(Re)starting a G6

[S7BcSR]

A conundrum has arisen.

I am just restarting my G6s and I have a query about the wheel diameter, can anyone confirm the correct wheel size please.

Mike Sharman in Wheel specifications for the modeller quotes 4' 10".
Tony Kerr in his drawing for the South Western Circle also quotes 4' 10".
Jim Russell also quotes 4' 10" in his Pictorial Record of Southern Locomotives.

Don Bradley in LSWR Locomotives: The Adams Classes quotes 4' 0" and moreover he quotes them as being the same size as the O2 which he also quotes as 4' 0". This book is always seen as the bible for LSWR locos.

I assume that 4' 10" is the correct size as 4' dead does seem a little on the small size for both the O2 and G6 considering the type of work they had to do but it is interesting that Bradley quotes both classes as 4'.

I hope it is 4' 10" as I already have the wheels for both locos, one to be built to S7 and one to finescale.

Rob

 

[JimG]

Rob,

Most pre-group loco footplates were around the four foot height and, looking at a picture of a B6, it looks like this is so on that class going by buffer height. Doing a quick check on the computer screen with a pair of dividers shows that the top edge of the wheel is above footplate height. Knowing the loco wheelbase would give a fairly accurate reference to deduce the wheel diameter from a broadside picture, like this one.

Jim.

 

[D G Williams]

Dear Rob,
I have just checked General Arrangenent drawing of the O2 in Pettigrew's 'A Manual of Locomotive Engineering'. On that the driving wheels are given as 4' 10''.
David

 

[Steph Dale]

Rob,
The GA in the back of the Bradley book conforms the wheel size as 4'10".
Worth checking the corrections sheets on the South Western Circle website, although I know that's not necessarily complete either!
Steph

 

[Wagonman]

Hi Rob

RCTS has 4' 10" as well, which chimes with my own memory for the O2s.

Richard

 

[S7BcSR]

Gents

Thanks for the help. Really useful.

Never thought to look at back of Bradley's book. Doh!!!

Glad of the confirmation, I wouldn't have wished to go out and get another two sets of wheels if it had been 4'.

Jim, liked the photos, hadn't spotted that database before.

Rob