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Corbs

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  1. Corbs
    FACT SHEET
     
    NWR No.
    308
     
    NWR Name:
    William Montagu
     
    Wheel Arrangement
    0-6-0PT
     
    Builder
    Great Western Railway (North British Loco Co.)
     
    Class
    5700
     
    Purchased by NWR
    1937 (on hire from 1931)
     
    'Prototype' Info
     
    The legendary GWR 5700 class needs no introduction, but how one of these useful locomotives ended up in the North West requires explanation.
    In 1929, the GWR was building hundreds of pannier tanks, more than it needed at the time (due to changes in traffic demands) and Nos. 6700-6749 were put into storage. In 1931, the NWR entered into a locomotive hire contract with the GWR (as the Sudrians needed locomotives quickly) to provide several locomotives of different classes. One that was offered was 6723, but the lack of vacuum brakes was a problem, so 5741 was placed on hire instead, with 6723 coming out of storage and going to work on the GWR.
    The hired locos at first sported GWR green but were gradually repainted into NWR lined blue.
    As of 1937, the GWR offered to sell the locos then on hire, and the NWR accepted, 308 officially entering NWR stock in May of that year. 308 gained the name 'William Montagu' in the tradition of naming locomotives after important figures in Sudrian history.
    William Montagu was King of Sodor and Mann 1333-1344.
     
    The Model
     
    'William Montagu' also known as 'Duck' is a fairly standard Bachmann 5700, a repainted spare body currently sitting on the NCB version chassis (hence the red rods). The lining and lettering is from Fox Transfers and the plates are from Narrow Planet.
    It runs like a dream, although I need to get around to lining out the other side, fitting a crew and coaling it properly!
  2. Corbs

    Sudrian Language

    By Corbs,

    It was once said of Tolkein that he ended up writing the Lord of the Rings as a by-product of creating the Elvish language.
    Whilst not quite as expansive as Middle-Earth (or even Westeros), I think Wilbert and George Awdry had a lot of fun creating the world of Sodor.
    The elusive book 'THE ISLAND OF SODOR; Its people, history and railways' is all about building the world that the stories inhabit, with its own colourful history.
    My modelling is my own take on this world, I've changed some details, but I share the belief that everything in this world should have a reason to be there.
    To this extremely nerdy end, for the last 4 years I've been building up a 'master document', a sprawling spreadsheet of info, made-up history and justification, using TIOS as the base and building my own world on top of it.
    This document is constantly changing and evolving, but I thought I'd post about it for a change.
     
    One of the sheets is an attempt to decipher the Sudric language. The Rev. Awdry provides a few translations for place names etc. in his guide, which was a good starting point.
    I thought it would be interesting to compare it to Manx (the real-life neighbouring island), then English, then Gaelic (Irish and Scottish) and Latin. I also tried translating a few words and phrases for which I had no Sudric counterpart, to see what it came out with.
     
    I've uploaded a screenshot of this here. I found it quite interesting to see the routes of the words (in fact I'm currently reading a book called The Etymoligicon) and thought it may be of interest to others.

  3. Corbs
    A large theme of this alternate fictional universe is to give things reasons to exist. I've changed a lot from the Reverend's version, as I wanted to backdate the opening of the main Sudrian railways and give the island a chance to industrialise rapidly at the beginning of the 20th Century.
     
    A big part of any railway is the traffic demands, these will guide what kind and amount of stock the line should have on its books.
     
    For 'fun', I've begun to devise timetables for the NWR main line and the branches. This will tell me how many trains need to be run per day, and thus how many locomotives, coaching sets etc. are required.
     
    The period I have chosen is high summer in the mid-late 1950s. Steam is still king (and the NWR remains un-nationalised here due to some complicated legal gubbins I won't go in to here. The IoMR remained privately owned long after 1947 so there!).
     
    I so far have been working on these services:
     
    Main Line (Express) - Tidmouth-Barrow non stop (with 3 services departing from the ship terminal at the docks)

    Main Line (Stopping) - Tidmouth - Carnforth
     

    Brendam Branch - Wellsworth - Brendam (but with 3 return trips per day to Tidmouth)
     

    Ffarquhar Branch - Knapford - Ffarquhar (with quarry workers train and one direct service to Tidmouth to connect with the Wild Nor'Wester)
     

     
    The Peel Godred, Kirk Ronan and Norramby branch lines still need to be worked out.
     
    For each service I've worked out the distance, average speed over that distance, and dwell time in stations to give me the overall travel time.
    The complicated bit is trying to work out how to connect services. For example, can people from town A get to town C in a decent time if they have to change trains at junction B?
     
