ArthurK

The parallel shank buffers were used on various NER classes. In Ken Hoole's "Illustrated History---" the section on the BTPs shows has several photos all with these buffers. ArthurK

I love photos like this. Although sad and may have resulted in loss of life they show details not normally visible in intact locos. This one shows bogie detail of the coil springs and cross support on the bogie frames. On the earlier bogies with compensated spring suspension this was simply a steel bar. Upside down or on the side photos show a wealth of normally hidden detail of springs, linkages and brake detail. ArthurK

This was built at least forty years ago using a Skinley drawing. I know there are a few problems with the drawing but it looks OK. The cylinders are complete and attached to the footplate. The crossheads slide out and are attached to the connecting rods which in turn are permanently attached to the chassis. Unconventional and It is a bit of a fiddle reassembling chassis and body but not too difficult. The Connecting rod is partially visible in the photo below. Only the lower slidebar is visible in a side view the upper is hidden in the 'box' running along the footplate.. When the kit version appears the cylinders will drop down with the chassis in the same way as my B15 with was a contemporary of the C6. ArthurK

Rods not a problem. Here's one I built many years ago but refurbished about ten years ago. It now has Mashima 1420 and High Level Gearbox. ArthurK

Lining the end of wood sandwich buffer beams was normal practice at Darlington. ArthurK

The Q7 requireS masters for the outside slide bars, crossheads cylinder end covers. Of the inside motion the slide valves are clearly visible as the centre slidebar with crosshead and connecting rod, The droplinks to the valvee rods are also be seen behind the motion plate.then we must consider the various eccentric rods (six of those)! All of this takes time. There will be both boiler styles included in he kit. The tender is undergoing minor revjsion and silll requires a fewr addional castings. Once I have the Q7 out of the way I will concentrate my attentiont on the C6, In fact I have already test built the V09 version. Some of you may have seen this at Scaleforum North in 2015. I don't have any photos to hand but i will post some on my own thread. Both versions will appear as separate kijs too many differences to include both versions in the one kit. A new tender (not currently in my range) is required for this. It is the4125 gallon, none self-trimming, tender as used on the D21s and early C7s. These tenders were cascaded to Q6s and J39s so anyone requiring something different behind the Bachman J39 or Q6 may find this useful. I don't believe this one is available elsewhere, The body is 5" narrower than the later self-trimming version. ArthurK .

As far as I am aware Dave Bradwell doesn't do the style of tender photographed behind 64978. ArthurK

Tom I have emailed you about this but I will repeat here for wider viewing. All this data is in the LNER "green books" Vol 6A. J39s received tenders from several ageing NER classes. 1. From A2s 4125 gallon (self trimming). These locos got 8 wheel tenders. 2. From B13s & D17s 3940 gallon (Non self trimming) 3, From D21 & C7s(2) 4125 gallon (non self trimming). Note these tenders had 6" footplate angles rather than the normal 3". 64978 had one from a D21. The actual engines concerned are all listed in the aforementioned book. ArthurK

I took one look at the GNER livery and gave up lineside photography for good! ArthurK

I am currently writing the instructions for the J25. The etches for the first batch are now to hand. There is a minor addition to the castings. The masters for these are almost complete. They include a new chimney with Windjabber for those that want one. I reasoned that it was better to have this in place. It is easy to remove but difficult to add. Some J25s had this feature as did other classes using the same chimney. The first new kit to appear will be the J71. This has new safety valves the Ramsbottom style cover, chimney and dome tailored to fit the smaller diameter boiler. There are other additions including a riveted smokebox door. A riveted smokebox overlay is included as an alternative to the flush riveted version originally fitted. I hope to have this available in June. Once this is clear the two J72 versions (long & short bunker) will follow. The chassis for the short version is the original style with cut-away frames between the wheels. Sorry for the delays but we will get there! ArthurK

That's certainly the way I remember them. the line from Derwenthaugh was less than a mile from my home and I crossed it every day on my way to Blaydon Grammar School. ArthurK

Whilst on the subject of B1s perhaps the Northeast got more than its fair share of 'namers'. After the first 10 the most of the next batch of thirty (all named) were allocated to the northeastern region. They were commonly used on excursions from West Yorkshire to Blackpool whilst the Illuminations were in full swing. Two on more were on these trains each Saturday. The only named one that I photographed was "Gnu". Further afield they reached LLandudno on excursions to that resort. In August 1965. I photographed 61093 at Llandudno shed. I was told that it had failed and was awaiting attention before its return to Sheffield. "Gnu" at Kirkham en route to Blackpool. 61093 at LLandudno Junction. Not sure what 'elf &safety would make of this one. "Leslie Runciman" at Low Fell. It is taking the route to the Low Fell yard so perhaps he hasn't far to go. A nice clean "Oribi". Again Low Fell. ArthurK

