HR 118 Making a Start.

HR118 Chassis in progress 

My model of HR118 will illustrate the engine, as rebuilt by Sharp Stewart, towards the end of its service with the Highland Railway, when it had lost its former name, Gordon Castle, had its number plate removed and was working as a humble shunting engine. There's a photo of the engine at the end of its days, laid aside at Culloden Moor in 1923, in unlined olive green, which is a useful source for details of the engine; I won't make my model in quite as decrepit a state as this though. Only three photos of the engine are known to survive, along with a side elevation drawn by L Ward using the photos as reference. It's enough to build a model, though there are one or two details I don't understand to be resolved and I have no information at all on the cab interior.

There is no kit for this prototype in any scale so I'm scratch building it or, as I prefer to say, "modelling without the aid of a kit", though with reliance on the trade for suitable castings.  

Driving wheels are from Walsall Model Industries, these are cast iron, turned to size and drilled 12BA for the crank pins; they match the pattern of the prototype. The off-side drivers are insulated midway along the spokes. The frames are 0.7 n/s, set 26.6mm apart.

I made the coupling and connecting rods myself from 1.2 mm nickel silver sheet as I could find no trade source for this type of rod with marine big ends. The front crank pin seen here is a 10BA screw, the coupling rod runs in a brass bush and the connecting rod is held in place by a top hat bush threaded to match the screw. The slide-bars and cross-head are commercial castings of unknown provenance. A guard-plate will be fitted later behind the slide-bars, presumably this kept dirt away from the cross-head. The carrying wheels are held in place by a central keeper-rod, mounted on a transverse plate, which can be unscrewed to drop the wheels out of their slots.

The axle screw is inaccessible behind the slide-bars. The horizontal rod acts as a keeper for the carrying wheels which are easily removed from the frames. 

For detailed information on the prototype and its vicissitudes in service see...Cormack and Stevenson's Highland Railway Locomotives Bk.1, pubs. RCTS. 

7mm scale Drummond 20-ton goods brake van in LMS livery.

Peter Drummond's 20-ton 6-wheel goods brake van entered Highland Railway service between 1909 and 1913, there were 16 of these 20 foot long vans, built with wooden under-frames. These original vans can be identified by the thickness of their wooden buffer beams, later 20-ton vans of this type were built with steel under-frames with characteristic "[" shaped buffer beams. Though the original design did not feature ramps to the roof lookout these were added to many of the vans quite early in their service by the HR so the guard did not bang his head when stepping up to the lookout. When the LMS took ownership they made few alterations other than fitting disc wheels and changing the livery. This involved moving the central lamp-iron upwards so the letter "M" would fit just under it, a subtlety that I noticed only after I'd painted the model and came to put the transfers on!  Photos of these vans in LMS days show that the continuous lower foot-board was cut away in front of the axle boxes, presumably to improve access, forming four separate foot boards each side, though my van has not as yet undergone this refinement.

The model is constructed from a nickle silver etch, one of my own "aids to wagon building". The ramped lookout seen here is a change I made following the drawing in Peter Tatlow's "HR Carriages and Wagons" and is quite different to the one the vans were originally provided with. 

Full construction details are to be found below in the March 2022 blog posting. I used Railmatch 611 freight grey as the base colour of this LMS version of the van, transfers are HMRS, couplings from CPL and  lamps from Slater's, with added brilliants.

I have a few etched sheets still in stock at £25.00 + postage if you'd like to add one of these vans to your collection, a great project for the modelling season ahead. 

 

7mm scale 20-ton 6-wheel goods brake van LMS d.12

Gauge 0 Drummond 20-ton 6-wheel goods brake van, LMS 294018

HR 8-ton double-deck sheep van with planked sides in 7mm scale.

Pete's new addition to his range of aids to scratch-building provides resin sides and ends for a Highland Railway 8-ton double-deck sheep wagon d.17. Parts from the trade, such as the W-irons, buffers, springs, axle boxes and couplings are easily sourced (see below). Additional items such as brake gear, roof and internal floors can be cut from sheet metal or Plastikard, so in a round-about way a multi-media kit is assembled to each individual modeller's choice. 

Price is £22.50 plus postage at cost £1.60 1st Class or £1.15 2nd Class.

Buy 2 or more and postage is Free.

Contact Pete on...

armstrongps1@gmx.com

017687 71302

07342 617 813

This is what you get...

 

The openings are filled with a thin membrane. Hold to the light to identify the openings and push out the membrane with the back of a scalpel blade, it only takes a few minutes. The resin ingates (with holes in) are cut off with a fine coping saw and the bottom of the castings filed flat. 

In addition you'll need...

Slater's 3' 1" wagon wheels ref: 7120

Slater's 1mm Plastikard, 7mm planking and 1.5mm strip for battens.

W-irons from Slater's or The Highland Railway Society.

Springs, axle-boxes and buffers from Invertrain.

Couplings from CPL Products.

Horse hooks, brake lever guard and collarless hand rail knobs from 62C Models.

Close up showing the fine detail of the resin castings after the openings have been cleared of membrane. Horizontal bars are made from 0.6 nickle silver or brass wire glued into slots behind the openings.

The upper floor sits behind the horizontal midway strut and serves to brace the structure. The roof is made from 0.4mm nickle silver sheet, rolled to shape; Plastikard would provide an alternative solution.    

 Plastikard planking, with 1.5mm battens to provide a footing for livestock, overlays the 1mm thick lower floor. Note the interior detail and the horizontal wire glued in slots across the openings. The ends of the planks marked with an X have been trimmed slightly to seat the end.

View of the rocking-axle, coupling and buffer shanks, which run in slots behind the solebars. The floor under the axles has been built up 1.5mm with Plastikard sheet to provide the correct ride height.

The upper deck of the van is split in half along its length to allow it to seat in place; an overlay of battened Plastikard planking sits on top of this. The planked floors show up well in good light, even with the roof in place and are worth the effort of detailing them with battens.

 An additional, though optional detail, is the chain which holds the pin which locates in the holes in the rack to hold the brake lever down. 

Brake shoe and brake lever are fabricated from nickel silver sheet. Springs and axle-box are cast in white metal from my own master patterns in my workshop.

 

 

The sides and ends are glued together and 0.6 n/s wire is fastened behind the opening in slots provided; which may need enlarging a little. The ends of the horizontal planks need trimming slightly inside, to allow the sides to seat in place.

A short length of square section tube has been fashioned to make the brake lever hanger, this is glued into a shallow slot cut in the sole-bar.

The horizontal handrail is held in place by collarless handrail knobs which locate into holes in the uprights. The handrail is soldered to the knobs in situ then the assembly is removed, the wire bent to fit the outer holes and replaced.

The van is weighted up to 150g and runs superbly. Note the brake lever guard set just off-center on the sole-bar. There doesn't seem to be much room for a cast number plate on the narrow sole-bar, perhaps sheep vans made do with numbers painted on the lower horizontal boards.