    The other thing that this tells me is the type of loco required, and how many of them.
    Main Line (Express) - class 5-8
    4 train sets
    Main Line (Stopping) - class 3-5
    9 train sets
    Brendam Branch - class 1-3
    2 train sets
    Ffarquhar Branch - class 1-3
    2 train sets (1 passenger, 1 quarry workers) + railcar
     
    We can assume that each 'set' requires a loco. Plus a spare should be kept on the books for each group, assuming something will be undergoing maintenance.
     
    These locos are solely passenger or mixed traffic, goods locos are another matter. I'll need to take a look into the industries we need to serve and work out traffic requirements on that front....
  4. Corbs

    The Flying Kipper

    By Corbs,

    All kinds of ships use the harbour at the big station by the sea. There are passenger ships, cargo ships and fishing boats also come here. They unload their fish on the quay. Some of it goes to shops in the town, and the rest in a special train to other places far away. This is the train the railwaymen called 'The Flying Kipper'.
     

     
    Yes yes, I know that this story is before Henry I gets replaced with Henry II, just a bit of fun now I have weathered my insulfish wagon.
    I took this in the morning light on the DSLR while holding my iphone's torch just above the quayside.
  5. Corbs
    Tidmouth Yards, Winter 1960. An intrepid enthusiast has braved the cold weather to capture some rare colour footage of NWR and SCC locos at work. The tight confines of the yard here make for some interesting shunting manoeuvres.
     
    This is something I've been working on for a while, I hope you enjoy it! I wanted to give the impression of a small story unfolding, but with no voiceover or titles, just the engines going about their business as if someone was really filming them. This video took AGES to make. The snow was done by sprinkling flour over the layout, all the locos in the video run off battery power, radio control so pickup wasn't a problem. All the audio is from real locomotives, particularly footage I shot of 'Willy the Well Tank' at the Avon Valley Railway, mixed in with some ambient winter town sounds. I've tried to make it as believable as possible. The smoke and steam FX were all added in Adobe After Effects using green screen footage of smoke charges going off, which were keyed, masked and modified to try to provide as much variation as possible. I'll try and make another video on how this was done.
  7. Corbs

    Sudrian Story Scenes - 1

    By Corbs,

    I've been mucking about practicing focus stacking in photoshop and using the DSLR. What better excuse to channel my inner child and make little homages to scenes from The Railway Series?
     
    "I see Daisy's left the milk again..."

     
    "I'll have to make a special journey with it I suppose. Anyone would think I've nothing to do."

     
    "It was raining hard. Water swirled under my boiler. I couldn't see where I was going, but I struggled on."
    "Oh, Percy, you are brave."
    "Well, it wasn't anything really. Water's nothing to an engine with determination."

     
    "What are you engines doing here?"

     
    Thomas is a tank engine. He has six small wheels, a short stumpy funnel, a short stumpy boiler, and a short stumpy dome.

     
    and buffer to buffer, the allies puffed home...

  8. Corbs

    Maps!

    By Corbs,

    This is something of a work in progress, but since it's likely to be a work in progress for a long time, I'm going to post about it now and update later.
     
    I've long wanted to map out 'my' NWR, and various places along the route, to work out what kind of traffic sources and destinations I have, and plan my timetables and traffic requirements appropriately.
     
    Which leads me to this - a map of 'my' Tidmouth. If it looks familiar, that's because the basis for it is an old map of Southampton, mirrored and turned on its side. That's why a lot of the writing is still back to front


     

     
    The big NWR station is visible in the centre right, with the NWR main line striking out towards Knapford in a cutting. The loco sheds are at the station throat, next to the school!
    Opposite the sheds, the docks branch curves away to the exchange sidings. Goods trains are brought in here, where a Tidmouth Docks Authority loco will take over, though some trains like the boat connections work straight through from the quayside.
    To the West of the station (and accessed via a tunnel underneath) is the gas works. The West Sodor Power and Gas Co.'s little engines can be seen fussing around here. The spur to the hydroelectric generating station carries on up the valley.
    South of the Inner Dock stands the imposing bulk of Slugworth's Chocolate Factory, a major employer in Lower Tidmouth.
    To the East, 'Ocean Dock' is built on the site of National Shipyard (North) No.1, which in itself was a big part of the line's expansion during WW1. Now it services transatlantic passenger liners and the ferries to Ireland and the Isle of Man (which formerly docked at Kirk Ronan).
    The Arlesburgh branch carries on to the North, over the River Tid. The bridge here has a weight restriction, barring bigger locos from the line. Upper Tidmouth has a small station serving the locals, who like to think of themselves as being on the 'correct' side of the river.
     
