L & B Ragleth !

MDLR · Post by **MDLR** » Wed Mar 05, 2014 9:44 pm

Very nice indeed!

Snailrail · Post by **Snailrail** » Wed Mar 05, 2014 9:46 pm

paullad1984:97377 wrote:I wonder what a lawley based version would look like....

Even better ! If I'd known I would end up doing this I would have bought a Lawley power unit instead while they were still available. Could even be converted to a 2-6-2 with a bit of work.

Thanks for the kind words

Brian

Post by **philipy** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 6:22 am

Amazing piece of work, thanks for showing us. My poor Ragleth is now sulking in the box saying, "When I grow up, I wanna be..."!!!

kandnwlr · Post by **kandnwlr** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 10:26 am

williamfj:96531 wrote:Wow, that is a seriously good looking loco. I believe Accucraft run a competition at the Peterborough for locos built with their power units, something to consider?

Couldn´t agree more. A very attractive little loco.

SpudUk · Post by **SpudUk** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 3:08 pm

You're going to be inundated with orders for the body kit now! Best get building

Keith S · Post by **Keith S** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 8:40 pm

Snailrail:97371 wrote: As I mentioned before it looks a bit overscale for the coaches, which is a shame, but unavoidable when designed round a Ragleth.

Brian

It might be a tiny bit over scale (for all I know) but I have noticed that even in real life the locomotives tower over the coaches somewhat, due to the coaches sitting so low on their bogies. If you look at the size of the doorway on the cab and compare it to the size of the doors on the coach, they are pretty comparable. It's just that the locomotive's footplate is much higher off the ground than the floor of the coach. I would say it looks about right, really. I guess in real life Ragleth would be a largish engine, but I still think it looks fine, to me at least. What a nice job you've done of it.

kandnwlr · Post by **kandnwlr** » Fri Mar 07, 2014 5:56 am

Keith S:97427 wrote:
Snailrail:97371 wrote: As I mentioned before it looks a bit overscale for the coaches, which is a shame, but unavoidable when designed round a Ragleth.

Brian
It might be a tiny bit over scale (for all I know) but I have noticed that even in real life the locomotives tower over the coaches somewhat, due to the coaches sitting so low on their bogies. If you look at the size of the doorway on the cab and compare it to the size of the doors on the coach, they are pretty comparable. It's just that the locomotive's footplate is much higher off the ground than the floor of the coach. I would say it looks about right, really. I guess in real life Ragleth would be a largish engine, but I still think it looks fine, to me at least. What a nice job you've done of it.

Stick a 1:19 driver on the footplate and let´s have a look

Keith S · Post by **Keith S** » Fri Mar 07, 2014 3:04 pm

There are lots of pictures online of Ragleths with little figures on them; they look OK to me. I have no doubt that these engines are considered to be rather over-scale, it's my opinion that in this case the effect isn't all that noticeable to me. A lot of narrow gauge engines are a lot taller than their coaches.

MuzTrem · Post by **MuzTrem** » Sat Mar 08, 2014 2:39 pm

Keith S:97449 wrote:I have no doubt that these engines are considered to be rather over-scale, it's my opinion that in this case the effect isn't all that noticeable to me.

The Accucraft Edrig was certainly over-scale. My friend used to own one, and it was noticeably larger (in height and width) than my Russell - and the latter is, of course, a fairly beefy prototype. Then again, since we both run on 45mm one could argue that it is actually Russell which is too small for our lines!

(See here for some photos of the two running together. The look good in some, but in others the size difference is very noticeable; it all depends on the angle of the shot!)

Ultimately, it is your railway and it is up to you to decide what looks "right" - or whether you can live with it if it doesn't!

Keith S · Post by **Keith S** » Sat Mar 08, 2014 3:25 pm

Well, I'm only speaking from the point of view of someone who has never seen a real narrow-gauge train OR another 16mm scale one, other than my own, in real life. They all look fine to me! My train would probably look very silly to you guys. I think there might even be different scales on mine.

MuzTrem · Post by **MuzTrem** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 4:16 pm

Keith S:97480 wrote:I think there might even be different scales on mine.

There are certainly different scales on mine! At various times the MVR has operated stock to 1:22.5 (13.5mm), 1:20.3 (15mm), and 1:19 (16mm) scales, representing 2', 2'6", 3' and even standard gauge prototypes. Picking stock that looks "right" together is more an art than a science IMHO!

Snailrail · Post by **Snailrail** » Sun Mar 09, 2014 5:40 pm

This is the first time I've actually directly compared it with the real thing. I thought the Ragleth footplate was noticably higher than Lew's but in fact there's nothing much in it. It's the boiler that stands a lot taller and the side tanks had to be tailored to that.

The cab also had to be high enough to clear the water filler although I could actually have made the sides 5mm lower and reduced the curvature on the roof a tad, in which case it would have been fairly spot on, although that might have upset the overall proportions which I think are ok if you look at it on its own.

I'm certainly not going to change it now, it was an interesting project as a first go at scratch building a body and I'm well satisfied with it.

I suppose I could always forget the L & B connection and repaint it in completely different colours, then it wouldn't matter at all . . . .

Brian

Keith S · Post by **Keith S** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 1:45 am

Well, I think it looks great.

Whosk · Post by **Whosk** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 3:20 am

Who are the drivers? do they want to migrate to Australia? good 16mm drivers are hard to find in Australia!

Wayne

JMORG · Post by **JMORG** » Wed Mar 12, 2014 3:39 pm

Looks incredible!!

One of the best conversions I've seen!

LnBmad · Post by **LnBmad** » Wed Mar 12, 2014 8:21 pm

Has had me looking at new clothes for 'the fox'

Sylvian Tennant · Post by **Sylvian Tennant** » Mon Mar 28, 2016 10:41 am

Wow - incredibly inspired now

merlin2 · Post by **merlin2** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 2:02 pm

I've only just come across this topic; the loco is superb, if that is a first attempt at scratch building then I am more than impressed with the skill displayed. You definitely have a talent.
As regards the proportions and size compared to the smaller loco, I prefer the Rag based loco - the cab is far more spacious and in 'real life' there is no reason why it shouldn't have been unless the line's loading gauge dictated otherwise.
I look forward to seeing your next project.

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