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Ruston

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Blog Entries posted by Ruston

  1. Ruston

    11-ton Hibberd 4wDM

    By Ruston,


    A
    This Dorman-engined Hibberd is believed to have originally been built in 1956 for a cement works in Kent. It was sold to a contractor in 1964 and was used on various tracklifting contracts around the country in the wake of Beeching's closures of unprofitable lines. It was seen in the Camden yard of Alfie Solomons Ltd. in 1967 and by 1974 had turned up at Strong's yard, in Small Heath.
     
    It doesn't appear ro have been very popular with the drivers and spent a lot of time at the end of the Metal Box siding at Watery Lane. By this time, Charlie Strong (Small Heath) Ltd. had become part of the Shelby Group, who negotiated a contract to shunt the Metal Box works in Small Heath. It is supposed that the loco was bought for this purpose but most of the shunting appears to have been done using the scrapyard locomotives. By 1978 it seems to have disappeared, presumed scrapped or sold.

  2. Ruston

    14-ton Motor Rail

    By Ruston,


    A
    This 85HP diesel shunter, built by Motor Rail Ltd. in 1957, formerly worked for The Harboro Stone Co. at their quarry that was located along the Cromford & High Peak line. It was used at Strong's but soon departed to become one of the hire fleet.

  3. Ruston

    4mm Black Hawthorn

    By Ruston,

    One of my own projects, for my next layout.
     
    It is the High Level kit of a Black Hawthorn 0-4-0ST. I got the bulk of the bodywork done, yesterday, but that's always the easy part, isn't it?

    This kit is based on Wellington (former Holwell No.3) I am going to fit disc wheels, as on Bauxite No.2, in the NRM. Although Bauxite appears to be a slightly smaller loco I just like to be different. It will also have block buffers as these will be neccesary on the new layout, where rolling stock will be a mixture of standard RCH wagons and inside-framed dumb-buffered internal use wagons.The great thing about this loco is that the real Wellington was built in the 1870s and had an almost 100 year working life before preservation, so I can use it on my more modern layouts too.
  4. Ruston

    4mm Black Hawthorn Pt. 2

    By Ruston,

    The cab is now on, as are all fittings, pipes and castings plus the home-made block buffers. Getting sufficient weight into something this small is always a challenge and so far only the smokebox and bunkers have been filled with lead. To enable more weight to be added in the boiler space I am swapping the provided 10/24 motor for a 10/20.

  5. Ruston

    4mm Black Hawthorn Pt. 3

    By Ruston,

    I have jumped forward massively and have finished it. 5050 pressed the wheels on for me on Wednesday (thanks, Paul). I was going to post a photo of the chassis but flat batteries on my camera, and RMweb being down on Wedneday meant that I didn't and just got on with it.
     
    I have finished it with minmal weathering - just some metalcote and a bit of rust weathering powders on the cab steps and some coal dust on the footplate and around the coal bunkers. The buffing faces have been weathered the most as no matter how clean a crew otherwise kept a locomotive they couldn't help but have the buffer faces, which would have been iron plates, with worn paint, dirt, rust and grease. Of course you can't see that in the photo but this is all I could manage with the lighting in the shed. I'll get some more photos in daylight conditions, tomorrow.
     

  6. Ruston
    This little 48DS was acquired from a contractor's yard in Camden, in 1975. Whilst outwardly scruffy it was in good mechanical condition and was used regularly to shunt fuel oil deliveries to the Metal Box works. After the creation of Strong/Shelby's locomotive hire business, it was hired out to civil engineering contractors and the like. The loco was sold in 1982 and is believed to be in a private collection, somewhere in Shropshire.

  7. Ruston
    This saddletank was new in 1941 and worked at a munitions factory in North Wales. It was later sold to a gas works, near Worcester and when replaced by diesels in 1961, was stored in its shed. A run-down of the works, just before the coming of north sea gas, saw all the equipment sold for scrap and the loco was acquired by Strong in 1973. It was named Polly Gray and put to work occasionally right up until 1982, when it was presented to the Chasewater Railway. You won't find it there as it is off-site at a private location, undergoing a complete overhaul.

  8. Ruston

    Andrew Barclay 153HP DM

    By Ruston,


    A
    This 0-4-0 diesel-mechanical was bought from an explosives works, near Coventry. It had originally been built for the war effort and is believed to have landed on the D-Day beaches. After returning to the UK it was sold out of WD service and through a dealer ended up at the explosives works. Strong purchased the entire site and scrapped everything there. The loco was used to move wagons around the site during the demolition and was eventually brought to the yard for further use. It proved to be a very reliable locomotive and was used for many years until the Gardner engine suffered a broken crankshaft. That was the end for the Barclay, which was cut up, sometime in 1982.

