Brettell Road, 1960s black country (ish)

[Jim smith-wright]

I never planned for Brettell Road to be populated with anything other than tank engines but as with most things I have planned it's all gone a bit wrong! So...


I present you the Brassmasters easychas for the Bachmann 4f, not that its going in one mind you. I found a picture of an interesting little loco at Saltley in one of D.J. Nortons West Midlands books and there was a ancient kit for it too. However the chassis supplied is literally 2 bits of brass with 6 holes in it. It wasn't really going to do!

The chassis has been built kind of as intended although I needed to shorten the tender wheelbase a bit. I also added a few Alan Gibson frame spacers to the chassis and a high level gear box (smaller motor is in the post) . The p4 frame spacers were a tad wide and I wonder if the EM ones might be better if you are following a similar approach?


Having never built a tender loco before and figuring if you are going to do something you may as well go for the ultimate solution (or potential failure) I decided to have a go at Brassmasters working inside motion too. (Shown earlier)

But what loco is it you might wonder?


A Kirtley goods, I was attracted to its ancient appearance. These loco's (the 700) class were introduced in 1869 and the last one made it to BR as 58110 being withdrawn in 1951 when she had seen 71 years service! The body and tender (shown losely mocked up) are the Keyser kit and the kit itself is nearly as old as I am. I've removed the springs to be replaced with something a little more refined and shortened the footplate so that it doesn't overhang the bufferbeam, All the rivets have been sanded off, the ones on the smokebox were too crude and the tender of 58110 was flush riveted in the end. I've also reduced the with of the tender footplate slightly to add some 0.7mm L section from Eileens (the actual prototype being very thin in this area and nothing like the chunky cast floor the kit comes with.

 

[AJC]

I like that very much. There's something almost endearing about the Midland adhering to the same set of leading dimensions for decade after decade: I'm not certain it made better locos, but it makes the modeller's lot easier.

Adam

 

[Jordan]

I was going to ask if that inside motion was working when the other pic of it was posted. Should've known better anyway, shouldn't I..??

Incredible stuff!!

 

[Jim smith-wright]

The Kirtley kit came with wheels (00 obviously) I think they might be Romford. The above picture shows a comparison with a scale wheel (Gibson) and highlights a problem with 00 gauge steam loco's While the diameter of the wheels match the oversized flanges mean that the splashers need to be much bigger to accommodate them. They are generally too wide too and sometimes in the wrong place. Some manufactures of RTR loco's solve this by fitting smaller wheels.

On the left the original splasher (and somewhat crude spring) and on the right my resized version/ I chain drilled a line of 1mm holes inside of the splasher (from the back) and added a new top from some scrap etch.

The oversized splashers mean the boiler is compromised to fit around it. I modified it with some scrap whitemetal disks (from a southern Pride 310 kit - see, never throw stuff away!) Below is the loco so far with new splashers, springs and beading along the footplate. I've also mounted the chassis a tad higher into the body since the first image the other day.

 

[Jim smith-wright]

Now that work is finished Christmas starts. Merry christmas everyone, hope you have enjoyed the thread and thanks for all the comments. Best wishes to everyone on WT.

 

[allegheny1600]

And to you Jim!
You are making quite a silk purse out of that sows ear, really well done and very inspirational.
Cheers,
John.

 

[Jim smith-wright]

My Kirtley project has reached the stage that its ready for primer. Buffers are from Lanarkshire models whilst the whistle and safety valves are from Markits. I've replaced the steps and cab roof with brass.



Rear view. Some Kirtleys had a simple weather hood to protect the crew. It stretched from the cab roof to the tender front. Anyone got any thoughts on how to replicate this? It will need to be flexible.

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Some Kirtleys had a simple weather hood to protect the crew. It stretched from the cab roof to the tender front. Anyone got any thoughts on how to replicate this? It will need to be flexible.

Hi Jim,
I'm not sure if it will hold paint, but how about a balloon? I find them now and again when I'm doing my litter picks... And I think it would be good if they could be recycled


Cheers

Jan

 

[allegheny1600]

Some Kirtleys had a simple weather hood to protect the crew. It stretched from the cab roof to the tender front. Anyone got any thoughts on how to replicate this? It will need to be flexible.