    Anyway I hope you enjoy this little excursion into cartography!
     
    Here's Southampton for reference:

  9. Corbs
    FACT SHEET
    NWR No.
    901
    NWR Name:
    Revenge
    Wheel Arrangement
    2-8-0+0-8-2
    Builder
    Beyer Peacock, Gorton Works, Manchester, 1924
    Class
    Beyer-Garratt
    History
    Since Cronk and Maron are much higher than Suddery Junction near Wellsworth, the four miles at a ruling gradient of 1 in 45 have through the years been a testing ground for NWR locomotives. Bankers are stationed at Wellsworth specifically for this section.
    In 1924 the NWR ordered an articulated 2-8-0+0-8-2 Beyer-Garratt from Gorton, to do the work of two locos while requiring a single crew. The design was to use the wheels, motion and cylinders from ex-ROD 2-8-0s being sold as war surplus, enabling a commonality of components with other NWR locos.
    For crews, the Garratt was hard work. Lack of a mechanical stoker put a huge strain on the fireman. The enclosed cab, whilst a great help in Winter when the cold wind blows in from the Irish Sea, was a furnace in high summer.
    When compared to Gresley’s 6-cylinder Garratt, the NWR example was able to maintain a head of steam and occasionally worked service trains.
    Like most NWR goods locos, ‘Revenge’ was named after a warship built at Barrow, in this case the battleship HMS Revenge of 1915.
    The Model
    Hattons’ ‘Sale of the Century’ yielded a supply of cheap ex-GWR ROD 2-8-0 locos, the tenders of which ended up on the Woolwich moguls. The chassis found their way onto the Garratt.
    I had to re-mount the motors so they sat over the centre of the chassis, thereby locating them in the engine units and enabling the boiler frame to sit over the driving wheels.
    The boiler itself was also from Hattons’ spare parts department, a victim of Heljan’s burnt out motors and broken valve gear from the first production run of the LMS Garratt.
    The engine unit superstructures were mounted on running plates salvaged from Hornby 8Fs I was cutting up for the boilers and cabs, with the bodies made from styrene sheet. Handrails are from Markits and the filler lids were salvaged from Great British Locomotives static models.
    Click here to see the thread.
  10. Corbs

    Colour Film of Tidmouth Docks c.1962

    By Corbs,


    Sudrian Life
    FROM THE ARCHIVES Colour footage of various locos engaged in shunting at Tidmouth Docks in the early 1960s. Visible on the quayside are USATC S100 'Marcus', Bagnalls 'Liberty' and 'Atlantic' of the Tidmouth Docks Authority. North Western Railway 'Perseus' also makes an appearance, handling a private owner wagon rather roughly. In reality this is a bit of shunting filmed on Bob Edwardes' marvellous M Shed (Bristol) diorama at the Thornbury Model Railway Show last weekend. The locos were being run on a mix of DC and RC.
     
     
  13. Corbs
    Hello, I have been entertaining myself with trying to make posters for the North Western Railway in a sort of Art Deco style to try and root my version of the NWR in the world and give it more than just some models. Here's how I did it!
     
     
     
    If you are interested in buying one, my shop is here:
     
    https://www.railwaymania.net/shop
  15. Corbs
    Here's the full story of the making of NWR No. 301, hero of the Railway Series books and the subsequent TV series. I've combined all the previous blog posts into one.


    FACT SHEET
     
    NWR No.
    301
     
    NWR Name:
    Thomas Allen
    (Thomas Allen was a real life Manx author, my rationale is that the newly formed NWR wanted to draw on local heroes for names for its locomotives)
     
    Wheel Arrangement
    0-6-0T
     
    Builder
    London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (1915)
     
    Class
    E2
     
    Purchased by NWR
    1919
     
    History
    The loco that became 301 was built in 1915 as LB&SCR No.106, but was requisitioned by the war department to work on the building of National Shipyard (North) No.1 and No.2 in WW1. Originally the whole batch of extended tank versions was to be sent, but this was cancelled when an order was placed for smaller locos more suited to the port environment. ‘Thomas Allen’ had already arrived by this time!
    It seems the LBSCR did not want it back at the end of the war (having already built a replacement No.106), so it was sold to the NWR. Apparently the LBSCR thought that it would be in such a state when they got it back that they would effectively be building a new one anyway!
     
    FULL BUILD THREAD BELOW
     
    Unsure why I've been putting this one off for a while. It's one I would quite like to get 'right' in this interpretation of fictional locomotives from children's stories.
     
