The Chronicles of Canary Sidings - the Tale of an Untidy Workbench

[Herb Garden]

Brakes & break ins....

Yep its not been a very productive time for modelling.... Having had a break in here on Sunday.... Luckily not very much was taken and no damage done.... The individual concerned is now in custody thanks to the efforts of our local constabulary and support from our neighbours

But it does mean it's slow progress in the modelling dept....

The progress has mainly been in the brakes dept






The tender brake etches are lovely.... Pity you can't see them much under the tender.... Still they are good enough for Upton the Ruston shunter to borrow for som extra braking power...


The loco chassis was then stripped down for fitting to the motor block




And here is #510 looking pretty good.... Really all that needs to happen is the chassis needs painting and some pickups

Until next time.... Happy modelling!

 

[Herb Garden]

The joy of pickups.....

Well due to the fall out from last week's events and the imminent start of the latest phase of building works....

I've only really had the chance to do the pickups on the loco.



I've changed tack from wat I usually do and tried with the help of a coil miniatureise the the pickup size. On this loco there really isn't much room for huge pickups.



And there we have it half the pickups done (tender still to be done) all with gold contacts applied to the tips as per previous post.

With compensation, non oxidising contacts, 12 wheel pickup and a DCC stayalive in the tender I'm hoping that this will result in an loco that never ever ever stalls.... Providing I keep the track clean that is....

Until next time.... Happy modelling!

 

[Herb Garden]

The old lady gets varnished

With the latest round of building works underway it's been almost impossible to get near the workbench..... However if one climbs round the pile of plasterboard and over the dismembered fitted wardrobe it is possible so progress if slow is possible. However I must pass my thanks to fellow EMer @PjKing1 whose recent conversion work has encouraged me to overcome the construction hurdles and get back in the workshop



So it's painting and assembly time.... After some varnish experiments on my poor wills J67 #196 I've decided my methods and then the long slog of painting all these fiddly bits.



With acrylics the advantage is that it doesn't take very long to apply a coat but it takes a lot of coats to get the right effect.... Pros and cons ...


I was a fool and wrecked the original Hornby wiring so have had to put in my own.... This was the first attempt and it's way too much wire way to complicated. For some reason I thought it best to put the decoder in the loco!?!?!?! Even though it would take less wiring and there is more space if put in the tender.... Yep proper blond moment!


Assembly continues with the frames allready pre weathered


And here it is in all its glory.... Still more wiring to do... Still more painting and details and transfers and crew and coal and....

Well until next time...

Happy modelling!

 

[Herb Garden]

Finding a happy place

A change of tack was in order..... You may ask what has happened to the Y14 and I will share that in due course but suffice to say I've hit some major snags with it's running that require major surgery to put right. It also gave me a dam good kick in the confidence department....

Recovering from a setback isn't always easy so after a few days I've gone back to the modelling activity that finds me at my most relaxed.... Making things out of brass



Yep #73 is back! Since I started the detour playing with paint and modern traction (if you call a 1899 Y14 and 1889 E22 modern traction) the old lady of canary sidings the rebuilt 1846 Sharpie has sat in a box but it's now back out and I'm really happy to have it back on the workbench.... I've missed it if you can believe that



Detailing work continues on the tender.... One of the things I've realised is that there is no way to put water in the tender so I've made a water filler cap.


Its a 1/8th" axel bearing with some scrap soldered on top.


And satisfactorily here it is all finished with a dinky little handle for the fireman to lift off. A very pleasant evening spent making that....

More detailing adventures to follow

Until next time

Happy Modelling!

Herbie

 

[Richard Gawler]

The Little Sharpie is a very pretty engine.

A "like" isn't enough for me here . . . please, did you pop the water filler into the lathe to make the top round?

 

[Herb Garden]

The Little Sharpie is a very pretty engine.

A "like" isn't enough for me here . . . please, did you pop the water filler into the lathe to make the top round?

Richard,

I'm embarrassed to say the lathe is still under a tarp in the garage.... I did this by hand with a file

 

[Herb Garden]

@Richard Gawler you make a good point about Sharpie locomotives however on the GER the term 'Little Sharpie' or 'Sharpie' has been used for various locomotive types over the years. I'm scribing away some research which will hopefully appear in the GERS journal at some point but here's the list.

