Old Baldwin No:2

[Annie]

Old Baldwin No:2 was built up from left over HLW bits, a New Bright loco chassis, plywood, wriggly tin and some Ozarks castings back when I first got the idea for the Kotanga Tramway.  That was even before I moved house to where I'm living now in a rural town in the Hauraki District so it was a while ago.
Moving on to now and old No:2's origins as a 'G' scale loco (Which is wot I was modelmaking in back then) weren't going to do on my present line so it was time for a rebuild.


By the power of blu-tac this is progress so far after a pleasant day spent model making in bed.  Not an entirely good place to do this sort of work as now my jim-jams are covered in fine sawdust and wood shavings.  BUT I had fun and that is all that counts.


Please forgive the cell phone photo, my good camera broke a while ago and I haven't replaced it yet.  Lots still to do with window frames, further cab woodwork and other details, but you get the idea of where I'm going with this.

Mr Knott has been very helpful as he is the full adult standard height for small folk inhabiting my layout, so if he fits under cab roofs and through doorways I know I've got the scale right.  A completely refreshing change in scale measurement methods after tormenting myself for too many years with P4  :)

[Annie]

By the way I should mention that with New Bright battery locos there are two kinds, one is a 2-6-0 and the other is a 2-6-2. The 2-6-0 if I remember correctly has a huge can motor that drives two axles via worm gears.
The other loco has a small can motor that drives one axle through a maze of small nylon gears. This loco is much more delicate in its internals and it's not a good idea to expect too much from it.

Old No:2 has the chassis with the big motor and double worm drive so she's pretty tough despite her toy train origins. And yes it is on the workshop job sheet to do something about No:2's toy looking coupling and connecting rods and those red wheels.

[Annie]

Some further progress has been made. Mr Knott is pointing to where the corner post for the cab has to go. I'm waiting on an order of stripwood to be delivered so I can make the corner posts. There's a small NZ company that cuts spruce to size and length for the microlight crowd and they do stripwood for model makers as a side line. Their prices are very good too.

Sill plenty for me to do though as I still need to make the other cabside and make and fit all the window frames.

I live with an auto-immune illness which affects my ability to concentrate as well as my hand and eye co-ordination in addition to all kinds of other fun symptoms. Making railway models by hand is wonderful therapy. Frustrating at times because I can only work at a slow pace and I get tired easily, but so darn rewarding when I see what I've been able to do at the end of the day.

[sstjc]

Like that a lot. Well done !
Barry

[Andrew]

That's coming along really nicely - keep up the good work!

All the best engines have a corrugated roof! Well, that one and "Daisy", my Regner...

Andrew.

[Annie]

Thanks Barry and Andrew Woodworks have been in touch with me so I should receive my order in a day or two, but in the meantime there is plenty to do.

Unfortunately I've run out of that corrugated iron Andrew. I used to have a roller setup made from the splined ends of a couple of scrap gearbox shafts, but I don't have it anymore. The source material is tinplate reclaimed from catering sized coffee cans and I did make a large amount of sheets of 'wriggly tin' that lasted me for years, but like all good things the supply came to an end