DLT

Hi Paul,

This is looking very good, you've got the curved bodywook very well; something that always put me off building railcars!

Are you coming to the Cornwall Narrow Gauge Expo later this month? We could give it a run on Bridport if you like.

Cheers,

Dave.T

Hi Des,

I've just caught up with this thread, looks like the layout is progressing very nicely; most inspiring.

Interesting that you mentioned Frank Crudass and the list of his articles; but was there ever a feature on his layout?

His models were excellent, and his Wadebridge layout must have been quite something.

Cheers,

Dave.

Thanks for the info Guys.

Dave.

How is the Hornby Arthur wired for DCC? Presumably the decoder is in the tender?

Thanks,

Dave.

Thanks very much Des, it does look impressive next to the Arthur.

Good luck with fitting the decoder, theres not a lot of space, but would a long thin one slide into the boiler? As somebody recently remarked, decoders are like Lingerie; the smaller they get, the more espensive they are!

I'm interested to hear how you get on, so that I can make future locos easy to convert. My current methods probably make conversion a bit awkward.

All the best,

Dave.

That looks rather nice! But on the narrow gauge track it looks like it's on a miniautre railway!

I resisted the temptation to sit an overscale driver figure on the front of the tender

Cheers,

Dave.

Dave, did you have any of the cylinder/motion bracket problems with the PDK S15 kit you built earlier in the thread? I've been looking to get a H15 kit but been put off the DJH one by the running problems i had with the S15.

 

thanks

Geoff

Hi Geoff,

Based on my experience with the PDK S15, I have no hesitation in recomending PDK kits. They do both MAIN variations of the H15.

You pays yer money and takes yer choice! I thought the DJH S15 with perfectly ok, even though it had some dimensional problems. It was nothing like as bad as I had been led to expect!

Bits of it were particularly good, for instance the design and mounting of the cylinders. And the cast whitemetal cab was easier to construct than the etched PDK version.

For dimensional accuracy and general fidelity though, I think the PDK wins it.

Getting sufficient clearance for the front bogie is a problem with any loco of similar wheel arrangement, and I think my problems with the DJH bogie were down to me trying to be too clever!

Cheers,

Dave.

Looks very good Dave. What's next?

You may need to make a short display diorama for all of these 4mm locos - although sitting on Charmouth still look very good.

 

Richard

Hi Richard,

Thanks very much, there are certainly more SR locos in the pipeline, but I've got some narrow gauge modelling to finish off first, including a tram-loco to go with the new coaches.

You're quite right, photographing them on Charmouth is awkward with a confusing overscale background, and an unfortunate baseboard joint. An appropriate photographic diorama is needed, but its low on the list of priorities at the moment!

Darren, I'm afraid the S15 won't now be able to make a special visit to Torrington. Due to the build time over-running, it had to be delivered to its new "home shed" almost as soon at the last bit of paint was dry.

All the best,

Dave.

I have one of the DJH S15 kits to build and have been dithering about how best to tackle the brake gear; this thread is just what I need. And the loco looks fantastic, too.

Many thanks Barry,

Many people are put off kitbuilding by the thought of valvegear, but quite honestly I've often found brakegear to be more fiddly; although I'm getting the hang of it now. DJH have got around the problem by completely ignoring it, theres no brakegear in the kit, nor any suggestions on providing it. The etched SR Brake gear fret from Mainly Trains is very good, nicely detailed etchings. It just provides the visible bits, its not a "kit" as such. You need to provide plenty of straight brass wire and work out how to assemble it.

The parts I used were a tad on the large side, the blocks needed filing down a bit to achieve sufficient clearance. I positioned the longitudinal pull-rods so that they were just touching the inside of the springs, giving the whole assembly a positive lateral location. The front end is screwed to a new chassis spacer, soldered between the front springs. I drilled holes in the loco frames for the hanger rods, but in the end only fitted one through the rear holes, (there isnt room between the front drivers) so the front and middle brake-hangers are not attached to the frames.

