The Muir Hill Saga

Ian_T

Ian_T

Western Thunderer
I asked earlier today what everyone was doing and then mangaged to divert the thread into other (non-Gauge 3) areas....

As a smalI penance, I thought some here might be mildly interested in one of my 'Butterfly' projects (e.g. the unfinished ones) and decided that the Muir Hill might be a good place to start. In May 1996, 'Modelling Railways Illustrated' (now long defunct) published some plans for a tiny 4mm loco based on a Tenshodo bogie. The article was called "The Muir-Hill Project" and I thought at the time that it would make an interesting small G3 engine. So (some years later) I made a chassis based on the drawings in 1.5mm mild steel.

Muir Hill Frames 1.JPGMuir Buffer Plate 2.JPG001.JPG

It progressed a little further than this but (as usual) I was diverted onto something else (which I think was probably the Sentiel 4wVBT Mike...) and the Muir Hill was put to one side...

The MH story didn't end there, although some time passed before I returned to it - but perhaps that's enough for tonight. :)

Take care everyone..

Regards,

IanT
 
Ian_T

Ian_T

Western Thunderer
Before moving on to more recent events, I will just remark something on my first MH frame.

I have used 'angle' iron sections to join side frames to buffer beams on other builds but it is often not 'square' (a true right angle) as supplied, so can distort the frame when assembled. Where possible I think it's easier to use square material which usually needs less work to make true. The materials corners may be rounded but the actual surfaces are usually square to each other. Soft iron rivets are also easy use (& fit) and provide a permanent and robust joint. As you may have noticed above, I used an old wood countersink to prep the buffer holes for riveting and you can get away with this in mild steel if you keep the speed low by turning it gently by hand. I have a tool designed for metal these days but clearly not back then (or quite possibly, couldn't find it quickly)

I'm not that great at hand filing but it doesn't take too long (or much skill) to file the rivets flat into their countersinks and once sprayed/painted they will be invisible. Much better than seeing slotted screw heads in a model...

Regards,

IanT

004.JPG
 
Ian_T

Ian_T

Western Thunderer
It's well over 20 years since I first looked into this little engine Adrian.

I couldn't find any photos of the loco at that time but did discover that there was a A5 booklet published by Alan T. Condie and authored by E. L. Briggs called "Muir-Hill Album - Vintage Machinery Monographs No 1".

It was out of print but I was able to request a copy from my local library (something always worth trying!) and eventually they obtained a copy for me. It wasn't a very good print and only had three (poor quality) images of the Muir-Hill NC, none of them good enough to see the small detail. One of the photos was of a 1927 loco shunting at WD & HO Wills factory in Bristol. I also found some photos of a 4mm white metal kit from Branchlines but I don't recall finding any original images of the actual engine unfortunately. However, I have it in mind that the loco's construction involved quite a lot of welding, although I don't recall where I read/heard this "fact" now.

So you may well be right about the rivet detail, they may have been there but it's not possible to see any rivet detail from the images I have.
I'd be very happy if anyone reading this has some good photos of one of these small locos of course! (fingers crosed) :)

Regards,


IanT
 
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