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 I'v decided to resurrect my blog !!

The Hall is long completed, named "User Hall", as there wasn't one!!

Here it is in action : -



I'm about to start on a new loco, a 5 inch gauge Jubilee, Galatea and thought I'd record the build.

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Coupling Rods

The spacing of the coupling rod centres is critical to the free running of the loco. I measure each side separately and comparing it with the drawing. Any inaccuracies in making up the axle-boxes or in setting the crank-pins will show up here. I started by marking out the centres and outline on the rod blank, then drilled the centres, starting with a small centre drill, then drilling out at (say) 2BA clearance at one end, and 2BA tapping at the other. The rods tapered from 3/8 to 1/4 in. - i.e a taper of 1/16 in. on each side. So I marked out the centre line on the support bar, and another, offset by 1/16 in. I drilled and tapped a fixing for one end of the bar on the centre line, and attached the rod blank. Then I lined up the other centre on the 1/16 in offset line, clamped and drilled through 2BA tapping. Now I removed the rod blank, and opened the 2BA tapping hole on the rod blank to 2BA clearance. Also I tapped 2BA threads in the support bar and bolted the two together. I clampe...
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Work has progressed - the boiler is now complete. The assembly sequence I used was as described in Alex Farmers book on boiler making - and, as it happens, his was also a GWR boiler, although bigger. As the assembly gets bigger, it always surprises me just how much heat it needs. I work outside, so can only work on wind-free ( and preferably dry) days. Also, I find it essential to use refractory bricks- without them, I'd never get up to temperature. Even so, it needed two good sized gas torches, and occasional oxy-propane, to complete the assembly. I couldn't do this alone, and gratefully thank George and Russell for their help. Where ever possible (and that's most of the time), we worked with pre-placed solder - its much easier than applying a stick, as it tends to melt - or at least sag - if you're not quick. We put rings of silver solder under the heads of all the rivet - stays in the firebox. As the solder flowed, each was grasped on the outside with pliers, rotated...
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Tender Body

The original drawings showed what I think is the Hawksworth tender - I've previously made one in 5 in gauge, and thought the Collett tender would make an interesting change. It has a couple of major challenges - the top of the sides are flared, and also the rear corners of the tand are very rounded, so a tricky compound curve is created where they meet. I took the basic dimentions from the drawings, and scaled the Collet specifics from a couple of photographs. The fact that the major lines of the tender matched up with the profile of the cab gave me some useful reference points. Then there's a raised extension which fits on top. I left a tab which I curved to match the lower part of the tender, and riveted and soldered the two together. The other tricky bit was the rivets -there are several hunders of them, and they're very prominent. My solution was to make the tender tank out of thinner brass than usual -about 22 gauge. (Another reason for this was that I had a couple ...
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