Industrial Railway Workshop

Dave

Western Thunderer
This is only my second scratchbuilt loco but the first was so long ago and so far removed in subject and materials ( a 7mm Ruston 44/48HP diesel made from plastikard) that it may as well be my first.

It's all but finished now, so this is more a "how I did it" than a thread to follow as I do it. Besides, I made it all up as I went and I doubt that there's much to learn from me anyway...

The prototype is a Manning Wardle class H, as done by Ixion in 7mm but I did mine in 4mm. The class H was numerically Manning's most popular 0-4-0 type and they varied so much over the years in frame design, cab (or no) design, saddletank pattern, smokebox, brake gear - just about everything! I chose to build the very late type, as modelled by Ixion, because of the slab-sided frames that have no holes in. Apart from this late design being visually appealing to me I thought that the slab sides of the frames would allow extra weight to be hidden but, as we will see, this turned out not to be neccesary.

The first thing was to plan the "kit" out and make the plasticard patterns to six times the size of the finished article. The fit of parts and the thickness of smokebox wrappers etc. had to be taken into account when making the patterns.
MWparts-01.jpg
MWparts-001a.jpg

These were then taken to my friend John Taylor for the parts to be profile milled in varying thicknesses of brass.

The arrangement was made up to final size in Photoshop to be compared with motor and gearbox combinations in order to determine what could be made to fit.
MWparts-002.jpg
Gibson wheels, RT models castings, a Mashima motor, High Level gearbox, and some brass tube were purchased.
MWparts-003.jpg
Parts off the miller, the burrs knocked off on an oilstone, ready for the axle holes and holes in the rods to be opened out.
MWparts-005.jpg
In order to ensure that everything went together square I made up a device to hold the frame plates and spacers together whilst everything was soldered together using a blowtorch. The frame plates being 1mm thick were too much for my little iron.
MWparts-06.jpg
And the assembled frame...
MWparts-006.jpg
And with the running plate, smokebox base and cab floor being trial-fitted. The smokebox base and cab floor base were drilled and tapped 12BA to hold them to the running plate and 10BA for screws that pass through the running plate and screw into the smokebox and cab to hold the finished bodywork to the frames.
MWparts-007.jpg
First tethered run. Boiler lower half fashioned from brass tube and the cylinders being built up.
MWparts-009.jpg
Building the cab.
MWparts-010.jpg
The cylinders now built up, with the casting ribs made from 5 Thou. brass and inserted into slots made by piercing saw. Motion bracket fitted and a tiny flywheel made and fitted, for what good it will do, being so small...
MWparts-011.jpg

Building up the skeleton of the tank and trial-fitting it with the smokebox and cab.
MWparts-012.jpg
Detailing the cab. Coal bunkers made from 5 Thou, brass sheet and steam valves to the injectors made from hexagonal brass with copper wire and tiny etched brass valve wheels. The brake column is brass tube, turned to a slight taper with a 7mm scale handrail knob in the top.
MWparts-017.jpg

Further detail in the cab - dome and safety valves. When building kits I never appreciate how much work goes into something like this as it is usually a single casting that is soldered or glued on in a minute but it took me hours to make this and consists of ten seperate parts.
MWparts-021.jpg
And now just about finished with whitemetal castings, from RT Models, for the smokebox door, chimney, tank filler, springs and buffers.
MWparts-023.jpg
Water valves for the injectors were made from a 14BA screw that was filed to a flange and a 12BA screw and by God was it fiddly!

I can't upload any more at the moment, the forum won't let me, so I'm off to watch Red Dwarf and will post the final photos later.
 
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mickoo

Western Thunderer
I can't upload any more at the moment, the forum won't let me, so I'm off to watch Red Dwarf and will post the final photos later.
There's a limit of 15 images per posting, not per thread but per posting, lots of people break it down to smaller consecutive posts to get all the images up.

Nice little model too :thumbs:

MD
 

adrian

Flying Squad
I can't upload any more at the moment, the forum won't let me, so I'm off to watch Red Dwarf
Apologies for that - as Mickoo mentioned the limit is just 15 images per post to minimise spamming - I do appreciate the alternative
Of course, lager! The only thing that can kill a vindaloo!
It's great to see a bit of good scratch-building. The build is nice and clean, I really do want to clear out my kit backlog and get back to scratch building.
 

Dave

Western Thunderer
I ought to change the title to something like Industrial Railway Workbench, but I don't know how.

Anyway, the thing that's on my workbench at the moment isn't a scratchbuild; it's a 4mm kit from High Level Models.
BH-02.jpg
It's a Black Hawthorn 0-4-0ST, the prototype of which would have been 1870s vintage. The changes to the out of the box kit are the block buffers as it will be required to run with standard RCH type wagons and inside-framed dumb-buffered internal use stock. I will also be using disc wheels in place of the spoked type, just to be different. The body is completed and I have the frames underway.
 

