A Crew for HR 57

On the footplate of HR57, this pair were the inspiration for my own crew c.1895
 

 The driver on the left of the picture has a "drivers cap", possibly issued by the HR though it's the only cap of this style I've ever seen in a photo. Neither figure displays any other uniform item of dress, like most working men of the period, both driver and fireman are wearing their own working clothes. The light coloured jacket of the fireman may be of unbleached linen similar to the fatigues worn by the lower ranks of the army in barracks when on work detail, the so called "Regimental Sports", which involved getting the coal in and suchlike.



HR 56 shunting at Perth in Highland Railway days c.1920

The pose of this figure was the inspiration for my own driver (below) and is eminently suitable for a shunting engine. This is a rather later photo than the one above and the driver now has a uniform cap, his overalls and jacket are presumably his own working clothes.

Heroes of the Footplate : Driver for a Stroudley Tank Ref: R.23

The miniature driver at work on the footplate of my own model of "Lochgorm". Both the driver and fireman are designed to fit nicely into the cabs of a wide range of shunting engines, not just HR Stroudley Tanks, they'll fit just as well into that more famous Stroudley engine, the LBSCR Terrier.  The colours I have used are those I think most probable judging from the tonality of the two b/w photos above. Below you can see both figures in the cab... I think their contrasting poses work well together. Ref: www.borderminiatures.com





Heroes of the Footplate : Fireman for a Stroudley Tank  Ref: R 24







 

HR d.47 Open Carriage Truck with load.

HR d.47 OCT with Austin 7 Chummy.
 

The Austin 7 Open Tourer was introduced in 1923 and became known as the "Chummy". The white metal kit for the car came from South East Finecast and was the earliest car kit I could find. The spokes of the wheels are etched nickel silver and really set the model off well. The only addition I made to the kit was a gear lever and some blobs of glue for headlights. The car would have been secured on the wagon with wedges under each wheel. In addition there may have been straps or ropes from the side rails too as suggested by the photo on page 79 of "Hunter".

I made a master pattern for the springs and cast a set as I couldn't work with those in the kit; the axleboxes needed only a little modification before the springs sat comfortably on top of them. The retaining cross rails were made from square section metal with reference to fig 35 in "Hunter" as were the little chains that hang from the brake lever guard. Vaccum pipes and Westinghouse pipes are from my own castings. I added a Westinghouse cylinder and a vaccum cylinder with their linkages all of which make for a busy and interesting model.

The inspiration for this model came from the frontispiece to Tatlow's "A History of Highland Locomotives" which shows Inverness Station in the early 1900s. In the centre of the picture is an OCT, probably a d.47, carrying a car of the period which I cannot identify. The rear cross rail of the OCT seems to be tight against the rear tyres of the car and there may be additional restraint in place though I can't make out any detail of straps or other retaining devices, nor for that matter can I see any wedges, though I'm sure there's one on the deck of the OCT in "Hunter". I suspect more could be learned if the original photo could be studied rather than a scanned reproduction in a book. Perhaps Peter Tatlow's eagerly awaited and soon to be published "Highland Railway Wagons and Carriages" will add to our knowledge of these fascinating wagons.

HR Open Carriage Truck

Lochgorm Kits HR d.47 Open Carriage Truck
 

I managed only a peek into the packaging of this latest offering from Lochgorm as I unwrapped my presents on Christmas Day, it was not a day of modelling opportunity. On Boxing day however I managed to sneak an hour or so to make a start on what I intended to be my Festive Season project. The above photo shows the stage I reached by New Years Day when I more or less ground to a halt as the wheels haven't arrived yet.

I made a few changes to the kit, in particular I removed the buffer beam, which was attached to the floor, and used it as an inner beam. The buffer beam overlay was discarded though I salvaged the coupling plate which I soldered to a new buffer beam that I substituted. This extends upwards to meet the floor which, taking note of the "Tatlow" drawing included with the instructions, I made flush with the top of the bottom side-rails. Apart from this modification I made only minor changes and additions to the design of the kit.

HR d.47 OCT  Brake Details


 

Below the sole bar of the OCT is a busy place. The brake cylinder and its associated parts were built from tube and various metal sections as these parts are not included in the kit. The truck was Westinghouse fitted too but I don't think the fittings would have been visible, being mounted under the floor, so I probably won't model them; the underneath will be busy enough when the brakes and brake rigging are in place.
The truck weighs in at a hefty 150g at the moment so it'll not need additional weight and there's still a good deal of detail to be added below the sole bar.

