Well if you don't have room to run trains in 0 gauge, you may as well not have room to run BIG trains in O gauge.
LNER B4, ex GCR 8F 'Immingham' class., picked up for a song (less than I'd pay for a good 4mm rtr anyway)
Here's the plan. add some body detail from the usual sources of plastic and metal. Repaint in GCR lined goods black, add guiplates numberplates and transfers
re-motor. The Pittman open frame works rather well really, but I would preer something more modern- I am thinking about a big motor with good slow=running properties, as this loco is never going to run faster than a scale 15mph I think!
hope you like, I'll keep you updated as work begins. First job is stripping the horrid paint job (pretty sure the chap painted it with garage door paint!)
no suspension at all! That said- it really does run nicely. Now I have removed the old motor, she freewheels down track that I previously thought was on a plumb level workbench!
I certainly wouldn't fancy its chances of pulling a heavy passenger train over bumpy track at a scale 70mph....., but for my purposes she's a fine runner. Besdies I cannot think how I could make provision for suspension without rebuilding the whole chassis, which would NEVER work if I ended up being the one doing it!
Considering that I couldn't buy a new Bachmann V2 for the money, I'm a happy chappy!
As a fast goods engine this loco quite often ended up shunting/ running light engine though docks and yards- Here's an interesting picture- and it certainly gives me licence to run a huge express loco on a 10ft layout!!
you read my mind! I have the Rouche drawings (which are a bit inaccurate in places, but at least are in 7mm scale) the Dow drawing made from the original GCR diagram book, and the relevant pages of Tatlow's LNER wagons, oh and about 20metres of 4mmx1mm mahogany strip. Should about cover it. A chap does resin castings of the bogie sideframes, and the rest is easy woodwork, if I built some sort of jig to aid alingment of all those slats!
That said, both GP models and Connosieur make vans which were used for fish traffic, not to mention the earlier arrangement of simply putting big barrels of fish into open wagons.
So it may be a while before I have a rake of bogie fish vans. (indeed, I dont think the GC ever built enough to make up a full rake- despite what those impressive company leaflets try and tell us!!)
Only 24 bogie fish vans were built, which when spread around the system made sure that it was almost impossible to see two of these wagons in the same rake.
The 10t, fourwheeler fish van was by far and away more common. (a few hundred built). A look at the GCR diagram book would probably enable you to make up a rake of express fish vans/wagons of all differnt vehicles!! the siz wheelers, rather like GWR Minks in look would make a nice model I think.
I think the big problem with the bogie fish wagons was they were rated as passenger stock, with all the shunting and regulatory issues that raised in dy to day service.
