Running Day at CD0GG

Today on the Carlisle club layout Yankee Tank HR54 complete with "Heroes of the Footplate"crew, having disgraced herself on two previous attempts to make a circuit of the layout, performed impeccably, hauling a train of ten laden goods wagons. 

The station and scenic section of the CD0GG club layout provide a fine backdrop to Pete's Yankee Tank despite the rather anachronistic BR rolling stock. 

HR54 in action today.

Yankee Tank revisited

HR54 at CD0GG Running Day.

The Carlisle club's running day was a quiet affair this month so HR54 had plenty of opportunity to show her paces on the layout and very well she ran, hauling a respectable train with seemingly little effort, until a crankpin nut loosened and a coupling rod was shed, curtailing further running for the session. Clearly my fault... running along the test track at home is simply not the revealing test that a club layout provides.

HR54 rear view

There's nothing like enlarging a photo of a model to exaggerate the faults, not only do the crankpin nuts need attention but I note that there's an obvious bare patch behind the cab handrail and several other areas of paintwork that could do with attention.

HR54 front view.

Yankee Tank Completed.

HR Yankee Tank, Drummond II livery

Highland Railway 4-4-0T Yankee Tank complete except for the crew who are still gestating on my desk and in a very unfinished state as yet. Most of the bright work was masked off before I air brushed the engine with Precision Paints P727 HR Dark Green (1885-1912) though I added a little gloss to the "Dull" finish of the paint and darkened it slightly with a touch of black. The black of the chimney, smokebox and footplate is Revell SM301 a semi-matt black, which I sprayed on after appropriate masking up. There was a good deal of cleaning up, scraping off and painting by hand to do before the engine looked smart. Transfers are methfix from Guilplates as are the number and builder's plates. The little red lamp on the smokebox front came from Laurie Griffin, unfortunately he doesn't produce a dual aspect one for the roof, however I'm working on this myself. The jauntily posed workman with his shovel is one of my own "Heroes of the Footplate" figures.

HR54 in Drummond II livery c.1914



 

HR 54 began life as HR14 in 1893 and was one of the later batch of three engines of this class, built entirely to HR specifications. The engine acquired the name "Portressie" in 1901, after that branch of the HR on which she worked in her early days. In 1900 the engine was renumbered HR54 becoming ultimately 15017 in LMS days and in who's ownership she lasted in service until 1927. My model depicts the engine in Drummond II livery, clean and well kept by her crew, in the days before the First World War.

HR54 Cab Interior

The cab detail is to some extent conjectural or an informed reconstruction. The cab seems from the outside to be very generously proportioned, however when you subtract the coal space at the rear and the overscale side tanks the space for the crew to work in diminishes alarmingly. The side tanks are wider inside the cab than outside because of the need to house the rear driving wheels, the backhead takes up more of the space and so does the reversing lever; because of the constricted space my choice of pose for the crew is restricted too, a fireman in shovelling mode just wouldn't fit. I'm having to design a slim-line crew. I can't help feeling that the tops of the inner side tanks are rather bare, this of course reflects the lack of information on the Yankee Tank's interior. When compared to the busy cab of my Coal Tank (see below), an engine of similar vintage to the Yankee Tank, the latter's cab is Spartan indeed.

HR 54 at CD0GG Running Day

HR 54 running today at Carlisle

It was a busy running day today on the CD0GG layout in Carlisle and the best I could manage was a picture of the engine in the sidings waiting with a train of a dozen coal empties and a guards van, which when her turn came on the layout she pulled effortlessly, running remarkably smoothly and taking the points, crossings and the odd irregularity in the track in her stride, I must say that I was very pleased. The coal wagons were built by Peter Whiteside from Kendal, a skilled modeller in a group which is remarkable for the number of talented model makers it has attracted to its membership. It was remarked that the next stage, painting that is, would spoil what was in fact a piece of sculpture in nickel silver... nevertheless the paint shop will indeed be the next stage and I hope fairly soon to carry the project through to a finish and that HR54 will emerge resplendent in the HR's green Drummond II livery.