Jordan

Mid-Western Thunderer
To alter your Thread Title, open your first post with the Edit tab, then click the 'More Options' tab, & if I recall correctly, you can then edit your thread title.

Neat engine, too!
 

Rob Pulham

Western Thunderer
To alter your Thread Title, open your first post with the Edit tab, then click the 'More Options' tab, & if I recall correctly, you can then edit your thread title.

Neat engine, too!

Hi Jordan,

That changed with one of the forum updates.

Dave,

It's even simpler now - scroll to the top of the thread and select thread tool from the right hand side of the page and then click edit title

upload_2017-11-15_21-51-31.png
 

Dave

Western Thunderer
Thanks for that - now changed.

So much for a workbench thread - Once I crack on with something I either forget, or can't be bothered, to take photos until a big chunk of work is done, or I finish the thing. In this case I've finished it. Ah well...

Works yard shot.
BlackHawthorn1.jpg

And on shed at White Peak Limestone & Tarmacadam Ltd.
BlackHawthorn3.jpg
 

Dave

Western Thunderer
The latest loco through the 'shop is a very odd thing; t is a representation of I.W. Boulton's Number 11.

Isaac Watt Boulton was an engineer, based at Ashton-under-Lyne, near Manchester and who, among other things, built and rebuilt locomotives for sale and hire. Number 11 was bought from the LNWR in 1866 and may have originanted from the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, being built in the 1830s. The builder was Sharp Roberts and the loco was built as a 2-2-2 express loco with a tender.

Boulton rebuilt it as a saddletank and changed all the wheels for smaller ones with the 3ft. 6in. carrying wheels being changed for 2ft. 6in ones and the 5ft. 6in. drivers for 4ft. ones. This neccesitated new buffer beams being mounted higher on the frames to maintain the coupling and buffer height.
11.jpg
Among Number 11's hirings out was for the construction of the Highgate Railway in London.

I have built the model to my usual OO gauge and as a basis I used a set of castings for a standard Sharp Robert 2-2-2 from 5&9 Models.
sharpcastings.jpg

No working frames come with the castings as they are not a "kit", so I have had to make my own in addition to new splashers, buffer beams and saddletank parts.
11.jpg

I replaced the cast boiler halves with brass tube in order to fit a motor. I assume that people building up the castings into the tender engine would drive it through the tender but, obviously, that's not an option here. The gearbox is an unknown item from my scrap box.number11partt1.jpg

Trial-fitting of a motor and building up of the saddletank.
11-001.jpg

Coming together now. Archers rivet decals have been used on the saddletank. They are very fiddly to use but in this scale are much better than punching them into the outer layer of the tank.
11-002.jpg

And this is where I am up to at the moment.
11-003.jpg
The details, such as fittings and pipework need to be made and fitted, as do couplings but the current job is getting it to run well. It really is a balancing act to get pickup, compensation and traction right on a 2-2-2 and as this is the first one I have built it's all a bit experimental.
 

Dave

Western Thunderer
The balancing act wasn't working at all as it kept derailing on facing points. It turns out that the carrying wheels that I bought from Alan Gibson were P4 wheels, so I have ordered new wheelsets to suit OO. Until they arrive I thought I may as well crack on with the detailing and so have made the pipework and things such as safety valve spring balances, clacks and injector water valves from various bits of brass wire, brass tube, 14BA nuts and copper wire. I have also added brake gear, couplings (Dingham) and crew. The crew were painted by myself and are pewter figures from Andrew Stadden.

Apart from the wheels, all that is required to finish it are safety chains and weathering.
11-007.jpg

11-005.jpg
 

Lyndhurstman

Western Thunderer
Lovely stuff, Dave. The Rosling Bennett book on Boulton's Siding is a source of many wonders (I have the D&C reprint in my collection...), and it's great to see one of them made real by your artistry.

Cheers

Jan
 

Dave

Western Thunderer
Thanks, Jan.

I am still waiting for the new wheels but in the meantime I fitted some disc wheels that were kicking about in one of my junk boxes and I'm pleased to say that it now runs through points in either direction, both ways. I'll swap the disc wheels for the proper spoked ones when they arrive.

Before doing that I put the finishing touches to it - a tiny bit of weathering and some safety chains, which were made using some very fine chain and bits and pieces of etches that I think were intended for fixing containers to BR Conflat wagons.

11-010.jpg

Next in the workshops is another of Isaac Watt Boulton's creations...

"Eclipse" was a 2-4-0T that Boulton rebuilt from what is thought to have been another 2-2-2 tender engine. This one may well have been built "by Hawthorns" (preumably R&W Hawthorn of Newcastle on Tyne) and could have been Eclipse of the East Kent Railway.

ECLIPSEforweb.jpg
Drawing from The Chronicles of Boulton's Siding with scaled flywheel, Mashima 10/24 and High Level Roadrunner + gearbox planned.
 