Hi Jim,
Lovely work again! Re: the above, my mate wanted a tarpaulin for his GWR engines, only his were to be rolled up. On my next (very occasional!) visit to Starbux, when another mate had finished his tea, I rescued his tea bag and at home, threw away the tea leaves, opened out the bag to give two very nice, very pliable sheets that can be rolled up, painted, whatever. It even has a nice texture! When I presented the tightly rolled up item to my first mate, he was quite impressed but I've not heard if he has used it successfully yet, sorry but it was only recently.
I don't know quite what this material is, not paper, plastic or silk, it's quite weird really but it has to have a use for us.
Cheers,
John.

 

[Jim smith-wright]

a quick video of the inside motion

 

[john lewsey]

Jim that's superb do you do watch making as well

 

[Locomodels]

Jim,

Well done, I find it difficult enough squeeeezing everything in in 7mm. And that is an indirect gear as well.
Awsome!

Paul.

 

[Jim smith-wright]

There's still a bit of work to do on the Kirtley - add a crew and the weather sheet, some coal and the wet weather effect but its pretty much done. Below are a few pictures.







I have been doing a few wagons as an aside to the soldering iron.


Another lowfit from Red Panda. This one has a Parkside chassis and buffers from my supply. I don't know who made them or what type they are but they matched some of the pictures on Paul Bartletts wagon site Thanks to my friend Brendan for the lowfit transfers.


The Dapol lowmac kit. Reworked with Lanarkshire models buffers, archers rivets and new axleboxes from the spares box. The brake lever is an etch and the ratchetey looking guide is from a piercing saw blade. This wagon is really too long to be rigid and there's not a lot of room for any sort of springing or compensation units so the solution here (which I remember from a P4 society digest sheet years ago) is to file the bearings into a slot and use a bit of scrap etch in the centre of the axle to allow it to rock.

 

[Overseer]

The Kirtley has come together remarkably well. I was dubious about the potential outcome looking at the photo of the body parts in the earlier post. The work to sort out the splashers, springs and boiler have made a huge difference. Is this the first K's kit fitted with working inside motion?

 

[john lewsey]

Hi Jim the engine looks superb it really captures the look of the prototype really well great work
John

 

[Jim smith-wright]

More details on the Lowmac compensation shown last time;

This is the underside. It's best to set everything up with normal bearings first so that the rise height is correct. Then a simple case of adding a bit of scrap etch for the axle to rest on.

Once happy you can replace the bearing with ones that have been filed into a slot. This means the ends of the axle can move up and down, it really is that simple! On the subject of track holding...

This is the Chivers kit for the LMS fish van (diagram 2115) of course I've done plenty of 6 wheeled bogies before but never a 6 wheeled wagon. Brassmasters do a clemenson chassis for 6 wheeled vehicles but as the fish van has stretcher bars I didn't think it would work. To the right of the picture is a Bill Bedford pedestal suspension unit converted to inside bearings, the outer axles use normal suspension units. The plan is to join them all with wire so that the center axle can slide side to side. Speaking of 6 wheeled vans and clemenson chassis...

A black country icon, the Palethorpes sausage van. this uses the ancient Hornby model (well 2 of them) and chivers sideframes. You can see from the picture where the 2 vans have been cut up to correct the length of the van as supplied. Note also the strange backwards brake lever.

Where the fish van is quite open underneath these vans are not. They were fitted with onboard lighting and internal fans thus the dynamo and battery boxes. It's all a bit cramped really!! Speaking of palethorpes...

The 6 wheeled vans bigger brother. Surprisingly you only need 2 vans to do one of these too! the underframe is from the comet kit. And finally on the subject of bogie vans...

the good old Lima GUV, fitted with new bogies and underframe details.

 

[Jordan]

Ok, I'm going to ask the Stupid Question .... fans I can understand, but why did sausage vans need internal lighting??

 

[AJC]

Ok, I'm going to ask the Stupid Question .... fans I can understand, but why did sausage vans need internal lighting??

Since they had no windows, I imagine that it was so those loading and unloading could see what they were doing. Very impressive indeed Jim.

Adam

 

[Jim smith-wright]

Spot on Adam. They were linked to the doors. Sort of like a giant mobile fridge!

 

[Jordan]

Since they had no windows, I imagine that it was so those loading and unloading could see what they were doing. Very impressive indeed Jim.

Adam

Spot on Adam. They were linked to the doors. Sort of like a giant mobile fridge!

Interesting; having worked with road fridge trailers, I can understand that. It just didn't seem immediately obvious because no similar provision was generally made in other enclosed/'van' wagons, was it? (eg, window-less Parcels stock)