HR 118 In action.

HR118A glides smoothly through the complex point-work on the CDOGG club layout. The wagon behind the engine is a HR fish truck, built from my own Sides and Ends resin castings and still available.

HR118A had its first outing on the club layout in Carlisle last week and performed well with a train of ten pre-grouping wagons and a guards van, which though less than it could have hauled, was a realistic load, as the prototype engine was not noted for its pulling-power. The engine is painted in Cumming's unlined moss green livery with vermillion buffer beams, the front one carrying the number 118A in the Highland's distinctive gold lettering edged with green and black. Cumming introduced this livery in 1923 and photographic evidence shows the engine in this livery during its later days of service on the Highland. There are currently no Highland Railway colours in production, so I was fortunate to acquire a practically unused tin of Phoenix moss green from an HRSoc member (P728 HR Dark Green 1912-1922) which saved me the problem of trying to mix this elusive colour myself. I used an old sheet of Guilplates Loco Insignia transfers which, being Methfix, have no hard to disguise carrier film and make for a neat job, particularly on the tank sides. The loco crew are my own recent sculpture, cast in white metal and designed to maximise the space available in the cab of a small locomotive. The loco lamps are also my own castings, they add a touch of colour, which together with the brightwork, the gold shaded insignia and vermillion buffer beams enliven the somber livery.

The driver is on the right, positioned in the doorway where he doesn't crowd the cab.

The fireman is on the left, he leans out, looking ahead and allows an unobstructed view of the busy cab interior. 

Small Goods running at CDOGG

Resplendent in Drummond II unlined green livery HR27 runs through the station on the club layout today with a short train of Highland stock. It was quiet in the clubroom this morning which gave me the opportunity to test the engine for over an hour on the circuit. Later I added a few more wagons that were brought in, though it was never a test of strength. I think it would manage a dozen wagons. I was  pleased with the engine's performance, it ran smoothly and gave no trouble at all. 

You can see some of the detail inside the cab in this rear view, the crew are my own sculpture, specially designed for this type of open cab. The Loco Coal wagon is built from a set of resin sides and ends which I produced myself. The wagon is completed with a mix of commercially available underframe parts and scratch built brake gear. 

The club has some great model makers and their buildings and other detail in the scenic section of the club layout make for a realistic scene.

Highland Railway 6-wheel 20 ton goods brake van, built from an etched "aid to scratch building", which I had made; the nickle silver sheet included all the hard-to-make-yourself parts.

Jones Tank bogie rebuild.

HR Jones Tank No. 58 after her repairs

At the February Running Day on the CDOGG layout in Carlisle my Jones Tank, which was built some time ago did not run at all well, in fact she failed to negotiate the circuit at all. I thought it was partly a problem with the front bogie and partly due to the vagaries of the track, particularly where the lifting flap provides a testing unevenness, which has been the ruin of the pretensions of many a poor engine. My misgivings about the track were however unjustified in this case as examination of the offending bogie running on my test track at home highlighted the fact that the rear wheels were not even revolving! The problem proved to be entirely a bogie malfunction. Closer investigation showed that the frames had somehow expanded and were actually breaking away from the horizontal stretcher and locking the back wheels. There was a good deal of lead weight glued into the bogie between the frames and I could only surmise that, depite my using Araldite epoxy glue, expansion of the adhesive was somehow to blame.

The engine started life as an aged Jidenko/Shedmaster kit, described by Laurie Griffin himself as "a difficult kit" and difficult it is, nearly impossible actually, without a great deal of modification and improvisation. The bogie frames were, on examination, found to be only 0.45mm thick, too flimsy for frames really. In addition, the mudguards on the front bogie wheels had always been a problem, the restricted clearance causing them to foul the cylinders and front buffer beam. Though this did not result in an electrical short circuit, as the wheels are insulated from the mudguards, it did not improve the engine's running characteristics. I resolved to simply scrap the old bogie and build a better one and see if I could improve clearances at the same time.

The mudguards are clear of the cylinders now though it's still tight.

I cut the new bogie side frames from 0.7mm nickle silver and built the bogie solid, without compensation. The earlier version had enjoyed the complication of hornblocks for the rear wheels to slide in, which I decided to scrap in favour of simplicity, relying on the central pivot of the bogie to provide articulation in all planes. I omitted most of the lead weight, adding only a modest amount this time. I was able to re-use the mudguards, though I remodelled them as tight to the arc of the wheel as possible and though I probably managed to pinch less that a millimetre, it made all the difference and the rebuilt bogie ran visibly clear of the buffer beam and the bottom of the cylinders. I made new guard irons, bending them and their support from a single strip to replace the earlier multi-part lash-up, not only providing a more robust solution but also an improved appearance.

