Nick Dunhill's 7mm W (A6) or Whitby Tank Workbench

Ian@StEnochs

Western Thunderer
Slaters did knobs in nickel silver, I still have a few but haven’t bought any recently. I have been tinning brass knobs with solder which makes them look nearer to steel on the locos which did not have them painted.

Ian.
 

Overseer

Western Thunderer
Wouldn't it be preferable to nickel plate the knobs rather than zinc plate? Zinc will turn dark grey over time while nickel stays bright. Nickel plating at home is possible without any major investment. I have been thinking about setting up to do some nickel plating as it would be very useful for replating brass wheels after turing down to S7, for example, but haven't found time to do it yet so can't offer any real advice.
 

Nick Dunhill

Western Thunderer
....so handrails finished. The upperworks of the build is now complete, just the chassis to go then!

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Should have a little topping off celebration, so I'm off for a beer. More chassis action next......
 

Nick Dunhill

Western Thunderer
....so moving back to the chassis I decided to start with the driving wheel springs and hangers. The hangers were all cast from patterns I made earlier in the build and were designed to be pinned to a set of Laurie Griffin springs that were the right size. The castings were all fettled and holes drilled so they could be pinned together.

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Adjustments were made so they all lined up nicely in the correct positions. They were positioned on the frames and soldered in place. Some cutting was required for the rear sets so they fitted round spacers and laminations, but nothing too drastic.

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Some drop pieces, that connect the spring to the axlebox, and keeper plates were made and soldered to the springs. Adjustments were then made so the springs could be removed to fit the axles, although thinking about it now only the front axle has to be removed downwards if using Slater's wheels. (This will make the second loco a doddle as I haven't started adding the keeper plates it as I write!!) The last 2 jobs had AGH wheels (remember them?) and I'm obviously still in that mind set (it's late, I've been at work all day, etc...).

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I think I'll have some fun making the various reservoir tanks for the Westinghouse system next.....
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
I think I'll have some fun making the various reservoir tanks for the Westinghouse system next.....

They're easy, the fun is knitting routeing the associated plumbing.

Did the LNER retro-fit these with vacuum brakes in addition to the air brakes in a similar manner as the SR with their ex-LBSC air braked locos? If so, then the real fun starts.
 

Nick Dunhill

Western Thunderer
Don't quote me on this Dave but it is my understanding that when the ECJ stock appeared it was vac braked so a lot of the NER locos acquired vacuum braking equipment to haul it. You can tell because the locos have an ejector pipe down the driver's side when so fitted. I think they were dual braked too, you'd be able to tell because the Westinghouse pump would be still present. Here's an A6 in LNER era, it has an ejector pipe and the Westinghouse pump, so air and vac brakes.

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Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
I think they were dual braked

Yep, you're going to have fun with this.

If the SR is an example then if the loco was hauling vacuum brake stock the loco itself used it's air brake. I believe the vacuum brake equipment only supplied the rest of the train - and stand to be corrected if this not the case so any confirmation will be welcome.
 

Nick Dunhill

Western Thunderer
....I've been having a bit of fun making air reserve tanks for the Westinghouse brake system. They're made from 5/8'' and 19/32'' telescoping tube. The inner tube was cut 3 mm shorter, and when positioned in the centre of the outer tube supports the end circles and riveted strip.

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Sorry about the crap pics, they look ok in the 'flesh.' Some pipework next....
 

Nick Dunhill

Western Thunderer
....so here's one of the tanks attached to one of the models. It was a bit of a faff to fit, held with Blutac whilst the brackets were soldered in place. I am trying to decide whether to make the pipe from it to the Westinghouse pump (routed along the edge of the footplate valence) detachable or whether to install removable sections round the steps to allow chassis/body separation. I'll have the same problem with the heating and brake pipes along the other side of the footplate edge.

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I'll decide in the morning.....
 

Nick Dunhill

Western Thunderer
...so I have made the first of the MANY pipes in the Westinghouse system. The long one that connects the pump to the main reservoir is removable so that the steps will clear the pipes when the body and chassis are separated. There's a small pipe that connects the main reservoir with the drivers brake handle at the top too.

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Next I made the auxiliary reservoirs that connect to the brake cylinder. They're mounted under the cab.

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And I've sourced the last of the castings. My triple valve casting and a nice brake cylinder casting from Laurie Griffin.

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The plastic tray has a load of pipe fittings and brackets. More plumbing tomorrow.........
 

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
Nick,
That's a good diagram, but those brake cylinders are enormous for an air brake cylinder. Vacuum cylinders (which is what they are) have to be much larger as the pressure differential across the cylinder is much less. Comparing standard sizes an 8" air brake cylinder would do the work of a 24" or 26" vacuum cylinder.
There are good air brake cylinders in the Roxey range, which may be more suitable...

Steph
 

Brian McKenzie

Western Thunderer
Something I'm not seeing often in modelled air storage reservoirs is the inverse doming and flanging radius typical of their ends. I've no knowledge of Nick's prototype, but wonder if those on the A6 were like this. . . . ?

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