    Anyway, ebay provided me with an old Hornby LBSCR E2 loco a while back, complete with tiny flanges, jerky running, a mismatched smokebox door, and of course, traction bands.
     
    After reading about another chap's 'rebuild' of a similar model, I trawled ebay again for a china-made Hornby 0-6-0 chassis.
    Of course, this wasn't really all that hard, with a model aimed at children. I imagine quite a lot end up like this!
     



     
    Perhaps rather oddly, this is in fact the first 'Thomas' I've ever owned, although I did have a clockwork 'Percy' a long, long time ago.
     
    2009-made so relatively new, am yet to check the running, but firstly, off with that rather play-worn body.
     
    The two chassis side by side.

     
    And trial fitted under the intended recipient. Tank extensions need to be added to bring this one into line with the 2nd batch of locos. This chassis also has the effect of lowering the bodyshell somewhat.

     

     
    Total spend so far, about £25....
     
    At last we come to the titular character of the television show, and the big star of the books.
     
    I've previously mentioned I salvaged an old Hornby E2 body to butcher into one of the later LBSCR E2 locos, on a china-made 'Thomas' chassis. Since I wished to make a good job of this, I wanted to get my eye in on some other locos first, so I've ended up with 106 'Perseus', 503 'Col. Henry Regaby', 704 'Duke of Gordon', 705 'Westlin' and 805 'Suddery Cathedral', before 301 'Thomas Allen'.
    In the meantime, Knuckles had started up Sparkshot Custom Creations, making amazingly accurate 3D printed locos, including the E2 with the larger tanks. It was clear that this was the way to go!
    I finally bit the bullet last week and ordered one of the proper E2 bodies in FUD, which arrived yesterday. Unwrapped it to have a look - I had no idea 3D printed models smelled like marzipan!
     

     
    The detail is exquisite. Here's the body alongside the chassis and the older E2 body. When you compare them it's evident where Hornby adjusted the dimensions - stretching the running plate up, and the body shorter.
     

     
    As it is, the underside of the boiler fouls the chassis block somewhat.

     
    While SCC makes chassis kits, I wanted to stick with the Hornby one, for a few reasons.
    1. I already had it
    2. It's cheap
    3. I am scared
     
    I got the old razor saw out and managed to hack a chunk out of the chassis

     
    This allows the body to come down a bit.
     

     
    Now, it is prevented from becoming level as I need to remove material from either the underside of the body, or the top of the chassis. I'm tempted to strip down the chassis to its bare bones, take it to the workshop along with the P2 I'm working on, and use the grinder to chop the sections out. Possibly it may be easier to chop a section out of the body, but I am wary of weakening it too much.
     
    Here it is posed along with the 'Thomas'-derived 0-6-2T NCB loco I made a while back, from the loco that donated its chassis to this project.
     

     
    Exciting stuff!
     
    As previously mentioned, I'm using the Hornby China-made 'Thomas' chassis for this, partly as it's such a good runner.
     
    As the excellent body from SCC is designed to fit a printed chassis of the correct dimensions, a bit of modification was necessary.
     
    Even with the chunk of chassis removed, the body sat very high. Today I opted to chop a chunk out from under the smokebox, where it will be hidden.
     

     

     
    Overall this enabled me to get the body level, but it was still quite tall, as evidenced when placed alongside the vintage E2.
     

     
    Note the difference in buffer beam height (and please look past where I've clumsily broken one of the front steps!)
     
    It towers over the suburban carriage in this pic.
     
    It becomes evident why Hornby chose to stretch the curve in the running plate in the way they did.
     

     
    However, Gavin has handily made the cab floor nice and thick (very strong), so after switching the dremel head to a sander I was able to reduce the height at the rear. Chopped a bit more out of the front, too.
     
    Getting closer...
     

     
    I am satisfied with this - note the buffer beam heights compared to the earlier photo.
     

     
    Now I just need to finalise the body fixing, clean up the underside, then the fun part can begin!
     
    Bonus couple of pics of 301 coupled up to 106. Quite a size difference!
     


     
    Made a bit of progress on No.301 (apart from dropping it and snapping the steps off - aaargh clumsiness strikes again!).
     
    The frosted-ness of FUD makes it quite hard to see what you are sanding, so after a good scrubbing (as per Knuckles' tutorials) I gave it a couple of splats of my favourite filler primer and left to dry overnight.
    Hopefully this shows there is not too much sanding to be done, and also shows the fidelity of the 3D printed model far more than the 'bare bones' look.



