Mike Garwood
Western Thunderer
I'm sure we saw that Thomas and Diesel at the Watercress line....many years ago.
Mike
Mike
Scattergun EM Whimsy, playing with Sodor's No. 1
Focalplane
Western Thunderer
Adam, I have to add my own Awdry experiences. In the late 1960s I worked on my Ph.D. with fieldwork in the general area from Kirkby Stephen in the east to Barrow in Furness in the west. I was studying the lower Carboniferous strata which included outcrops as far west as Dalton. These outcrops suggested that offshore Barrow there might have been deeper water (i.e. a basin) at the time and I could not help but coin the name Sodor Basin for this. It is all in my 1970 Ph.D. thesis.
Much later, British Gas acquired seismic data and drilled a promising gas discovery which later became a seasonal gas storage field, so I think I was probably proved correct. Unfortunately I never published the name Sodor Basin outside of the thesis, shame on me. I never revisited the area so I am not sure how things stand at the moment. The only books I would buy today would be the original Reverend's stories.
Paul
Much later, British Gas acquired seismic data and drilled a promising gas discovery which later became a seasonal gas storage field, so I think I was probably proved correct. Unfortunately I never published the name Sodor Basin outside of the thesis, shame on me. I never revisited the area so I am not sure how things stand at the moment. The only books I would buy today would be the original Reverend's stories.
Paul
Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
My own Awdry experience was seeing the Rev W Awdry with a small portable narrow gauge layout at a model railway show in Oxford I visited with my dad way back in the mid 1970's.
As an aside on the E2 - back in the mists of time during my 4mm days I purchased an E2, extended the tanks cut from another E2 body I acquired, lowered the cab roof by about 1.5mm and painted it black (Rolling Stones?). This is the only photo I have left (the signal box behind was scratchbuilt based on a LBSC prototype).
I later improved the model by fitting an Alan Gibson chassis and wheels, and extended the front buffer beam end/valance by a few mm to correct the appearance.
As I recall I believe Hornby modified this E2 mould to make their original Thomas mould - thereby trashing it so no further E2 models could be produced. I could be mistaken but I'm sure there was some comment about this in the model railway press at the time.
As an aside on the E2 - back in the mists of time during my 4mm days I purchased an E2, extended the tanks cut from another E2 body I acquired, lowered the cab roof by about 1.5mm and painted it black (Rolling Stones?). This is the only photo I have left (the signal box behind was scratchbuilt based on a LBSC prototype).
I later improved the model by fitting an Alan Gibson chassis and wheels, and extended the front buffer beam end/valance by a few mm to correct the appearance.
As I recall I believe Hornby modified this E2 mould to make their original Thomas mould - thereby trashing it so no further E2 models could be produced. I could be mistaken but I'm sure there was some comment about this in the model railway press at the time.
AJC
Western Thunderer
Yes, that's about right. The big changes are the splashers, chimney and the cab moulding - you could arrive at a 'proper' E2 from Thomas but it'd be a bit more work even than you did. I think I'd scratchbuild...
Adam
AJC
Western Thunderer
Thomas has re-emerged: I was in the mood for some plastic fabrication. So he’s gained the beginnings of some tank fillers and a new cab, the latter a bit wider than the original (Revd Awdry did the same to his E2 apparently). I’ve made provision for pipe work because the point is that he should look plausible, if not a precise depiction of the Brighton original or a physical rendering of the vagaries of Awdry's illustrators, who appear to have been united in not knowing what an injector looks like or, in some cases, failing to draw the tank fillers in.
At the front end, I splashed out on a couple of smokebox mounted lubricators and have added the union for the ejector(?) mounting. This is familiar from my earlier Terrier and it seems that the pipework is in a similar sort of position: 4mm - Brighton Works - An EM Terrier
Adam
At the front end, I splashed out on a couple of smokebox mounted lubricators and have added the union for the ejector(?) mounting. This is familiar from my earlier Terrier and it seems that the pipework is in a similar sort of position: 4mm - Brighton Works - An EM Terrier
Adam
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AJC
Western Thunderer
A quick bit of work while the toddler is asleep, and the very much second hand Jinty chassis has been refreshed with new spacers (so it’s square, which it wasn’t - twenty odd years of storage and stripping hadn't been kind to Bob Alderman's work) and some 2x1 angle added at the top to make up the height for the raised footplate. I’ll add some overlays to sort out the front and rear profiles and we can think about making it go.
That’s the profiles sorted, I’ll have to see if the holes for plunger pick ups are visible behind the wheels later on.
That's by the by: more important at this point is to get some pick ups fitted to my B4 so that it runs on its own.
Adam
PS - at the back of a drawer I found this near complete Cambrian Railways brake. I’m not really sure why I built this now, but it was abandoned because I had no use for it. No longer - it will serve as a brake for Thomas’s outings.
