The LNER Encyclopedia

My recollections are mainly of the changeover at around 4.15 pm on the north side of Edinburgh Waverley of locomotives charged with the southbound Aberdeen fish train, in BR green days (apart, that is, for the Gateshead-based machines, which tended merely to be "well-weathered"). Specifics include Auld Reekie (!), Waverley, Robert the Bruce, Redgauntlet, Kenilworth, Cicero, Isinglass, I think Hyperion, Hycilla, Sun Chariot, Honeyway, Commonwealth of Australia, Dominion of New Zealand, Empire of India, Union of South Africa, Dwight D Eisenhower, Bachelors Button and there would be others if I scratched the head a bit. I was awaiting the 4.23 train home after school. Shouldn't be allowed to happen to an impressionable youth...


auldreekie

The works is closed today awaiting parts from suppliers so I am enjoying running a few trains whilst also printing off one of my regular bus magazines. V3 tankies with mixed non corridor set, 60097 Humorist, N2s, D11/2 - all LNER stuff.

Further ponderings on the possible streamlining of the Peppercorn A1s. This drawing is based on the Peppercorn 'Christmas Card' one but further research shows that this version or something very close to it was sketched out.

Progress with the Peppercorn A1 streamlined proposal. Test fitting of Bachmann A1 chassis to body.

First Bachmann chassis I have had to build up from spares - how is the return crank supposed to be firmly attached to the crankpin on the centre driving wheels?

Inside the eye of the return crank there should be two small projections that fit into notches on the end of the long crankpin of the middle wheelset, fixing its orientation as you tighten the crank retaining screw. Those two projections easily get destroyed if somebody has been trying to screw the return crank in place at other than the factory-set angle.

Thanks Graeme - sorted! This one will cause a few people to scratch their heads when it is complete. I have one spare Mallard body left - am tempted to turn this into the other A1 proposal with the normal smokebox fitted into a bugatti front! That will get them scratching even more!

I've been 'foreign' over the last few days upgrading some of my old Airfix Castle class locos bought at £8 each back in the 1980s! One feature which puzzles me upon which some of you may be able to advise is that the recent 5 pole Hornby chassis (not the very latest one) has pickups to all wheels but there is also a one side pickup through the drawbar to the tender - but I cannot see how the electrical contact from this can get to the motor as there is no physical connection from the chassis which remains 'dead'! Am I missing something?

Of course two of these are Pendennis and Caerphilly, as per the LNER exchanges!

Saint Johnstoun wrote: Of course two of these are Pendennis and Caerphilly, as per the LNER exchanges!

Nice Segue

Wonderful bridge of the silvery Tay,
With your pillars and arches in grand array,
Most beautiful to be seen,
Down by Dundee and the Magdalen Green!

On the last Sabbath of 1879,
Which will be remembered for a very long time!

Needless to say my Castles will have 3500 gallon tenders as per the LNER exchanges!

There have been comments elsewhere regarding the difficulty in obtaining 1935 pattern corridor tender bodies. I was fortunate to find an old Hornby corridor tender body when sorting out some items to send on to somebody, so rather than make a mess of a better donor, I set to work on the rear end of this to attempt to convert from 1928 to 1935 spec. A certain amount of cutting with a razor saw and filing has done what you can see.

I think it has worked - areas still have to be filled and smoothed out - of course this tender has no fairing at the front but that could be added, however if the consensus is that this has worked I will use a GBLC 1928 corridor tender and do a finished conversion.

Latest project to make an addition to my rolling road so that one can easily test locos with tender pickups, DMUs etc. with only one power bogie but pickups on the other. It has copper strips to make contact with the track below and connections to the track on top.

Finished refurbishing chassis for locos from that 'other railway' today = one of the 5 pole skew wound motors is very noisy - suspect that it has been run dry and worn the bearings at some time - looks like a replacement job unless anybody else out there has any tips! It is noisy even when removed from the loco chassis!

Another diversion - at last some bits are on their way to complete my GBLC A4 carve ups but I have upgraded an old favourite done years ago at the same time as my Gresley 4-8-2. New loco drive mechanism and tender underframe reworked using an 8 wheel Hornby A4 tender chassis and the original extended body. I will probably redo the front bufferbeam to remove the 'lights' and fit new handrails and better smoke deflectors. Am working on a relocated motor for the Gresley 4-8-2 using a scrap one to provide the shaft so that I can move the whole motor rearward into the firebox where there is enough clearance.
Stanier's proposed 4-6-4.

Interesting model Allan - thanks for your email - will get back to you soon!

Models of A1s with Westinghouse Brakes fitted are rare!