     
    I love having proper liveries on my freelance railway, and by proper I mean having a set style that works across all the locos and stock. It's always great parking up two engines side by side and having them obviously belong to the same company, albeit fictional!
     
    Both No.301 and No.5 are in the initial paint stages while detailing still needs to be carried out.
     
    Final stages of primer here

     
    Then Vauxhall Regatta Blue as per the other NWR stock, with brushed on black details.

     
    A size comparison between Thomas and Percy, Thomas is one of the best runners in the fleet, very smooth and powerful. Not bad for a childrens loco chassis.

     
    I really don't like doing lining but I quite like how this came out. Needs some Klear to seal it in before I can add the dullcote.







  18. Corbs
    An action-packed photo here from the 1920s showing ex-TK&F No.6 leading a string of lead hoppers into the yard whilst two goods trains pass on the main line above. China clay and empty alumina trucks in transit to Tidmouth, milk and fish heading east. Just visible behind No.301 is the tender of one of the ex-ROD locos lending banking assistance out of the steeply graded docks branch.
     
    The mighty air-braked hopper wagon is also visible. This was designed to be attached to passenger trains for the uphill run to Toryreck, but rendered obselete when Knapford (Harbour) station closed to passengers.

  21. Corbs

    Nil Unquam Simile

    By Corbs,

    With the Nailsea Show fast approaching, the first public outing of the NWR looms, so I've been giving a lot of thought to the display.
    I've long wanted to make my own version of the NWR logo as described by Awdry, here's my current attempt.
     
    "Per saltire azure and vert, Two gloves argent saltirewise 
    in fess a rose of Lancaster proper
    1st Azure a wheel or winged of same
    dexter vert a fleece argent, sinister vert a mattock argent hafted or 
    base azure herrings naiant argent
    Motto: "Nil Unquam Simile" 
    - "There's Nothing Quite Like It""
     
    This was made in photoshop using lots of borrowed elements. The majority of the heraldric items came from wikipedia, for example the fleece is from this Spanish coat of arms.

     
    The wheel is borrowed from the BR later crest

     
    Some handy stock images provided the missing elements, like this gauntlet.

     
    The end result is a bit flat in colour, so I grubbied it up a bit using the 'Burn' tool, and then overlaid a stock image of a fabric texture, set to 'Multiply' and with the opacity turned down. Quite pleased with it so far! No doubt it will be revised in the future but it'll do for now.
  22. Corbs
    NWR No.
    700-703
     
    NWR Name:
    Erin, Triumph, Vanguard, Powerful
     
    Wheel Arrangement
    2-8-0/2-8-4T
     
    Builder
    Various
     
    Class
    ROD 2-8-0 (GCR 8K)
     
    History
     
    The first locos of this class were among those drafted in by the ROD to operate the newly-formed NWR during WW1. Upon cessation of hostilities, masses of these heavy goods locos were surplus to requirements and put up for sale.
    The embryonic company, faced with the withdrawal of government support, recognised that goods travelling via Tidmouth would be the lifeblood of its survival. It sought to purchase several of the ex-ROD locos then on the market. Of these, 4 made it past the grouping, the others were scrapped for their tenders or in the case of two, stripped of their vital components which were used in the Beyer-Garratt 'Revenge'.
     
    The best of the bunch were overhauled and given side-window cabs. They were named after great warships built by Vickers at Barrow-in Furness (the NWR clearly wanted to keep one of its biggest clients on-side).
     

     
    No. 702 'Vanguard' is pictured in this condition with original boiler. 
     
    In 1926, one of the group was rebuilt into a 2-8-4 tank loco at Crovan's Gate. Train weights were increasing and delays in getting outbound trains up the sharply-inclined harbour line were worsening. No.700 'Erin' was thus allocated solely as Tidmouth Docks banker and spent most of its life on these duties.

     

     
    No. 700 'Erin' missing plates and whistle, fresh out of the paint shop.
     
    These brutes were the mainstay of NWR goods locos until the 1930s, when a purchase was made of several LMS designs, including several brand-new Stanier 8Fs.
    As the ROD boilers, which retained their steel fireboxes, came up for overhaul, they were rebuilt using new LMS type 3C boilers built under licence. This enabled standardisation of several components with the new locos.


     
    No.701 'Triumph' shown post-rebuild with 3C boiler.
     
    In this form they lived out the rest of their lives.
    One modification of note was the fitting of a Giesl Ejector to No.703 'Powerful' in the mid-1950s. This was an experiment to reduce fuel consumption. In the event, it was not fitted to any other members of the class although 703 retained the unusual chimney until withdrawal.
     


     
    No.703 'Powerful' with 3C boiler and Giesl Ejector.
     
