rope runner

HE287 of 1883 VIGILANT is the oldest preserved standard gauge Hunslet loco and a cylinder size larger than this model. There's a few detail differences too, not least the cab which afforded much less protection for crews. Both would be considered "contractors type" locos though due to their lightweight design. Paul A.

Hi All, Not much news on the layout to report, I've been distracted with stock again... This time it's an ancient 19th century 9'' cylinder Hunslet contractors loco. Several small 4-coupled locos built by Hunslet were acquired in the early years of Ironstone extraction by the pioneering James Pain Ltd. A bit of a departure for me, this won't be a model of a specific loco - but it is intended to complete it with a prototypical standard early Hunslet livery. The etches were designed by Mike Edge who built one of these for a client as HE304 of 1883 named "Dillichip". He was good enough to run another set off for me, with a few sage words. Thank you Mike. This is practically a narrow gauge loco on standard gauge frames. The larger 10'' cylinder members of the class were around 12-14 tons and so this prototype can't have been much over double figures. A gentle reminder that this is in 4mm... Forming the cab roof is not for the faint of heart. The sort of thing you only really get one shot at when building an etched kit. The fittings for this have all come from the "bits" box, apart from the buffers which were from RT models. The soldering is still to be cleaned up here. Most of these didn't have a conventional coupling hook from new but I've built this with a set from Brassmasters for ease of operation. I wanted to use some miniscule ex-Sharman wheels but unfortunately the size of the final drive gear in the standard High Level gear boxes prohibited that approach. What follows is an attempt at my own gearbox in brass in an effort to overcome this. The gears are 0.2 module with an overall reduction of 66:1. The reduction gearset is actually two pinion gears fixed on the layshaft and the whole lot rotates in 2mm bushes soldered into the gearbox frame. One of the new coreless slow-revving tramfabriek motors completes the picture. Much to my (continual) surprise, it actually works! Beginners luck I'm sure and I won't be attempting anything similar if I can avoid it... There is daylight under the boiler and the mechanism is completely concealed - there's even a base to the ashpan! Boiler barrel to be cut out from sheet, rolled and fitted in due course. I've etched my own rods for this (slightly larger than those provided, to accept the larger Sharman crank pins) and I may cheat and use the slidebar/crosshead assembly included with an MRJ Manning Wardle casting pack. Until next time Paul A.

That has come out lovely Dave, nice one. Paul A.

The livery of No.1203 THE EARL is based on her livery worn prior to scrapping at Mountain Ash in the 1970's. It was almost certainly delivered in the standard leaf green livery. As an aside, No.1456 was named "Margôt" prior to leaving Atlas Works and the polished handrails are a work of fiction, these being cast iron on the real thing. I suspect this error has arisen as they were picked out in works grey in the official works photograph, as were the frames. Paul A.

A lovely model, great weathering too. I've built three of these Agenoria Avonsides (nowadays available from CSP) and I would rate them as one of the most straightforward and "buildable" industrial loco kits out there... Paul A.

Hi All, Just a quick update to this thread - work is now progressing on a further six coupled Avonside loco. The appropriately named Avonside "Pilton" No.1832 of 1919 worked alongside AE 1972 "Stamford" until closure in 1969. This loco was of similar outline but with some detail differences including conventional cab, dumb buffers, three-part tank wrapper, steel cab floor, different front hand rail arrangement, earlier-style sandboxes etc. Of particular note is the safety valve/cover arrangement, which was of the earlier type seen on the curved-tank B4 class examples (but a little flatter). The profile of this fitting is a bit of pain in model form and as such I haven't attached this one permanently... it can hopefully be improved upon... This will complete the trio of locos which operated at Pilton from WW2 to the closure of the quarries in 1969. Paul A. PS. I am told the the Stamford loco appeal (details as above) is seeing encouraging progress. Please donate if you'd like to help preserve a sizeable piece of unique quarry railway heritage Ev'ry little helps as they say...

That'd be very good of you, thank you. It's just the rear of the cab I'm after - from memory I think there's some hooks for a shunter's pole and a few other bits. State of play of the model is below (4mm, CSP kit). I've almost reached the point where I can put the soldering iron away... Paul A.

Hawthorn leslie 12'' cylinders, I believe. I'm sure someone with the relevant IRS book can advise of the works no. and build date. Paul A.

A further Kingdom Kits Barclay here, though it's now been moved on to someone else who can enjoy it. As you can see... I attempted to disguise the dubious ride height with block buffers. Paul A.

Hi All, Just a quick request, does anyone have a photograph showing the rear of the cab of Peckett 933 "Henry Cort" as preserved at Foxfield please? I'm trying to determine lamp iron placement and also any other fittings which may be present (in her rebuilt state). My kit build of this loco is almost there, but I want to make sure it's 100% before I start throwing paint around. Many thanks Paul A.

This looks promising - I wonder though, are the buffers a tad too long? Paul A.

A rtr model of "Ring Haw" which was sister loco to "Jacks Green" at Nassington appears to be an exclusive available from one retailer. I found out about it through word of mouth, not RMweb (which was odd?), so posting a link here: https://hardyshobbies.co.uk/shop/partners/rapido/rapido-trains-16-hunslet-ring-haw-hardys-hobbies-exclusive/ No affiliation, other than suggesting this model would be a good move a few pages ago... Paul A.