The engine runs well now, at least it does on my own test track in the studio, taking the 6ft radius curves in her stride. An ABC Gears' Mini Gooch gearbox with an 1833 motor and flywheel, which I deem essential if space allows, ensures smooth running.

My aim when building a locomotive is that it should perform well in a "club layout situation" and these repairs should ensure that it does just that. However, due to the ongoing deadly virus crisis, her test run on the club layout in Carlisle is postponed indefinitely...

Rebuilt mudguards and guard irons, note clearance under buffer beam is tight.

Highland Railway Type C brake van in action.

HR Type C goods brake van in action at CDOGG.

I think you'll agree that this photo of my HR Type C brake van in action, passing through the station, on the club layout in Carlisle is the business. It's a short train, in fact there's just an open wagon behind the engine which is HR Passenger Tank no.46. The guard can be glimpsed through the glazed rear window, he's on the other side of the van.

The ends of the van are painted red which makes for a lively colour scheme though there's no certainty that the ends were this colour when the vans came into service in 1898 as the practise of painting the ends red seems to have been phased out late in HR days.

There is little evidence of the exact colour of Highland Railway goods stock, indeed it may have varied over time and no doubt weathering changed the colour anyway. In this case, as I've modelled a van fresh from R. Y. Pickering's works, the paint is a rich red oxide with a glossy sheen. I used Precision 436 which is their Caledonian goods wagon oxide and made no changes to it.

The large H R letters flanking the ducket are HRMS Pressfix transfers; the rest of the lettering and numbers are from the water-slide sheet included with the Invertrain kit. These are carried on a varnish film, which leaves an edge, though a couple of layers of gloss over the transfer, later toned down with eggshell should disguise the edge. The transfer for the Pickering works plate is particularly effective, this is mounted on a rhomboid metal plate and trimmed with a file which nicely takes care of the varnish edge. Similarly the OIL transfer sits inside the horseshoe plate on the solebar which disguises its surround.

There are two good works photographs of the Type C van in existence which appear in Peter Tatlow's book, Highland Railway Carriages and Wagons. Apart from these the Type C van seems to have exercised a remarkable reticence towards the camera, though recently a rather grainy photo has surfaced in the HRSoc archive showing a Type C in LMS days bringing up the rear of a mineral train, headed by a Skye Bogie at Erbusaig Bay; the vans evidently saw much service on the Kyle line.

Type C van at Erbusaig Bay, approaching Kyle of Lochalsh. (HRSoc Archive)

Klondike brake van in action.

 HR Klondike brake van at CDOGG

Stroudley Tank and Klondike brake van in the scenic section of the CDOGG layout.

Hauled by Highland Railway Stroudley 0-6-0T number 57 "Lochgorm" my newly completed Klondike brake van was in action today on the Carlisle club layout and a very fine pair they looked together.

LNWR Precursor Tank

LNWR Precursor Tank No.44 built 1909.  3' 3" bogie wheels, exterior sand boxes and Bowen-Cook buffers.

Pete's Precursor Tank was built with the aid of a Dragon Models set of etches and the brass castings that come with the kit though without any of the white metal fittings supplied which were replace by components sourced elsewhere or by scratch building, an example of this being the smokebox door. Construction is complete apart from the cab interior which awaits delivery of an LGM brass backhead casting. There has been a good deal of improvement made to the basic kit and additional work has been done using contemporary photographs as reference to ensure that all exterior detail is included in the model. The basic inside motion parts from the kit have been fitted, viewed from the angle of the photo the slide bars are just discernable in the gloom between the frames.

The engine is powered by an M1833 motor mounted in an ABCGears gearbox which is mounted upright on the rear driving axle. Current pick-up is through wires bearing on the treads of the drivers and the rear of the bogie wheels on one side of the engine; on the other side the wheels are shorted by means of a wire inset behind the spokes. Slaters' wheels are used throughout, the axles run in brass bearings which slide in slots in the robust 0.7mm side frames. The upright motor leaves no space in the boiler for a flywheel, however the running qualities of the model were more than acceptable when she ran on the Carlisle club layout last Saturday.

The cab front is double skinned which allows the inner skin to be removed at this stage for detailing. The backhead and all its attendant fittings and pipework will be attached to this inner skin, an arrangement that also facilitates glazing at a later stage. Similarly at this stage the rear bunker assembly can be removed to allow access to the cab though later this will be soldered into place; the roof will be soldered on too as this will add strength to the structure. Nevertheless the large cab side cut-outs, generously proportioned rear windows and hinged opening doors will ensure that the cab interior detail remains much in evidence.