Hope this helps,

All the best,

Dave.

As a fellow southern modeller i have been enjoying following your forum, I built this S15 kit and found that the rear wheel of the bogie hits the inside of the cylinder on tighter radius and turnouts. The bogie would tilt to start with then bounce of the track. I filed down the inside of the cylinder and motion bracket to improve clearance. The other option i had was to down size the bogie wheels as Hornby did on their King Athurs to make more room.

Thanks for all the comments Guys.

I quickly realised that theres not a lot of space for the bogie to swing, and filed quite a large amount off the rear of the cylinders. The motion bracket came in for similar treatment, having first been strengthened with additinal bits of brass (see earlier in the thread) Once thre was enough clearance I smeared Araldite on the rear faces to insulate them, just in case the wheels touched. The clearance issue isnt helped by the fact that the loco body is slightly short; so the cylinders are closer to the drivers than they should be, giving less room for the bogie wheels. I adjusted the forward/back position of the cylinders and bogie to give the best compromise between appearance and clearance.

I first fitted the bogie with Romford wheels, but didnt like the appearance, and I think the profile contributed to the derailing. The Gibson wheels look a lot better, and have the right number of spokes. The slightly deeper flanges helped to keep them on the track, but also just touched the frame and the underside of the footplate in places, causing shorting. More filing and scraping was called for, and more Araldite smearing. The wheels also come very close to the bufferbeam and the footsteps on sharp curves, so clearances remain pretty tight.

Cheers,

Dave.

Well I think its finished at last.

Had a problem with the bogie derailing on turnouts. After quite a time fiddling with clearances and the lateral springing, I removed it all. So of course the bogie no longer provides any guidance, but it does stay on the track!

Apart from that, everything seems to be fine.

Cheers,

Dave.

Thanks very much JE,

Thats a very clear and concise summary of the variations, and a huge help. I had been getting confused with the numbering, with the later locos having lower numbers.

Best wishes,

Dave

Bear in mind that the 33x series had a different coupled wheelbase to that of the PDK model, which is one of the "Chonkers", the pukka Urie H15s, and that the 33x had a Drummond tender except for 30331 from April 1956 when it received an N15 tender from 30744, also different to the tender supplied in the kit. The cab was also shorter on the 33x and the footplate straight. (Of course, PDK may be happy to supply you with a different tender to that normally supplied with the kit, and you may be happy to ignore the wheelbase, footplate and cab discrepancies). Only 30335 had the stepped footplate and it also had a unique tender, which I have never seen a kit for.

 

JE

Thanks JE,

You can probably tell that I havent got far with familiarising myself with the loco yet! As ever, once you start delving you come accross almost infinite variations, even within a relatively small class.

So perhaps I should leave the choice of numbering till a later date.

Many thanks for the info,

Dave.

Thanks for all the help Gents, and especially to Michael for his drawing.

Its looking likely that a Chonker will be featuring in my program shortly, using the excellent looking PDK kit for the 33 series, with the stepped footplate. These were all shedded at Salisbury I beleive throughout the postwar period.

Thanks again,

Dave.

Thanks Guys,

I'm keeping an eye out for the excellent Bradley LSWR loco series, but they dont appear secondhand very often, and they fetch a high price!

The South Western Circle hadnt occured to me, but I guess its high time I joined.

Many thanks,

Dave.

Dear All,

Does anyone know where I can find a drawing of an H15 "Chonker" 4-6-0, Urie's first design for the LSWR?

Many thanks for any help you can give.

Cheers,

Dave.

Hi Mike,

Just had it confirmed, it is the 80:1 gearbox.

Cheers,

Dave.

Hi Dave

Have followed this thread with interest and the latest photos were worth waiting for!

I'm currently looking to refurbish my DJH S15 (built about 25 years ago) and particularly to replace the old open frame motor with a Mashima can. I can see in the thread which motor you've used but what is the ratio of the gearbox?

