An Unexpected Veteran

[Old Man Aaron]

Separated from my workshop, and with the railway on hold until I can escape these temporary living arrangements, I wasn't planning on doing another loco this year.

But for the chance tip-off that a pair of WWI Baldwins were available at a price I couldn't ignore, I finally had an upside to modelling 32mm in Australia!

On the left is a Wrightscale, the other, Accucraft.
While I'd sworn off the latter brand, the pair were cheap enough I'd not lose money moving it on, if it turned out to be another Accu-Dud.

06/06/2026
While we don't have a Baldwin at Woodford, we do have the other Western Front 4-6-0T..

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The Wrightscale is as you'd expect, a work of art.
And also as you'd expect, a nightmare to work on.
Runs beautifully on air, but the filler clack under the footplate is stuck open, and I gave up getting to it when I realised the tanks and boiler also needed to come off, after half a day's battle to remove the cab and bunker.
Re-assembled, I'll save that one for another day..


The Accucraft on the other hand - if it works - I thought might make a good birthday present for the nephew - to live in my shed for safekeeping, of course..
Unfortunately, a frankly long-overdue falling out with his mother, put paid to that idea. Think "Harry & Megan"...

Well in any case, after years of watching others run their Accucraft locos almost trouble-free, I seem to have finally got a good one!
Burner is quiet, stable and lights easily. Engine is well run-in and ticks over smoothly on steam.
And weathered, no less. Not a half-bad job either.

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More to come..

[LNR]

Good to see you back into it Aaron, be watching with interest.
Grant.

[Peter Butler]

A heart warming story Aaron, congratulations on having some good luck, you deserve it!

[Old Man Aaron]

23/06/26
Oh look, it's the 1970s, and every loco needs a tacky diamond spark arrestor stuck on, because apparently everything is a Wild West Train.
Seriously though, you knew this loco wasn't going to remain stock for long..
It's another sugar mill bash.
Like the Hunslets and Simplexes of the Great War, a handful of Baldwins found their way to the canefields.
The last example in Australia later ran at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast from the 1970s, through around 2020 - Shedmate to the Perry that now calls my local heritage line at Woodford, it's home.

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30/06/26
Besides improvised workshop facilities, I don't feel like spending a year on this one - would also like to bring it to the WinterSun Steamup in a month's time, so I'd best get going.
I've fancied doing a loco without headlights for a while, so now's the time for that.
Besides a quick turnaround, I'm trying not to disturb a well-running loco. The burner in particular I didn't want to touch, but it had to come out to get the cab off. The paint was impervious to thinners and paint strippper. Only acetone (barely) worked.

My old-school copper soldering iron was very helpful in extending the cab.
Need to keep an eye out for some smaller ones at a sensible price..

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01/07/26
I always fancied those weird visors on the Baldwins and other European locos - Hell, I nearly bought a stainless pair for my Model A headlights.
I digress once again..

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[Old Man Aaron]

Much appreciated gents, very kind of you to say.


01/07/26
Very happy with how the visors came out. I can also confirm they make excellent decorative covers for your big toe nails - not that I'd post that photo here, not for free anyway..

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Extending the roof itself came out a bit sloppy - I really need to invest in a pile of toolmakers clamps, and a benchtop sheet roller.
Planning a batch of Hudswell 0-6-0s down the line, as it were, I'll need them for that project anyway..

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The roof will be clad in corrugated iron, and iron-faced dumb buffers fitted. Paint green and weather the hell out of it, requisite chuffer and TTD valve spindles on order..

[GTB]

Lucky you, an Accucraft that runs well!

How did you learn how to use a non-electric soldering iron? I watched my father use the things, but I never picked up the knack. Now that Accucraft seem to be using stainless for bodywork, we'll probably need to use a TIG welder to kitbash the things......

A tip for the future. Septone Paint Stripper is industrial strength for panel beating work and it easily removes the paint that Roundhouse and Accucraft use on their steam locos. Evil stuff to use though, as it contains dichloromethane and phenol. I bought my tin from the local SuperCheap Auto branch.

