Corbs

Fantastic modelling as always, Alan and such a delight to see more of Tweedale. The scene looks great.

Apparently some of the Jones-livery locos did indeed have HR markings added to the tender by Drummond when the paint was in good condition. So you could justify the Jones one and some HR decals?

FINALLY, found a pic of 103's 1934 restoration. No wingplates, 106's chimney, Drummond livery but with correct lining, Cumming numberplate. Contrast this with the 1946 refurbishment, you can see how much lighter the green was (and the fact it is not two-tone any more), and see how the lining on the front splasher mimics the LMS lining rather than the HR style. There's also a few photos of it being repainted: https://www.ambaile.org.uk/search/?searchQuery=17916 Some more shots of 106 showing the Westinghouse pump and snow plough brackets on the smokebox. Tempting to get the 106 in Jones livery and add the pump and brackets for a bit of interest.

106 and 116 were fitted with Westinghouse gear in HR days. 106 had the pumps fitted until it was scrapped in 1934. 116 (17929) was rebuilt in 1932 using the frames from 17918 and the old frames (still with Westinghouse gear attached) were dumped at St. Rollox. The reference says that in the years prior to rebuilding, the pump was unused/disconnected anyway. RTUK are doing 106 but before the Westinghouse gear was added as there is a photo of this loco in this condition and livery to match to. Opportunity for someone to print one perhaps? This pic shows the pump on the right hand side.

Artwork/descriptions on the website have been updated. The LMS versions all now have short tender tanks. 17920 is confirmed as being in the later condition with Caley-style front end. The lined version is now 17928 with the HR louvred chimney, wingplates and 2-handle smokebox door.

Just spoke to RTUK and they confirmed that 17920 will be in the later condition with the Caley style front end and that the artwork on the website will be changed. After more info has been received, the tenders on the LMS versions will be altered to the short tank with no toolbox versions as only 105, 110, 113 and 116 received the long tender tanks. 113 still had the toolbox in the condition it is being modelled.

There is a colour photo around which shows this. The tender tank is the short one but with the toolbox removed, 103 did not receive a long tender tank so far as I can tell. This is from after the 1946 overhaul but before the 1958 one. 1934 - Chimney nicked off 106, repainted Drummond lined green with HR lettering, Cumming number plate 1946 - Repainted a lighter green with inaccurate lining (esp. front splasher) 1958 - Repainted IEG, wingplates restored, dummy lock-up covers over the ross pop valves, toolbox restored, no HR on tender Post-1965 - IEG but with HR lettering on tender, warning flashes removed, lining altered.

17920 had the wingplates removed but retained the original LMS livery as seen in these photos. The references I have seen say that a lot of the locos had the wingplates put back on at some point (I had never realised that wingplates served a purpose in helping to prevent the boiler expanding forward). I have 17920 as having lost the wingplates in 1932. There might need to be some clarification on version as the artwork shows safety valve lock-ups and wingplates but the description is for the later version. I will try and find out. https://www.ambaile.org.uk/asset/24991/ https://www.ambaile.org.uk/asset/24948/1/EN24948-lms-17920-at.htm/ https://www.ambaile.org.uk/asset/24915/1/GD24915-lms.htm/

A couple of photos of a nearly-new 108 with the large snowplough mentioned earlier, hence the additional lamp bracket on the chimney. 106 and 108 were so fitted. https://www.ambaile.org.uk/asset/11684/1/EN11684-hr-108-with-snowplough/ https://www.ambaile.org.uk/asset/11685/

Looks fantastic! Wish I'd had your skill when I was at university!

Yeah most of them had flangeless centre drivers most of their lives. Also fun fact: When the LMS restored 103 in the 1930s, it had a Drummond chimney so nicked the Highland louvred one off 106. 106 and 108 were the two snowplough-adapted locos with an extra lamp bracket on the chimney, which has been retained on 103. Also also: At some point one of the LMS black ones still in service swapped wheels with 103 and for a while was running around with lined green wheels and black everything else. One thinks if you did that on the model, people would ask 'when are you going to finish painting it?'

Pre-prod livery artworks.

Hmm good question. Variants in what way? At a basic level you have the 4 types of 18" Hunslet: -Pontop & Jarrow 0-6-0T -48150 -50550 -Austerity/J94 But if looking solely at the Austerity there are loads of detail differences. Some had different wheels, for example, whereas some were the Porta-inspired rebuilds with GPCS, stovepipe chimneys, mechanical underfeed stokers. Add to that giesl chimneys on some of them, or the 'smoke shielding' blowers the NCB fitted to some.