Regards Mike

Hi Mike,

I'm afraid I can't remember the ratio exactly, its a High-Level Kits Loadhauler-Plus, they come in 60, 80, and 108:1.

I THINK its the 80:1, It was supplied by my friend, whose layout its destined for. I will ask him.

Thanks for the comments, I should have some more photos over the hols.

All the best,

Dave.

Its about time this thread saw some action again. After several diversions I've got back to work on the S15.

Its painted and numbreed, and now only needs a touch of weathering and the remaining details parts (clack valves, front vac hose, balance weights) adding.

Cheers,

Dave.

Some photos to show progress to date:

Barry was heavily involved that weekend with Inkerman Street as well as Lydham Heath - I recall him setting up Inkerman street with saw in hand as they had to make it "fit" the awkward spot that the layout was in - another example of just how crammed that show was. At one stage it was virtually impossible to move at the bottom end of the hall due to the Hursley queue!

Inkerman Street wasnt the only one that needed a saw.

I'm sure I remember that the white screens surrounding North Shields had a rough hole cut in it, and about four-inches of cassette fiddle-yard was poking out!

Great day,

Dave.T

HI Dave

Please bring it to warley i would love to see it ,always had a soft spot for this loco, would love to see one running in to Torrington

All the best

Darren01

Hi Guys,

Thanks very much for the comments. I hadnt planned to bring the S15 to Warley, as its partly dismantled at the moment, Chassis and valve-gear etc are awaiting chemical blackening and a waft of paint. I havent done anything to it for a couple of weeks as I've been concentrating on getting the new coaches ready in time for Warley.

However, once its in one piece again, I'm sure we could arrange for it to haul a "special" up to Torrington???

All the best,

Dave.

Congratulations on this one ... How difficult was this one to build?

I have built about 15 DJH kits over the years, the later ones go together very well but I recently had a real fight with a 7f .. I can never get the tender to ine up with the wheels holes so always build a separate chassis.

I always cheat with tender locos using a live chassis on both with a insulated drawbar.

Jack

Thanks Jack, its not particularly difficult at all, most of the difficult bits or modifications have been described.

I have to bow to your experience with DJH kits, this is my first. I recall reading Iain Rice's struggles with the 7F, his ended up mostly scratchbuilt, using some bits from the kit.

I would be interested to see some illustrations of your tender pickup methods

Many thanks,

Dave.

The tender all fitted together very nicely, with no modifications needed. I've added some extra detail of the securing strap and pipework around the vac tanks, they really were just a lump of whitemetal.

The above photo shows the drawbar with its wiper contacts to feed power to the loco. Made from doublesided circuitboard, both sides of the drawbar carry current.

Wipers at the sides make contact with the loco frame, and the one at the end contacts another piece of copperclad, wired to the pickup plate.

Does anyone else have particular methods for tender pickup? I might start a separate thread for the subject.

Dave.

I don't know if this is helpful. I have a number of DJH kits and those with front bogies always give problems.

 

Comet have just produced a new sprung front bogie pivot etch. I have just fitted on to a standard 5 and it has transformed it.

 

Jack

Thanks for that Jack, I'll bear it in mind.

So far the loco has been tested by shunting around on a small terminus layout and hasnt shown any problems. Its real test will be when it comes to haul heavy trains on the mainline layout its destined for.

What problems did you encounter? Derailments?

Many thanks,

Dave.

First try at fitting pickups to the tender bogies involves bent and twisted phosphor-bronze strip, acting against the backs of the flanges. So far so good; pickup is ok, and the pressure is light enough not to cause braking. (The wipers still need final trimming to length) The weight of the whitemetal tender ensures good rail contact as well.

I now need to work out how to get power to the loco without having wires connected between the loco and tender. Current plan is a drawbar made of curcuitboard, and more wiper contacts.

Dave.