rope runner

Andrew Barclay 2139 of 1942 "Salmon"

Yours truly on the footplate!

To keep the thread variety up I will give now give an overview of one of the more interesting prototypical locos I have been working on. 

History and Background

By the first half of the twentieth century, Andrew Barclay Sons & Co. had a reputation for building cheap and robust industrial steam locomotives at their Kilmarnock works during the first half of the twentieth century. Indeed, the company had started producing steam locomotives in a meaningful way in the last quarter of the previous century, though the locomotives did not have the same rigorous design standardization that was prevalent in their later products.

Andrew Barclay “Salmon” (wks no. 2139, built in 1942) was one of a pair sourced for the East Midlands ironstone industry, obtained through the Ministry of Supply. "Salmon" along with sister loco "Swordfish" (wks no. 2138 of the same year) were named after Royal Naval submarines lost at sea in 1940. 

AB2139 in "as delivered" condition 

"Salmon" was delivered new to Harlaxton Quarries (South Lincs.) and later to Woolsthorpe Quarries in Leicestershire, where the line had recently been upgraded from a 3ft narrow gauge system to a standard gauge setup. The quarries were operated by the Stanton Ironworks Company at this time, and later Stewarts and Lloyds. At Woolsthorpe, several of the locomotives wore the heavy-duty fabricated buffers typical of Stanton locomotives. Additionally, water treatment was required for the locos due to the high mineral content of the local water, the chemicals required to soften this being loaded into tubes which fed into the front of the saddle tank.

After several years of work "Salmon" was rebuilt at Holwell works over a two year period, during which time she received a new chimney, ross pop safety valves and replacement footsteps. She was sold out of industry and moved to various preservation sites including NYMR, Rutland Railway Museum, Swindon and Cricklade, Beamish Museum and now Royal Deeside. 

"Salmon" at the head of a demonstration hopper rake at Cottesmore in the 1990's. Note the water softener tube

"Salmon" as she ran for a short time at Scunthorpe steelworks in the 1990's. 

Of additional interest, sister loco “Swordfish”  which worked at Glendon Quarries is also preserved, having survived into the 1980’s in a scrapyard before being rescued. She is currently operational on the Swindon and Cricklade, though not in original configuration. 

The Model

The base for the model is the now discontinued DJH “starter” for the 0-4-0 kit, with additional etches from my own artwork. Owing to the aforementioned standardization adopted by Barclays the saddle tank, boiler and cylinders/motion/fittings are common between the 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 14’’ types (though not the larger 15'' design). It is for this reason that the 0-6-0 has an unequal wheelbase, and the rear driving wheel are positioned directly under the cab with a requirement for a split ash pan. The boiler does sit higher in the six coupled version as a result and accordingly the cab windows are angular as opposed to the more typical porthole used by Barclays at this time.

The model in its various sub-assemblies and lacking cab details for now

The DJH kit employs a motor mounted vertically in the cab, a compromise I am happy with but in the case of this build the rear axle does not allow reuse of the original gearbox (which is integral with the original frames). The axle position also means that there is not room for my usual choice of rear-axle mounted High Level gearbox. As the centre axle is set so far back, owing to the unequal wheelbase, I have managed to drive this  with a High Level RR compact+ with motor located upright in the cab where the backhead should be. It will be further obscured with crew, reversing lever etc. 

Drive from the centre axle using a flipped over High Level gearbox. Motor is a Mashima 1020 owing to the cab height

The distinctive buffers are from RT models, coupling hooks from Brassmasters and driving wheels/whistle from Markits. Handrail knobs of the original kit have been replaced with the finer Alan Gibson equivalent. The water treatment tube was constructed from brass tube, measurements being taken from another former Woolsthorpe Quarries loco Andrew Barclay wks no. 2350 “Belvoir” of 1954, the only loco which has retained this Stanton-pattern fitting in preservation.

Front view of the model. The mechanical lubricator wheel will be fitted after painting and the front grab handles are "long" hand rail knobs with holes filled. The model is based on "Salmon" post-rebuild with ross pop safety valves

Rear view of the model. The rear cab window protective mesh will be added after painting. The lamp irons are the typical Andrew Barclay double sided type

The model will be painted once I can find a good match for the shade green. Transfers will be required for the name, as these were painted on. I'll post another pic once complete, hopefully later in the summer. 

Paul A. 

Hi All, 

For completeness I will now detail the short rake of steel-bodied private owner tipplers for the layout and some prototype background. 

The phasing out of wooden mineral wagons for ironstone began in earnest in the 1940's owing to the earlier successes of privately owned steel bodied hopper wagons and comparatively labour-intensive upkeep of wooden-framed designs. This issue was all the more pressing during this period as the large numbers of Ministry of Munitions ore wagons constructed during the first world war were coming towards their useful working lives for mainline use. 

One company facing this problem post-war was the Lancashire Steel Corporation at Irlam who required large volumes of iron ore to bolster their manufacturing in the mid twentieth century. Their needs were such that even ore quarried over a hundred miles away in the East Midlands was to be bought in to supplement their own ore streams. This ore would then be brought through in block rakes from the Midland mainline due West, sometimes via the Woodhead route (or so it is documented and photographed). 

A small variety of steel bodied tipplers were offered from private wagon manufacturers. One such design offered by several builders was a 20 ton capacity unfitted tippler which featured outside I-beam bracing and angled floor sides for the handling of wet aggregate. A brief discussion of this design and thoughts on replicating these in model form is offered here. Lancashire steel had a small fleet of these wagons which were still in operation during the late 1960's. 

