Garden Railway Forum

Part 1 - The bug bites again

I keep telling myself that I have more than enough locos ...... and then I see another loco which takes my fancy and, before you know it, I'm up to my eyes in plasticard. You may remember a few weeks ago I posted a video of a battery conversion which I had done for a customer. He had bashed an Otto into a half-cab loco.


Well it just so happened that I had picked up a rather tatty Otto a month or so earlier which had been sitting on the shelf in case I needed some spare parts for my other locos ..... It seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. Rik

Part 2 - Disassembly

Having dismantled a few of these in my time, before long the Otto was in pieces on the workbench

Part 3 - Hack it about a bit
Easy, I thought. All I have to do is chop the cab in half and the job is done!
Hmmmm..... I thought. It's OK, but it don't look right!
I could maybe add a dome - perhaps that would improve matters....?
Being a cheapskate, I filched the top off a bottle of sun tan cream which was actually the same size as the original dome - but a bit more dome-shaped.
Nope ..... not sure about that!

Part 4 - Back to the drawing board

At about that time, I happened to pick up a copy of Ivo Peters' OPC book on narrow gauge railways (The Narrow Gauge Charm of Yesteryear: A Pictorial Tribute; Peters, I; OPC; 1976) and in there were some pictures of the Ironstone Railways around Kettering - which included some pictures of a couple of Black Hawthorn 3' gauge 0-4-0 saddle tanks ...... which really caught my eye (Plates 89, 90, 99, 101, 106, 107, 108).

eg see
https://youtu.be/YVTQhpkAITo?t=984

After a bit of research I discovered that one of them, the imaginatively named 'Kettering Furnaces No. 3" was preserved at Penrhyn Castle - about an hour and a quarter's drive away. So, armed with my Box Brownie (or similar) I hot-footed it over to Bangor.
I decided to take around 70 photos from every conceivable angle. Never had a real loco to base my bashes on before!

Part 5 - Out comes the razor saw

So, back at base, the razor saw went into mad frenzied action.

...... and the tanks (now to become the bunkers) were shoved back a bit .....

....... and a saddle tank was fashioned out of plasticard.

My bashes are never exact scale models - I like to think they are 'inspired' by the originals and so rather than getting the micrometer and rivet-counter out, I tend to do things by eye. This is progress so far.
As you can see, there's still a fair bit to do. That cab-front/spectacle plate is the next highly distinctive feature. I think that'll have to be brass sheet if it's to survive the maulings and occasional earth-plummets which happen on the Peckforton Light Railway.

Rik

Like you Rik I take inspiration from the prototype and then use my artistic licence to create my railway models...

Rik, the 'Narrow Gauge Charm of Yesteryear' book is one of my longstanding inspirational books too, it gives me so many ideas from Ivo's wonderful photographic collection. Your new creation looks to be progressing nicely and will no doubt be a welcome addition to the fleet. The cab design is a thing of beauty and should stand alone against your other locos.

Shall be following this build with interest Rik. Wouldn't mind a bob for every time I've looked at the Kettering Furnaces No.3 loco pics. and videos.
Grant.

Hi Rik,

Looking really good. I love the loco that's providing the inspiration. The Kettering systems were quite fascinating. You're doing justice to the original with your efforts. I look forward to seeing the completed loco.

Andrew

tom_tom_go wrote: Wed Aug 09, 2017 9:57 pm Like you Rik I take inspiration from the prototype and then use my artistic licence to create my railway models...

Thanks Tom. Garden railways would be dull places without a bit of 'artistic licence' (and a rubber ruler).......

Rik

Peter Butler wrote: Wed Aug 09, 2017 10:11 pm Rik, the 'Narrow Gauge Charm of Yesteryear' book is one of my longstanding inspirational books too, it gives me so many ideas from Ivo's wonderful photographic collection. Your new creation looks to be progressing nicely and will no doubt be a welcome addition to the fleet. The cab design is a thing of beauty and should stand alone against your other locos.

My mate in Oz says she has the look of an Emett loco about her - I wonder if it's what inspired him??

Rik

LNR wrote: Thu Aug 10, 2017 1:10 am Shall be following this build with interest Rik. Wouldn't mind a bob for every time I've looked at the Kettering Furnaces No.3 loco pics. and videos.
Grant.

I do like the slow and steady chuff of the one in the video - it's the sort of pace and feel I like to try and recreate on my railway. When she's finished she might be seen hauling a train of skips to and from the copper mine. My ex-LGB skips do look a bit too neat and tidy by comparison, though.

Rik

Soar Valley Light wrote: Fri Aug 11, 2017 7:32 pm Hi Rik,
Looking really good. I love the loco that's providing the inspiration. The Kettering systems were quite fascinating. You're doing justice to the original with your efforts.

Thanks Andrew.
I am a bit of a sucker for slightly out of the ordinary prototypes - which is one of the things I love about bashing and scratch-building - making something which won't be seen on any other railway.

Soar Valley Light wrote: Fri Aug 11, 2017 7:32 pm I look forward to seeing the completed loco.
Andrew

You're not alone there ........ my bashes are always a voyage of (self) discovery .......

Rik

Part 6 - Running plate
A bit more progress. Decided the running plate (and footplate) were more important than the cab front as so much else depends on it.
May not look like a lot of progress, but actually took quite a bit of prototyping before I got it (more or less) right. Where would we be without cereal box cardboard?
You may have noticed that (for now) the side tanks have gone. I realised that, if I was to retain the clean lines of the original, these needed to be raised as did the footplate. Now I've got the datum line of the footplate/running plate, I can get the other bits looking right.
Rik

Please keep this thread going it is brilliant.
People kindly say they enjoy my coach building blogs (which have ground to a halt at the moment due to decorating duties but thats another story) but i am loving this.
I wonder what i could use for the basis of a Snowdon Ranger.
David

Sometimes it can take hours worth of work to achieve what seems very little when you come to post it so I know how you feel Rik.

Please keep the updates coming!

Thanks for the encouragement, folks.

I'll keep you posted as to developments - but the sun is actually struggling through at the moment so, who knows, I might be able to get out into the garden ......

Rik

That prototype should make a lovely model. Looking forward to following this on holiday.

Part 7 - Making a spectacle (of myself!)

A couple of jobs needed to be done before I could make a start on the spectacle plate. Firstly, I needed to finish off the running board. It needed a 0.5mm thick 'plate' over the entire surface, and the sides needed some reinforcement. At the same time, I added the front buffer beam, which required some remodelling of the original buffer beam and coupling mount.
I then needed to re-affix the side tanks (ie the new coal bunkers). These required a fair bit of work before they could be fixed into place. They needed to be lopped off at the bottom, they needed to be opened out at the top and they needed around 1mm shaved off the back so they wouldn't overlap the sides of the running plate.
I could then start work on the spectacle plate, which had to be fashioned from brass sheet. As I had only a 2" wide sheet of the right gauge to hand, this dictated the width - besides which it looked in proportion with the original. It was marked up, drilled and filed to shape.
Although it's correctly proportioned in terms of the prototype, I'm not convinced it looks right on the Otto bash, which is a fair bit wider than Kettering Furnaces No.3
I'm now wondering whether to make a wider version. I think a bit more cereal-box cardboard prototyping is on the cards (sorry about the pun!)
Rik

I can see what you are saying Rik about the spectacle plate. Sometimes as annoying as it is you get a better result if you start again.

While awaiting fresh supplies of brass, I thought I'd take a look at what the spectacle plate might look like 10mm wider. I think this is better proportioned for Otto.

Rik