HR57 at Preston G0G

HR57 on the Main Line at Preston G0G.

Today HR57 was put through her paces on Preston G0G's layout. The Preston club is a large one and their extensive layout mirrors this. It was a busy Saturday and I was lucky to be offered a free line to run the engine almost as soon as we arrived. Though dwarfed by most of the locos on show she's nevertheless proved her ability, running with a heavy train of eight assorted coaches, a task she was never really designed for. Though some slipping was evident on the notorious "uphill corner" of the layout she invariably recovered herself and ran smoothly over the rest of the circuit with elegant ease...diminutive in stature she may be but not in prowess!

HR57 on the Branch Line

Construction of HR57 is almost complete, it has taken me since early July to get to this stage and there are still a few things to work on...a new roof with a more accurate domed profile is sitting on my desk nearly finished.  And...The brake pull rods are a bit low for comfort, though I may be able to fix that this week. Here the little engine is seen in one of the scenic sections of the layout away from the busy main line, she has come into her own, quietly working a goods train on the rural branch line... just her line of work.

HR 57 Details

HR 57 mechanism and wheels.

I commissioned an etch from John Firminger, from drawings I made, to simulate the solid center drivers. The spokes have to be cut away a little towards the crankpin boss to seat the etched plate which is then glued in place.

I used part of the same etched discs for the outer wheels though I reversed them and cut them to shape so they covered the four spokes opposite the crankpin. I filed the irregular (trapezoid) opening between the outer spokes to shape, cut the spokes down to seat the plates and glued them in place. Later I filled the openings with Milliput, filling between the spokes with the modelling putty, then I made the shallow recess behind the openings with the wrong end of a small drill which made a good modelling tool for this job.

Behind the rear wheel, inside the frames, is the vertical brake shaft which connects to the brake standard in the cab. Just outside this is what I think may be an injector, I can't see the complete mechanism in any photos that exist, so as I didn't want to leave it out, I resorted to "imaginative reconstruction". It will lurk behind the cab steps in the shadows under the footplate so I think I'll get away with it!

The coupling rods are not the correct profile, they should have raised bosses, however I think the rods need to be filed away between the crankpins to make the bosses, otherwise, if I add metal, they'll be too wide.

HR57 chassis details

At the back, behind the rear wheel, a brake cylinder connects to an arm which is attached to the horizontal brake shaft which runs just in front of the rear well tank. A return spring passes from the arm under the cylinder and anchors to a vertical plate. I'm uncertain about this last detail as it's hidden in shadow under the footplate on photos which are the only reference. Charles Wrigley brought my attention to this mechanism and provided me with information to help model it from his forthcoming article in the HR Journal on braking systems of the Stroudley Tanks.

 

 

 Lochgorm Tank backhead arrangements.

Photos provide only a tantalising blurred glimpse into the cab of the Stroudley tanks; however, I think the reversing lever on the left is correct and so is the gauge on the cab front plate, though the rest of the detail is of necessity a "reconstruction". Some castings from the LGM range were used on the backhead, helped along by some scratch-built parts. The irregular plate on the cab floor will support a wooden planked floor soon ; a suitable crew is under way too.

HR 57 More Progress

HR 57 Stroudley 0-6-0T "Lochgorm"

The smokebox assembly is held in place by a screw passing through the front of the tanks, the front sandboxes are separate castings and will be fixed to the running plate. Detail beneath the running plate is at an early stage though information based on a forthcoming article on the braking systems of the three Stroudley engines, to be published in the  HR Journal, has proved both timely and useful...there's more to it than I thought! The author, Charlie Wrigley, also provided me with information on the inside motion, part of which can be seen in photos of the prototype through the pear shaped cut-out in the frames in advance of the center driver  

HR 57 roof details

The rear of the cab is a separate assembly, fixed in place by screws passing through the running plate.
The roof plate seen here will be soldered only to the rear of the cab and locate onto an angle section affixed to the top of the cab front plate. This arrangement which allows the cab to be dis-assembled greatly assists building the cab interior and will help later when the crew are posed.

HR 57 with roof casting in place.

The white metal roof casting will be glued to the underlying roof plate which will form a slot at the front to locate into the tongue protruding from the top of the cab front plate which can be seen in the following photo.

HR 57 Cab interior details.

