Accurascale's First Steam Locomotive; GWR Collett 78xx Manor Class!

[BroadLeaves]

What you can also do, if you have enough depth, is to bury a small neodymium magnet in the coal load. You can then, once it's all dry, use that, together with a second magnet, to lift it out if you need to.

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

This kind of thing...........

 

[Trainsandtravel]

12 hours ago, BroadLeaves said:

What you can also do, if you have enough depth, is to bury a small neodymium magnet in the coal load. You can then, once it's all dry, use that, together with a second magnet, to lift it out if you need to.

That is also an excellent idea! Thanks for the tip. 

[Trainsandtravel]

5 hours ago, ERIC ALLTORQUE said:

This kind of thing...........

 

This is a great video. I might see if I can pick up some old second hand wagons like this to practise on before doing it on the manors. 

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

5 minutes ago, Trainsandtravel said:

This is a great video. I might see if I can pick up some old second hand wagons like this to practise on before doing it on the manors. 

There is this one he did as well

 

[atom3624]

It's a nice idea, and could be adapted with small 'Neo magnets' carefully placed on model cranes to lift and remove as well as HoG.

 

Al.

[Phil Bullock]

Very neat. Think I would put the weight under the foam board to lower C of G and use a neo magnet on top of the board for removal. 

[The Stationmaster]

The big question then is what sort of and size of coal do you model?  A lot depends on when the loco was running and where it was based.  Although not wholly visible look at my photo below at the coal heap in 7808's tender and think what size those lumps would be in 4mm scale - probably 3mm at the most and the majority would be smaller.  That's late-ish BR steam, Pre-War there'd be large lumps spme would be 4mm or even a bit larger but most would finish up smaller as they were broken up for firing

 

 

 

[Mallard60022]

16 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

The big question then is what sort of and size of coal do you model?  A lot depends on when the loco was running and where it was based.  Although not wholly visible look at my photo below at the coal heap in 7808's tender and think what size those lumps would be in 4mm scale - probably 3mm at the most and the majority would be smaller.  That's late-ish BR steam, Pre-War there'd be large lumps spme would be 4mm or even a bit larger but most would finish up smaller as they were broken up for firing

 

 

Don't forget the dreadful Ovoids Mike. Very post 1960 WR with a lot of dust around as well.

[Mallard60022]

GWR (Cheltenham) typical crappy stuff .

P

[melmerby]

A nice prewar (1939) photo of a 43XX and coal:

https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrt308.htm

 

1935:

https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrt3926.htm

 

1963:

https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrbsh1274.htm

1961:

https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrsh646.htm

 

Certainly large pieces of 12" or more in the mix but a lot of smaller lumps more the size of a fist.

 

[Mallard60022]

Fairly typical heritage stuff.

 

[Mallard60022]

Interesting Load!

[Mallard60022]

[SteamingWales]

 

Also this photo (not mine, Flickr link). Note various different coal types

[Mallard60022]

2 minutes ago, SteamingWales said:

 

Also this photo (not mine, Flickr link). Note various different coal types

That is very typical IIRC.

P

[G-BOAF]

58 minutes ago, melmerby said:

A nice prewar (1939) photo of a 43XX and coal:

https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrt308.htm

 

 

Certainly large pieces of 12" or more in the mix but a lot of smaller lumps more the size of a fist.

 

 

And in 1:76 scale you could easily fit a ringfield motor under that pile!

I believe pictures like this are how Hornby got away with such horrors for so long!

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

Theres a bit off the best rail steam film ever to see coal in its working day

 

[TrevorP1]

1 hour ago, Mallard60022 said:

Don't forget the dreadful Ovoids Mike. Very post 1960 WR with a lot of dust around as well.

 

We were at Welshpool the other day. They were using ovoids and having a bad time of it. There were a lot of 'rockets' from the chimney and what stayed on the fire didn't seem to be producing much heat. Even with the engine being allowed to 'make it's own way' up the bank and the driver working the firedoors we still had to stop at the top for the water.

 

I'm not sure if they were the traditional ovoids or whether there were walnut shells or whatever in the mix. It didn't seem appropriate to ask because the crew obviously had their hands full and the timetable was gradually slipping.

 

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, G-BOAF said:

 

And in 1:76 scale you could easily fit a ringfield motor under that pile!

I believe pictures like this are how Hornby got away with such horrors for so long!

Not just Hornby, the Dean Goods had a Ringfield under a massive stack and that was designed by Airfix, who used Ringfield tender drives.

Of course with something like a much taller Stanier tender the same drive didn't need such an unrealistically massive pile.

[The Stationmaster]

55 minutes ago, TrevorP1 said:

 

We were at Welshpool the other day. They were using ovoids and having a bad time of it. There were a lot of 'rockets' from the chimney and what stayed on the fire didn't seem to be producing much heat. Even with the engine being allowed to 'make it's own way' up the bank and the driver working the firedoors we still had to stop at the top for the water.

 

I'm not sure if they were the traditional ovoids or whether there were walnut shells or whatever in the mix. It didn't seem appropriate to ask because the crew obviously had their hands full and the timetable was gradually slipping.

 

They might well be some sort of patent smokeless fuel - there seems to be a lot of that about in the traction engine world nowadays due to the difficulty in obtaining proper coal.  The problem with the 1960s ovoids was having the fire hot enough to cause them to disintegrate and burn properly but that also caused a lot of dust (which is basically what they were anyway) and meant they had to be mixed with coal if they were to be any real use.

 

Incidentally the recommended coal lump size for optimum firing was 'the size of a man's fist'.  Anything bigger had to be broken up with the coal hammer which took time and anything a lot smaller just went straight through the tubes and, hopefully, up the chimney when an engine was working hard

[didcot]

We use the smokeless ovoids in our burner at home. Less heat and loads of ash. I tried breaking them up for my 5" locos. Totally useless. 

[88C]

The W&L are trialling several types of fuel, needless to say they are not as good as Welsh coal and they cost more as well.

 

Brian

[Dunsignalling]

16 hours ago, Trainsandtravel said:

This is a great video. I might see if I can pick up some old second hand wagons like this to practise on before doing it on the manors. 

I was given a couple of packs of Bachmann's ready made resin loads, and this is what I did with them.

 

The white plastic is Wills planked sheet, which minimises any need for marking out. 

 

No need for magnets, except with the slope-sided ones, which don't allow the load to tip. Those have a steel wagon weight (CooperCraft?) added to the sandwich, allowing them to be removed using one of those telescopic workshop magnetic retrieval aids. 

 

The rest are digitally operated, I just poke one end down with my little finger and pick up the other between thumb and second finger.😀

 

John

[Covkid]

6 hours ago, 88C said:

The W&L are trialling several types of fuel, needless to say they are not as good as Welsh coal and they cost more as well.

 

Brian

 

Yes.  Went down on Saturday to red pen ZB2 on the 10.30 from Llanfair. The footplate crew invited me up for a look around.  Very nice loco but they weren't impressed with it.  They were burning "eggs" which seemed to produce enough steam for the loco. Those "eggs" reminded me of the phurnacite my mum used to put in our Aga back in the 1960s and 1970s.