  9. Ruston

    Brush-Bagnall 0-6-0DE

    By Ruston,


    A
    This huge locomotive, built in 1955 at the works of W.G. Bagnall of Stafford, should have been cut up on site at the colliery where it had worked in South Wales, but a mix-up in paperwork saw it arrive one day as part of the trip freight from Small Heath yard. It had travelled as part of several British Rail good services with its rods off and its appearance was a complete surprise to the staff at Watery Lane. It was the most powerful locomotive to have worked at Strong's and was fitted with a 400HP National Gas & Oil 6-cylinder diesel engine.

    It's working life at Strong's was short as it spent most of the time stored in the shed. It was sold to an operator in Italy and is believed to have since been preserved there.

  10. Ruston
    This 0-4-0DE was built in 1958 and was supplied to a steel rolling mill at Bromford Bridge. Upon closure of the works, in 1976, it was acquired by Strong's and brought by lorry to the yard, where it was inspected and passed fit to run. It wasn't a popular locomotive with the crews as the fly cranks kept hitting scrap that was lying near the tracks. The generator suffered a flashover a few months after arriving and after a couple of weeks lying idle it was despatched.

  11. Ruston

    Ceridwen

    By Ruston,


    A
    Ceridwen was built by Peckett,& Sons Ltd. in 1896, one of their W4 class 14-inch saddle tank locomotives. She was new as No.3 to Exuperias Gittins & Co. Railway Contractor for use on the contract to improve the Calder Vale Mineral Railway after it gained a Light Railway Order and was upgraded to carry public passenger services. She spent time between other contracts in Gittins' plant yard, near Wrexham until being sold, in 1908 to The Hughes Navigation Coal Co. at their Nant-Y-Mynydd colliery in South Wales. It was here where she gained the nameplates and where she worked alongside another W4 named Taliesin. In 1919, Ceridwen was returned to Pecketts to have a new boiler fitted and to have the cab lowered and the footplate dropped in order to work at one of the company's subsidiaries, the Rhymney Patent Solid Fuel Works. She worked here until being laid aside, in 1938, when, among other things, major work was required to the firebox.
     
    In 1943 Ceridwen was requisitioned by the Ministry of Supply and was sent to The Yorkshire Engine Company, in Sheffield, to be overhauled before being sent to work at The Harboro Stone Co. in Derbyshire. It was from here that Strong bought her after the quarry and works closed,  1971. She was a regular performer at Watery Lane and was favoured over the diesels by her usual driver.
     
    She was sold to members of the Foxfield Railway in 1978. You won't find here here though as she is currently undergoing a rebuild at a private location.
     
    A colourised photo of Exuperias Gittin's No.3, at Brookfoot, on the CVMR, circa 1897.

     
    Ceridwen and Taliesin, at Nant-Y-Mynydd, just before the outbreak of the Great War.

     
    Ceridwen at Harboro Stone, 1965.

    Ceridwen at Watery Lane, July 1973.

  12. Ruston

    Fowler 150HP diesel

    By Ruston,


    A
    This 0-4-0DM was built for the Ministry of Supply in 1940 and was used at various munitions works during the war. It was subsequently sold to Shelby Transport Ltd., a company within the Shelby Group. It fell out of use when Shelby's Liverpool depot ceased using rail traffic and was sent to Strong's for re-use. Scrapped or sold by 1984.

  13. Ruston

    Gasworks Peckett

    By Ruston,


    A
    Another one that had a short career at Strongs was this 14-inch Special Peckett. It was built in 1899 for use at a gasworks in the London area and after several changes of ownership ended up at a gasworks in Saltley, from where Strong purchased it for scrap. It saw limited use at Garrison Lane before being sold to the Harboro Stone Company of Derbyshire. This rare shot, by Terence Torrity, shows it shunting scrap at Watery Lane Sidings.

  14. Ruston

    Gauge One 48DS

    By Ruston,

    Another comission build. This is the first time I have ever built anything in Gauge One and it's quite an eye-opener. The inner chassis is made of very thick nickel silver that completely defeated my soldering iron and I had to use the RSU. In fact I ended up soldering everything with that.
     
    The kit is from Old Originals, whom I had never heard of before but, apparently, they don't do anything smaller than Gauge One, so I I guess that's why I've never heard of them.
     

     
    And just to show how large it is - L-R Gauge One, O Gauge, 4mm and 2mm Ruston 48DS models.