    The Models
     
    More children of Hattons' 'sale of the century', I had long wanted to add some RODs to the fleet but this was a chance to acquire a few at bargain prices. The models are built from a mix of ex-GWR RODs and ex-LNER O4s, the GWR examples being rebuilt using second hand Hornby 8F bodies from the 1990s.
    The 2-8-4T uses another Hornby Fowler 4P body, Peters' Spares was selling a few new old stock plain bodies which have come in very handy. Between these and the cabs for the tender locos I am hoping to establish a 'house style' much like the neighbouring LMS. The extended tanks match the Woolworth 2-6-2Ts and No.301 quite nicely.
     
    Check out the build thread from this page for more!
  23. Corbs
    Here's the combined build story for the flagship express locomotive of the North Western Railway, No.704 'Duke of Gordon' (or Gordon for short)
     

     
    FACT SHEET
     
    NWR No.
    704
     
    NWR Name:
    Duke of Gordon
     
    Wheel Arrangement
    4-6-2
     
    Builder
    North Eastern Railway
     
    Class
    A0
     
    Purchased by NWR
    1923
     
    FULL BUILD THREAD BELOW
     
    So, firstly, the numbering scheme...
    I always thought it a bit odd that a railway the size of the NWR would have such a small fleet. In 'The Island of Sodor' book, Wilbert refers to many other locomotives not featured in the stories, but the linear nature of the numbering does help kids with counting and recognition of characters.
    I've decided to re-categorise the locos so I can fit more in while retaining the original character numbers.
    For my donor loco, I acquired a Hornby railroad 'flying scotsman' unboxed for a very good price. I wished to run an ex-gnr tender, so hunted down the bodyshell from a3 'cameronian' on ebay for about a tenner. Comparing the two, I wanted to have the details included with the a3, as well as the superheater, so decided it would be less effort to replace the banjo dome with a round one, and use the a3 bodyshell. Cutting off and replacing moulded handrails is a bit involved for me at present.


    'Gordon' is, in my universe, a prototype a1, the A0. I wanted to use some beefier cylinders, so got hold of some stanier princess examples, again from ebay.
    This is my first adventure into proper model modification, so it was with a small amount of trepidation I removed the a1 cylinders.


    I wanted to retain the Gresley valve gear (Partially as it's probably biting off more than I can chew to change it at this time), so it required a slot in the cylinder to hold both the piston rod and slide bar thingy.
    I removed the back of the cylinders and inserted a piece of plasticard, cut to size. Reattached the cylinder ends and marvelled at how I'd overcome this so easily, put it back on the chassis, looking good, then stuck the body on....



    D'oh! Hadn't measured it against the height of the old cylinders!
    Hacked apart the original bracket and chose to build a new one up in plasticard, measured against the body for height.



    Much better!
    Now, I had to re-do the holes for the piston rod and slide bar by moving them down. Fashioned a lower bracket from pieces of scrap plastic.
    Hopefully I'll be smoothing out the nasty bits with miliput. Still waiting on a dremel to arrive so I can drill a mounting hole for the bracket to attach to the chassis.


    Overall, I'm pretty pleased! Taped in place, everything moves ok so I haven't wrecked it. Needs finishing off which I need a few more tools for.
    Next up, need to dremel out the horrid moulded coal from the GNR tender to add something a bit properer!
    Got my dremel through the post this week so first set about removing the horrid coal to get my eye in with using it.


    Going to be putting in a false floor and layering up some better coal, nice and full!
    Removed most of the excess with a file.
    Then I turned my attentions to the loco.
    I want to use the better detailed A3 body, from a tender drive chassis, so had to remove the underbody section. There must be an easier way to do this but meh.

    At first it wouldn't fit, turns out the railroad body's rear cab fitting is slightly further back and some careful grinding was necessary.



    It fits!
    Unfortunately I made a bit of a cock up with my cylinders. The piston rods would hit the end of the cylinders, so I cut them down ever so slightly, causing one side to fall out of my homemade bracket and jam the motion. Have extended the bracket as a bodge repair for now but these cylinders have been hacked about so much now, they look a bit carp.

    I've ordered a replacement set for about £2.50 from ebay. These worked well as a prototype, so hopefully I can do a much neater version now I know the mounting points and mods needed to do a good job. I think a tube (like a straw) will work much better for the piston rod than the bracket, to avoid the chance of it catching.
     
    So... the stanier cylinder conversion mk2 mounted on the gresley stretcher.

    Part of the motion was still fouling the cylinder, I don't know what it is but it's mounted rearward on the other side, so I cut it, and re-glued in position. Not the most elegant solution but probably won't show up too much under some weathering.