New Bogie for Yankee Tank

New bogie posed in front of redundant one 

The original bogie, shown in the background above, was built from the etches in the Lochgorm Yankee Tank kit which began the Yankee Tank saga way back in March last year. Having long ago consigned the remainder of the kit etches to suffer the opprobrium of despatch to the recycling plant, I decided that the bogie should in its turn follow suit and be replaced by a better scratch built version with springing and with a more prototypical appearance...

The 0.7 n/s side frames are spaced 20mm apart, which necessitated using extended hornblocks which I made by soldering together two of Slaters' hornblocks, front to front and cutting off the protruding outer circular bearing. This produced a 6mm slotted hornblock which protruded 4mm beyond the frames. These run in cut-outs in the side frames and are prevented from rotating by slim vertical side strips, the extra unwanted slot in each hornblock was filled with a brass insert on top and finished with Milliput.

The compensating beams, outside the frames, are cut from 0.7 mm n/s and are mounted on 12BA screws threaded through the side frames. Although they are non-working there is a wire spring behind them bearing on the tops of the hornblocks. The cosmetic w/m springs behind the beams are castings that I made myself some time ago for my HR Wee Ben. There is no side play on the bogie, the pivot point of which is located some way behind its centre point which effectively allows the bogie to negotiate the 6ft radius curves of my test track in the studio without fouling the cylinders or drain cock operating rods.

Tomorrow HR54 goes to the Open Day in Carlisle for a run on the CD0GG layout where we'll see if she can negotiate that!

New bogie in position.




 

Yankee Tank construction complete

HR 54 complete and ready for the paint shop

Yankee Tank finished at last!

The paint shop is the next stage for HR54 and that means the garden workshop or shed as it's sometimes rudely referred to by a certain other member of the household. The engine will be finished in the unlined Drummond II livery in which she ran in the years after 1900. Note the tool box on top of the side tank which must have been necessary on the isolated Invergarry & Fort Augustus branch line. A traversing jack appears, possibly one of a pair carried on the footplate, in many photos of the Yankee Tanks...I must get round to making one. The crew are under consideration at the moment, they're at the design stage, in gestation and they'll not be ready for her trial run on the CD0GG club layout on Saturday in Carlisle, nevertheless I expect her to perform well as she has done on the test track here in the studio.

Cab Interior Yankee Tank

Yankee Tank cab interior

The boiler backhead can still be removed for detailing, which is now complete, and for painting at a later stage. The bunker has been filled with Milliput modelling putty along with a strip of lead which I like to distribute judiciously about the engine. More Milliput will be added to build up the coal level which will then be topped with real coal.

The vacuum ejector pipe can be seen entering the cab on the right hand side, below the window, where it makes a sharp left turn along the cab front plate, then left again over the backhead to loop and join the Gresham and Craven driver's brake valve, a very fine casting I acquired from Hobby Horse Developments. On the left, under the window, you can see the operating handle for the front sanding mechanism; to its right is the handle for the rod and crank blower control which is mounted on top of the backhead.

Cab Interior Yankee Tank.

The hand brake is mounted to the left of the coal hole and the rear sanding mechanism operating handle is to the right of it. The constraints imposed on the cab width by modelling in Finescale have left an uncomfortably cramped cab with little room for the crew who will have to be carefully designed to fit. Though the large cab roof suggests a spacious cab, this is not the case, it's minute!
A metal plate to fit the floor has been inserted into the cab to which wooden planking will later be added.

Yankee Tank Backhead

This disembodied view should clarify the arrangement of the backhead fittings and its associated plumbing. The fine quality of the cast brass fittings from Hobby Horse Developments can readily be appreciated in this view. In my last post I left the vacuum ejector protruding into the cab at very much a "loose end", joining it to the driver's brake valve seemed the best and most plausible solution to the problem, I hope you'll agree.

