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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 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:

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 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.

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.

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.

The castings for the tender are very good. Apart from straightening out the slab sides and the cleaning up and squaring of some of the edges, they fitted together witha minimum of fuss and soldered beautifully. Once again I made a plywood cradle to support the body and make handling easier. Tim supplied a pair of Bachman bogies to use instead of the whitemetal items in the kit, mainly I think due to their having an integral coupling. The only modification required was to add two new mountings to the tender, turned from 9mm brass rod. One particular requirement is for tender pickups, so I'm experimenting; starting with some small circuitboard plates.

Thanks very much Rob; but to be fair to the kit, it wasnt exactly a Sow's Ear to begin with! Sorry this thread has been a bit quiet lately, but I've not been idle so its high time I kicked it into action again. Following the discussion on the front bogie, I've added some guardirons to the front end.

Well I've been a bit quiet lately, but not idle. Progress has been slow but steady and its time for an update. The kit makes no provision for brakegear whatsoever, but Mainly Trains supply an etch of SR loco brakehangers to fill the gap. Brake rodding was fabricated from .7mm brass wire; a bit on the heavy side perhaps, but it makes for a robust assembly, and you can hardly see it once installed. The underside view shows its mounting; the front end is screwed to an extra frame-spacer between the front drivers. The pull rods touch the inside of the frames, providing sideways alignment, and the rear and centre hangers have a rod passing right through them and the frames. This will need securing , preferably not permanently. The front hangers have no rod through the frames, I thought the proximity of the Romford flanges was asking for trouble. So they float in free space. The photo below shows that the brakes still need a little filing and tweaking. Once blackened I will smear a bit of araldite on the faces, to provide insulation incase they touch the wheels Valvegear all went together without any real problems, (once I had filed it all down a bit) by the solder/paper spacer method using the supplied rivits. One thing I didnt like was the expansion link and radius rod mounted on the free end of a 14ba screw held by one nut. I added a second bracket with a captive nut so that the rods sat between the supports. Unlike many kits, ths one has a working valve-rod sliding in and out of the cylinders, although you can hardly see it. Not only is this more authentic, it supports the combining lever and radius rod, so no need for an extra supporting bracket from the frame. Next job is the tender. Cheers, Dave.T

Hi Mudders, Looking great, love the latest photos. Dave.

Hi Mouse, I can see where you are coming from, but remember, any movement is rotational around the pivot, and my diagram additions in red should show the effect of the side forces on the frames. The bogie always swings back to the central straight position. Steph is quite right, both setups will work correctly. Cheers, Dave.

Err... let me think about that one. It certainly pulls the bogie into line.

Hi Mouse, Replacing the bogie was considered, but the casting was pretty good; reasonably square and with axle slots parallel in all planes. (Unlike some I've seen) It could do with a bit of cosmetic attention to the front end and perhaps the sides (where visible under the cylinders) but nothing too drastic is needed. Besides, the whitemetal gives it some much needed weight; always a plus point. All the best, Dave.

The pivot arm for the bogie was a rather flimsy bit of bent whitemetal, so I've replaced it with a stronger length of brass strip. While I was at it I added some light lateral springing, using fine 15thou nickel silver wire. Those at the back of the arm bear against the inside of the frames. This prevents the bogie flopping around all over the place, and helps to guide the loco into curves, reducing the front footplate overhang I see I've managed to break off one of the whitemetal guardirons, but I was probably going to replace them with brass anyway. Dave.T

Yikes, now you're worrying me! We havent got as far as thinking about the details; apart from the fact that its destined for a West of England mainline layout, and therefore most likely to be an Exmouth Junction or Salisbury based loco. Thanks for all the info, most of which I was NOT aware of:( the U is not a loco that I've studied. Yet! All the best, Dave.

As I've already said, the DJH cylinder castings are some of the best I've seen. They slide on to the outer ends of a cast "T" piece, and end up at the correct position and inclination. As Horsetan has already said, the body of this kit is about 3mm too short, but it all looks in proportion (to me!) However this meant that the cylinders fouled the drop-footplate section, so I've moved them back a fraction by shortening the T-piece. Sawing through it and fitting it back together shortened it sufficiently, and explains the strip of brass thats re-inforcing it. This strip also fills the gap between T-piece and footplate, so when the body is screwed on, the assembly is properly clamped in place. Motion brackets are "S" shaped, and looked a little delicate, so I've re-inforced them with extra strips soldered in vertically. The photos should make it clear. Dave.

Quite so; and one of my least favourite aspects of whitemetal locos. Not only is that edge awkward to clean up, its very vulnerable to damage as well. Hence I normally leave finishing the edge until last. Cheers, Dave.

Cylinders are assembled, with new slidebars, and Romford crosshead assemblies. Of course the usual problem with front-bogie logies appears, there isnt room for the bogie to swing between the cylinders. Fortunately theres plenty of surplus whitemetal that can be removed from the back of the cylinders without adverse effect. Then the limiting factor for bogie swing will be the front footsteps. It does look extremely odd without the bogie. Cheers, Dave

Hi JE, They are only lightly fixed in place. I've already given the safety valve mounting good re-shaping, but I thought dome looked reasonable. Not sure if I can make any alterations to the chimney; I might look for a replacement, it depends what my friend wants me to do. Can you recomend a source? There was a very nice chimney in the PDK kit, but I dont know if he does spares. Thanks, Dave.

The cylinder castings are some of the best I've seen; they're cleverley designed, well detailed, and the correct size and shape. No need for excess amounts of filing to get them square! The exquisite machined crossheads from Romford fit them perfectly. I will be replacing the slidebars though. Dave.