We Need More Chassis

The cry went up 'We need more vehicle chassis for the yard'. So, here are another five.

This time it is the Thornycroft PB chassis, manufactured from 1926-1928. Perhaps a little early for the period of our Thornycroft Factory model but they are the vehicles shown loaded onto LOWMAC railway wagons in a photo from our reference book, a scene that we can now replicate.

The PB chassis is noted for its 'Forward Control' cab which covered part of the engine affording a larger payload area than previous models with the same wheelbase.

The wheels are of interest being spoked cast steel with solid rubber tyres.

The models were designed in 3D CAD and 3D printed in plastic as a kit of parts. I did not think the spoked wheels could be made this way, being so small, and expected a biog of plastic but was surprised to see the larger rear wheels were a good rendition with light showing between the spokes! The smaller front wheels needed a drill passed between the spokes to remove  'flashing'.

The model is finished in black framework with grey primer wheels and body work, ready for either Thornycroft or the customer to fit the loading platform and finish in the appropriate company livery.

Do we have enough chassis in the yard now. Apparently not!

David

Thornycroft No.1 Van

The No.1 van was the first vehicle to be made by Thornycroft in 1896 and still exists today in The British Commercial Vehicle Museum collection. It was steam driven and heralded the start of commercial vehicle design and manufacture by J.I. Thornycroft.

The model has been on the agenda for some time because I was not sure what material to make it from. There were a number of concerns from an N gauge modelling aspect for something so small, like the thin window frames for the large open windows, body planking and cart wheels.

In the end the bodywork was made quite quickly by using actual photographs of the prototype. These were opened in a photo editing Application and scaled to an assumed cabin entrance height of 6 feet. The panels were then inkjet printed onto photo paper, cut out carefully to preserve the thin window frames and glued to make up the rectangular body. The cross braced bars in the side windows are thin wire glued in place.

Inside is the oil fired steam boiler made from FIMO clay.

The cart wheels were initially a problem. I could have bought some from P&D Marsh but as I did not know the dimensions of their units and only needed 4 not 20 I could not justify the purchase. The solution was FIMO clay again and after several failed attempts acceptable wheels were achieved.

In the photo below is No.1 van and a J class lorry in 1916 war department livery, which by the 1930s (our model period) was a museum piece itself. They are on display outside the Museum Garage at the Thornycroft factory. The odd angle is because the roadway slopes away from the garage doors.

David

Wagon Train

This posting concludes what turned out to be a 3 month project to recreate the goods train pictured in our reference book*. Our train includes five 1-plank wagons with tarpaulin covered loads and is hauled by a G6 0-6-0T locomotive. The view of the train in the book is truncated so we can't see its full length but our model train length shown here is ideal for the size of our layout.

The G6 is a brass etch kit from N Brass Locos (with added detailing) on a GF 57xx chassis and its build was described here: G6.

The final addition to the loco was the lettering and numbers from fox transfers, which were extremely fiddly to apply, being so small.

Number 278 is shown in the book photo. It was sheded at Basingstoke and operated goods traffic between the Thornycroft factory and the marshaling yard at Basingstoke. The 02 class loco was also used for this purpose.

The 1-pank wagons have scratch built bodies and loads on Peco chassis. Their build was described here: 1-plank.

* The Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway by Dean et al.

David

A view from behind

Most people won't see this view. Looking behind the station From the operator side.

Sharing information

One of the great things about going to a show is meeting people who know a bit aabout the line and can share some further information. A very kind man introduced himself and had some pictures we had not seen before.  He kindly left us a card with a picture depicting the station in the same year of our layout.

Question

One of the popular questions we get asked is, is it dcc controlled? The answer is no, it's lunch box controlled:

That's it for today

All done for the day and neatly packed away.

What a great day with an unexpected surprise.  Hopefully see you tomorrow.  Show opens at 10am.