Yankee Tank January 1

HR54 Yankee Tank approaching completion 

January 1st seems an apt day for a progress posting on my Yankee Tank project, the saga of which began back in February.... it's almost complete, just a few details and I'm there....however I'm much tempted to replace the front bogie with a new sprung or compensated one. At the moment the engine is staggering along with the bogie I built from the parts in the "Lochgorm" kit that was the starting point of the project. The bogie was the first thing I constructed before I began to jettison the offending parts of the kit to the extent that the engine became a scratch building project. I think the bogie will probably join its fellow miscreant components in the scrap yard and be replaced by one based on the principles expounded by Geoff Holt.

HR54 Rear of cab with coal rails and mesh over windows

In 1901, along with several other changes, coal rails were added to HR14 to increase the coal capacity of the bunker and the engine was renumbered HR54. A protective wire mesh cover was put over the rear windows and in addition, as the rails overtopped the windows slightly, wooden boards were placed in the bunker against the mesh to further protect the windows from damage from the heightened coal load.    

HR54 showing work on the cab interior in progress.

Cab and backhead details are generic though the reverser and brake standard are in the right place as can be confirmed by glimpses of them in photos of the engine. Some guidance for cab details can be gleaned from Eddie Bellas' article in "Steam Railway" of May 1984 in which he says that "injectors were mounted on the boiler backhead". He prefaces this with... "steam feeds for the various auxiliaries were taken from a large steam fountain inside the cab". Though I've modelled the injectors, I'm floored by the fountain! Control rods, such as the whistle operating rod and the sandbox operating rod, that protrude through the cab front plate have, or will be given, suitable hand wheels or operating  handles inside the cab.

The vacuum ejector pipe enters the cab on the right hand side and remains at the moment just a loose end, I'm not sure what to do with it?

The water fillers on the tank tops are cast at home from my own master patterns and are available to fellow Yankee Tank builders on request.

Chassis showing cylinder drain cock mechanism.

The cylinder drain cock operating rod leads back to a small lever mounted on a rod below the motion plate, the rod leads across to its opposite number on the r.h.s. Between the frames, protruding through the motion plate, are the valve rods/spindles, which are all the inside motion that I've modelled. Now that I've moved the motor/gearbox onto the front axle this is no longer available to mount the eccentrics on. You could say that I've sacrificed some of the inside motion for a flywheel and improved running characteristics.

Unfinished... but nevertheless it's a busy place under the cab.

A curved balance pipe sits in front of the brake cylinder and joins the side tanks, it only just clears the rear wheel flanges with the aid of a cut-out. In front of the cylinder there is a vertical support for a horizontal cross rod on which is mounted the brake operating elbow, still in its roughed out state. The brake pull rods will be attached to this elbow. I cannot see the horizontal cross rod on the Bellas drawing, nor can I fathom the drawing at all in the area below the cab, so I've followed the details in the GA drawing of a "Loch" class engine in Tatlow. Despite Bellas' assurances that his drawing was taken from an original Dubbs drawing of 1891, its detail of linkages beneath the cab seems implausible.

The cast w/m springs are from my own patterns and castings.

Superstructure and chassis united in harmony.

HR 54 Yankee Tank; detailing the engine

HR54 chassis with cylinder detail.

Beneath the cylinders, the cylinder drain cocks (three on each side), await the fitting of the centre unit to make a trio. Each cock is made from a small hand rail knob soldered into a hole in the cylinder bottom behind which a short arm is held in place by means of a pin through the hole in the knob. The arms support the pull-rod which is attached at its further end to a lever below the slide bar support bracket which is about all that can be made out of the mechanism from the drawing and existing photographs though I think there's probably an operating rod attached to the latter lever leading inboard.

Yankee Tank chassis with brake cylinder under cab.