Dave

Western Thunderer
Boulton's Eclipse is on the back burner whilst I get on with building a monster Yorkshire Engine Company 0-6-0ST for a customer.
YE-Beast.jpg
It is a 4mm scale from CSP Models, but is in fact an original Agenoria kit. The tank and cab are not yet fixed down in this view.

Also in the works is another Manning Wardle class H scratchbuild.
H-005.jpg

H-004.jpg
This one is to be an early version and will be cabless. The cylinders and frames on the older types, whilst having the same length and wheelbase, are very different in appearance and so I have made new patterns for these.
 

Dave

Western Thunderer
More on the Yorkshire type I.
YEbeast.jpg

And more on the Manning Wardle. The smokebox has been assembled, with the base tapped for a central 10BA screw that will serve to fix the bodywork to the frames and 2x 12BA to fix the smokebox to the running plate. The smokebox is built around a solid turned lump of brass to build in weight and to keep the front and rear panels parallel.
MWH-001.jpg
The firebox has been built up and the rear two thirds have been packed with lead sheet. The cylinders now have their wrappers and the curved rear cab panel has been formed and soldered on. The motion bracket is only fitted temporarily and will need to be thinned and the gap for the slide bars will need to be finished using a file for the fitting of the bars.
 

Dave

Western Thunderer
The big Yorkshire has gone off to it's owner now and I'm glad to say that he's very happy with it.
YorkshireClassI-006.jpg

The second MW scratchbuild has come on a long way since my last post.

I built up the tank and also built and fitted the coal bunkers. and trial-fitted to motor and gearbox.
MWH-009.jpg

Then the axle holes in the frames were cut through so the wheelsets can be dropped in. To keep them in place, brass tubing and 16BA nuts have been soldered to the inside of the frames to take long 16BA screws.
MWH-009b.jpg

Now the bodywork is coming together. The whitemetal parts are all from RT Models. Scratchbuilt details include the solid milled brass toolboxes and the tank water valve that would feed the axle-driven boiler-feed pump. This was made from 8 seperate parts! I learned a great lesson from this and the injector on the opposite side uses only 4 parts.
ManningWardleH2-003.jpg
The slide bars and motion bracket are now fixed in place.
 

Dave

Western Thunderer
It's now well on the way to being finished.

For the cab I was going to use a spare etched nickel silver weatherboard that came with an RT Models kit of a Manning Wardle Old Class I but I messed up putting the bend in it so I decided to go for a different design. I had also forgot to make any cab steps, so more patterns and milling to make these.
ManningWardleH2-002.jpg
They were drawn up to 6x finished size and the drawings were bonded, using MEK, to 2mm plastic sheet, which in turn was bonded to more sheet as a backing.

The next small detailing job was to make the safety valve and cover.
ManningWardleH2-006.jpg
These were machined from brass bar, tube and a length of NS rod.

The brake gear was made up and fitted to the frames. I had only made patterns for the hangers and blocks, so the rodding, cranks and adjusters were made up from scraps and filed, cut and drilled to suit.
ManningWardleH2-007.jpg

Making the crossheads from 5mm bar.
MWh-004.jpg

Blanks ready to be shaped and be clad in shim, with 0.7mm nickel silver piston rods soldered in.
MWh-009.jpg

Safety valve, cover and cab in place.
ManningWardleH2-008.jpg

ManningWardleH2-009.jpg
The bodywork is now done and is ready for the paintshop. The boiler backhead and reversing lever will be made up and painted seperately and will be added after the rest is painted.

ManningWardleH2-010.jpg

The frames were painted, yesterday and today I have fitted them up with the cylinders, rods etc.
ManningWardleH2-013.jpg
 

Dave

Western Thunderer
There's not much left to do on this one now.

I made a lot of progress over Saturday and today and it has become a working loco, tested on a rolling road and then on one of my mini-layouts to check the pickups and test performance through switches and crossings, all of which are fine.

The painting is done, save for touching up a few little bits, such as the buffers, and all that remains to be done now is to glaze the spectacles, apply lining, add couplings, add crew, put some coal in the bunkers and cap off the cylinder cover centres. And a bit of weathering, of course.

ManningWardleH2-024.jpg

Next in the works is a Gauge 3 Ruston & Hornsby 48DS. I think I'm gonna need a bigger solderin' iron...
 

Dave

Western Thunderer
Thanks, Adam; it's nice to get a comment now and again. I had begun to think I was talking to myself.

I finished the jobs mentioned last time and also made some displacement lubricators that would oil the steam chest. These were made from single strands of copper wire, copper tube and tiny slivers of 1mm dia. brass rod that I cut using a piercing saw.
ManningWardle-Kitchener-009.jpg

ManningWardle-Kitchener-005.jpg
ManningWardle-Kitchener-007.jpg
 

AJC

Western Thunderer
Always good to see work of this quality to get the prototype you want and four-coupled Manning, Wardles are generally extremely elegant beasts and it's good to see a fully lined one - industrial modellers (me included) often ignore it.

Adam
 
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