    And mounted on the loco (needs a bit of adjustment)

     
    I purchased a battered A1 bodyshell to use as a donor, removed the dome

    Offered up on the A3 bodyshell

    Finally bit the bullet today and cut out the banjo dome, then glued a piece of plastic in behind it

    Then filled with milliput

    And dome milliputted in place. Going to let this all dry before attempting any sanding, smoothing etc

     
    A bit more miliputting and sanding on the boiler top, methinks needs some paint and fine grain sandpaper to get it properly smooth.
    Also added a personal touch that's bound to annoy some people.... I like it.

    After a lot of persuasion and adjustment (and filing and glue and miliput) the cylinders now sit evenly on each side as well.
    Current state:

     
    A few pics from No.704. I've used filler primer to help blend in the area of filler, and the new dome. A few cracks/dimples were filled with blobs of paint (The yellow spots shown in the photos).
    The filler primer is in the process of being sanded back to blend with the original paint. An overall coat or two of primer will be required before final spraying. I might send this loco to the same chap who is doing the 'Green 5'. Livery will be based on BR Express Passenger Blue with the same N W lettering on the tender.
    As for the tender, the edges of the coal bunker need fillering in and flattening, and the coal itself needs adding.
    It's getting there...


    Apologies for the darkness of the pics, the desk lamp bulb has gone - not blown, but literally gone. I don't know where it is!
     
    One of the last few jobs to do on 704 was to sort a way of filling the tender with coal whilst retaining the old loco drive weight.
    I'd been thinking about this one for a while, and today decided to try it out. The idea was to get a bumpy, but not uniformly so, pattern for how the coal sits, without needing to cut the top of the tender weight off in order to fit a flat 'false bunker'.
    Piece of black material cut to size and draped over the weight

    Before being glued to the body

    Done! Needs smearing with some PVA, then will sprinkle some suitable coal on, probably woodland scenics as I have a bag of that to hand (But alas no PVA!)

    After the coal is added, it's just the smokebox door handle to be added, then it's off to the paintshop.
    EDIT - Also cut some front frames to shape and fitted into place - these had been cut away during the cylinder conversion.

     
    Finally bought some PVA, spread it on the material and added some woodland scenics coal. Rather pleased with how it turned out.

    That's it! Ready to be packed up and sent off for paint.


     
    Super duper! No.704 arrived at my work today, and was unwrapped as soon as I got home. Really please with how it's come out. There's a few things I may still tweak/change/add - needs detailing parts, might change the height of the cylinders as they look too low to me, and I'm on the fence about the N W on the tender - might get changed for a smaller font, but on the whole, I'm pleased as punch. This was my first ever attempt at modifying an RTR loco, and I think it's ended up really nicely.
    Painting/lining/weathering was done by David Penman of Custom Models - http://custommodels.org/
    Have some pics!


    and with his new stablemate

    EDIT: In fact it didn't take long for me to take the circular saw and dremel to the model - cylinders removed, measured and re-glued! Also re-fitted a stray front step - had to file down the underside of the bufferbeam a bit. One thing that is missing is the reversing lever, think it might be at the bottom of the spares box...
    Looking much better now, amazing how a little change can make such a difference.



     
    704 came out onto the layout for a little run today. Still has tension locks fitted which need replacing with Kadees before it can haul stock, but I took the opportunity to pose it with the other two blue locos, 705 and 805.
    What's in a name?
    I thought it would be nice to justify some of the names and liveries of the NWR fleet. I'll talk about 503's history in another post, but this came to light today.
    Upon investigating the origins of the name 'Gordon', I found out about the Scottish Clan of that name, so thought, maybe 'Clan Gordon' or 'Duke of Gordon' would be an appropriate name for the NWR's flagship express loco. It was then that I saw, another name for the Duke of Gordon is 'Cock O'The North'.
    From wikipedia: "For his notable contributions Alexander Gordon, 1st Earl of Huntly was styled Cock o' the North, a designation which has ever since been accorded to the heads of clan Gordon"
    So, in this universe, what with 704's Gresley origins, and Sir Nigel using that name on the first member of the LNER P2 class in 1934, the name 'Duke of Gordon: Cock O'The North' was given to the experimental A0, and after that non-standard loco's sale to the NWR, the name was re-used in a shortened form on the P2. However, the name 'Duke of Gordon' stayed with the A0, thus, it is known locally as 'Gordon'.



     
    Finally got around to adding a brake hose and front coupling (both GBL parts) to 704 'Duke of Gordon'
     
    Front end looks a lot more acceptable now.
     