The brake cylinder under the cab is cut away to clear the shaft of the rear coupling hook. Despite scrutinising the drawing I can't understand how the linkages to the brake cross shafts are arranged. Photos don't help clarify the matter as this area is masked by steps and sand boxes. Now that the inside motion has been removed and the driving axle changed from the rear axle to front one I have space in the firebox below the motor for extra weight, in exactly the right place, between the driving wheels. One of the 3ft driving wheel springs which are my own w/m castings is in position below the front right hand driving axle bearing.

HR54 superstructure progressing.

The Roscoe Lubricators on the smokebox sides are brass castings from LGM (ref: 19-35). Slaters' Hand Rail Knobs (S) proved to be just the right size for the cab doorways and tank sides, apart from these knobs all other linkages on view are scratch built. Visual evidence suggests that there was only a sand box operating mechanism on one side of the engine, I'd be interested to know how in this case the right hand sand box worked. Photographs show that the large cab roof was not devoid of interest as it had four thin metal strips riveted across it and, though I've not managed the rivets, I think the cross-strips work well. There's another lamp iron to add when it arrives from Laurie Griffin and also a handrail towards the rear of the roof; photographic evidence, though leaving no doubt as to its existence, is tantalisingly imprecise regarding its exact position.

HR54 showing cab interior.

I have left the cab until last; there is little precise information available for the cab interior of the Yankee Tanks, nevertheless I think the cab will be a busy place eventually. There are rods and pipes protruding in profusion into the cab through the spectacle plate that need handles knobs and terminating points, there are pressure gauges to fit, a reversing lever and hand brake stanchion and all the pipework and oddments that go to make up the backhead itself. The hollow backhead houses the fly-wheel now that the motor has been repositioned and can still be removed at this stage which will help while completing the cab interior.
I've made a master pattern for the tank top water fillers but have not yet made a mould or cast them, this is a job for next week. Any other modellers who would like a pair of these for their own Yankee Tank project should just let me know, they'll be available very soon.

HR54 Design Changes

Yankee Tank in sidings at CD0GG Running Day

I took my Yankee Tank, though far from complete, to the Carlisle Club (CD0GG) on Saturday to the November Running Day for her first run in a club layout situation. The engine hadn't run very smoothly on my test track at home so before I went to the running day I removed the inside motion which I hoped would help matters. It didn't seem to help much however and I was rather less than pleased with her performance on the club layout, though she negotiated the curves and turnouts easily enough, running was simply not as smooth as I was aiming for. There was some discussion among the members present about the relative merits of fitting a flywheel, I'm much in favour of this, an advocate of the flywheel in fact, as I think it does much to improve performance. However there was no room for a flywheel in this case because the gearbox was mounted on the rear axle and the M1824 motor sat upright in the boiler.

As I'd already removed the inside motion from the front axle (it's hardly noticeable anyway) I decided that a radical design change was feasible; I would mount the gearbox on the front axle, forget the inside motion and fit a flywheel.

In the process of doing this I noticed that the motor when mounted horizontally on the axle was skewed to one side, I thought at first this was due to a faulty gearbox but found on closer investigation that the problem lay with the front axle, it was not square in the chassis, it was out of true, in fact it was askew! So...I stripped the chassis down and remedied the fault with the aid of my invaluable Hobby Holidays chassis jig.

On reassembly in its new form, with axles running true and complete with flywheel, I found that the chassis ran very smoothly both forwards and backwards, round the curves and over the points and crossings. It remains only to fit the new configuration into the superstructure which involves a few minor alterations...I think.

Though I've sacrificed the inside motion to the flywheel I think it worthwhile; I can still model the visible part of the inside works in front of the motion plate, which hardly move anyway. All I have for this however is a pair of rather long spindly valve rods, I doubt that in reality that this was the full story but I've no further information to go on.

Tractor Story... Update.

I ordered a Dragon Models Cambrian Railway machinery wagon to carry my Farmall tractor which features in the post below. When the wagon kit duly arrived it looked very nice indeed; but on reading the accompanying description of the wagon I realised that these wagons were sent for scrap in the 1920s before my tractor was even built, the Farmall being introduced in the 1930s! So now I have a wagon without a load and a tractor still without a wagon.