no pipe unions, it’s all soldered together. I do think now the problem is the safety valve being to week, as it leaks quite a bit. And since it’s a piston valve engine, the cylinder and valve chest are one casting, so the steam ports are very hard to check. As for the burner, I think it’s fine, I’ve replaced the wicks once already (my engine came with the original spares bag). So I’ve been thinking the best solution is to get a new safety valve for 15 psi (working pressure). That concerns me though, because if the safety valve is actually to week then the boiler might not actually be used too 15psi, but it is very difficult to perform a hydraulic test since one can’t block off the steam lines. The picture is off the permanently soldered manifold under the displacement lubricator. thanks, -Douglas

As far as I know, they are pretty good performers. I’ve seen videos of them pulling 3-4 tinplate coaches on level track at some giddy speeds. But I don’t really know if that’s real proof of that though. -Douglas

Hi all, Im not sure if I should have started a new thread, but oh well. A few months ago I was given a BL lms o gauge live steam mogul, and it’s never run properly. I’ve had the valves and pistons out, looked at the quartering, and flushed out all the piping with fairly heavy duty degreaser. It runs sometimes, but only without oil in the cylinders, and has no power. Most likely do to the absence of oil, but with oil it hardly runs at all. (I use wet steam oil). So if anybody has suggestions or has encountered similar problems, any advice is very much appreciated. Thanks, -Douglas (It’s been cleaned a bit since the photo)

That’s what I assumed. I’ve known about Newman Miniatures for a few years as I almost bought a Derwent from him, but bought a Bachmann 3f instead, for my dads giant northwest wales layout. -Douglas

That does look very convincing, they might even sell those in my country. But that is probably wishful thinking. I guess for the points/turnouts I would just paint them a vague stone color. thanks, -Douglas Edit, I’ve just found that they make points/turnouts.

Wow, that’s definitely something I would not have thought of. Unfortunately I bought mine without the coaches, but I will keep that in mind. Also does Nigel Hill have a profile on this site? -Douglas

The cast iron brackets have found a home, above a workshop in the retaining wall. This area is based off the warehouse behind the L&MR’s Liverpool Road Station, and since it had many wagon turntables, one will eventually be added where the horse shunting is. At the other end of the yard a pipe has been installed from the chimney of the stationary engine going into the annex of the station, where one assumes it is directed into the giant chimney-stack on top of said annex. So it probably now has a very fierce draft! Stay healthy, -Douglas

Excellent

Those were most likely Norris locomotives, (4-2-0 haystack firebox) which in there own right look a bit strange. Austria used them as well -Douglas

I will take note of both your suggestions, also i suppose one could use the Bachmann prussia coach chassis without the body if i were really desperate. Thanks, -Douglas

Thanks for the advice, I will definitely think about the passenger shelter ‘twixt the doors, which reminds me to make steps for the left one! I was also wondering if you might possibly now of some wagon chassis besides those made by 5and9 that would pass for ho scale. Thanks again, -Douglas

As I’m stuck at home right now, and school doesn’t have much for me to do at the moment, I am moving on much faster than I anticipated. I suppose I should post an overall view of the “layout” (if it’s worthy of that title) to show what I’m working with. I have four of these rather lovely “cast iron” brackets, but I I’ve nothing to use them on, so I’m looking for suggestions. Probably not a canopy tho, as I think it would look wrong in such a small setting, but maybe not. I’ve also installed some hopefully temporary L&MR signaling, which I have no intention of making function. The station has been installed, I might convert it to a flat roof however. The building on the other end is half a tenement block I made from card and scrap ho window frames. Stay healthy, -Douglas

Many thanks Ian, the station has since been installed. Addmitidly we don’t have much railway stuff here, no passenger trains, as the beautiful Art Deco station is now a jazz museum, but we do have an enormous hump yard used by the BNSF. We have too old locos lying around in parks, one a logging engine, the other a giant 4-8-4 named meteor. -Douglas

That’s a very good idea Mr. Oxon, I have seen that around, but it never entered my kind to use it that way. The only real difficulty would be the points/turnouts. Thanks, -Douglas

Thanks Ian, I will definitely put that info to good use. -Douglas

Hi Ian, I was wondering were you got the wheels for the wagons, or are they just standard oo wheels that work in ho as well? thanks, Douglas

Nice work! That’s a very good looking bridge -Douglas

I definitely agree with you Ian on the illustration. I copied the idea of the station engine from a video of Mike Sharmans layout, somewhere around on YouTube.

The station has been puzzling me for a while now. Originality it was the building in pic 1, which I made out of card and wood around two years ago. (Canopy brackets are from Alexander models). I was just slightly obsessed with the GWR back then, hence why it might resemble that. I haven’t been able to find very much about L&MR stations at all, other than the one that’s a museum in Manchester. I did see an illustration of Liverpool Crown St., which I will probably use as the inspiration for this station. In pic 2 I have just set what I will probably use as the main building in place, and old Vollmer factory. Any advice on building it would be great though. The red thing is a unpowered sector plate, which I’m to lazy to wire up, and it has an old Langley portable engine powering it. -Douglas

Hi Andy, Most of the time stone sleepers were used, as creosote for hadn’t been invented yet. The ballast was often a mix of things I think, with bricks and stuff occasionally being throne in to keep the shareholders happy. The ballast often went up to just below the top of the rail, but I tried that on my layout and it’s best to leave it shorter, but still covering sleepers. Ballast color often differed between region and company. That’s just what I can say, I’m sure Ian Simpson has a lot more on that subject though, I got most of my track info from reading his blog. -Douglas

The first picture is of my only current L&MR locomotive, Atlas. It started off life as a Bachmann John Bull (one of the first locos in the USA), which meant it had a cow catcher and headlamp the size of a stage light. These I removed within near minutes of acquisition, and they’re absence greatly improved the engine. I managed to find what appears to be a drawing made around 1896 of the John Bull when it first arrived. The dome was moved to over the inspection hole, and the inspection while moved over the firebox. Original York was the other way round. So I moved it back, and added an attempt at a salter spring safety valve. The tender need a lot more work, as it looks like a genuine garden shed when first acquired. After much deliberation I cut it in half, put black card around the top, and added coal dust. So now it’s not dragging around a shed, but the coal looks like it was made by the company who makes spam (the food).

I too have bought a John Bull. I painted mine in L&MR green/black livery. As for the tender, I was to lazy to buy the rocket one, so I chopped the top half of the “shed” off. This left me with a vaguely accurate tender outline, but still had the giant motor casting, which I covered in card, painted black, and then covered in coal dust. It looks okay from a distance, however it can give the impression that the fuel was squeezed to the exact dimensions of the tender out of an alien spaceship. -Douglas

Very interesting! Always liked the weird symmetry on the back wall of the row houses.