HR d.39 Construction Complete

HR d.39 Brake Van of 1922

Construction of the d.39 van, complete with its interior, is complete, I think I've included all the detail I could see on the GA drawing. The double skin and other additional details all add to the weight, the van's remarkably heavy, weighing in at around 400g, and a very smooth running vehicle it is. I think HR brake vans carried two tail lamps, so there will eventually be a double-aspect lamp mounted on the bracket above the near door.

HR d.39 Interior detail

Information regarding the interior of the van comes from a GA drawing which does not quite provide the full story, particularly in the area around the lookouts, one feels there may be other omissions. The lidded boxes at each end are sand-boxes. There are seats in the lookouts each side but apart from these and the stove there seems to be little of creature comfort for the guard. The plasticard wood planking is from Slaters and is mounted on the brass inner-skin; the four door sections can be removed for painting. The stove is a brass casting from Slaters ref: x705301. The brake mechanism is one of my own castings, with hand wheels from Ragstone Models, mounted on a scratch-built pillar.

 

HR d.39 Brake gear and sanding equipment

It's satisfyingly busy under the van, adding much interest to the model. Apart from the usual brake rigging there  sand pipes which curve down towards the wheels in each corner and are supported towards the bottom by brackets attached to the buffer beam.

You can see a nicely made 4mm version of the d.39 brake van built for the Portchullin layout at...  highlandmiscellany.com

A Fine Figure of a Fireman.

Heroes of the Footplate Ref.  R11

I painted this fireman, complete with coal, for an advertising agency in London who are working on a project for the Royal Mail, I'm not sure how they intend to use him. He was made, along with the driver R10, to crew my Highland Railway Skye Bogie, which he suits admirably, though I'm sure he'd be at home on many another engine.   

Highland Railway Brake Van

HR d.39 Brake Van

The characteristic HR bottle-necked buffers were a problem to replicate, the nearest I could find were on Invertrain's website, listed as... "Wagon Buffers Midland", they looked about right. The cast w/m shank was separate from the mounting plate by which they were attached to the buffer beam; I found that this was the wrong shape anyway so I substituted a n/s disc which I soldered to the buffer beam first then soldered the buffer shank to it.

The axle-boxes are my own castings which I made for Lochgorm's HR 6-wheel brake van. The d.39 GA drawing shows no detail of the axleboxes. There are no extant photos of the vehicle in HR days to confirm that these were correct but I thought they were a good bet.

It's a busy place under a HR d.39

I soldered a length of  4mm angle section behind the solebars which added strenght to the structure and also served as a base on which to mount the "J" hangers which were made from strip bent to a "z" shape and soldered in place. The upper arm of each hanger was drilled to take a 7mm wire which went through the hole into the solebar. The springs were mounted on this wire which passes through holes drilled in their extremities and holds them in place. I found that once I'd soldered the sand pipes in place I couldn't remove the wheel assemblies so I soldered these in place too at this stage.

HR d.39 structure underneath.

I finished off the "J" hangers by threading a couple of small discs onto the wire that protruded below the hanger and then added a final 14BA nut to the bottom of each one. I cut away some of the metal on top of the axlebox, where the spring sits, to allow a tiny bit of  movement to the "rocking axle"; it's all a very tight fit and there's brake gear and rigging still to add.

Ben Clebrig HR No 8

HR No 8 Ben Clebrig, progress to date.

Guilplates supply a number of name transfers for HR engines, however the only useful one they have for a Small Ben is "Ben Slioch". I had to make up the name "Ben Clebrig" from letters derived from three separate names for other classes of engine...expensive and fiddly.

HR d.39 Brake Van Progress

HR d.39 Brake Van from a Lochgorm set of etches.

The window openings have been thickened using the etched shapes supplied by Lochgorm, in addition to these I've made an inner skin to further thicken the walls, this is distanced from the outer skin by spacers to provide a slot into which the glazing slides between the two skins. The inside of the van will be detailed with Slaters' plasticard planking, a section of which you can see in place on the far end wall above the sand box. I've just received a GA drawing from the HRSoc which, though they describe it as "poor", I found readable and very helpful, in fact half of it might be described as being in quite good condition. There'll be a stove and a brake stanchion with wheels and as much additional detail as I can contrive in the van, and of course, I'll model a guard in authentic Highland Railway uniform.

I think I've identified what may be a goods brake van guard in a photo in Tatlow's "Highland Locomotives", he's on page 57 standing in front of Loch an Dorb with a lamp in his hand. I can't identify the lamp unfortunately, it seems to be neither a loco lamp nor a goods brake van lamp.

There's a fine group photo of the station staff at what may be Kyle of Lochalsh among the photos on the HRSChat site. One of the group is a guard, identified by the word appearing on his cap. He looks like the sort of guard you'd see on a mixed train on a branch line or on a goods train. I think the main line passenger train guards were far more impressive in appearance, more like the staff of a Grand Hotel.
I'd like to model an authentic figure for my d.39 van, if anyone knows of any other pictures of HR guards I'd be pleased if they'd let me know.

Chopper Tank & Crew

LNWR 2-4-0T Chopper Tank and Crew

This project is running in parallel with the HR d.39 brake van. I've just sprayed the engine with Halfords' Acid 8 etch-primer. The crew are painted and ready for action; they look exasperated at the time it's taking to get their engine on the rails. The fireman and driver are from my "Heroes of the Footplate" range; they are... Ref. R2 and RW3.

HR D.39 Brake Van

HR D.39 4-wheel Brake Van from a "Lochgorm" kit.

I plan to model fully the interior of this Brake Van. I've made a start by double-skinning the outer ends so the glazing will slip between the inner and outer walls. I plan to do the same to the sides, though at the moment I'm not certain about the construction of the van. Did it, as suggested by the drawing accompanying the kit, have a double skin, being boarded over inside or did it have a framework that was visible inside as is the case with many brake vans I've seen drawings and indeed photos of?

I've soldered the ducket sides in place but I'm not at all convinced about the way they protrude inside the van and extend all the way to the roof. I've tentatively drawn an outline in pencil on the ducket side to suggest how I think they might more likely have been. At the moment I'm not sure how to proceed. I know that information is scarse but can anyone help with any detail of the interior?

It's a curious little van as it has four doors, I can't imagine why it needs so many.