Mike I knew there were a couple of others hot in sequence but I had forgotten which they were! Don't forget that the early C12s had square cornered tanks. These are the subject of the LRM kit. You will need a bit of scratch building if you use that! Botanic had a wide variety of locos both tank and tender locos. ArthurK

Mike I saw all the C12 4-4-2Ts shedded at Hull around 1946-8/ Most were consecutively numbered 7391-7399 though if I recall correctly 7398 was elsewhere. ArthurK

As Daddyman pointed out the boilers are formed by rolling in the normal way. When I have done that they are inserted into a heavy duty tube a little bigger than the finished boiler. It is then rolled a second time inside of the tube as shown in the first photo. The boiler is, of course pushed fully inside the tube before the second roll. A closer view is shown in photo two. Photo three Shows the completed boiler and tube being dismantled from the rollers. At the front of the photos are some of a batch run of boilers for the J71/72s Next I must apologise to Mike for all the above posting which is completely off topic and does't belong here. This will be my last posting on this topic. Please send any comments to me via a PM or a postings on Arthur's Workshop. ArthurK

Agreed I couldn't model without it. Mine has 4X lens but I think I now need 5X which it was supplied when I first bought it but I swapped them for 4X. I have used it for at least twenty years. My right eye pretty useless so binocular vision is almost non existent. It takes me ages to poke a wire through a handrail knob! ArthurK

The top roller is inside both the boiler and the tube. Since the boiler is now only a little smaller than the tube rolling the two together forms the boiler the the tube inside diameter. ArthurK

As has been said above, I now roll all the boilers in my kits. Like many I find it difficult to avoid getting a 'flat' along the seam edges. it is possible. I have tried various dodges including a piece of scrap brass to bridge the gap (similar to Mike's cardboard) but I usually resort to inserting the nearly finished boiler into a heavier duty tube withe inner diameter similar to that of the boiler and then roll the two together. That usually does the trick! ArthurK

Checking the GAs the handles scale out at 4mm (i.e. 12") ArthurK

I must have had similar thoughts when I built the original GN G5. All the bits of that crank on mine used the original GA and all were made from scratch Including the forks. (Photo earlier on this thread). I note it even has the return spring! I must have been very keen in those far off days. I wish I could do that now but old age is taking over and my eyes aren't as good as they were then. (Sigh!) ArthurK

Mike Like you I had trouble bending up the water balancing pipes but I eventually succeeded. In my kits those that require these (N10 & A6) I supply cast white metal ones. I have measured several of these from GAs and they seem to have been a standard length. I can supply these by request. The pipes along the footplate angles were vacuum pipe (right hand) and heating pipe (Left hand). In the earlier days they were tucked away behind the angles but latterly (in the let it all hang out days) they were below. They were joggled backwards to avoid the step strengthener and upwards to avoid the sandbox filler. At the front joggle the pipe (usually) passed between the step and the strengthening stay. ArthurK

Taking the Q7 as an example: the rods were 5" deep. The GA does not show the fluting on the plan view but the only measurable dimension on this is 2" with the bearing width being 3 1/4", increased to 4 1/4" at the rod hinges. Edited: Although the power output of the two is vastly different the J21 rod dimensions are remarkable similar to those of the Q7. On the J21 the rods are not shown on the side elevation but plan shows the rods in section with width at 2". Thickness of the fluted part is 3/4". Measurements over the bearings are virtually identical with those of the Q7 ArthurK

Yes, they do look too deep but what worries me more is the minimal clearance between the rods and the steps. On the J25 the rods that I used were 4 inches on the Q7 they are 5 inches. Not all GAs show the coupling rods however the Q7 GA does. Just checked the Q7. Five inches is correct. ArthurK

I didn't adorn this controller with text of any kind but I did replace the knob. This which came from a Scalespeed controller. I could see instantly what the setting was and didn't have to look at the dial. It was all done by feel. ArthurK

Seems the reviewers are getting very confused about the Bachman J72. There were three basic versions built. Those built before 1900, those built after 1914 (including those built by the LNER) and those built by BR. The first batch of twenty were put into service before 1900. The last of these was 1763 (68689). This batch had the shorter bunker and had the frames cut away between the driving wheels The second batch was built from 1914 with Raven in charge. These and all others were built with the extended bunker (but not the frames). The latter were however strengthened by not cutting away the frames between the driving wheels. The first of this batch was 2173. The last batch built by BR had only minor differences from the second batch. The most obvious difference was the appearance of external sandboxes under the footplate behind the cab steps. Less obvious was the disappearance of the sanding rods to the front splasher/sandboxes. This batch had Downs sanding with sand delivered by steam pressure. Three of the earlier engines 68675 (1st batch) 68732 and 68744 were also fitted with Downs sanding and external sandboxes at the same time as 69001 appeared from Darlington, ArthurK