ArthurK

NORTHEASTERN KITS

J25

A short delay as I have been back to the Northeast for a short break but the first batch of twelve J25s are definitely ready to go.

ArthurK

On 24/05/2021 at 10:56, PenrithBeacon said:

I'm intrigued, why two layers?

 The early cab  roofs of NER locos had  steel  supports over the width of the cab. The roof was 1" timber which did not quite reach the  edges of  the first and last support girders so giving the two layer effect. The roof was canvas covered. This was held down with battens, one at each supporting girder and  one along each side. These  further enhanced the appearance of there being two layers. More modern cabs  used a single steel plate.

The giveaway (wood or steel) was the presence of the battens on the  roof. Many locos had the wooden roof replaced by steel.

ArthurK

53 minutes ago, Mark Hamlin said:

Would love an N10 as well if available 

Your name is already on my list

ArthurK

59 minutes ago, Asterix2012 said:

Arthur, do you have any plans to do another batch of J24?

 

 Thanks 

 

Mark

I will order a batch of three

Any one else want one please let me know.

ArthurK

I have (I believe) six N10 bodies in stock but only four underframes. Four  are reserved.

I can re-order underframes to make up the deficit, That will take about two months. There  are  six underframes on a sheet but only two bodies. 

If the demand is there I can even things out with a further four bodies.

ArthurK

The sharp eyed Will notice the there are two slots close together on the lower footplate etch. The inner of these take the tags for the tanks. the outer ones are there to enable the valance to be bent without putting too much stress on the area close to the bend.  I had a similar problem with the D20 footplate at the rear which forced a redesign with separate valence. 

ArthurK

NORTHEASTERN KITS

An Update

Despite the all problems associated with the lockdown things are still progressing but times to get bits etched  have increased to around eight weeks. New eches and re-orders are therefore taking longer.

J25

However the good  news is the the first batch of twelve J25s are no ready to go. The first on the list will receive notification of this in the next few days .

F8

I have received the first test etches. It now being test built by Mike Megginson and the build will appear in these pages.  The has required anew lost wax casring for the springs and front valve covers. the remaining castings are already in my range.

Q7

I have reluctantly given up including full valve gear. It is just not practical. Instead I will concentrate on those  bits that can be readily seen f rom above.  Both boiler styles will be catered for.

C6

Slow progress. 

Tennant 

I have a new batch of four of these.

I have a number of other kits in stock. I will check and list them. I know that the is one Q5, first come first served.

ArthurK

My remarks about the clack valves being inline with the dome centre applies to the locos without side tanks. The front of the tank of classes N8, N9 and N10 were built  with these in line with the dome on the barrel centre. On these the clack valves were moved forward by about 6" the clear the front of the tank. 

As an aside 1643 was an N9. These appear to have retained prominent tail rods to the valve spindles. It is believed that only two N9s retained the smaller tanks  with which they were buit

ArthurK

Mike 

The N8s and contempory designs (J21, J25, N8 and others) carried  a Dia. 67 boiler when built.These had the dome in the forward position and used clack valves on the centre ring of the boiler in line with the dome. During 1930s many  NER boilers were redesigned and the boiler diagrams were redesignated by adding an 'A'. thus new boilers became Dia 67A. On these the dome was moved 1' 9" to the rear. These boilers were not fiitted with clack valves on the boiler but  instead water was delivered via a combined steam/water valve on the backhead.

Rivetted smokeboxes appeared in late LNER days (I believe the early 1940s). This gathered pace during the war years and into BR. the straps on the smokeboxes also became riveted at about this time.

Another visible change was the acquisition of the Doncaster style of smokebox door. The more domed than  the flatter style used by the NER.

It pays to have a good photograph of the loco that you intend to mode and in the period of your intended build. There are a lot of pitfalls waiting for the unwary.

ArthurK

I saw Airborne many times on Tyneside. Fortunately not in the state of the last sighting, abandoned and awaiting the end on the scrap line at Blaydon.

Surprisingly It still had its nameplate intact.  

ArthurK

Sent by mistake

Mike,

I have never been a hundred percent happy with the B15 chimney the radius below the lip is too big. Never had the opportunity to make amends!

ArthurK

3 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

I wondered what that hole was for!

Here is another view of that hole!

The gubbings in front of it looks like it may be a cover for it.

ArthurK

The photo of the cab interior above  clearly shows a hinged plate folded back against the front cab sheet. my photo shows  it closed.

ArthurK

I wish that I had been able to photograph these locos. I used to see them whilst cycling to  and from school in the 1940s. Unfortunately I didn't possess a camera in those far off days. 

ArthurK

I think that this topic is going around  in circles and whereas I have added my own  comments, I do think the these discussions are not appropriate for this thread. Would the participants please post further comments elsewhere.

ArthurK

2 hours ago, Daddyman said:

I don't think we're ready for "I told you so" yet as no new evidence has been presented. In fact, the evidence keeps adding up for these being rebodies to the rebuilt GC pattern: another argument in favour of that thesis is that those tenders (the GC rebuilds) are exactly the same width as the Atlantic tenders - 7'10" - so would need the same handrail-on-a-plate arrangement at the front.  

You appear to forget that  the GC rebuilds were a Darlington design and the dimensions are an exact match to those of NER 4125 gallon self trimming tenders. Why produce a new design when one already exists..

43 minutes ago, mikemeg said:

Hi Dave,

 

If Arthur's tender models are correctly proportioned, then the footplate of the 4125 gallon tender was actually 6 inches wider than that of the 3940 gallon tender. The relative widths would seem to be c 31.3 mm (3940 gallon) - 7' 10" v c 33.3 mm (4125 gallon) - 8' 4". Drag beams and buffer beams were similarly of different widths to match the footplates.

