County Gate locomotive fleet

THE COUNTY GATE LOCOMOTIVE FLEET

the 009 locomotives of County Gate

County Gate being a 'what could have been' extension of the Lynton and Barnstaple has needed accurate detailed models of the L&B locomotives, 'Lew', 'Taw', 'Exe', 'Yeo' and 'Lyn' supplied as kits by Backwoods miniatures. These are all completed bar Yeo which is under construction.

While the Backwoods bodies go together very well, their chassis require considerable modification and skill to ensure smooth and reliable running. We have been very lucky to discover Peter Wallace, who apart from being a very nice chap, works special magic when building the chassis for us. Without his help, we would not have a scale 009 L&B layout!

The locos are panelled, lettered and lined by Tony Freestone. We have selected the lighter Malachite SR green rather than the original 'dark olive'. During the weathering process, the locos are finely sprayed with dark grey and this brings the colour back down towards SR 'Olive Green'.

some of the 'girls' have a get-together - click on image to enlarge

One problem in these small gauges is to get acceptable running for many differing locomotive types. We find that our Garratt locomotive shows 'P' factor when running. That is, the rotation of the universal drive causes the articulated chassis to bias to one side or another which causes derailment on turnouts unless the check rails are perfectly set. The 2-6-2 Manning Wardles on the other hand, have long rigid wheelbases which can get tight on turnout checkrails. On County Gate, we have to get the check rails to within one thou. to get reliable operation for both types of loco.

Another problem is the variation in performance of locomotives. When I built the first two sections of County Gate, I was still living in the dark ages and wired the railway for DC (they still switch on light bulbs with a match in Herefordshire). Having seen what can be done with it, conversion to DCC began during the winter of 2007. Each loco can be programmed to give predictable and consistent performance. In addition, the track voltage is a steady 15V AC so dirty track is much less of a problem. At long last, we are blasting into the 21st century!

Building a model railway is about personal choice. We all have our priorities and the results of our modelling shows how really different we all are. My personal bugbear is the practice of slinging inside framed chassis under prototypes which were outside framed. Backwoods Miniatures fortunately have brought out some fine, accurate kits, but the chassis can be exceptionally difficult to build. I must confess that they are beyond me and I have to pay others to build them for me. I have no trouble building the bodies.

The total lack of proprietary outside framed chassis with realistic valve gear has been the problem...that is until now.

you're as ugly as sin babe, but have you got some chassis!

Roco has bitten the bullet and come up with an outside framed HOe six coupled locomotive. It is not cheap, at just under a £100, but at long last there is a viable alternative to having a horrid unrealistic chassis hanging under your narrow gauge model. For my eyes, Continental locomotives are damned ugly....they deserve to be rebodied!. The Roco chassis runs perfectly. It has a flywheel which also helps, driving the loco over slightly dirty track with no hesitation. All our locos are now flywheel fitted except the 4-6-0 Baldwin and 'Lyn' where room was not found. The one drawback of the ROCO chassis is that electrical pickup is onto the wheel treads and consequently require frequent cleaning.

I have successfully fitted one ROCO chassis under a Manning Wardle for a friend. Itself not an easy project but it does run very well. The problem is with the wheelbase, which is far too short. Fortunately it is barely visible. Pity he then went and stuck 'Welsh Highland Railway' in yellow Southern script on the side tanks!

see here

L & B locomotives

Backwoods chassis for 'Exe'

'Exe' ready for the paint shop - click on image to enlarge

Lew

chassis of 'Lyn' - Peter Wallace

'Lyn' dismantled

the completed 'Lyn' - click on image to enlarge

In addition to these locos, we have also built three freelance units that could possibly have existed had the extension been built. These have indeed added more variety and interest during exhibition running.

railcar No 200 (see birth of the railcar)

This is a freelance model of a prototype 'art deco' style diesel electric railcar that could have been built at Eastleigh during that period. The central traction unit is mounted on a Grafar diesel chassis. The unit is very popular with the younger set who are fixated with modern image railways. It runs exceptionally well and being articulated, weaves through the points in a compelling manner although it is a nightmare to put on the track in the first place. It often drags along a Roco track cleaning wagon disguised as a four wheel L&B style box car. This does help keep things clean at exhibitions.

railcar (click to enlarge)

railcar No 201

This represents the production version of the railcar. It runs on a Riverossi chassis

railcar N0 201 'Atlantic Airstream' - click on image to enlarge

And now for something completely silly

Following a joke about articulated locomotives for the L&B on the Yahoo L&B modelling forum, I drew a Lynton and Barnstaple Mallet. If traffic had been heavier, the design could well have proved better than double heading. The locomotive remains within the loading gauge and would have negotiated the curves. The locomotive number tells it all, (the number of the Beast). It is called 'River Avon' or the 'Mad Mallet'. It is a 'kitbash' of a Backwoods Manning Wardle and is fitted with two highly modified Roco outside frame chassis. I built it in the course of a week when I was suffering from 'man flu'.