On the E2 above - ended up soldering even more diodes in so it now has 4 in each direction. In theory this now means it starts at 3.7v, steps up to 9v, then back down to 5v, doh. All part of the fun of trying to match power to motor/gear combos. I am determined to finish off the SMR prairie and had hit a wall with the cylinders and more specifically the motion, brackets etc. I had intended to adapt stuff from the radial but after a month with no progress I got frustrated and removed the Adams cylinders. Instead I am hoping to use some cruder but simpler items in the form of the Bachmann 'NotPercy' ones I had (you guessed it) in a drawer. These have the (round) slide bars integrated into the cylinder so only one mounting point to worry about. The crankpins were knocked out of the Terrier wheelset and some longer replacements from spare B2 wheels (left over from the W4 wheel swap) were bonded in with Araldite. I also flopped the coupling rods over so the join is on the furthest side to reduce the chance of the connecting rod catching on it. Handily Terriers have an evenly split wheelbase! Note: important to use matching crank pin bolts - the Peckett ones are much smaller than the Terrier ones and getting it wrong can ruin screw threads. The cylinders had been modified and sanded flat on top for the old 'Perseus' bash I did a while ago. Now it was a case of fixing on some strip to give a more level top. Which was then bonded to the cylinder stretcher I had previously made from brass and styrene. ^ This picture shows how much of a lip the resin chimney had so it needed shaving down with a scalpel blade. I slipped with the blunt blade and scratched the smoke box, so changed it, every time I do this I think ‘should really change blades more often’ and every time I forget. Here it is now with the green stuff putty hardening, to be sanded smooth. Front wheelset is posed there for now until I work out how to mount it. Chimney is better but could use a bit more gentle sanding/filing. As I said the rods are a bit coarser but 'done is better than perfect' in my eyes and if I ever get braver/more inventive I can try it again.

Hello Alan, I was just wondering if there had been much more activity down in Tweedale? It is one of my favourite modelling blogs.

This one? From: https://www.keymodelworld.com/article/building-your-first-locomotive-kit

Whilst I procrastinate and pontificate on how I'm actually going to mount the motion on the 2-6-2T, we had a train day of working on the megalayout where the 4-4-0 showed itself not up to the challenge of dragging 4 4-wheelers with the brakes on uphill, but the venerable Hornby-chassis E2 didn't break a sweat. As a result, the 4-4-0 definitely needs more weight, more power and more battery life, so I rewired and modified the tender. A much bigger 270mah battery is fitted and the 9v upconverter is now hard-wired in to save space. I cut the side and end out of the coal space to help it to fit which also involved cutting through a few support ribs inside the tender, but I think it'll be reet. The E2 No.301 was treated to a long overdue makeover in the form of some styrene frame extensions to cover up that unsightly gap fore and aft of the chassis. The other E2 was also in for some work. This one sits on a Bachmann 3F chassis and I decided to permanently wire a 9v upconverter to it, stashing both this and the receiver in the bunker. The input wires from the battery go in one side, and the output wires to the motor down the other. Shown here being fixed in with araldite - note I forgot about wheel flanges and had to cut the goo back a bit This has a 150mah battery fitted. Originally it was much too fast, all the speed control was at the top end of the controller. I've wired in a couple of diodes to drop the voltage a bit before it gets to the motor. The battery has a charge lead attached which is accessed behind the magnetic smokebox door. The diodes have worked quite well as did a good running-in session, but it's still too fast for my liking and I wonder if I accidentally used a 12v rather than a 9v upconverter. Surely they can't be this Smokey-Joe like normally? Maybe another couple of diodes are needed although space is a factor. Not sure why the roof is crooked in the photo, an effect of the speed maybe? [EDIT] actually I did solder in an extra diode in each direction which seems to have helped control the top speed. I have a feeling the wheels are still catching the chassis and making the slow movements jerky, so more body alteration is needed. Might also try to pack some lead into the spare corners. LAP 1 is running time, continuously flat out on the rolling road, so I would guess that shunting work might last quite a bit longer. LAP 2 is charging time, just shy of an hour. Really must get on with that Prairie and fit the couplings to the 4-4-0....

Now there's an interesting one for the 'what if' liveries etc.!

When was multiple loco working 'figured out' by locomotive manufacturers? Surely on the global stage this must have been a huge change in motive power policy, switching almost entirely from 'build the right loco for the job' to 'allocate required amount of power units for load'?

They did consider it. E.S.Cox mentions it in Locomotive Panorama. The US were seen as leading the way in diesels at the time but for a few reasons (UK economy and accessibility to skills and spares being two of them) they decided to go in-country.

Garratts never caught on in the US but this chap has made a 'what if' Pennsy Garratt which looks rather stunning. Admittedly it does use a taper boiler which isn't very Garratty but then again it's US loading gauge so nice and big. Love the styling on the water tank.

Love that! What a great duo.

AFAIK the two Ox. Ironstone 16" locos had red frames ('Alex' and 'Frank') whereas 'Graham' the big 18" had black frames.

Saw this on twitter, absolutely fantastic work!

Love that 4-4-0T design.