That’s the profiles sorted, I’ll have to see if the holes for plunger pick ups are visible behind the wheels later on.
That's by the by: more important at this point is to get some pick ups fitted to my B4 so that it runs on its own.
Adam
PS - at the back of a drawer I found this near complete Cambrian Railways brake. I’m not really sure why I built this now, but it was abandoned because I had no use for it. No longer - it will serve as a brake for Thomas’s outings.
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AJC
Western Thunderer
One of my rules for this project (made to be broken), is to keep expenditure to a minimum.
It might not look like that in this picture but the fancy etched coal rails really are spares from a Brassmaster’s detail etch for a Jinty! The Jinty itself isn't finished, but my use of details from the etch for that purpose is. The cab steps are from the bits box, and the lamp irons from Dapol’s B4 (my chosen prototype for that loco had a different pattern). These peg into a hole so should be durable. Sodor being ‘normal’ in lamp iron terms, I had enough for the smoke box too. Could I resist a dangling pep' pipe? Of course not.
Oh yes, and the 5 thou’ represents plating up a rusting out bunker. The workshop foreman rolled his eyes at that…
Adam
It might not look like that in this picture but the fancy etched coal rails really are spares from a Brassmaster’s detail etch for a Jinty! The Jinty itself isn't finished, but my use of details from the etch for that purpose is. The cab steps are from the bits box, and the lamp irons from Dapol’s B4 (my chosen prototype for that loco had a different pattern). These peg into a hole so should be durable. Sodor being ‘normal’ in lamp iron terms, I had enough for the smoke box too. Could I resist a dangling pep' pipe? Of course not.
Oh yes, and the 5 thou’ represents plating up a rusting out bunker. The workshop foreman rolled his eyes at that…
Adam
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AJC
Western Thunderer
I’ve spent a bit of time setting up the chassis this week and that's meant actually spending some money. This meant a new set of MJT hornguides and bearings - Bob’s compensation beam has been retained but I’ve replaced the rods with new ones from @Dave F.’s Lanarkshire Models - and I’ve set out brake fixings (shoes and hangers from the spares box) along with a nice set of whitemetal sandboxes (meant for an Austerity, a quick win there).
Oh and an ashpan, that at least was knocked up from scraps in keeping with the limited cost intent of the project, much like the wheels which were bought in error a decade back. They come in at 4' 3" rather than Brighton's 4' 6" or Crewe's 4' 7 1/2" which isn't really noticeable and removes any need for splashers. Yes, those are Romford type crankpins on Gibson wheels - Mike Edge suggested this approach (though I'm sure I've read about it before elsewhere) so I'm going to give it a try here as Gibson crankpins can be a right faff.
Above the footplate we’re almost there. Thomas, but not as we generally know him. I should probably make it go next.
Adam
Oh and an ashpan, that at least was knocked up from scraps in keeping with the limited cost intent of the project, much like the wheels which were bought in error a decade back. They come in at 4' 3" rather than Brighton's 4' 6" or Crewe's 4' 7 1/2" which isn't really noticeable and removes any need for splashers. Yes, those are Romford type crankpins on Gibson wheels - Mike Edge suggested this approach (though I'm sure I've read about it before elsewhere) so I'm going to give it a try here as Gibson crankpins can be a right faff.
Above the footplate we’re almost there. Thomas, but not as we generally know him. I should probably make it go next.
Adam
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AJC
Western Thunderer
And finally, the chassis has had the brake gear added, including the slightly eccentric placing of the handbrake linkage carried over from the E2. The brakeshoes and linkages form a separate assembly and I've remembered to add a mounting plate for the motor. A set of self-quartering Scalelink wheels I use for testing showed that all was well in that respect and so now it's blackened and ready for paint.
Adam
PS - No, I won't be adding springs on the front axles - they're invisible with the small wheels and make fitting pick ups a lot more difficult.
Adam
PS - No, I won't be adding springs on the front axles - they're invisible with the small wheels and make fitting pick ups a lot more difficult.
Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
Only ungainly in non-LBSC eyes 
- it was quite a modern looking engine in 1914.
At least you're enjoying it. Making it up as you go along and using odd bits left over from other projects - which I suspect makes a change from building prototype models. As long as it looks like Thomas when finished and it'll also probably end up being the best running loco in your collection
.
Of the original E2s the second batch of 5 had the extended tanks and a slightly longer overall length. The entire class of 10 appeared sleeker after the SR modifications to bring them within the composite loading gauge, steps cut back, whistle moved from the cab roof and the cab roof gutters cut back.
- it was quite a modern looking engine in 1914.At least you're enjoying it. Making it up as you go along and using odd bits left over from other projects - which I suspect makes a change from building prototype models. As long as it looks like Thomas when finished and it'll also probably end up being the best running loco in your collection
.Of the original E2s the second batch of 5 had the extended tanks and a slightly longer overall length. The entire class of 10 appeared sleeker after the SR modifications to bring them within the composite loading gauge, steps cut back, whistle moved from the cab roof and the cab roof gutters cut back.
