HR53 Lybster...update

HR53 Lybster with cab rear in place.

I added pick-ups to the bogie by gluing a strip of copper clad insulation board to a support on the underside of the bogie to which n/s wiper pick-ups were soldered. I ran a wire to the motor and ensured that both ends of the wire could be removed easily so the bogie in turn could be removed without fuss. The wire was soldered to a small plate with a hole in it through which a 10BA screw passed into a threaded hole in the copper clad board. The extra pick-ups have definitely improved the running quality of the chassis.

I ordered some conductive paint from Maplins to experiment with as I thought it might be a quick way of shorting the bogie wheels on the return side. However my impatience got the better of me and, though I know it's in the post, I did the job the conventional way just now with a wire soldered between brass centre and rim, running in a groove cut behind the wheels.

HR53 Lybster

The cab is double-skinned to facilitate glazing later on, though I've only made the extra front plate of the cab as yet. I intend that the cab rear will have the roof attached permanently and will be screwed in place on the footplate to be removable so the glazing can go in from underneath.

Meanwhile...I added pick-ups to my Yankee Tank's front bogie and intend to try the conductive paint on the return side wheels when it arrives...I'll let you know how it works.

HR53 Lybster progress

HR53 Work in progress

The chassis runs smoothly, though as an 0-4-0, as I've made no provision as yet for pick-ups on the bogie wheels. I have all the parts I need to hand now including the dome which together with the chimney was turned by pals at the Carlisle club. These need a good deal of file work to finish them, nevertheless they're looking the part. When the front splashers are in place they should mask most of the area under the boiler so I don't plan to model any inside motion. A metal fillet will be added inside the cab corners which will help when I round the corners off . The front and rear of the cab will be double-skinned to facilitate glazing.

HR53

The MSC fly wheel much improves the running quality of the chassis. It protrudes into the cab and will run partly inside the backhead though it will have to be reduced in width to fit. There is a circle of rivets behind the smokebox, clearly visible on photos of the prototype. I've left room for them on one of the rings behind the smokebox and plan to use resin transfer rivets from Archer Surface Details to model them. There's an instructional video linked to their website which shows how to make a circle of rivets. I made a trial circle and thought the results were encouraging, the backing to the resin transfer rivets is very fine and won't show behind the smokebox and the rivets themselves seem robust enough for the job. I plan to use these transfers to model the little lines of rivets that surround the window openings too.

Yankee Tank revisited

HR54 at CD0GG Running Day.

The Carlisle club's running day was a quiet affair this month so HR54 had plenty of opportunity to show her paces on the layout and very well she ran, hauling a respectable train with seemingly little effort, until a crankpin nut loosened and a coupling rod was shed, curtailing further running for the session. Clearly my fault... running along the test track at home is simply not the revealing test that a club layout provides.

HR54 rear view

There's nothing like enlarging a photo of a model to exaggerate the faults, not only do the crankpin nuts need attention but I note that there's an obvious bare patch behind the cab handrail and several other areas of paintwork that could do with attention.

HR54 front view.

Yankee Tank Completed.

HR Yankee Tank, Drummond II livery

Highland Railway 4-4-0T Yankee Tank complete except for the crew who are still gestating on my desk and in a very unfinished state as yet. Most of the bright work was masked off before I air brushed the engine with Precision Paints P727 HR Dark Green (1885-1912) though I added a little gloss to the "Dull" finish of the paint and darkened it slightly with a touch of black. The black of the chimney, smokebox and footplate is Revell SM301 a semi-matt black, which I sprayed on after appropriate masking up. There was a good deal of cleaning up, scraping off and painting by hand to do before the engine looked smart. Transfers are methfix from Guilplates as are the number and builder's plates. The little red lamp on the smokebox front came from Laurie Griffin, unfortunately he doesn't produce a dual aspect one for the roof, however I'm working on this myself. The jauntily posed workman with his shovel is one of my own "Heroes of the Footplate" figures.

HR54 in Drummond II livery c.1914



 

HR 54 began life as HR14 in 1893 and was one of the later batch of three engines of this class, built entirely to HR specifications. The engine acquired the name "Portressie" in 1901, after that branch of the HR on which she worked in her early days. In 1900 the engine was renumbered HR54 becoming ultimately 15017 in LMS days and in who's ownership she lasted in service until 1927. My model depicts the engine in Drummond II livery, clean and well kept by her crew, in the days before the First World War.