The loco runs exceptionally well at County Gate. It will be the last freelance piece of rolling stock for our railway. It is surprising how many folks are drawn to it and hardly give the prototype locos a glance.

see how to build it here

the Mallet loco 'River Avon' poses with 'Taw'

Southern Railway locomotives built for County Gate:-

Taw	761	2-6-2T	Backwoods kit	b - J de Frayssinet c - rebuilt by Peter Wallace p - Tony Freestone
Exe	760	2-6-2T	Backwoods kit	b - J de Frayssinet c - rebuilt by Peter Wallace p - Tony Freestone
Yeo*	759	2-6-2T	Backwoods kit	b - Peter Wallace c - Peter Wallace p - Tony Freestone
Lew	188	2-6-2T	Backwoods kit	b - J de Frayssinet c - Peter Wallace p - Tony Freestone
Lyn	762	2-6-2T	Backwoods kit	b - J de Frayssinet c - Peter Wallace p - Tony Freestone
Axe*	763	2-6-2T	Backwoods kit	b - J de Frayssinet c - Peter Wallace p - Tony Freestone
River Avon	666	0-6-0-0-6-0T	freelance Mallet	b - J de Frayssinet c - ROCO/JdF p - Tony Freestone
	200	prototype diesel/electric railcar		b - J de Frayssinet c -Grafar p - Tony Freestone
	201	production diesel/electric railcar		b - J de Frayssinet c -Riverossi p - JdF

b body builder
c - chassis builder
p - painter
* - Under construction

Glenthorne Harbour Authority locomotives

I built the locomotives shown below in the 70s. Very little was available then and I had to struggle hard to get them to work well. The prototypes are Welsh orientated but we have found an excuse for them to make an appearance by having the Glenthorne harbour branch!

the Garratt (Glenthorne Harbour Authority No. 4)

click on image to enlarge

This was the hardest thing I think I ever made in miniature! The basis was an N gauge diesel loco. The motor is central and drives the bogies by lay shafts with universal joints. Axles extenders were made and fitted using a jig. I did artwork which was the basis for photo etching the parts at the nearby Beech Aerospace division (they did this in between the times they were building exploding cryogenic tanks for Apollo 13!). The loco is very powerful but solder joints have got a tad brittle and I have had to do quite a bit of servicing. I actually brought it to the UK in the 70s to a Wessex 009 group meeting.

The loco has now had a major overhaul and has been fitted with a flywheel which has much improved its running qualities. It still dislikes tight radii curves (12") and a bit more work is needed before we will be completely happy with it.

stripped for flywheel fitting (click to enlarge)

2 - 6- 2 Hunslet (Glenthorne Harbour Authority No. 1) in memoriam

a butchered Russell on arrival at Towyn (N.J. Allcock)

I first met Russell when he lived behind the Buildings at Wharf Station of the Tal-y-llyn. He was painted pea- green and was squat and ugly after the pointless attentions of the Festiniog Railway. I took many photos and measurements and these were the basis of the model I made. In many ways, it was the best of my efforts, having had the benefit of the experience gained in building the others. It ran extremely well, having been built with an inside frame retained by a keeper plate and outside frames with slotted axle boxes. This made maintenance very easy.

Sadly, our cat Lenny mistook it for a mouse while it was running round the layout.

The result was a solid right claw that hooked it onto a brick step. The locomotive was completely destroyed.

Lenny was not injured or upset in any way as a result of this incident.

We have now developed an advanced attack cat containment system in conjunction with Zanussi. Destructive cats will also cause less damage if confused. Click on the image below for confuse-a-cat. (Confuse-a-cat patents pending). We consider this a technological breakthrough compared with previous efforts. We have been swamped with emails concerning our cat containment system.

The loco has been replaced with a Backwoods version, fitted with a ROCO outside frame chassis with Backwoods cylinders and motion. We chose this route as at the time of building we had not found a competent Backwoods chassis builder and as usual, the chassis I built did not work. The Backwoods version does not quite capture 'Russell' (a bit like a Russell on anabolic steroids) but works fine for our freelance No1.

see how it was built here

the new No. 1 built from a Backwoods kit and Roco chassis. It is lined by Tony Freestone

(Glenthorne Harbour Authority No 6) 2-6-2 Alco

prior to rebuild

The Alco started out as a white metal kit which was super-detailed but not fitted with a new outside framed chassis. Until the time that this could be redressed, it lived in the loco shed undergoing maintenance! Hey, how lifelike is this? Some locos remain dismantled forever! The Alco has now been rebuilt by Pilton Yard. The bunker was enlarged and new cab panels completed the picture. The chassis is now, of course, an outside frame Roco.

Sadly, there is no room to install the rear pony truck which has to be a dummy.

No 6 after Pilton Yard rebuild but already a bit dirty! Sadly no bar frames. Loco crew are not fitted as yet in this photo.
They hide the box which contains the ROCO mechanism- click on image to enlarge

(Glenthorne Harbour Authority No 9) 4-6-0 Baldwin

The most unloved of the WHR locomotives, our Baldwin has a scratch built body fitted to a Lilliput chassis. New valve gear was drawn, etched and fitted. Unlike its prototype, this has been a very good running loco and actually ran non-stop for 2 years in Denver on a fund raising layout. It has now been re-motored. It is not possible to fit a flywheel to this model.

By modern day standards, the Lilliput chassis runs very fast. This problem has been solved now the loco is converted to DCC.