Mike

 

The footplates  of the 3940 gallon trenders were 8' (the loco footplates were 8' 6"). The 4125 tender footplates were 8' 6".

ArthurK

Hi Richard,

So many pipes! The Dreadnought Valve is the thing silhouetted in the right cab window. The gadget above the right cab opening is the Westinghouse brake valve. This was retained for those locos that retained air-brakes for loco and /or train.

For comparison I offer a photo of the preserved J21 taken whilst at Marley Hill.

The Exhaust pipe to the smokebox is Lower right behind the mounting bracket. The main body is at centre, Unfortunately  the operating lever is  out of shot.

There are excellent cab views in Ken Hoole's book "An illustrated history of NER locomotives".

ArthurK

. 

6 hours ago, 30368 said:

Continued with the cab today and marked out and drilled boiler/smokebox for vacuum pipe and handrails. The vacuum ejector pipe from smokebox to cab is such a feature of these loco's. I really am enjoying this build despite the very blue air at times.

 

Handrail and vacuum pipe holes drilled.

 

Cab front soldered into position so that vacuum ejector pipe can be fitted accurately. Sorry about the poor snapshot!

 

Some of the smaller cab parts - the ecxcellent Branchlines drivers brake valve which on this loco is mounted on the cab side sheet. Also the fairly complex reverser mechanism which is mostly scratch built.

 

Kind regards and thanks for all the interest and help,

 

Richard B

NER Vacuum fitted locos used the Dreadnought brake valve. This was a complex unit. The Vacuum ejector pipe  from the smokebox entered this though the cab front sheet. There was a second smaller steam pipe from this unit to a manifold on the firebox. Sometimes this pipe was external from the shoulder of the firebox and entered the cab  about 6" above the ejector pipe.

I have the Dreadnought in my range of castings. 

ArthurK

Most NER tank locos had a 2" angle joining tank to footplate. I have added this feature to several of my scratch built locos. From  memory I used 0.5mm angle for this. (obtainable  from Eileen's Emporium).

ArthurK

14 hours ago, sdmjsmith said:

I use this tool to help bend etched brass parts:

 

 

I bought the tool online in Australia, but it says smallshop.com on the box and made in the US.

 

I tried to source some bending bars but haven't found any locally.  With pre-rolled boilers, I'm not sure the economics stack up.

 

Would annealing help?

 

Happy modelling!

 

Matthew

 

 

Annealing does help, but be warned, if you are using 12thou brass the result can be very easily dented!

ArthurK

3 hours ago, Riverside said:

I'm not sure if Arthur will thank me for this (as I know he has his hands full with loco kits) but I thought I'd post some pics of the NER bow ended gangway coaches I am completing from some test builds Arthur kindly made available for me. I am attempting to model the Newcastle - Liverpool express in North Eastern days and had some Bill Bedford kits purchased 30 years ago. The body shells on these kits were formed as a single section with the roof and I found it hard to get them into shape. Fortunately I had some even older Trevor Charlton etched zinc sides which came to the rescue for three of the vehicles I required. Arthur was able by sheer good luck to be able to provide the first class accommodation I needed - Dia. 154 2 compt. brake first and Dia. 152 corridor first shown here.

 

Arthur had intended to produce a whole range of these elegant carriages and may well do so. I certainly hope so as they build into very attractive vehicles. I now have all the carriages built (apart from an open third) using underframes from Bill Bedford which are excellent, a combination of Trevor Charlton parts and Arthur's test builds for the bodies and roofs formed from LNER sections and ends obtained from MJT. The painting, lining and finishing of these coaches is taking quite some time and finding information on details like the roof fittings has been tricky. Several members of the NERA have been very helpful in that respect.

 

All I need next is one of Arthur's long-promised V class Atlantics to pull the train. 

I am very please to see these two as they were intended. Better than having them rotting away in a box,

I must admit that I regret not finishing the range that I had intended.

I have concentrated on the loco kits. With a bit of luck you may even get the V class to pull them this year.

Thanks for showing them.

ArthurK

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

I'm delighted you're delighted, Chas,

 

One popular running-in job from 36A was a Doncaster-Leeds 'parly' return. So, one would see a gleaming Pacific on no more than four/five carriages.

 

All the works had running-in turns. There used to be a five o'clock arrival from Crewe at Chester every weekday; just an all-stations stopper made-up of a few old carriages. One day we saw a gleaming 'Semi' on it! 46223 from Polmadie. What a cop! 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Darlington had running in turns to Newcastle. Those were the only Sandringhams that I ever saw in Central station.

ArthurK

4 hours ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

Dimmers usually work by reducing power and voltage. Given that white metal kits usually have fairly large components, then reducing the power and therefore the irons ability to bring the metal up to the right temperature, dimmer control doesn't seem a particularly good idea.

 

Another ruse is to tightly wrap some fairly thick copper wire around  the soldering iron tip and formed into a chisel tip at the end. This acts as a heat/temperature reducer. Again the ability to transfer heat power - and hence temperature - is reduced

 

Frankly, given the low cost of TCU irons (unless you go for one of the premium brands) I can't see why anyone wouldn't use one. I have an Antex 50 watt TCU and regard it as one of my most valuable tools.

I used a dimmer switch to solder white metal  for years until I got an Antex 60W TCI one Xmas. I never had  any problems using the former method but the latter is much better!

ArthurK