A Tender in Search of a Loco.

My model of an early Highland Railway tender was built using as a starting point an etched sheet of nickle silver parts, provided by John Percival of Walsworth Models which, with some revision, will be issued under this label as a kit. The tender is much in evidence in early photos of Small and Medium Goods engines and of the Glenbarry class. These locomotive classes were all rebuilt and upgraded by Mr. Jones in the later years of the C19 and the tender similarly underwent changes, in particular the braking system was modernised; the most noticeable feature of the changes was the replacement of the old wooden brake blocks with metal brakes and my model includes the features of the rebuilt version of the tender. There are no kits in 7mm scale of any appropriate locomotive to run with this tender and I know of no plans to remedy this omission. For my part I have an "18" class, Small Goods, in rebuilt form, in the early stages of construction in my studio, this will be no. 27, built in 1863, which survived as the last of her class until 1923. 

The design of the tender is derived from earlier HR four-wheeled ones and owes a debt to LNWR practice. The buffers are from Slater's, revised and altered to self-contained ones. Note that the tank is the full-width of the tender, with platforms, which sit on the frames, front and rear. 

Most of the castings used to complete the model are from the Laurie Griffin range, Laurie produces a list of useful parts for a Small Goods building project. The white metal springs and tender-top tool boxes are my own castings. The water filler will be replaced by an LGM casting of a more appropriate Jones design. 

I used a drawing of a Jones "Loch" tender for the details of the brake cylinder, pull rods and linkages beneath the tender.