McConnell 6-wheel tenders

[Edwardian]

I wonder if any Nor' Westerners can help? 

 

I enquire for an ex-Lancaster & Carlisle Crewe Type, sold out of service by the LNWR.  Said originally to have had McConnell 4-wheel tenders, these were said to have been replaced by 6-wheel tenders.

 

This, in fact:

 

 

The dimensions quoted are: 3'9" diameter wheels, with a 5'6" + 5'6" w/b.

 

Obviously I could do my best to scale of the photograph, but I wondered if anyone knew any other principal dimensions for this type of tender?

 

It looks fairly similar to the tenders paired with Large Bloomers in 1851, save the the raked rave and the extended rear frames:

 

 

There is a GA drawing for this type in Talbot's Illustrated History, though the dimensions are not legible.

 

[CKPR]

I think that the wheel base on the Talbot GA is probably 5'6" + 5'6" (it's certainly something and 6") , which of course corresponds to the previously known dimension. Therefore, I think that you would be on safe ground if you used this to calculate the scale of the GA drawing as reproduced in Talbot and then read off the other dimensions as required. 

[wessy]

There is a book 'Locomotives of the LNWR Southern Division' by Harry Jack which contains a similar drawing of the standard McConnell tender. The drawing is stated to be a Wolverton drawing of 1861.  Jack also includes a list of the principal dimensions for the standard 6-wheel, short wheelbase tenders as follows:

Wheel diameter 3'9" (12 spokes)

Wheelbase 5'6"+5'6"

Length excluding buffers 18'4"

Tank length 15'6"

Tank width 6'6"

Tank height 3'6"

Fuel space length 8'6"

Fuel space width 3'6"

Well length 12'6"

Well width 3'6"

Well depth 1'10"

 

The concave coving fixed along the top outer edge of the tank rose from 4" at the front to 12" at the back.

 

[Compound2632]

I've also been thumbing through Harry Jack's splendid book. I'm fairly sure that what we are looking at in the Eastern & Midlands photo is a rebuilt tank on McConnell frames. As far as I can see, McConnell tenders had horse-shoe tanks with a central coal space, whereas the rivet pattern on this tank clearly indicates a full-width, sloping-bottomed coal space. This would also explain the less rakish flare. (Flair?) Also, the McConnel tender tanks as built often had beading outlining the three side panels, although in some cases this was just lines of rivets instead.

 

At any rate, the frames have been modified as the original long tails for the rear buffers have been cut back and replaced by a conventional buffer beam. The start of the curve down from footplate level to extension level can still be seen as a quadrant-shaped hole where footplate and buffer beam meet.

 

The step down in footplate level at the front is probably original - this appears to be a feature of the McConnel tenders fitted to the Fairbairn long-boiler 0-6-0s, presumably because their footplates were a bit lower than McConnel's standard height.

 

I also note the Eastern & Midlands' wanton extravagance in the use of cast iron rather than wooden brake blocks!

Edited July 21, 2021 by Compound2632

[Devo63]

I found this in my old Railway Modeller collection from Volume 1, No. 3 dated Feb-Mar 1950.

Dave R.

[Edwardian]

Excellent, Dave, thank you.

 

The one I need to represent seems to have have the frames at the rear truncated and flaring at a uniform height.  Both may be later modifications.  The internal division between the tank and coal space appears different, too.

 

But it is clearly otherwise a tender of this ilk and I think the dimensions and drawings provided should set me right.

 

Thanks to everyone.