Steph Dale
Western Thunderer
As threatened/promised, here's a quick 'primer' on some of my HO stuff; this time it's locos of the Saxon State Railway; I model the 1970s, so think of these in terms of the survivors at that point. By this date most were heading into preservation, thankfully...
Let's start with the star of the show, known to enthusiasts as the Sachsenstolz or, literally, 'Saxon Star', this was built from a DJH/Model Loco kit and must now be heading in the direction of 20 years old. This is one of those rare things; a four-cylinder, compound, superheated, express-passenger 2-8-2. It's pretty hilly in Saxony!:
As you'd expect, it's not quite built as the kit is designed. The gearbox has been adjusted to higher-ratio to make the loco more controllable, the chassis is compensated and has jointed rods (so it goes round corners) and the inside valve gear rockers and arms are in there. At the time, making up the crank axle was a step too far. It has a great deal of additional detail, some scratchbuilt, some from Weinert and other suppliers, Gassner decals, VS Modellbau plates. There was a great deal of work on the chassis to get daylight where it should be and to make sure it didn't show through areas that should be solid. I'll have to check my records, but I think there's a Zimo decoder hiding in the firebox. It's modelled as 19 017 in preservation; there is a second BR19 here (on the right in the photo below), this time a Gutzold model (which was bought damaged/dropped) which will be used to make a model of 19 017 just before she was withdrawn, complete with French tender (and late-run Jouef tender drive) and the hybrid cab:
Working down the scale, there's a BR18.0 pacific, also from the Model Loco stable. This kit has been much more problematic than the BR19 and so isn't shown as it's not made much progress. In terms of the prototype, 18 010 was the last survivor and was nearly preserved but in the end the Dresden Transport Museum decided to use it as a christmas tree to allow the restoration and preservation of 19 017. That would have been a tough choice and there's no doubt the BR19 would have been the greater loss.
The last Saxon steam tender locos in service were the BR38.2 class, the last of which went in '72. I started with 38 205 though; this loco was preserved returning to steam in 1979 and this is the condition she's modelled in. There is quite a lot of scratchbuilding here, with just the cab, boiler and tender mouldings surviving from a Piko model. It runs on Sharman wheels, valvegear is modified from a Comet models fret and the gearbox is from DJH, with a Mashima 14xx-series motor. Like 19 017 it's compensated, has a Zimo decoder and is finished with products from Gassner and VS Modellbau. In the back of the photo is an unmodified Piko BR38.2 for comparison; this one will be 38 308, the last to run. An interesting comparison which gives an idea of the scale of work that was done to arrive at '205:
I've been umming and aahing about these two BR94.20 for a long time. These, too, are around 20 years old and have been a frustrating build from the outset. I think I can now see a way forward that will involve etching new motion for them. It's a shame as they're a rare kit, but not long after their introduction Piko bought out a model of the class which was actually pretty good and I doubt DJH ever made any money from these; they departed the German HO market shortly afterwards. The bunker mods, by the way, represent different batches of the locos and with different levels of repairs you'll note there are no consistent rivet runs!:
The BR75.5 was going to be a pain to model without Gutzold coming to the rescue. Even then, one of these locos will end up with squared-off tanks of a DR welded pattern which might be tricky as they're die-cast! The other details are about right for many of the class, but unfortunately not for the two I'm doing, which had received a lot of Ex-Prussian fittings; another order to Weinert will be required:
That brings us to the BR89.2 from Piko. This is shown as an example of a starting point I'd typically use. Piko did some great body mouldings back in the 70s and 80s and they weren't badly painted either, although it could sometimes be a bit heavy and some locos have plainly been oversprayed and re-finished, which doesn't help. And with those famously self-disassembling chassis; most had plastic coupling rods and valvegear which used to last about five minutes. As an aside I'll mention that the last series of these BR 89.2 locos were similar in outline to the BR94.20 above, with modern cabs and sloping tanks, but that means either scratchbuilding or trying to find one of the Beckert limited-run models. I doubt I'll do either as none made it into the 70s:
To finish off, here's a photo of the BR38.2 with the BR19; for any current or future work these are the benchmark:
I should have some more tomorrow, hopefully with an update on the S699.