- 2-2-2 tender locos built in the 1840s for the EAR and EUR to the catalogue standard 'sharpie' of which there were 21. (SS made in the region of 600 for railways across the globe) 5'0" - 5'6" drivers

- 2-2-2WT locos built for the EUR very similar in design to the Sharpie tender locos (1840s again)

- 0-4-2 tender locos x2 built for the EAR in the 1840s for goods work (lion and tiger but not to be confused with the locos of the same name built earlier for the L&M)

- GER #1 class 2-4-0 to the design of Sam Johnson. 40 built in 1860s 5'8" drivers. Much bigger than the original Sharpies

- 109, 111 & 116, 2-4-0 rebuilds of the original Sharpies combining the parts of 2 locos into 1. 5'6" drivers built 1868

- 73 & 74 2-2-2 rebuilds of the original Sharpies with bigger boilers 5'6" drivers built 1870. This is what my model of #73 is based on.

- T&W 0-4-2 #806 & #807 two engines that were left over from an S&S order by Swedish railways that were bought up by the T&W then absorbed by the GER

-T&W 2-4-0T #804 & #805 bought by T&W later absorbed by GER standard S&S design

And finally.....

- GER #1 class rebuilds in the 1890s the original #1 class locos were rebuilt with much larger buckjumper boilers. These ran until 1913.... When enthusiasts talk about Sharpies or Little Sharpies this is what they think of but they were the last in a family of machines that went back to 1840

 

[Herb Garden]

All the little details

Its exciting! So much progress in such a short space of time.... I do sometimes wonder why I bother with kits.....

Anyhoo.... Lots more detailing done on the tender body



First up the new left hand side tender handrail ... Did the other one ages ago but never got round to this one so here we are....


Second addition are the two side lamp hangers. In the early period if the Great Eastern lamps were hung from oblong brackets rather than the standard lamp bracket we all know.... These were still in use in 1883 when this model is, fictitiously set (as described earlier number 73 was scrapped in 1877 but I've extended her life into the early worsdell era).


That's the two side ones just the top one to do.

That's all for now

Happy modelling!

 

[Herb Garden]

Yet more fiddly bits .....

So at the cab end of these 1846 tenders was a bracket to hold the gong which was connected to a cord in the carriages that when pulled sounded the gong so the driver knew to stop. An early form of emergency device but out of use by the time the loco is set. However as the tenders were not modified the bracket remained in place. A little piece of etched lamp bracket tacked in place with the RSU



And the other side


A further addition is the lamp hanger on the top of the tender rear



More little bits of brass strip and wire soldered in place.



Next I need to turn my attention back to axle boxes and springs

Until next time

Happy modelling!

 

[James Spooner]

Yet more fiddly bits .....

So at the cab end of these 1846 tenders was a bracket to hold the gong which was connected to a cord in the carriages that when pulled sounded the gong so the driver knew to stop. An early form of emergency device but out of use by the time the loco is set. However as the tenders were not modified the bracket remained in place. A little piece of etched lamp bracket tacked in place with the RSU

View attachment 182786

And the other side

View attachment 182787
A further addition is the lamp hanger on the top of the tender rear

View attachment 182788

More little bits of brass strip and wire soldered in place.

View attachment 182789

Next I need to turn my attention back to axle boxes and springs

Until next time

Happy modelling!

George,

I’m really glad you have got the spinner out again and like your progress on the tender; I look forward to more updates as it all progresses!

Nigel

 

[Herb Garden]

Wheels on boxes

Thanks Nigel and others for the kind comments. Having #73 back on the workbench is very satisfying and much more enjoyable than other projects have been ...

Anyway today is axle box day



The tender and loco had very basic axleboxes almost wagon types so the starting point was a section of brass channel



Then some scrap material soldered on top and bottom



Then more scrap added to the back to act as a joining piece.


Then added to the tender. Please note the tender is designed to rest on the back of the loco so hence why it is leaning forwards



The one thing I will note is the are rather chunky and stick out a bit. However as we have no detailed drawings only a side on view we have no idea the size and I feel it adds to the character of this early tender.....

Only brake shoes and springs.... Oh and the loco left to do

Until next time

Happy modelling!

 

[Herb Garden]

Its often I get things wrong or at least not quite right.... And although I was pleased with the tender axleboxes I was not ecstatic.... So with a little bravery I've spent the late afternoon removing the axleboxes filing them down and reattaching ....

It at least gave me an excuse for some more photographs









So close so close.....

 

[Herb Garden]

Mad as a march hare

Yep I think I'm bonkers.... As this latest activity I think is pushing boundaries for what I can make...

Of course I refer to the leaf springs.
Annoyingly #73 has them all visible ... So as I could find nothing suitable I decided to make them by hand ....

