LNER D49 (Hunt) class no. 366 The Oakley

LNER 366 The Oakley
 LNER D49 (Hunt) Class 4-4-0 no. 366 The Oakley. Built circa early-sixties from scratch by Wally West using non-insulated wheels turned from good quality castings, probably by Miller, Swan & Co. The split axles and insulated spacers between the frames allow power to be collected from the tender wheels and transferred to the loco via strong springs, which also represent water hoses under the fallplate. The motor and 12:1 gears are of the short Bonds type. Power is also collected by plunger pick-ups on the driving wheels. All brake blocks are made from non conductive material to eliminate shorting across the brake rigging. All loco driving and tender axles have sprung hornblocks. Originally painted by Wally Mayhew in fully lined LNER passenger green livery the model had a hard life, but still works well and is shown in use on Arthur Dewar’s layout in Jack Ray’s book ‘Model Railways and their builders’ published by Atlantic Press.The model has recently been stripped of it’s tired and chipped paintwork and has now been repainted by John Cockcroft into fully lined LNER Darlington green livery. It retains the same name, but now proudly carries new nameplates from Diane Carney.

LNER D49 (Hunt) class no. 288 The Braes of Derwent

The Braes of Derwent
LNER D49 (Hunt) class no. 255 The Braes of Derwent. Bought from a Lacy, Scott & Knight auction in May 2017 as no. 288 The Percy. In LNER green with 3 rail and skate current collection. The paint had been applied by brush and although it looked reasonable from a distance, it didn’t stand close scrutiny. Looking through the paint however, it was clear and especially relevant that this coarse scale model had been very well scratch built. It looked like a D49. First of all the stripping of the original paintwork preceded the models complete refurbishment and conversion to 2 rail finescale by myself. Now expertly re-painted to LNER green fully lined livery by John Cockcroft. Current collection is by the American method. This is where the loco collects from one rail and the tender from the other. New insulated Slaters wheels have been carefully shorted by soldering thin wire behind a spoke on one or other side of the loco and tender. Consequently, this system works very well, however an insulated drawbar and fallplate are required. In conclusion, the purchase of a Slaters motor and gearbox unit and Severnmill nameplates completed the rebuild. One of my clients, James, had expressed a wish to me for a D49. A class that he remembered well from his spotting days. When I found “The Percy” at auction, I took a chance and made my bids with James’s words in mind. Most noteworthy he tells me the risk has certainly paid off. Maybe I should have kept it for myself? I wish I had. In the same auction and clearly from the same collection, were 37 other model locos. All unusual north of the country prototypes and all scratch built 3-rail. It seems that the previous owner (now deceased) lived in Carlisle, which explains his preference of Northern England or Scottish locos. A Caley 812 class was bought at the same time and for a description and images of this loco follow this link. Another example of a risky purchase that in my opinion has paid off. If only at the time I had the confidence (and the funds) to have bought more?

Caledonian Railway 812 class 0-6-0 no. 824

Caley 824
Caley no. 824
Caledonian Railway 812 class 0-6-0 tender loco no. 824. The original model was bought from a Lacy, Scott & Knight auction at Bury St. Edmonds in May 2017 as no. 57566 in black, with 3 rail and skate current collection. The paint had been applied by brush and although it looked reasonable from a distance, it didn’t stand close scrutiny. Looking through the paint however, it was clear and especially relevant that this coarse scale model had been very well scratch built. The stripping of the original paintwork preceded the models complete refurbishment and conversion to a 2 rail finescale model by myself. Now expertly re-painted to Caledonian dark blue fully lined livery by John Cockcroft. Current collection is by the American method. This is where the loco collects from one rail and the tender from the other. New insulated Slaters wheels have been carefully shorted by soldering thin wire behind a spoke on one or other side of the loco and tender. This system works very well, however an insulated drawbar and fallplate are required and have been fitted to the model. Numberplates were purchased from Guilplates to complete the rebuild. In the same auction and clearly from the same collection, were 37 other model locos. All unusual north of the country prototypes and all scratch built 3-rail. It seems that the previous owner (now deceased) lived in Carlisle, which explains his preference of Northern England or Scottish locos. An LNER D49 Hunt class model was bought at the same time and for a description and images of this loco follow this link. Both examples of risky purchases that in my opinion have paid off. If only at the time I had the confidence (and the funds) to have bought more?