ArthurK

NORTHEASTERN KITS

Long Bunker J72

Checking my stocks I find that there is just one of the long bunker J72 remaining. In view of the pending release of the Bachman version it is unlikely that I will be ordering more of these except by special request. If anyone wants this one drop me an Email or PM

ArthurK

NORTHEASTERN KITS

J71 & Short Bunker J72

I will have just two two of each of these left over after I have fulfilled the current orders. The j72s are being packed, the J71s are ready to go. I am not sure when the next batches will be ordered. 

I have a batch of D20s awaiting  packing (I have names on most, If not all of these). Then I must concentrate on the J25. There have been problems with the brass casting on these but they should resolved within a few days.

Meanwhile I am working on a fairly detailed representation  of the internal valve gear of the Q7.  If you thought that internal valve gear of two cylinder engines was complex then  that of the three cylinder Q7 is in another dimension with six eccentrics and the inside crank all all the second axle. Needless to say I am not attempting to make it all work, but if anyone wants a challenge they are welcome to try! The Q7 should be ready at the year.

ArthurK

Fisherman's weight are as good as any other variety of lead but don't fix it using PVA glue or similar. It has a nasty habit of expanding over time and bursting open whatever it is confined in. Known problems are boilers.

The cab locker is little more than a box with double door on the front. take the dimensions from my etches. Allow for the thickness of the cab rear/

I believe the my kit has two sets of grills for the rear windows. You could use the spare pair for the Alexander kit. 

The down-side to fitting the sides early is that it restricts access to the innards. Build the whole of the cab rear as a sub-unit and add that before before fitting the rear of the bunker.

ArthurK

John,

Can I ask why you have added toolboxes to the cab rear shelf? There weren't  any there. There was a locker on the rear  of the cab between the rear windows. See the instructions for my kit. There was a brake standard on the left of the coal hole (fireman's side). I will send you one of those with your backhead castings .  There was a sanding lever on that side above the sandbox for reverse sanding. 

ArthurK

I am afraid that that the Alexander kits perpetuate the notion that the NER round windows had brass bezels on the front of the cab sheet. They did not. Now someone will search for a photo  to prove me wrong! The round windows closed behind the cab sheets. This is clearly seen in Mick Nicholson's  photo of 69105. 

I admit to getting that wrong on my very first kit (the J24) but I have since learned to study the GAs more closely. As a further point of note  the round windows of NER locos (Worsdell onwards) were all a standard size regardless of loco size. The cab sheet cutout was 1' 5 7/8" diameter.  the inner diameter of the actual brass window was 1' 4" 

ArthurK

You might be right Paul. Boiler length - cab to smokebox front 73.5mm - cab to smokebox rear 63mm.

ArthurK

The original position for the dome was in line with the front of the tanks. On the later boilers it was moved 1' 9" to the rear. On the phpto from above the hole for the dome appears to be ahead of the tanks.

ArthurK

All this talk about dents and bends. How's this for a more extreme example? J27 65811 at North Blyth

Obviously they didn't have time  to do the job properly! I do know that it lasted several months in this condition before ending its working life at Sunderland.

ArthurK

NORTHEASTERN KITS

Long Bunker J72

I have just three  of these available. If you want one please send me a PM or Email.

I am awaiting delivery of further batches of the J71 and  the short bunker J72. Most of these are reserved but there  are are few available.

J25

I am having problems with the brass castings for this  but hopefully these will be resolved in the next couple of weeks.

ArthurK

23 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Thanks Tim,

 

I'm making up for lost time - about two years out of doing things in this great hobby some little time ago because of mental illness. 

 

Speaking with Steve Flint the other day, it would appear nobody has taken offence at what I've just written in the RM. Perhaps that's what my 'retirement' means.

 

Anyway, I need the money. Returning at dusk from Stamford last evening, some bl**dy little munchjack deer decided it wanted exactly the same bit of road as me. The result - probably its death and my car needing £1,300.00 to fix it. New radiator, new air conditioning unit, new bumper, new trim, some expensive engine-management system wrecked and all by a small deer! I hate killing things (though the species is not indigenous) and they're rather attractive little creatures. What can one do, though? Yes, I'm surrounded by lanes, but they're good roads - good enough to travel with ease at 50 mph. Negotiate a curve, and a couple of them are in the road. Brake, congratulate myself on avoiding them, and another just bolts out from the hedgerow, right in front of the car! 

 

The perils of country living I suppose.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Do you mean muntjac?

ArthurK

Hi Paul

There is a drawing at NRM of what I call the "curly" cab version of the 398 class. This is a Stephenson drawing of their 398 builds 2051-2080 & 2151-2180. This drawing has 9972 hand written in the bottom right corner.  From memory this is the OPC reference. I also have the cab & tanks drawing of the Fletcher cab version of the 290 (J77) both have the cab front profile shown and they appear to be identical. The top corner radius is 1'6" (6mm) and the roof radius is 8' 0" (32mm).