     
    Finally added a kadee to the tender (had to drill out the tension lock mount and chemical metal the kadee in)

  24. Corbs
    FACT SHEET
    NWR No.
    403
    NWR Name
    Thorkell
    Wheel Arrangement
    2-6-0
    Builder
    Royal Arsenal, Woolwich/NWR Crovan’s Gate Works
     
    Class
    Maunsell SECR N Class Mogul (NWR Rebuild)
    History
    The N Class of mixed traffic 2-6-0 locomotives was designed in 1914 by Richard Maunsell. Production of the first batch was delayed by the outbreak of the First World War. Assembly began towards the end of the war and the first locomotive, No. 810, emerged from Ashford Works for proving trials in July 1917. No. 810 was trialled for three years before another 15 locomotives (Nos. 811–825) were ordered in 1919. These were built between 1920 and 1923; their construction delayed by a backlog of repairs caused by the war.
    The first batch of the N class proved successful in service, and the Ministry of Supply drew up a contract for a second batch to the same specification – to be built at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. Building of the second batch went ahead to retain skilled labour at Woolwich, and by 1924, the prefabricated components stored at Woolwich formed 110 complete N class kits for purchase from the government.

    Note: The above is true apart from me adding a fictional 10 loco ‘kits’ to include in my fictional universe. Info from wikipedia.
     
    In 1924, the NWR, in desperate need of locomotives, purchased several of these ‘kits’ to assemble at Crovan’s Gate works. 3 of the locos were built as 2-6-2Ts for working commuter services, with 5 becoming tender locos. They differed from their SECR counterparts by having enlarged cabs with side windows fitted (a blessing on a Winters day up in the North West). The NWR did not purchase tenders with the kits, and instead used tenders recovered from scrapped ROD 2-8-0s.
    All were named after important figures in Sudrian history. Thorkell of Norwich lived from 1035-1092 and fought at Stamford Bridge. He befriended his captive, Godred Crovan, and later settled in Sodor. The Kellson family claim to be his descendants.
    The Model
    THORKELL is made from a Bachmann N Class, with a GBL Hornby Black 5 cab fitted (the cab floor was extended). A tender was salvaged from a scrapped ROD 2-8-0 and attached by customising the coupling with styrene strip. Currently this is a non-runner after a valve gear malfunction burnt the motor out.
    Click HERE to see the build thread
  25. Corbs

    NWR No.705 'Westlin' - Info Sheet

    By Corbs,


    NWR Locos
    Here's the info sheet on NWR No.705 'Westlin'. The build was covered in my cobbling thread.
     

     
    FACT SHEET
     
    NWR No.
    705
     
    NWR Name:
    Westlin
     
    Wheel Arrangement
    4-6-0
     
    Builder
    North British Locomotive Company (1929)
     
    Class
    Hatt 7P
     
    Fate
    Withdrawn 1961
     
    'Prototype' Info
     
    Designed and built during Sir Topham Hatt’s tenure as CME, this loco was the first of three ‘Hatt Class Sevens’. Hatt was able to procure drawings from Swindon for the GWR ‘King’ class through his contacts there, and his drawing office used these to design a 4 cylinder locomotive to pull the heaviest expresses, but with more sure-footedness than a Pacific (after the experiences with No.704).
    The first loco was built with Walschaerts valve gear (it is thought that the young Charles Hatt had some say in this), though the second and third had Lentz rotary poppet valve gear.
    Construction was contracted to the North British Locomotive Co. due to the success of the ‘Royal Scots’ on the LMS and the new engine, 705 was named ‘Westlin’ after a Sudrian racehorse entered in the Grand National.  It was delivered in the summer of 1929, with classmates No.706 ‘Thorfinn The Mighty’ and 707 ‘Starstrider’ following in 1930.
    Mainly used on express passenger services and boat trains alongside 704 ‘Duke of Gordon’.
    In 1961 ‘Westlin’ was in need of major overhaul. It was deemed uneconomical to repair and was withdrawn.
    The model depicts ‘Westlin’ between 1940 and 1961.
     
    Model Info
     
    This is a static model built from the leftover parts from my Cathedral project, plus any spares I found in my parts box. It's named after my partner's surname with plates from Narrow Planet.
    Boiler, tender chassis and loco chassis: GWR King
    Cab and safety valves: LMS Stanier Pacific
    Tender body, chimney and dome: LMS Black 5
    Motion: Walschaerts
    Smoke deflectors, under cab pipework and side feed injectors: SR Schools
    Smokebox door: LNER A1
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