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.

Tractor for...

Universal Hobbies 1:43 scale Farmall F12

By way of a light diversion I thought a posting about my new tractor purchase might find favour. This is a McCormick-Deering Farmall F12 of 1935, though when I first saw it I thought it was a rather earlier beast. The F12 is one of 27 1:43 scale tractors listed by Universal Hobbies, the earliest one being the Fordson F of 1917 which, though an excellent model, does not compare with the Classic Commercials version, though as the latter is in kit form, this might be an unfair comparison. The tractor is intended as a load for an appropriate wagon, which I have yet to decide on though there seem to be only two agricultural machinery wagons available, those in the Connoiseur and Celtic Connection ranges. I don't think I'll try to add any extra detail to the tractor, it's a very fine little model, though I will tone down the toy-like paintwork and add a little light weathering so that both tractor and wagon display a unity of finish. I hope to feature the model in a later post. You can read an earlier article I wrote on this subject in the G0G Gazette Vol.18 No.12 Pg.57.

HR54 Yankee Tank Superstructure

HR 54 Yankee Tank

The nickel silver sheet superstructure of my HR Yankee Tank is almost complete. The boiler backhead, which is a much altered LGM casting, slots into place between the side tanks in the cab and can be removed which will help when I come to add the backhead fittings later. I have no information on these fittings, nor does any exist, so I'll do the best I can by basing the details of the backhead on what I know of other Highland engines of the time and include injectors, water gauges, a regulator and lubricators which should be a good start on what I'd like to be a busy cab interior. The vacuum ejector pipe which is mounted on the right side of the boiler, leading from the smokebox back to the cab, needs to connect to something inside the cab. Hmmm...I'm looking into this matter now.
The cab rear has been constructed as a separate assembly which will be soldered in place but not until I've done as much work to the cab interior while access is relatively good. The upper cab side sheets butt together above the cab entrance where the joint will be partly disguised by the half round beading surrounding the cab opening.

7mm Yankee Tank superstructure

The brass boiler fittings are very accurate castings and were supplied with the "Lochgorm" Yankee Tank kit, however they're practically the only parts that I've retained from the kit. The "Jones"chimney is a two-part casting which allows a common base to be fitted with different tops to enable modellers to build all five versions of the Yankee Tank that were built by Dubbs & Co. in Glasgow. However the safety valve casting supplied, being of different provenance to the chimney and dome, was much oversize and needed drastic time consuming surgery before it was acceptable.

Yankee Tank cab detail

The cab appears spacious enough from outside but in fact the interior is cramped by the bunker which protrudes inside the cab and by the over scale side tanks which leave little space between them for the crew. I intend to design a driver and fireman for the engine who should fit nicely into the cab but it will be quite a challenge. They will of course be available commercially in my "Heroes of the Footplate" range.

Laa'l Ratty

Waiting for the train to appear on the RER

Instead of blogging about grappling with near impossible modelling projects I thought a posting and a few photos of a trip to the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway that I made recently might provide some light relief. It's called Laa'l Ratty in popular parlance of course and as you can see by the pictures the trip was before the onset of the rainy season. With wife and dog aboard I motored over to Eskdale Green, an unspoilt haven of peace in Eskdale through which the railway winds its way on its seven mile journey from Ravenglass to Dalegarth, the terminus, higher up the valley.

We stayed a few nights in Eskdale at the King George IV pub which is within easy walking distance of The Green station. Fell walking was the main aim of our few days in the West and we planned to bag a few of  Alfred Wainwright's "Outlying Fells of the Lake District", however the lure of Laa'l Ratty was irresistible and, after a strenuous day hiking round the tops above Devoke Water, we resolved to visit her the following day for a more restful outing.

We walked from the George IV past The Green station, along the overgrown lane and on over undulating Muncaster Fell (757ft) then down through the grounds of Muncaster Castle, past the excavations beside the Roman Fort and into the pretty little seaside village of  Ravenglass, about a 10k walk altogether. Lunch we had at the railway station in the sunshine, then later we took the train back up the valley, riding in style up magnificent Eskdale in a carriage open to the sky to alight at The Green station, a matter of a few hundred yards from our base, it was a great day out and much to be recommended.