Hope this helps. I had visions of doing a kit for this. Then I asked myself which one? There didn't appear to be two the same!

In the end I moved on to other things so the kit never materialised.

ArthurK

Mike

Try soldering the angle in the centre of a strip of scrap brass etch (at least 1/4" wide). Then bend both  to the  curve  required.  Then unsolder and , hey presto - angle bent in a curve!

ArthurK

NORTHEASTERN KITS

Long Bunker J72

This kit is now being shipped. Those at the top of the list will receive an Email in the next few days the first batch is already reserved. Further orders will depend on the demand.

kits Currently  in stock are:

J71 (NER E Class)

One only

J72 Short bunker (NER Class E1 1914 builds)

Three left

A6 (NER Class W 4-6-0 Rebuild)

One only. This will probably be the last

D20 (NER Class R)

A new batch of  six is being prepared. These will use up old etches. However, all faulty parts will be removed and  replaced by fully up to date replacements. These will also remove a minor fault on the existing kit. 

Anyone wishing to reserve one of these please let me know.

Q5 (NER Class T/T1)

I have three outstanding orders for these. The kits await packing.

J25 (NER Class P1)

The masters for all castings are now ready  Etches are ready for the first batch

there is a long list for these but I will do the best that I can. 

ArthurK

Anyone fancy a challenge? Blackpool North.

ArthurK

4 hours ago, mikemeg said:

I may be wrong here but I seem to remember that some of the Trix models were actually made to a scale of 3.5 mm / foot, which I believe is HO and is the correct scale for a track gauge of 16.5 mm.

 

Is it possible that this A2 is made to that scale?

 

Cheers

 

Mike

 

Here it gets very confusing. The Trix locos were made to 4mm scale. However some of the rolling stock, including coaches, were to 3.8mm scale and looked odd when  coupled to the 4mm locos. Also the locos were well over scale width. We had an Trix A2 that was too wide for the platforms of the club layout. I measured it, I don't recall the actual width but it was well over a scale nine foot.

ArthurK

5 hours ago, MarkC said:

As I understand it, there was a bit of a push to get a Pacific built and operational before the Grouping, so as not to let the GNR have 'bragging rights' on 31st December 1922.

 

As has already been said, simply extending an existing design doesn't always work, and certainly the boiler barrel on the 4-6-2 Class (as they were known as by the NER) was too long; by the time the flue gases got to the forward end, much of their useful heat was gone - hence the 'cold noses' name, I would think.

 

Another weak point on the first two locomotives (Subsequently amended) was building them with inside bearing fitted trailing wheels. I would like to know what the thinking was here, seeing as an outside bearing trailing truck design was already in use on the Atlantics.

 

Regarding the cylinder/valves/running gear - yes, the same arrangement was used on the S3/B16, and they were fine, long lived locomotives, but there was never any serious attempt to extract more power from them in their original form, so it must have been accepted that they were at their optimum 'as built', and upgrades came at the not insignificant cost of rebuilding the front end. The same would have applied to the Pacifics, boiler issues notwithstanding.

 

Then there was the issue of minimum radii trackwork. By using the front end from the S3/B16, which was similar to other Raven locomotives such as his Class D (later H1) 4-4-4T and his Atlantics, there were clearance issues to consider between the bogie wheels and the cylinders. (As we modellers know only too well...). Bad enough on the Atlantics, but VERY limiting on the Pacifics. This won't have helped their case either when being compared to the Gresley Pacifics. Indeed, there is a story (and possibly a photo) of an Atlantic having a wheelset jammed against the cylinder, and I fancy that it won't have happened just once.

 

The Raven A2s were impressive looking machines, but to me they were very much a 'near miss' when compared to the Gresley Pacifics.

There is a common misconception as to the length of the boiler on the A2. One only has to note the position of the Gresley  snifting valve to realise that the boiler was much shorter than it appeared. In fact the boiler barrel was 21' (the A1 was 19'). The boiler barrel length of the A2 was 26' so there was 5' ahead of the boiler front plate. There is no evidence to suggest that it was a poor steamer.

Another misconception is that the three  cylinder layouts of all NER three cylinder locos was the same. They did not share the same monoblock casting. The "Z" class hand the piston valves inclined to the cylinders whereas in the others they were all parallel. 

ArthurK                           

1 hour ago, micklner said:

Arthur K is the one to ask on that question. I haven't seen anything posted personally. 

I have had test etches for the C6 (V09 version) since 2015. I was very unhappy with them and put them aside to concentrate on more urgent work. They  have languished around ever since but recently I have done more design work. I now have decided to do both versions. The projected time scale is 2020. I will concentrate on the Q7 first. It has been hanging around for too long (the first test etches for that were 2010).

This photo has appeared before but it might help to wet your appetite.

This is a  model of the original version that I scratch-built many years ago.

ArthurK

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

The D20 is a very handsome loco indeed, Arthur,

 

Even late in their lives, they retained the lines of a thoroughbred......................