I know that the gauge on the cab front and the reversing lever are in the correct position and so is the rod that leads into the cab from the whistle, but apart from these details I'm in the dark and have had recourse to drawings of the Stroudley "Terrier" for the remainder of the cab interior. The floor has a sheet overlay which will form the base for a wooden floor which will be made from miniature wood planking.  LGM castings provide the basis of the backhead detail which, when the pipework is added, should add to a convincing and busy interior. And there'll be a crew, coal on the floor, tools and a shovel too, to help bring the engine to life.

HR 57

The lamp, an LGM casting, seen above the smokebox door is soldered into its holder then the assembly is drilled, threaded onto the handrail and  soldered in place.

Detailing the Lochgorm tank.

Lochgorm Tank  detailing in progress

The backhead of this engine remains an insoluble mystery due to lack of reference material, however I bought some parts from LGM's "HR Boiler Back Pack" which I think will help create, if not an authentic backhead, at least a believable one. The cab is spacious and much of the interior detail will be visible so it needs to be fairly busy inside. Of course there'll be a crew in the cab too which will help, I'm working right now on them and have a couple of good poses in mind for them.

HR Lochgorm Tank... detailing in progress.

The dome is surmounted by an 8BA screw which, with the addition of a washer or two, will serve nicely as part of the Salter safety valve assembly, the uprights of which are from "Hobby Horse". The cab roof is a white metal casting from LGM which fits snugly without any modification. There's a hole in the chassis through which the inside motion can be glimpsed in photos, so I may have to make some representation of this myself.

Lochgorm Tank at CD0GG Running Day

Running through the station at CD0GG

You may have been wondering how my Lochgorm Tank was progressing...well the four accompanying photos should answer that and give you a flavour of the busy running day on the Carlisle 0 Gauge Group's layout today. It has taken three months to get to this stage, busy summer months that offer only limited opportunity for modelling, so I'm pleased with progress. The basic platework of the engine is complete now though some parts were quickly fixed in place with double-sided Sellotape just for the day. And Yes, that is eleven wagons in the train behind her, which she pulled with ease with power to spare.

The station and other buildings in the scenic section of the extensive layout were built by club member David Gibson and took first prize in their section at Guildex in Telford last week, demonstrating that the Carlisle club is undeniably a modellers club.

Lochgorm Tank in action

In the sidings.

The scenic section of the layout.

Though the basic outline of the loco has been built there remains a good deal of detail to be added to bring her to life. The cab area is spacious and the interior will need detailing though pictures of the loco frustratingly allow us only a glimpse inside. Most of the detailing components have been obtained from either LGM or Hobbyhorse with some being scratch built by myself.

Lochgorm Tank progress

Lochgorm Tank "up and running".

You can see the lead weight here which fills the ash pan low down between the centre and rear wheels. The fly-wheel is a screw fitting one and was obtained from MSC Models, it greatly enhances the running qualities of the loco which is running smoothly even though there are no pick-ups on the centre wheels yet and the coupling rods are not jointed.

Wired up and weighted

A cross member at the back of the underframe fits under a retaining angle strip fastened to the inner side of the rear buffer beam; an 8BA screw holds the front of the underframe tight against the running plate by means of a nut which will be hidden inside the smokebox. The ash pan has a rivetted bottom plate and is filled with 200g of lead sheet.

Electrical pick-up is from the brass hornblocks which run in Slaters' insulated hornguides. Wires take the current from the hornblocks to strips of copper clad insulation board glued to the side frame above each axle, the wire acts as a sort of spring. Current is fed to the motor through wires via another piece of CCIB above the center axle.


  

Running plate in place.

Dummy side frames of full scale width are soldered to the rear of the front buffer beam, the slightly narrower working side frames fit neatly between the dummy ones, the joint will eventually be masked by the brakes and sandpipes.
A start has been made on the superstructure... at the moment I'm working on the plate-work in the flat.

Ben Clebrig at CD0GG

Ben Clebrig in action today

I took Ben Clebrig up to Carlisle today to the CD0GG running day at the club room at the Citadel Station for her first real test on a club layout.
Here she is rounding the bend into the station on the scenic section of the layout with a local passenger train of four assorted coaches. Today was a "timetabled" day and the Wee Ben had the privilege of heading the local passenger service...she performed her role in the unfolding drama admirably, gliding smoothly into Kinchley Lane Station right on time.
I spent time the previous evening cleaning wheels, tightening crank pin nuts and checking electrical connections which paid off, she ran smoothly without a hitch and I was most pleased with her running qualities.