With the move towards vacuum fitted stock during the early/mid 1960's further wagons were built for the Lancashire Steel Corporation to the same design as the 26 ton BR diagram 1/185 10ft wheelbase tippler wagons by the Central Wagon Co. It is believed that these were ordered in greater numbers than the 20 ton design although livery details were unchanged. Bachmann do offer a tippler RTR in this livery, but it ought really be the correct 26 ton lower-bodied design with 10ft wheelbase. 

I've chosen to model a short rake of both the earlier 20 ton and later 26 ton designs. While these wagons appear to have often run in block trains of the same type wagon (20 or 26 ton respectively) it was common to see short rakes of assorted types (tipplers and hoppers) moving in trip workings to the quarry for loading. These would then be reformed into rakes of their respective types in the exchange sidings prior to the arrival of the BR loco. 

Lancashire Steel Corporation private owner tipplers. 26 ton design closest to the camera is a Parkside kit with Oleo buffers and vac hoses from Lanarkshire Model Supplies. The 20 ton design is scratch built from plasticard and evergreen strip on a cut and shut Parkside 21 ton hopper chassis, giving the correct solebar depth. Lettering was custom printed for these wagons based on photographs. 

Happy Easter All. 

Paul A. 

Hi All,

This post will detail the subject of BR steel bodied "tippler" mineral wagons for the layout.

To the uninitiated it may appear that the typical British Railways Iron Ore Tippler wagon is a fairly flat subject with little area for interest - in essence a box on wheels. But let's take a closer look...

An atmospheric shot of Andrew Barclay "No.19" works number 2101 of 1940 at Storefield Quarries, Northants. The tipplers are of varying heights, the second closest to the camera is fitted with roller bearings  and the vehicle at the back of the rake appears to have no tie bars. 

First to the typical high-bodied 27 ton tippler with oil axle boxes. These have been the subject of two (serious, not including first gen efforts) RTR models in recent times by Hornby and Bachmann. Unfortunately, neither succeeds entirely in capturing the accurate dimensions and features of the prototype. The Bachmann model is fitted with a 16-ton mineral chassis which lacks the tie bars, correct spring type and brake lever arrangement. The Hornby chassis is much improved and is a good representation. Unfortunately the body height isn't quite right and the triangular supports under the top capping have been rendered with a curved profile instead of straight.

My solution is a pastiche of the two RTR models. There are several of these completed for the layout all with slightly differing script for the central body patch, the wagons being out shopped with a great variety of scripts, sizes and positioning height.

27 ton high-sided tippler diagram 1/180. This makes use of the Hornby chassis and the Bachmann body from their RTR offerings. The wagon is 9ft WB and unfitted. 

Moving on now to the Parkside kit and the outlook here is much better. These kits come with optional roller bearing or "heavy duty" axle boxes and build up without issue. Note that this represents the later 10ft wheelbase design and features clasp brakes, the tie bars having been done away with by this time. 

26 ton lower-sided tippler diagram 1/184. This is the Parkside kit and the only modifications are the addition of BR self contained buffers from the Lanarkshire Models range. This example is vac-fitted. 

Now to some oddities for some prototypical variety. 

The forerunner to the BR 27 ton diagram 1/180 was the LMS 2153 iron ore tippler. These were fitted with bodyside doors similar to a 16-ton mineral with the chassis designed to carry 27 tons with tie bars and springing to suit this. In model form this is merely a Bachmann 16 ton mineral on Hornby 27 ton chassis, which gives a fair representation. I need to change the bodyside lettering on this one, I have since come across a photograph of one of these wagons with a large patch with "Iron Ore Tippler" above the running number. If anyone would like to see it to further their modelling pursuits please PM me as I do not have copyright of the slide. 

27 ton LMS diagram 2153 tippler. A mixture of Hornby and Bachmann parts, as above. None of this wagon diagram were preserved sadly, and although there are photographs of them with roller bearings fitted it would seem unlikely there were any vac-fitted examples. 

An intermediate design was the BR diagram 1/183 which had the 9ft wheelbase of the earlier 1/180 diagram with a lower body height to prevent overloading. Iron ore is a particularly dense aggregate, particularly when water logged, so overloading was a consideration on later designs. In model form this is achieved by paring the Hornby chassis with an independently constructed Parkside body, gluing them together with five-minute expoxy once painted. 

26 ton lower-sided tippler diagram 1/183. The chassis is the Hornby 9ft wheelbase type with a Parkside body, it is through-piped. This model represents a wagon which has been overhauled with the original axle boxes removed and roller bearings added.

Similar to the above wagon I have also completed a rebuilt diagram 1/180 which is through-piped. 

27 ton high-sided tippler diagram 1/180 which has been rebuilt by BR with roller bearings. These started to appear around the late 1960's. Component details as per the first wagon shown. 

There are plasticard stretchers added inside to prevent the bodies from bowing inwards slightly (if anything, they should bow outwards slightly!), something which the Bachmann plastic bodies have a tendency to do. The "empty" rake is mostly made up from diagram 1/183 and 1/184 tipplers as these do not suffer from the bowing sides. 

The "fulls" for the layout are fitted with permanent loads of real Rutland ironstone. The colour of this material varies greatly according to the area in which it has been mined and the local geology. That from the "Northamptonshire sand" strata is noticeably paler. 

You will note the oversize and "lumpy" nature of the iron ore loads. This is prototypical as these wagons depict those "direct loaded" by an excavator at the quarry face. Imported ore or that from quarries fitted with a crusher, such as Wroxton on Easton, would of course have finer material. 

Some of the running numbers on the wagons may not be 100% either, but the weights are right and that's good enough for me at this point...

Thanks to all for the encouragement and "likes" so far. 

Paul A.