Those who have followed this thread will know that it is the springs that stopped progress the last time so I've been working up to it.



Problem is holding all the bits together so I made a very high tech jig from a match stick and a block of wood .... Assemble all the bits and a couple of tacks later.....




And it comes out of the jig looking a bit like this


And finished off ready for soldering to the tender....

Only 11 more to go!

Must remember when I go to the York show next month to buy one of those head mounted magnifiers ...

Until next time

Happy modelling!

 

[Herb Garden]

And the springs are on.... At least one of them is....

 

[Herb Garden]

Cramptoning my Style....

So I've rebuilt the gearbox on #73 and a week or so of tweaking and tuning and it's running well...

Video footage to follow but in the meantime....

I've been working on the prep for the next project a Holden K20 class.

So a bit of history of this obscure class...

Those who know a bit about GER locomotive history will know that in the late 1880s James Holden did some experiments in improving the design of the Worsdell G14 2-4-0 express passenger locomotives. These experiments finally resulted in the famous T19 class of locomotives.

Further experiments on the T19 design resulted in changes of wheel arrangement and wheel size resulted in the successful D27 2-2-2s and T26 2-4-0s (Later LNER E4). But there were some less successful experiments and the sole K20 was one of those.



We believe it was one of the last exponents of the crampton patent. Keeping the rear driving wheels of the T19 and replacing the centre driving wheel with a small wheel allowed the moving of the cylinders outside and dropping of the standard Y14 boiler that all these classes use to the level of the aforementioned Y14 to create a more stable runner than the D27. Sadly the single prototype was not a success and the parts and boiler disappeared quickly into new T19 builds. So we only have the above buckle drawing to go on as no photographs were taken.

Luckily this doesn't have to be a full on scratch build as the cab boiler tender and fittings are all from the standard Y14 class so most of the work in design is in the chassis.



The Y14 parts are going to come from this poor old white metal Y14 I rescued from a well known auction site.....

So that's the plan.... Just need to finish designing the valve gear....

Until next time

Happy modelling!

 

[Herb Garden]

My fellow western thunderers....

I'm going to have to come clean.... The above post about the GER K20 class and project was a complete April fools

Sadly there was no such locomotive as the K20 and the last cramptons on the GER (or rather the ECR) disappeared much earlier than the time of James Holden. In fact the boilers were rebuilt into a Gooch 0-6-0 good loco class which maybe one day I will get round to making....

I was waiting for someone to spot the fiction but it just goes to show that very little in known widely about the early Locomotives of the GER and most pre grouping awareness only starts in 1900. Hopefully I might rectify a bit of that with my models.

Although the locomotive history is a complete fiction as is the drawing. Since creating the drawing I've decided to have a go at building such a locomotive.... Yeah I know not historically accurate blah blah blah but if we can create fictional locations for our railways why not fictional Locomotives? I've always wanted a crampton and as I said the last ones disappeared well before my period so here's the chance.... It won't happen immediately but my hope is to start on it at some point once I can work out how to make working outside gooch valve gear.....

Watch this space

Herbie

 

[Suffolk Dave]

LOL! It flew right over my head...

 

[Herb Garden]

Well I hope it was entertaining none the less. Although the week has been fraught with activity I found some time to start sketching up the bits for the K20.... I've learnt a lot about valve gear...



Also the donor loco has had a bath and now ready for most of the bits to be reused on the K20 once the chassis is done...



Finally work continues on making springs for #73 which is now clocking up the number of shuttles back and forth along Canary Sidings. I'm wanting to see if anything falls off before I get the loco finished

But here are lots of bits of leaf springs



Exciting stuff eh?

 

[Dave Sutton]

My fellow western thunderers....

I'm going to have to come clean.... The above post about the GER K20 class and project was a complete April fools

Are you sure....there's bound to be someone who remembers one working

 

[Herb Garden]

Are you sure....there's bound to be someone who remembers one working

Dave.... You say that....

Last year I played a similar prank on the GER Society forum with this N32 class drawing


A compete fiction! But a very handsome loco... A cousin of the NER class B locos both railways had TW Worsdell as superintendents....

However after the post I got an email from a 'well informed' member giving me a full operational history of the class and pointing me in the direction of the correct yeadon's register for the class..... How I split my sides laughing...!

On the subject of TW Worsdell here's a good pub quiz question. Which design of Locomotive that TW Worsdell did for the GER did he not create a copy of on the NER?