You can never have too many clamps for model building. I had to make a batch of small toolmakers clamps in brass, as I could only find steel ones. The small brass 6" sash clamps available through the model trade are also useful.

The extended cab and spark arrestor have made it look like it would now be more at home on a cane tram than on the Western Front.

Graeme

[LNR]

Hi Aaron, am sending you a PM
Grant.

[Mitch stack]

Separated from my workshop, and with the railway on hold until I can escape these temporary living arrangements, I wasn't planning on doing another loco this year.

But for the chance tip-off that a pair of WWI Baldwins were available at a price I couldn't ignore, I finally had an upside to modelling 32mm in Australia!

On the left is a Wrightscale, the other, Accucraft.
While I'd sworn off the latter brand, the pair were cheap enough I'd not lose money moving it on, if it turned out to be another Accu-Dud.

06/06/2026
While we don't have a Baldwin at Woodford, we do have the other Western Front 4-6-0T..
IMG_20260606_112341236_HDR.jpg


The Wrightscale is as you'd expect, a work of art.
And also as you'd expect, a nightmare to work on.
Runs beautifully on air, but the filler clack under the footplate is stuck open, and I gave up getting to it when I realised the tanks and boiler also needed to come off, after half a day's battle to remove the cab and bunker.
Re-assembled, I'll save that one another day..


The Accucraft on the other hand - if it works - I thought might make a good birthday present for the nephew - to live in my shed for safekeeping, of course..
Unfortunately, a frankly long-overdue falling out with his mother, put paid to that idea. Think "Harry & Megan"...

Well in any case, after years of watching others run their Accucraft locos almost trouble-free, I seem to have finally got a good one!
Burner is quiet, stable and lights easily. Engine is well run-in and ticks over smoothly on steam.
And weathered, no less. Not a half-bad job either.
IMG_20260608_164834006_HDR.jpg


More to come..

Great work Aaron, having seen both engines at the southern highlands steam up, I can say you have gotten a good deal
Looking forward to seeing more.

[Old Man Aaron]

I'd best to get to Supercheap on Friday, then..

Still figuring out how to use these lump irons I'm afraid. Just throwing things at the wall to see what sticks!

A corrugated roof was made in the usual manner and glued over the original roof.
The holes to attach the kerosene headlight to its bracket, were soldered up and the bracket refitted.
Dumb buffers were made from oak and faced with extra buffer plates from the cane truck project.
Like the prototype, these were bolted to the headstocks.

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13/07/26
While I realise the chesspiece-looking knub atop the sand dome would've been a manufacturing compromise at Accucraft, it couldn't be left like that..
Filed off, drilled out, and a more Baldwin-like replacement turned, as I did my old Ruby many years ago.

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The whistle didn't look like any I've seen, and was similarly reworked.
And yes, I did have to anneal and bend the arm back after the parting tool knocked it.

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[Old Man Aaron]

14/07/26
With just over a fortnight to finish the loco, I'd best get it painted and (heavily) weathered.
A quick re-wipe with meths, and the loco was gone over in black etch primer. I didn't know if it would react with the existing paint, but have had good luck with this stuff and was willing to gamble.
Low gloss black engine enamel over the top.

Normally I'd strip the lacquer from the cab fittings and chemically blacken them. This time I just black etch-primed them.

After drying overnight, the loco was somewhat tediously masked off to paint the motion, headstocks and smokebox in-situ. This worked pretty well, and for a loco to be heavily weathered, I'd do it again in future.

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15/07/26
Looks a bit garish, but the green and red I use will mellow out as they cure.
The red didn't cover real well, but again, heavy grime will play nice with that.
The roof was hit with a "cold galvanising" zinc-rich paint as a basecoat.

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I've since painted the interior in the usual cream (though maybe I should've made it WD black for a change) and am working on reassembling the loco.

[Preseli Chris]

Aaron
That paint job looks really good. And the red motion contrasts really well with the green bodywork. Don't know what the wintertime temperatures are in Oz at the moment but here in the UK it's too hot for me to attempt painting my engine hoping to have a crack at it once the heat wave has passed.

Chris