  15. Ruston

    Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0DM

    By Ruston,


    A
    This 1958 vintage Hudswell was acquired from the National Coal Board's Nottinghamshire area. It was never intended to be used at Strong's yard as the Gardner 8L3 engine had been sold to Hong Kong, for use in a junk, before the locomotive was off the low-loader. Fortunately, the deal fell through and the locomotive went on to spend a couple of years as a yard shunter, before it was finally cut up.

  16. Ruston

    ICI Ruston 88DS

    By Ruston,


    A
    This 20-ton Ruston 88DS was sold for scrap after the ICI works at which it was used ceased to use rail traffic. It had been well-maintained by the ICI fitters and, instead of being cut up, was put on the sale or hire list at Strong's. It spent some time in use as the yard shunter and also shunting the Watery Lane works of Metal Box Ltd.

    It was later sold for preservation but, as is so often the case, was cast aside as soon as the railway got ideas above its station and started to run an ex-BR steam loco. The Ruston was sold back to Strong but this time it was not so lucky and became razor blades and Rover 75s.

  17. Ruston
    At least it looks like it could be from that far back. It's certainly ancient and it's difficult to believe that modellers had to put up with this sort of thing in the dim and distant.
     
    This Great Eastern Neilson saddletank was given to me earlier this week. There is also a complete unbuilt kit which, if anything, is even worse. The frames on the unbuilt kit are a single-piece whitemetal casting! The half-built model and the kit are by some outfit called Nu Cast.

     
    The model is actually very well put together by whoever got it this far but overall is amazingly crude, with slab sides where the bottom half of the boiler ought to be and brake hangers and blocks that are not even in line with the wheel flanges, let alone the treads. And the most weird thing is that the wheel rims appear to be made of some kind of aluminium alloy.

     
    But the best bit I have saved for last.

    What about that for a motor? It looks like something Edison himself made. I have tried to make it run but it takes so much current that after half a revolution it caused my controller to trip. I don't think it's worth the time and effort to finish the thing, to be honest. I wonder if I should take it to the Antiques Roadshow?
  18. Ruston
    This engine was built in 1965 and worked at British Leyland, Swindon, before becoming surplus to requirements. It arrived at Strong's yard in 1979 in full working order and after a time working the yard was added to the hire fleet. It was easy to drive and powerful, with a Twin Disc torque convertor and Leyland O.680 engine.

  19. Ruston

    Keyser Kits Hudswell Clarke

    By Ruston,


    Build
    I've had this one since December last year when I took in part-exchange for a draughtsman's drawing board that I obtained for a bargain price. I had ideas of producing drawings for making patterns for profile-milling but, as it turned out, the board was rather large and the stand was solid cast iron and almost killed me getting it into the back of the van. I knew I didn't have enough room in the house to permanently keep the board indoors and the idea was to keep it in the garage and move in only when I wanted to use it but the thing never made it home. As soon as I realised how heavy it was I took it and passed it on to a new owner and let him half kill himself getting it into his house.

     
    So, I got this kit, which was produced in 1979 and was still in the original box, with the parts shrink-wrapped to printed card backings. It thought it would just be a matter of gluing it all together - bish, bash, bosh - job's a good un' but no, the chassis is awful, the wheels are awful and the motor is a joke.I've glued the bodywork together and now it's going to get a scratchbuilt frame, rods, and cylinders. At the moment my thoughts regarding powering it are revolving around one of those little N20 motor/gearbox combinations. If that won't fit then I've got a cheap Chinese 10/15 motor that I'll screw onto a High :Level 'box. I've already got a set of Gibson wheels of 2ft. 9in. scale diameter, which, unlike the K's wheels are the correct size.
     
    The kit was boxed as a Taff Vale loco but the type is more generally a typical Hudswell Clarke contractor's loco. At least one of this this type, Lord Mayor, is preserved - Lord Mayor

    The motor ^ It would be funny if you found that in a Christmas cracker but not so amusing in a small 4mm locomotive.
     
    Some of the parts for the cylinder assembly were destroyed in getting them out of the shrink-wrap, which helped the decision to scratchbuild new but I don't hold much hope for some of the finer parts, such as the inejectors/ipipework, so they may have to be scratchbuilt too. That shrink-wrap stuff really was stuck fast to the parts. I don't know if it's the age of it that has made it like this but whatever the reason, it wasn't one of Mr. Keyser's best ideas.
     
