HR Jones Tank

Today I took the HR Jones Tank up to Carlisle to CD0GG’s Running Day on their layout at the Citadel Station. You’ll remember that after the Running Day in December I decided that the Jones Tank had to have some modifications to enable it to run in club layout conditions, I'd carried out the alterations and had high expectations.

There was a good attendance at the Running Day including a strong presence from the Preston G0G Club who brought some interesting models along that I’d not seen before. The club room buzzed with conversation and there wasn’t a moment in the day when the layout wasn’t displaying the modelling skills of the Guild members or showing off the running qualities of a wide range of locomotives and rolling stock. It wasn’t until lunch time and the call of the chip shop thinned the attendance that my engine had a look in…by which time I thought the visitors had set a high standard for them to live up to.

Jones Tank at CD0GG running day

Here’s the HR Jones Tank snaking smoothly through the pointwork past the sidings on the back section of the layout with a train carrying a 15 inch gun barrel for a Dreadnought which was built by Stephen Jarnell, one of the Preston members. She took everything in her stride, and though there were a couple of front bogie derailments, we soon sorted out the offending awkward spots on the track and she continued to run superbly on both the tighter inner as well as the outer circuit.

December 7, 2011 3:00 pm

Fireman Ref: R 18

Heroes of the Footplate

Driver Ref: R 17

Driver R17
The driver reaches for the regulator handle with his right hand while steadying his balance with his left on the splasher top while peering intently at the road ahead through the cab window.
Fireman R18
The fireman in casual pose seems little concerned with the antics of the driver. The cab will have a wooden floor at a later stage which accounts for the wooden spacer under the fireman’s feet which allows him to assume his pose with his arm over the cab beading.
The crew for a Jones Tank are available now in my "Heroes of the Footplate" range…ref: Driver R17 and fireman R18.
So if your Jones Tank, and I hope that there are a few out there, needs a crew… here’s the answer; in fact they could be the answer to crewing most tank engines, not just Jones Tanks!

Jones Tank photos

LMS 15011, ex HR 58 takes to the test track in Pete’s studio. There are six sets of points, a crossing and a 6ft curve to negotiate, which she did very well, though there are some rather disconcerting noises coming from inside that need investigating. I’ve made a start on the crew who are both well under way.

Jones Tank; details of the bunker and rear.

I’ve coaled the Jones Tank already as the coal supports the rather flimsy bunker coal rails, there’s an old bucket in there too, and a coal breaker too. Note how the coal rails form a central alcove to house the lamp bracket.