I bought a very nice S E Finecast Austin 7 Open Tourer kit, which I thought would make a very apt load for the carriage truck, but I now realise that the wheel track of these little cars is only 3' 4" which means that the wheels would fall between the wheel plates mounted on the deck of the truck which enabled cars to be loaded from the platform. However I'm sure the loaders could have overcome that problem with a little ingenuity, a plank maybe? I considered the option of a die-cast car as load for the carriage truck but found that a good die cast model, as opposed to a toy, is not only expensive but hard to find, so I opted for a kit which I'm sure will set the truck off a treat. I've made a start on the car too. 

A Better Roof for HR57

Milliput roof (above) and metal former (below).

The roof in this picture is made by filling the spaces between the ribs of a former similar to that pictured below it with Milliput and soldering an edging of 1 x 1mm angle strip onto the base plate. It looks good from the outside but has a flat roof inside the cab, hardly noticeable really. But...it was noticed at the CD0GG running day in Carlisle and commented on which prompted me to re-open the case!
The bottom illustration shows the start of the new sheet metal roof. I made a former from the drawing and bent four triangles of 0.3mm nickle silver sheet to fit the four sides very accurately, butting up against each other nicely. One segment is in place on the former in the photo. The former of course could have been made out of wood or of Milliput. I then cut a voided rectangle of 0.45mm metal as a base plate which slightly overhung the sides of the cab. Then, with a scrap wood support in the middle, I tack soldered the four plates together and onto the base. When all was accurately assembled I flooded solder onto the underside to ensure a robust structure. The 3" strip of metal that runs across the top helped strengthen the roof too. Finally I added an edging of 1 x 1mm brass angle strip and a lamp bracket.

The concave metal roof inside the cab

The roof is soldered to the rear of the cab to form a solid assembly which is held in place on the footplate by screws from below. The front of the roof locates against a tongue attached to the cab front plate by means of a slot formed under the base plate of the roof.

HR57's new sheet metal roof in place.

And... as a final flourish to the project, I'm sculpting a crew who'll do nicely for any of the Stroudley Tanks, they're well under way at this moment on my desk and will be featured on this Blog as soon as they're finished.

HR57 Construction complete

HR57 Construction complete

I made a more accurately profiled roof for the engine with sheet nickle silver and Milliput modelling putty.
Here's how...
I first cut a rectangle of metal to overlap the cab slightly then soldered on an upturned rim all round from right angled material. I cut profile shapes, using the drawing as a guide, in sheet n/s fore and aft and corner to corner, soldering these in place to form a shape reminiscent of the Union Flag. Then I simply filled in the spaces between the formers with Milliput and smoothed it into shape. A little cleaning up and fettling when the Milliput hardened finished the job. 

HR57

 Note the brake cylinder and return-spring nestling beneath the footplate and partly obscured by the cab footstep. The brake pull-rods were a sore trial to get right. The coupling rod bosses just dip into the angled alcoves of the pull-rods without the crankpin nuts touching them.

Cab interior detail.

 Most of the cast detail on the backhead came from LGM, the rest was scratch-built. The floor is made from planks from a model ship kit, coal tumbles onto the floor from the bunker on the right of the backhead. 

HR57 from above.

HR57

Transfers for the name "Lochgorm" are a problem as there are none on the market; I hope to rectify the omission. I've had one false start already, a set of transfers which I returned as of too poor a quality to use. My second contact though promising the world has as yet produced nothing and seems to have gone to sleep on me. I'm working on it...

HR57 at CD0GG Kinchley Lane Station.

The engine ran very smoothly on the Carlisle Club's layout today despite picking up on only the four outer wheels and running with solid rather than jointed coupling rods. She pulled a quite prodigious train for her size though of course she was never designed for such feats being a little shunting engine, a role to which she'll adhere in future. Here she stands at Kinchley Lane Station with her train headed by a Caledonian Railway horse box.

Ben Klibreck and Ben Clebrig

Pete on Ben Klibreck 927m

I have been asked why I chose Ben Clebrig, as Ben Klibreck was known in earlier days, as the name for my 7mm HR Small Ben. I climbed Ben Klibreck in the summer of 1996 with my wife and our two Jack Russells,  it was one of the earliest of our Munros in a long campaign that started on Carn Dearg in the Monadliath in '93 and climaxed on Ben More on Mull in 2012. Ben Klibreck is one of the most northerly Munros and stands in uncompromisingly Highland territory, it's simply a great name for a great little engine.

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.