Some good reference photos on pg1 of this thread here, though some works numbers inaccurate on the captions: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/127789-hunslet-50550-from-j94-buildbash/ I've seen one of these Mercian kits built with lifting eyes on the tank, which was curious. I've not come across these on the prototype before. Is this what you are referring to? Paul A.

There was several of these at Barrington Cement works over the years, all of them were the later type with a raked front to the cab. This included the last pair of 165's built. They were fitted with sliding doors over their radiators, as opposed to protective mesh. Here's another example at Barrington. This loco doesn't appear to have been photographed as much as the other three and didn't last long - evidently ex-Yorkshire Water Authority. https://www.flickr.com/photos/12a_kingmoor_klickr/7251968054/in/album-72157629560956868/ One thing to note if modelling these locos in 4mm is that the handrails are notably finer than those to be found on steam prototypes. I would suggest an improvement some modelers may like to adopt is to simulate these with 0.3mm wire and N gauge HRKs. Paul A.

I think we're at crossed purposes here, I'm after improvement to the 9ft wheelbase high body height diagram. These all had oil axle boxes from new and were unfitted. Paul A.

Hi All, I am not sure if this has been covered before but is anyone able to advise if there are any publications or write-ups which deal with improving the appearance of the Farish 27 ton iron ore tippler chassis? It is devoid of tie bar between the axles and the brake assembly isn't beefy enough. I suspect the springs are also too small as it is from their 16ton mineral wagon. I'm aware there are 2mm finescale versions of this wagon which are correct, but I don't know if anything is available for improving the farish model as-is? Any advice would be appreciated from those in the know. Thanks Paul A.

"Sales of the Consett (iron ore hopper) are very, very low" From KR models YouTube update. Paul A.

These Peckett and Avonside locos both have an injector (possibly 2?) and are unusual in also having a crosshead-driven boiler feed pump too. This is a non-standard fitting and would have been fitted after they were acquired. With regard to these early contractors locos the boiler feed pump was driven by a single eccentric inside the frames. This enters through a clack in much the same way as an injector does. Eccentric-driven boiler feed pumps were done away with fairly early on as if the water froze you would destroy the pump and eccentric strap if you tried to move the loco. There is certainly clear evidence of 19th century contractors locos having only one injector and an axle pump. Where one injector was carried this was on the fireman's side (LHS). In the linked album in the first post there are several 0-4-0ST locos which don't appear to have a separate injector assembly on the drivers side (see slides of MW LIVERPOOL and SUTTON and Hunslet ANNIE and the unnamed example at Catesby). Where there is some gubbins on the footplate it is a sandbox control rod and there's a few with what appears to be a tank drain or a loop over from another feed (possibly the axle pump, as the bypass would have had to have been controlled from the cab). Paul A.

Yes, this 16'' 0-4-0 Bagnall was unique - 2907 of 1949 named DNT. Loco lasted until the end of steam at Staveley Ironworks and was reputedly much liked by crews. The rear buffers were replaced with large flat topped ovals as the loco was prone to buffer lock at this end owing to her size and relatively long rear overhang. I have one of these Impetus kits in the "stash" but will be building with a conventional smokebox door, which was fitted from new. Replacement dogged smokebox doors were something of a norm at Staveley. There was another 16'' four coupled loco produced by Bagnall which was near identical, except that it had a cut down cab and dropped footplate, this being 2993 of 1950. Paul A.

There are several much more knowledgeable than myself on the matter on RMweb but that safety valve arrangement is the same as the photograph of ex-works HE90. That said, among the early Hunslet loco photographs I have there are 5+ different safety valve cover styles. I think with the Hunslet Engine Co. you will find that there was little in the way of standardization in their early years. Paul A.

Hi Fred, More likely the ross-pop fitted versions by this period, as opposed to those with larger dome and salter valves. There are several instances of the valve cover of the earlier type being retained but with pop valves fitted internally, of course. If modelling this scenario you'd want to remove the balance arms. There was a few surviving working locos with salter valves into the 60's, but they were few and far between. You will find photos of Peckett's with the earlier style of safety valves right up towards the end of industrial steam however , as older locos were often dumped and slowly cannibalized for parts to keep other locos going. Paul A.

Andrew Barclays went a step further than most with regards to standardization - though in some respects it was to their detriment. The six cooupled Barclays of this period required a split ash pan - meaning you need to get at it from both ends from ashing out, so need a pit. The major flaw with this design however is that the six coupled design isn't capable of maintaining steam on continuous run. The boiler barrel and firebox is essentially undersized, being identical to the 0-4-0. These problems were experienced when AB2139 was in use on the expansive Scunthorpe Steelworks railway in the early 1990s where the crew had to stop periodically to rebuild steam. Paul A.

It's not the content but the total quantity of preowned items listed I'm lamenting. Like most modelers with a niche sphere of interest it is rather more to do with quantity. I'll explain how ... If (say, on average for argument's sake) 1 in 5000 preowned items is potentially of interest to me then the less items overall will mean that there is an overall lower chance of being anything of interest, if that makes sense? Paul A.

No problem Stephen, a couple of familiar faces there including my own. I do recall when Stan (full name "Stan Tonn", no apologies for the pun..) had that funny turn and we needed to fetch the Wickham stretcher trolley for him (3.38 onwards in the video). This trolley is ex-Buckminster Quarry. More on this unique piece of quarry railway rolling stock later in the thread... Paul A.

Honestly ebay has been extremely slim pickings since the start of 2nd lockdown. The quantity of second hand items on offer has fallen dramatically, despite the lack of fairs/swapmeets etc. Paul A.