 

 

62387 at Selby, in 1955. Most locos fitted with Westinghouse pumps display dents in the casings, though it would appear (despite the fireman's attention) that this one is disconnected. Wasn't there an extra standpipe on the buffer beam for this braking system? 

 

Far less-successful were the larger D21s. 

 

 

 

This loco presents me with an astonishing coincidence. It belonged to the late John Brown of Spalding, and I sold it on behalf of his family. It looked familiar, and then the penny dropped! I'd actually built it, from a GEM kit mounted on a Tri-ang L1 chassis. When did I build it? In about 1973/'74. Why I built it, I have no idea, since it didn't fit in with my time/place modelling at all. I painted it as well (economically?). I sold it to Modellers Mecca not long after and forgot about it. So, how did a loco, built in Stafford and sold to a shop in the West Midlands end up in the Fenlands? Funny, I made it once, and sold it twice! 

For its time and with my experience when I built it; adequate? Almost. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Tony

The NER adopted the Westinghouse braking system for its passenger workings. Many of its ECML workings  were dual fitted with vacuum and Westinghouse brakes. After 1930 the LNER adopted vacuum braking. The NER area abandoned Westinghouse brakes for all of its passenger workings but retained the system for the brakes on the engine. There was no need for train connections which explains the absence of standpipe on your photograph though many tenders retained all or part of the standpipe with the hose removed. With one exception (Ex 2020) all D20s retained Westinghouse braking for the engine until withdrawal.

Another point of note is the rebuilt tender attached to 62387.  Rebuilt with straight sided coal surround it resembles the later  GS tenders. it is often over looked that the six-wheeled GS tenders were based on the NER 4125 gallon tender. The wheelbase was changed from the symmetric layout to an asymmetrical version. The design was carried out at Darlington. This latter works was also responsible for the detail design of the new  loco classes J38, J39 and D49. 

ArthurK

13 hours ago, micklner said:

The GN Atlantic comment was a April the 1st comment .  I have never seen any steam engine that could be called totally ugly !!!  

 

As the D20 has been mentioned . 

 

The NER D20 is indeed a very handsome  engine but then every one  knows that I am biased. There are several examples of this  loco built from the ancient DjH kit  on this site.  I have no complaint about the workmanship that has gone into these models. That in the photograph above is excellent but I have to ask why anyone spends so much time and effort to build  the kit pretending it to be LNER or worse still, BR.

It is impossible to build it as a model after the 1923 grouping without very drastic surgery. These locos were superheated by the NER. At that rebuilding the smokebox was extended by 12" which made a considerable difference (and improvement) to their appearance. 

ArthurK

John

If it's 5813 that you intend to build this photo may be of help. It was taken a South Blyth shed and was awaiting the chop. i was told that it had a cracked frame so there was no hope of it running again.

If you want to know what's in the big hole this is what you could see.

ArthurK

Quote

 

Mike used one of the first test etches for his build. I will leave him to answer the criticisms of his model but I will answer what I believe to be the major one, the unfilled fold lines. This has been rectified. The production kit does not use a dashed fold line. I spotted this problem as soon as I saw it. It now uses  a simple fold. That problem no longer exists.

ArthurK

NORTHEASTERN KITS

Long Bunker J72

I am about to release this kit and am currently packing the first batch and finalising the instructions.

I have a list of those who have expressed an interest in this kit. Those at the top of the list will receive an Email or PM.

I have increased  the price a little to cover the additional parts  {train pipes and alternative cab fittings} to cover those engines fitted for carriage working.

Now for the J25

ArthurK

Hi Duncan.

I am snowed under with other kits at the moment. Two J72s, J25 and one new release. However the Q7 is high on the list. i still need some white metal and brass castings but we are working on it.

I expect that it will be 4-6 months away.

ArthurK

On 13/02/2019 at 20:28, Michael Edge said:

They were regular performers on Liverpool Central - Southport trains.

And on the Preston - Southport Services.

ArthurK

4 hours ago, Sun Chariot said:

 Arthur I agree with Jazz 60147 looks great expecially the three piece expansion link ..... was that scratch built or purchased. If the latter where from

 

Ive completed a DJH A1, A2 and A3 and in each case converted the supplied lostwax expansion casting into a three piece thereby allowing the valvegrear to be manually set  mid , forward or reverse.

It was a real pain in the B converting those castings. I still have another DJH pacific to build but not looking forward to converting another expansion link casting

 

Hi Bob,

The Three piece expansion link and the radius rod were both scratch built. I was particularly keen that the centre of the expansion link should pass through the radius rod. The brass casing over the big-end of the eccentric rod was also my addition.

I had a few other problems with this kit, The boiler and smokebox were separate units and differed in diameter by a full millimetre. a complaint to  DJH produced replacements which were no better than the first. I resorted to sawing along the bottom centre of the smokebox and prising it apart until the two were (more or less) the same.

If the valve guides on your model were those from the kit then I can only say that they are a vast improvement on those that I got.

Arthur