ScR steam in the 50's

Great pic's there. I think I've said before, how your back scene blends in so well. If so, I'll say it again.

Well, the site appears to be working for the moment…too much to go into at the moment, but I spent a good deal of lockdown exploring a long mused tangent about an alternative approach to the BR Standards, where the LMS had less of a monopoly on loco types and Gresley's explorations in to 2-6-2's developed to fruition. Here is one of the imaginations - a lightweight 2-6-2 based on the Ivatt 2-6-0.

Wow - you've got to tell us how you did that Richard - is it a kit or scratch built ?  I can't see the join anywhere ……………

A general hack about.. I'm in the throes of finalising more or less a dozen of these figments, and I'll expand on it all in due course. I want to get them all done and dusted without any further distractions. It was a lockdown project of something that I had been chewing over for decades - an alternative line of LMS and BR loco development if things had been a little different - and I had accumulated a stock of bodies and chassis at prices now little more than you pay for a wagon; I don't really like doing stuffed what if's; rather see them running. I'll be back….

Richard,
          Playing catch-up here as I've not been on the site much lately.WOW!!! That loco is an absolute beauty! It reminds me of a Stanier mogul that's been stretched,but there is a strong element of an Ivatt 'Mickey Mouse' in there too! I know it never existed in reality,but its a damn shame it didn't! Superb modelling as usual.

Cheers,John.B.

Thanks. It's basically an Ivatt 2MT body with extended smoke and fireboxes., might have added some more boiler section as well but can't remember now as the whole batch was done in off and on bursts and had mods added as I went along. The tender is the 2A, I think; decided it needed someting beefier than the one that was fitted to the 2MT's. The rear bogie is fixed, with Comet axle box and plasticard framing and a flangeless glued in plastic set of wheels. I have done one or two with pivoting bogies but after some though and seeing how little movement there is in the real thing I plumped for this option. Fortunatlely  all main curves on the layout are out of direct sight so it passes muster and avoids unsightly gaps  to allow any movement. Here is a later shot with more work done on it - I see I still have to tone down the cylinders .

That could so easily be a real scene - looks brilliant Richard.

Another long time plan had been to model the almost was BR 2-8-2 that was dropped for the 2-10-0 and two previous abortive starts were made on this over the decades, but this time I took a less prescriptive approach and used a BR Clan body and a much hacked about Hornby P2 chassis to get a running model. I have left the P2 valve gear as it is for the mo but if I can get a set of Walshaerts from Hornby as a spare I might  change it sometime. here it is, and a handsome beast to my eye.

Another job ticked off - some wooden ex PO wagons - started some time ago and relegated to a storage box. A mix of three or four makes but now ready to roll…

Forgot to add that the 2-8-2 was rewheeled to,IIR, 5'8" drivers…

A lovely set of photos there. Very skilfull work. Thanks for posting.

Richard,
           I'm loving these "what if…"locos.They look so plausible too.Very clever and very creative of you to bring these to life.Amazing modelling!

Cheers,John.B.

Fantastic paint job on those wagons Richard. 

Your "photo studio" looks fabulous - I think I may have asked before but is the track hand built ?

Petermac said

Fantastic paint job on those wagons Richard. 

Your "photo studio" looks fabulous - I think I may have asked before but is the track hand built ?

From “Post #290,207”, 13th May 2024, 11:53 am

Thanks - the track is C&L 00 bullhead and the points are Peco large radius bullhead, having replaced Code 75  Streamline FB with added chairs over the last two years. They still aren't really prototypical, and I almost went for the Finetrax point kits, but the Unifrogs work perfectly and it would have meant a lot of disruption  to adjust the point motors to suit the different geometry, plus I am aware of the fact that the decades are far  behind me now and I have to stop this continual altering  and building and get on with what I have…. Having said that, I am very pleased with the improvement in looks of the trackwork with the larger radius compared to the previous medium ones. Here are a couple of shots showing the new set up.

I really like the look of those points without hinges. That alone makes them more realistic.

peterm said

I really like the look of those points without hinges. That alone makes them more realistic.

From “Post #290,214”, 15th May 2024, 3:11 am

Seconded, trackwork looks really good  

Ed

Yes, using "00" track makes a huge visual difference. After years of medium radius points, when Peco brought out their large radius Bullhead range I realised that they were only a couple of inches longer than the medium ones  and as there are no sharp curves immediately near them, the improvement in appearance was more than worthwhile…