AJC
Western Thunderer
AJC
Western Thunderer
After quite a difficult time seeking out suitable shades of blue, a certain tank engine is developing something akin to a paintjob.
It turns out that I had appropriate lining transfers - the figure ‘1’ will get a drop shadow later in the process (it’s an LMS transfer), and yes, I’ll repair the cab handrails…
Adam
It turns out that I had appropriate lining transfers - the figure ‘1’ will get a drop shadow later in the process (it’s an LMS transfer), and yes, I’ll repair the cab handrails…
Adam
AJC
Western Thunderer
It’s Christmas, and all through the house… Thomas stirs. His brake gear is binding and shorting but we can resolve that (the temporary fix is obvious in the pictures!). I have a plan for pick ups for the rear wheels, too, but the snagging list is otherwise relatively short for a first round of powered testing.
His top speed is possibly a little shy of 50 scale MPH, and he’d benefit from a flywheel, but that’s more than plenty.
Happy Christmas, one and all.
Adam
His top speed is possibly a little shy of 50 scale MPH, and he’d benefit from a flywheel, but that’s more than plenty.
Happy Christmas, one and all.
Adam
AJC
Western Thunderer
Thomas has not been sighted for some time but there are rumours that he has been released to traffic from Crewe:
Railway Observer, 10 May 1949
Tidmouth, Sodor. The effects of nationalisation on the North Western Railway - whose status with relation to the British Transport Commission is still disputed - are mixed. The larger locomotives of the company, numbers 3, 4, and 5, are apparently in store at Tidmouth together with the majority of the coaching stock, many passenger services being suspended including on the branches to Arlesburgh and Farquhar. Through traffic on the ‘main’ line is in the hands of Barrow’s allocation of LM&SR’s class 5s and some of the remaining Furness 0-6-0s. I am led to believe that a number of the company’s smaller engines remain at work including number 6 around Tidmouth harbour.
Revd W.V. Awdry
Railway Observer, 10 May 1949
Tidmouth, Sodor. The effects of nationalisation on the North Western Railway - whose status with relation to the British Transport Commission is still disputed - are mixed. The larger locomotives of the company, numbers 3, 4, and 5, are apparently in store at Tidmouth together with the majority of the coaching stock, many passenger services being suspended including on the branches to Arlesburgh and Farquhar. Through traffic on the ‘main’ line is in the hands of Barrow’s allocation of LM&SR’s class 5s and some of the remaining Furness 0-6-0s. I am led to believe that a number of the company’s smaller engines remain at work including number 6 around Tidmouth harbour.
Revd W.V. Awdry
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AJC
Western Thunderer
From the papers of the Revd E.W. Boston, Narrow Gauge Railway Museum, Tywyn (on loan from the Record Office of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland).
11 May 1949, Bell Hotel, Knapford
Dear Teddy,
I trust life as a curate is not treating you too badly. I am, as I think I told you, away on Sodor before heading down to Towyn. Tidmouth, and the NWR, to my surprise, is not yet wholly under the yoke of the Midland Region. The larger engines, ‘Henry’, ‘James’ and - sadly - ‘Gordon’ present a sorry spectacle at the back of Tidmouth shed yard. One fears for their future, alas, and also for the attractive branches in the island. Some good news, however. In the absence of a train to take me up to Farquhar, I braved the bus to Knapford and was surprised and not a little pleased, to find ‘Thomas’, NWR no. 1, in fine fettle, marshalling the branch goods for Farquhar and looking very well having been recently overhauled. I have, naturally, taken a few pictures, which I shall share later. He remains a very useful engine, as he was when I first met him before the War, and for many years to come, I hope.
With all best wishes,
Wilbert
11 May 1949, Bell Hotel, Knapford
Dear Teddy,
I trust life as a curate is not treating you too badly. I am, as I think I told you, away on Sodor before heading down to Towyn. Tidmouth, and the NWR, to my surprise, is not yet wholly under the yoke of the Midland Region. The larger engines, ‘Henry’, ‘James’ and - sadly - ‘Gordon’ present a sorry spectacle at the back of Tidmouth shed yard. One fears for their future, alas, and also for the attractive branches in the island. Some good news, however. In the absence of a train to take me up to Farquhar, I braved the bus to Knapford and was surprised and not a little pleased, to find ‘Thomas’, NWR no. 1, in fine fettle, marshalling the branch goods for Farquhar and looking very well having been recently overhauled. I have, naturally, taken a few pictures, which I shall share later. He remains a very useful engine, as he was when I first met him before the War, and for many years to come, I hope.
With all best wishes,
Wilbert
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