     


Hercules of the RH & DR


 

Mighty Hercules, a 4-8-2 of the RH & DR was on loan from that railway due to a shortage of steam motive power on the RER. He was a bit too long for the turntable and had to be disconnected from his tender to be turned round; a great favourite with visitors.


River Irt in Ravenglass Station.

River Irt was also in service that day. Built in 1894 and named Muriel originally, she is the oldest working 15" gauge engine. She was rebuilt in 1927 and altered in 1972 to her current appearance. I'm sure that these engines and their attendant rolling stock would make great models in 7mm scale, though I really must resist the temptation, I've enough to do without that! Click on the link below for more info about the engines of the RER.
http://ravenglass-railway.co.uk/about-us/steam-engines/

And no... the Yankee Tank project has not been abandoned, nor has it been shunted into the great siding in the sky, in fact I'll be posting some pictures of progress in the next couple of days; so watch this space!

Yankee Tank, Basic Structure.

Yankee Tank  HR54

The basic structure of HR54 is progressing slowly. I've struggled recently with the riveted side tanks though I think I've made an acceptable pair at last after a good many failures. I used a G W Models riveting tool to make the rivets but found that due to the amount of play on the carrier that it was far from straight forward consequently it took me some time to tame the machine and get it to do what it was supposed to do, namely to press equally spaced rivets in a straight line! I scored guide lines on the back of the tanks and steadied the carrier with my finger to ensure that each rivet was plumb centre of the line, spacing was less of a problem as the machine handles spacing accurately. Once the rivets were pressed the side was then cut to shape. It is possible to side step the rivet problem by building HR102 which was built with plain tanks without rivets and displayed significant differences of detail from the other members of the class. In fact all five of the HR's Yankee Tanks display appreciable differences, no two are quite the same.

I realised at a rather late stage that the front spectacle plate does not form a corner with the cab side sheet, the latter overlaps the former slightly, a revelation that resulted in another cab side sheet ending in the bin.

The Yankee Tank cab is ideally suited to double-skinning. I made an inner skin for both the rear and front spectacle plate so that the glazing will eventually slip between the two. The front plate will have the back-head attached and the unit will I hope be removable to facilitate detailing the cab interior. I note that Nick Baines http://www.nickbaines.me.uk describing the construction of his latest LNWR Problem class engine uses double-skinning to facilitate not only the glazing but also to make the backhead assembly removable... I'll take a leaf out of his notebook.

The cab entrance is a mere 1ft 3in wide, which suggests that the Highland did not encourage fat engine drivers. One of the few components that I used from the original kit is the footplate and I found that to achieve this small gap I had to add 3in to the rear of the footplate which was under size. I soldered a strip of metal under the rear footplate up against the buffer beam to form a protruding ledge which supported the 3in wide footplate extension.

The edging that surrounds the cab and runs along the tank tops is quite a substantial half-round section that I'm using 1mm half-round brass material from Eileen's Emporium to simulate. Half -round is not easy to persuade into shape! As you can see I've made a start on the cab rear where the edging will both strengthen and help conceal the join between the cab front and rear.

HR 54 Yankee Tank

The side tank fronts will be made as a separate component, overlapping the inner side and making a flush joint with the outer skin. This is part of the basic platework of the superstructure along with the roof, steps and tanks inside the cab which I'll tackle next. The cab and tank edging will be added in the flat and the boiler bands will have to be soldered in place before the separate assemblies...cab rear, side tanks and the boiler are soldered together to complete the basic structure.

HR Yankee Tank details of side tanks and cab interior

 

Yankee Tank side tanks and cab interior detail

As details of the interior of the cabs and back-heads of these engines are practically non-existent I'll probably build a typical Jones back-head with appropriate period fittings. The side tanks run through into the cab. However the rear drivers run inside them and to allow clearance for them the inner tanks have to be made wider than those outside which makes for a cramped situation in the cab which will have to be considered when I design the crew for this engine.
The narrow entrance and the double-skin of the cab are well seen in this view, the splasher/inner tank tops and sides are not yet in place.