    Despite all that it beats the Nu Cast dinosaur hands-down and I'm sure I can make a decent loco out of it.
  20. Ruston
    The carrier for the crown wheel is done. The wheel is fixed to the carrier by 2-part epoxy glue and the carrier has been drilled and tapped to take a 14BA grub screw, with a flat milled on the axle.The set up has been tested by sticking the two wires onto a controller and it is amazingly smooth.

    I have also started to assemble the cylinders, slidebars etc.
  21. Ruston
    I have done a little more on the bodywork - handrail added but I have used proper brass knobs and .45mm brass wire rather than the oversize plastic knobs and coil of steel wire provided. As predicted, the pipework was destroyed in attempting to remove it from the shrink-wrap, so I have made my own from copper wire, bits of brass tubing and an etched brass wheel. I have also made rims for the spectacles on the weatherboard. The holes in the weatherboard are rather large and my thick plasticard rims don't help with the appearance of this but I think it's better to have them than not. They should look better when it's all painted. The whole lot has been treated to a wash of gun blue to chemically darken the brass and to help paint adhere, although I'll probably give it a coat of etch primer anyway.

     
    The patterns for the new frames, brake gear and motion are all done and ready to go to my friend, John, who has a pantograph milling machine.. The patterns are to 6x final size, with the exception of the cylinder end gland, which is 36 times larger. This piece will be used to cut a plasticard pattern to 6x the size of the final component and is a way of improving the accuracy of placing holes where it is critical for better fit and running.

     
    And, finally, the old and the new power unit, courtesy of Geoff Helliwell. I have some of these N20 motor/gearbox units and was about to have a go at making the final drive after reading Geoff's article in the April edition of the Railway Modeller. I got in touch with Geoff to ask a few questions and he very geneously sent me some gears to make my own and a complete unit with one of his own final drives already fitted. For anyone building very small engines such as this, the article is definitely worth reading, not to mention a rather fine O gauge NCB layout that is also featured this month.

  22. Ruston
    The main frames are ready for the Fitting Shop.

    The kit frames are crude, to say the least. The front area of the kit frames consisted of two pieces of cast whitemetal with slots to take the cylinders; a quite ridiculous design, especially when the rest has been made from milled brass. My replacement version is full-length, of course, and has locating holes for seperate cylinders, with slots to locate the motion bracket, all of which will be made from scratch.
     
    I am not going with the gearbox in the previous photo and instead will use an in-line N20 motor/gearbox. This will screw to the gear plate that has been made as part of the frames.
  23. Ruston
    Little is known about this 48DS, other than it came from a railway wagon works in Nottinghamshire. It was noted being unloaded from a Shelby Group lorry in April 1975. A couple of weeks later, parts of what are assumed to be the same locomotive were seen from Garrison Lane bridge, in a BR mineral wagon. Presumed scrapped by 5/75.
     

  24. Ruston
    The Black Hawthorn, the Manning Wardle and the next couple of personal projects in the pipeline are intended to go on my yet-to-be-built late Victorian/Edwardian light railway/ mineral railway. One difficulty with fictitious industrial locations set in the times of private owner wagons is that your fictitious company can't really use RTR wagons in the liveries of real companies, so I have had a go at making my own liveries using decal paper.
     
    I bought some cheap second hand Hornby wagons to test the techniques and the photo shows them with the decals freshly applied. I'll see how well they settle into the nooks and crannies of the planks and strapping and if all goes well I'll give the wagons some weathering and replace the plastic pizza cutter-flanged wheels with something a bit nicer. The wagons are in their as bought colours and all I have done is to take the original lettering off using a glass fibre pen.
     
    I have also made decals for the Black Hawthorn. I was going to order some etched brass plates but I think the signwriting adds a certain something and looks the part.
     

     

  25. Ruston
    This engine was built to a Drewry Car. Co. design by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns, in 1956. The type is very similar to what became British Rail's Class 04. It was powered by a Gardner 8L3 8-cylinder, 204HP diesel engine, driving through a Wilson 5-speed epicylic gearbox and until being bought and moved to Strong's yard in 1974 it had worked all its life for the Central Electricity Authority (later Central Electricity Generating Board). It wasn't in the best condition when it arrived and at least cosmetically things went downhill from there on. Most of the engine casing doors were discarded as they would get in the way every time the crews had to start it as the cold start controls were missing from the cab, as well as it requiring copious amounts of ether down the air intakes.
     
    One day in 1977 the engine ran away and began running on its own sump oil. Being unable to stop it, the crew got well clear and watched as it put a rod out of the crankcase. There ended it's career. It was quickly despatched by propane torch and within a week had ceased to exist. Recorded by the IRS as scrapped w/e 5/8/77.
     

     
     
     
     
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