Pictures as promised, including a resurrection of a brake van that I forgot to mention earlier - even that took up more time than I imagined it would and caused a lot of cursing as I firstly managed to "fumble" while holding one soldering iron, burning myself in the process, then found the 25 W power of that iron inadequate for the job anyway so had to fetch the 6O watt "special" to get the job done...
First of all the projected Ivatt 2-6-2 fast goods engine, as it might have been modified by Gresley, still far from complete but having at least gained some boiler bands, firebox details and new holes for handrails since its brief test run on Little Bytham a couple of weeks ago.
That same visit allowed me to collect a Heljan O2. This was in fact the O2/4 variant. After a bit of thought I decided to have a go at conversion to almost O2/1 status which is more suitable for my modelling theme. The running plate height will be wrong for the O2/1 class part, but I'll live with that for the time being. Maybe the loco will later change again into 3461. The boiler details behind the smokebox have all been cleaned off and re-created by the same means as for the Ivatt 2-6-2. The dome is a one-off created by filing and sanding a slightly different one I had in stock and the chimney is in
resin, from a mould that needs to be re-made - when I get the time. The tender is all
resin, borrowed from a
J6, also from a mould that is now life-expired. The cab is explained a couple of posts further on, so as not to make nonsense of questions that were asked before I added these notes...
This brake van also resulted from my LB visit. It lay at the bottom of one of John Houlden's stock boxes, clearly having been built and finished to a good cosmetic standard but either age and neglect, or some other factor had caused a problem or two. It was too good to throw away, but three of the axleboxes lacked bearings entirely and one contained a brass bearing pushed in at an awkward angle. The brakes were on very firmly. I tried several different types of bearing in the axleboxes but none would fit the holes properly and accommodate the axles correctly too. I therefore adopted Mr Wright's suggestion of a form of internal subframe, just some strips of brass bent up to channel shapes with a brass tubes soldered into suitable holes to house the axles. These units were then glued to the van floor with some plasticard spacers to set the ride height. Free running with square level axles is now achieved. I inadvertently used tube of 2.5mm bore but that might be a good thing in the long run as lack of lubrication will never result in tightening up of the 2mm axles. The other snag as received was the way that the step boards were attached. The upright supports were simply spot soldered, none too firmly in places, to the outside edges (top and bottom) of the solebar channels, bridging the channel in a way not seen in any photographs I could find. The stepboards were well out of gauge. I broke them free and re-attached them in truer positions with some 0.7mm brass wire behind the flimsier supports in order to give some strength.
I haven't checked in detail but the timber end stanchions and pressed steel duckets without planking above of below suggest to me that this is supposed to be a Toad B with replacement duckets. If so, I don't know if it is a legitimate pre-1939 LNER item. The plain turned brass buffers and the basic style of the kit's etchings and underframe arrangements put me in mind of Jidenco but I don't know if the kit came from that range. No doubt somebody will advise.
