Eighteen Inch Revisited

[MuzTrem]

Wow...really quite atmospheric

[davidaward]

Looks absolutely superb Andrew- i know town scenes at close quarters are very hard to re-create- yours looks spot on to me.

[kevmt]

I'd agree, that looks really good

Cheers,

Kevin

[jefran]

Thanks for all the positive comments, while I am waiting for some more on the gasworks, I have done a bit on the big engineering works, which is the excuse for much of the route. A number of large works had 18in railways, Crewe on the LNWR, Horwich on the L&YR, and Woolwich Arsenal, which must have been about the largest narrow gauge system in Britain with over 30 miles of track and (at its height) 62 locomotives in service at one time. The first picture shows a Woolwich engine propelling some wagons out of the works, prior to reversing on to the "estate portion", (inspired by Sand Hutton) to collect some coal from the colliery.

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The coal is for the boiler house which provides steam for heating and running the line shafting in the older parts of the factory. The next shot has Wren with some Horwich tippers, going to collect a load of ash from the (as yet unbuilt) boiler house.

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Finally Wren has brought a boiler round to the despatch department, where someone will have to decide if the overhead crane is up to the job of lifting it.

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There was a real, and very big, factory on the site, but this was all demolished 20 years or so ago, (to make way for a greetings card factory!), so I have borrowed the buildings from a neighbouring town, but I don't think that they are out of place.

[davidaward]

Wow Wren looks superb- about time we had a new LYR MSTS loco!

[jefran]

..actually Wren is still work-in-progress, so I thought I'd better do a bit more...

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[MuzTrem]

Fantastic I've always loved those little Horwich works shunters.

[jefran]

Wren is about finished, but I though I would do some of the variations..

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Wren is more-or-less as preserved, at the other end is Dot, not quite finished, but generally as built by Beyer Peacock (with handwheel on the smokebox door) and in the middle is Robin, one of the original batch (like Wren) built by Beyer Peacock, in as-built condition, showing the way in which the saddle tank changed the appearance of these engines - It was years before I realised that Dot and Wren were built by the same manufacturer, to the same design, with a few twiddly bits added to Dot

[kevmt]

Those look excellent, Andrew

Cheers,
Kevin

[MuzTrem]

It was years before I realised that Dot and Wren were built by the same manufacturer, to the same design, with a few twiddly bits added to Dot

Well I didn't realise either until seeing those pics Some more fantastic work there.

[jefran]

Thanks for the positive comments, I have now had a go at the right side of Dot - the one where most of the differences are, and which is hardly ever photographed (as that side has always been against a wall at the NGRM). As these engines have nothing in the way of a cab, you can't really leave much out, so here is the "cab area" on Dot.


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Dot has 2 injectors, but the second one is nothing like that on the left hand side. I took some general interest photos of the back of Dot in December 2006, but I cannot work out how the arrangement works, or what the solid brass wheel, with bearings each side, actually does. Does anyone know, or live close enough to get some more detailed shots?

[CaptainBazza]

Fine work; I didn't know there were such unusually small industrial locomotives. I wonder why they never used electric battery locos instead?
Did you have to do much fudging of the data to get it to work, because the sim physics don't seem to cater very well for such small steamers.

Cheers Bazza

[jefran]

Thanks Captain! These engines were designed between 1866 (Crewe) and 1887 - the Beyer, Peacock/Horwich engines, at a time when battery electrics were not available. Such engines were used in the 1920s, though never on any large scale, diesels being introduced soon after. The first diesel on the LMS was on the 18" line at Crewe (which closed very soon after, when the engine was transferred to Horwich). This was a Hudswell Clarke, a smaller version of those supplied for use on sugar lines in Queensland, and is on my list of engines to make. The world's first commercial compression-ignition loco was employed on the 18" line at Woolwich (and an early version of it featured in the first thread on this topic). Steam lasted on all British 18" systems until the late 1950s, which is why Jack, Woolwich and Wren still survive.

[jefran]

an earlier picture showed Wren en route to the boiler house to remove some ash. The boiler house is now well advanced, and Wren is about to drop some empty skips before removing the full ones, for which she will then need to set back to clear the wagon turntable.

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Click the image to zoom in

[MuzTrem]

Those skips look interesting...any particular reason why the tip the opposite way to normal?