HR 123 Loch an Dorb.

Loch an Dorb, from the Gallic meaning possibly Loch of the Minnows or more likely Loch of Troubles. The model is complete now apart from coal in the tender which I have in hand. The basic colour is Precision P727 which is now no longer available, I only have enough left for touching up now. Etched number plate, name and buffer beam transfers are from Guilplates, the latter are no longer available either. Footplate crew are my own sculpture, designed for this particular engine and now available from Invertrain. 

The cab interior is as complete as I can make it, I took the details from the drawing in Peter Tatlow's "A History of  Highland Locomotives". The backhead casting and many of the small fittings are from LGM though both have been modified to suit. 

Cab interior and crew with the roof removed for a better view of the works.

 

The superstructure owes a debt to some specially commissioned nickle silver etches from Lochgorm Kits, the chassis however was scratch built. Wheels are cast and turned by JPL Models as Slaters have no correct ones in their list. Motive power is provided by an M1833 motor mounted in an ABC Gears Mini Gooch gearbox. Loch an Dorb's debut on the club layout in Carlisle will be much delayed I fear by the renewed Coronavirus outbreak, I won't be going up to the clubroom this side of Christmas and probably for some months after, neither will I be able to photograph her in a realistic setting hauling a train, she'll just have to wait.

HR 123 Loch an Dorb; construction complete.

Though the superstructure of the Loch owes a slight debt to a Lochgorm Kits "Aid to Scratchbuilding" etch the model could be said to be almost entirely scratch built. A fair number of LGM lost wax brass castings have been used and these are easily identified on the photos following.

Showing the arrangement of the brakes and brake pull rods. I've simplified things under the tender, there was more to it than this!

The Jones Goods and the Lochs ran with identical tenders so I took some of the details of the tender front plate from the example on show in the Transport Museum in Glasgow. Note the bi-fold doors to the tender with a cut out on this side for the tablet catcher. 

Vaccum pipes always present me with a problem, here I've used n/s rod with the bend from a lost wax casting and a spring to simulate the hose.

The upright stanchions that hold the coal rails are from "T" shaped brass extrusions, coal will disguise any shortcomings in representing these fully. The bi-fold door can be seen clearly here, it needs some sort of restraint to hold it closed.

The bi-fold doors are closed, however the engine will not negotiate the curves on an average club layout with them in this position so they'll have to remain open when the engine is in action. 



The fall plate has rather large cut-outs so that the engine can negotiate curves, the bi fold door on this side is held in place by a length of chain. The cab floor is made of wooden slats from a model ship kit. 

Most of the rivets here are brass ones soldered into appropriate locating holes. The hinges of the inspection covers over the slide bars are short lengths of wire held in place with Super Glue.
 



 

 

Crew on the alert watching the road. The figures are available from Invertrain. At the moment the cab roof can still be removed so that the backhead can in turn be removed for painting. 



HR Loch class 4-4-0...the complete engine and tender.

HR Loch an Dorb progress.

HR Loch class tender original length though without rear toolbox.

The main structural components of the tender are from the Lochgorm kit though the tank corners and curved coping are sections cut from brass tube as I could not bend the material of the kit, the coping was too intransigent and the corners kinked when I tried to bend them due to the oversize holes for the corner handrails. The steps still need improvement to remove the etched outlines above the horizontal part of the step.

HR123 in 1923. Courtesy of the Highland Railway Society.

A rear view of Loch an Dorb at Blair Athol in 1923 in the HR collection at Am Baile shows her running with an original tender with a rear toolbox. However the above picture, which I believe was taken in either 1923 or shortly after, shows her in HR livery with what I interpret as an original length tender though with the rear toolbox removed. A shorter one can be seen mounted behind the driver. The tender has at this time not yet been lengthened to the full length of the footplate. This is the style of tender that I've modelled (above). 

Smokebox and footplate detail

The inspection covers above the slide bars were represented on the footplate by an unsightly etched outline. I cut along the etched lines to create a rectangular hole in the footplate and made an infill to represent the covers which just need some tiny hinges to complete the effect. There may be something available in Archer Surface Detail transfers that will fit the bill.




Cab roof constructed from nickel sheet silver with brass extruded cross ribs. 

The roof is made from sheet nickel silver though the front curve is a section of brass tube, transverse ribs are extruded brass section. The tablet catcher on the cab side is an LGM casting to which I've added a handle that protrudes into the cab.

Detail of cab and backhead with roof removed.

There are three sources of information for the backhead detail; a drawing by Peter Tatlow; a GA of the 1917 engines and of course the backhead of the preserved Jones Big Goods in the Transport Museum in Glasgow. Though I've mainly based the details on Tatlow the other sources have helped too. Castings are mainly LGM, some of which are a little oversize, they have been reduced to the right scale with an unavoidable though slight loss of detail.

The oversize inside splashers contribute to limit the space available for a crew, which in the case of a 4-4-0 with so visible a cab interior, I consider mandatory.

The fall plate is attached to the engine and because of the protruding side wings and stanchions on the tender footplate I've had to make the fall plate cut-outs oversize to accommodate these as there is a good deal of movement between tender and engine on corners. Fall plates and tight corners are not compatible and neither I suspect are cab doors, particularly the bi-fold variety that the Lochs carried, though this is a problem I've not yet examined closely.
I don't think the engine will ever be happy running in reverse, however as the Highland did not encourage this practise it shouldn't present a problem.  

HR123 Loch Class 4-4-0 Progress

HR123 Loch an Dorb

I bought only the superstructure kit from Lochgorm Kits, the chassis I decided to scratch build to my own design. All castings are lost wax cast brass and have been sourced from Laurie Griffin at LGM.
A substantial number of the etched components in the kit have been replaced with parts that I've made myself. The boiler as supplied had rather oversize bands so was the first item discarded followed closely by what seemed to be a rather clever cab interior fold-up which it proved on closer inspection was better replaced by something nearer the real thing. The boiler backhead was scratch built as LGM had run out of castings of this item; making this was quite a mini project in its own right. The boiler castings, chimney and dome that is, are very good however the safety valve casting leaves much to be desired, the upright valves are too far apart and too slim, and will need working on.

Wheels with the correct crank pin position are only available from JGM, these are cast iron ones which it seemed a good idea to try. As supplied the wheel castings needed a good deal of work to clean up and still need attention with some sort of filler here and there, I doubt that I'll go down this road again.

Power will be provided by an M1833 running in an ABCgears Mini gearbox which will be mounted on the front axle, pointing backwards towards the cab, which just leaves room for a flywheel which I consider essential, the running qualities of the engine being paramount.
Inside motion is a possibility however I'm not sure at this stage whether to complicate matters further, you can't see much under the boiler.

HR Loch Class cab details.