A New Locomotive Project, Stroudley HR56 Dornoch.

 All 6 of HR56's wheels are similar and solid with 2 small opposed holes. 

Three 0-6-0T engines to William Stroudley's design were constructed at Lochgorm Works, the first and the subject of my model was number 56, built in 1869 and originally named "Balnain". The engine was substantially rebuilt in 1896 when it gained its Jones chimney. By 1910 a rear bunker had been added and the engine, renamed "Dornoch", was turned out in unlined olive green livery, which rather suits my painting skills. In 1917 her good looks were compromised when the tanks were extended back to the cab, thus drawing a line under my interest in the engine. My model will be built to illustrate HR56 in the condition in which it ran between 1910-17.

Photos of no.56 in Highland Railway livery are in short supply, I have found five though non of these shows the engine in my chosen time slot. There are a further six photos extant which show the engine in LMS days and these are of value as they show details inherited from earlier days. The model will be scratch built, though it will depend on castings from Laurie Griffin, who made fittings for a kit which never materialised, and without which my model would be a non-starter.

HR56 is in most respects similar to HR57 "Lochgorm" and a  drawing by Laurie Ward of the latter is my starting point. There are a surprising number of differences between the sister engines each of which will be noted and incorporated in my model. In addition to Laurie's drawing there is a very useful article by Charles Wrigley in HRJ 107 (Autumn 2013) concerning the differing braking arrangements of the Stroudley tanks.

The chassis has already had a test run on the club layout in Carlisle and proved a good runner. The motor gearbox is an ABCgears Mini7S with an M1824 which provides ample power though there is no space for a flywheel. Pick-ups are wires bearing on the back of the left hand wheels while the wheels on the right hand side are shorted out.

The overlays to the wheels are etches from my own design left over from building HR 57 some time ago.

Lochgorm at CD0GG

Lochgorm in the scenic section at CD0GG

Lochgorm ran at Carlisle on Saturday on the CD0GG club layout with a short train of HR stock, a fish truck, a covered van and a guards van. And very well she did too, not only by her smooth performance on the layout but also, with the help of the crew that Pete designed especially for her, winning the annual model competition.

Lochgorm Tank Painted

HR57 Lochgorm Tank 0-6-0T

I completed the construction of this scratch built Lochgorm Tank engine in time to have a picture of her included in Vol.7 No.108 of the HR Journal for early 2014. It was not until later in that year that I realised that the transfers that I had hoped to have printed for the name "Lochgorm" were not going to materialise, the quotes I had from transfer printers were sky-high and interest in the job was marginal to say the least so reluctantly I abandoned the idea and turned to Dave Studley, a painter of some repute whom I'd heard was good with lettering.

The Highland Railway water slide transfer sheet supplied by Guilplates was Dave's starting point. The lettering on the sheet provided the initial "L", which is slightly larger than the rest of the name, along with the letters "G" "H" and "R". The numerals on the sheet supplied the "0"s  which left only the final "M" annoyingly missing. Dave contrived this from an "M" from Guilplates' LBSCR transfer sheet, some subtle work with a fine brush was necessary on this letter to persuade it to adopt the uniformity of the rest. I think you'll agree that the lettering works well.

The crew were painted by myself and are figures from my own "Heroes of the Footplate" range, they are designed specifically for this loco though I'm sure they'd fit nicely in the cab of many another engine.

        



HR57 Stroudley Lochgorm Tank

 

On Saturday HR57 will be taking to the rails in finished form for the first time on the Carlisle Club's layout, I hope to have some photos of her in action at CD0GG with a train next week.