HR54 Cab Interior

The cab detail is to some extent conjectural or an informed reconstruction. The cab seems from the outside to be very generously proportioned, however when you subtract the coal space at the rear and the overscale side tanks the space for the crew to work in diminishes alarmingly. The side tanks are wider inside the cab than outside because of the need to house the rear driving wheels, the backhead takes up more of the space and so does the reversing lever; because of the constricted space my choice of pose for the crew is restricted too, a fireman in shovelling mode just wouldn't fit. I'm having to design a slim-line crew. I can't help feeling that the tops of the inner side tanks are rather bare, this of course reflects the lack of information on the Yankee Tank's interior. When compared to the busy cab of my Coal Tank (see below), an engine of similar vintage to the Yankee Tank, the latter's cab is Spartan indeed.

Lochgorm at CD0GG

Lochgorm in the scenic section at CD0GG

Lochgorm ran at Carlisle on Saturday on the CD0GG club layout with a short train of HR stock, a fish truck, a covered van and a guards van. And very well she did too, not only by her smooth performance on the layout but also, with the help of the crew that Pete designed especially for her, winning the annual model competition.

Lochgorm Tank Painted

HR57 Lochgorm Tank 0-6-0T

I completed the construction of this scratch built Lochgorm Tank engine in time to have a picture of her included in Vol.7 No.108 of the HR Journal for early 2014. It was not until later in that year that I realised that the transfers that I had hoped to have printed for the name "Lochgorm" were not going to materialise, the quotes I had from transfer printers were sky-high and interest in the job was marginal to say the least so reluctantly I abandoned the idea and turned to Dave Studley, a painter of some repute whom I'd heard was good with lettering.

The Highland Railway water slide transfer sheet supplied by Guilplates was Dave's starting point. The lettering on the sheet provided the initial "L", which is slightly larger than the rest of the name, along with the letters "G" "H" and "R". The numerals on the sheet supplied the "0"s  which left only the final "M" annoyingly missing. Dave contrived this from an "M" from Guilplates' LBSCR transfer sheet, some subtle work with a fine brush was necessary on this letter to persuade it to adopt the uniformity of the rest. I think you'll agree that the lettering works well.

The crew were painted by myself and are figures from my own "Heroes of the Footplate" range, they are designed specifically for this loco though I'm sure they'd fit nicely in the cab of many another engine.

        



HR57 Stroudley Lochgorm Tank

 

On Saturday HR57 will be taking to the rails in finished form for the first time on the Carlisle Club's layout, I hope to have some photos of her in action at CD0GG with a train next week. 





HR 53 Strathpeffer Tank 0-4-4T

HR 53 0-4-4-T Chassis motorised

I think it's important to have a locomotive project under way to maintain readers' interest in this Blog and in pursuance of this idea I've made a start on a new HR locomotive project. This is that little Strathpeffer 0-4-4 Tank, built in Jones' time as loco superintendent of the HR. In original form and numbered HR13 until 12/1899 the engine ran as a saddle tank, her rebuilding in 1901 as a side tank much improved her appearance and this is the condition in which I intend to model her.

I have a pair of HR number plates which I commissioned from Guilplates as well as their transfers for the name "Lybster" with which she ran in later HR days in plain Drummond II livery; though I must admit the engine probably looked her best when the LMS painted her in their red passenger livery as 15050... I'm much tempted by this.

This is a scratch building project of course as there is no kit available and I doubt whether there ever will be a kit for a pre-grouping class which only ever had one member! I've been collecting parts and fittings for some time and have a chimney and dome, which are not available commercially, which have been turned by pals with a lathe at the Carlisle Club, more of this later. The gearbox is an ABC Mini Gooch with a Mashima 1824 motor and an MSC Models flywheel. The wheels are Slaters' and the machined coupling rods are from Premier Productions. The chassis runs smoothly so I intend to cut out the main components of the superstructure next from 0.4 nickel silver sheet.

For reference I have a reasonable selection of photos of the engine from Am Baille and a drawing from Peter Tatlow's "A History of Highland Locomotives".