Steph
Let's start with the star of the show, known to enthusiasts as the Sachsenstolz or, literally, 'Saxon Star', this was built from a DJH/Model Loco kit and must now be heading in the direction of 20 years old. This is one of those rare things; a four-cylinder, compound, superheated, express-passenger 2-8-2. It's pretty hilly in Saxony!:
As you'd expect, it's not quite built as the kit is designed. The gearbox has been adjusted to higher-ratio to make the loco more controllable, the chassis is compensated and has jointed rods (so it goes round corners) and the inside valve gear rockers and arms are in there. At the time, making up the crank axle was a step too far. It has a great deal of additional detail, some scratchbuilt, some from Weinert and other suppliers, Gassner decals, VS Modellbau plates. There was a great deal of work on the chassis to get daylight where it should be and to make sure it didn't show through areas that should be solid. I'll have to check my records, but I think there's a Zimo decoder hiding in the firebox. It's modelled as 19 017 in preservation; there is a second BR19 here (on the right in the photo below), this time a Gutzold model (which was bought damaged/dropped) which will be used to make a model of 19 017 just before she was withdrawn, complete with French tender (and late-run Jouef tender drive) and the hybrid cab:
Working down the scale, there's a BR18.0 pacific, also from the Model Loco stable. This kit has been much more problematic than the BR19 and so isn't shown as it's not made much progress. In terms of the prototype, 18 010 was the last survivor and was nearly preserved but in the end the Dresden Transport Museum decided to use it as a christmas tree to allow the restoration and preservation of 19 017. That would have been a tough choice and there's no doubt the BR19 would have been the greater loss.
The last Saxon steam tender locos in service were the BR38.2 class, the last of which went in '72. I started with 38 205 though; this loco was preserved returning to steam in 1979 and this is the condition she's modelled in. There is quite a lot of scratchbuilding here, with just the cab, boiler and tender mouldings surviving from a Piko model. It runs on Sharman wheels, valvegear is modified from a Comet models fret and the gearbox is from DJH, with a Mashima 14xx-series motor. Like 19 017 it's compensated, has a Zimo decoder and is finished with products from Gassner and VS Modellbau. In the back of the photo is an unmodified Piko BR38.2 for comparison; this one will be 38 308, the last to run. An interesting comparison which gives an idea of the scale of work that was done to arrive at '205:
I've been umming and aahing about these two BR94.20 for a long time. These, too, are around 20 years old and have been a frustrating build from the outset. I think I can now see a way forward that will involve etching new motion for them. It's a shame as they're a rare kit, but not long after their introduction Piko bought out a model of the class which was actually pretty good and I doubt DJH ever made any money from these; they departed the German HO market shortly afterwards. The bunker mods, by the way, represent different batches of the locos and with different levels of repairs you'll note there are no consistent rivet runs!:
The BR75.5 was going to be a pain to model without Gutzold coming to the rescue. Even then, one of these locos will end up with squared-off tanks of a DR welded pattern which might be tricky as they're die-cast! The other details are about right for many of the class, but unfortunately not for the two I'm doing, which had received a lot of Ex-Prussian fittings; another order to Weinert will be required:
That brings us to the BR89.2 from Piko. This is shown as an example of a starting point I'd typically use. Piko did some great body mouldings back in the 70s and 80s and they weren't badly painted either, although it could sometimes be a bit heavy and some locos have plainly been oversprayed and re-finished, which doesn't help. And with those famously self-disassembling chassis; most had plastic coupling rods and valvegear which used to last about five minutes. As an aside I'll mention that the last series of these BR 89.2 locos were similar in outline to the BR94.20 above, with modern cabs and sloping tanks, but that means either scratchbuilding or trying to find one of the Beckert limited-run models. I doubt I'll do either as none made it into the 70s:
To finish off, here's a photo of the BR38.2 with the BR19; for any current or future work these are the benchmark:
I should have some more tomorrow, hopefully with an update on the S699.
Steph
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