Under And Inside

I’ve been getting on with some of the detailing jobs on Livingston Thompson.

It’s hard to keep track from the few photographs I’ve seen taken over a decade or more it was in store of the parts it still had on it when it was taken for its trips up and down the line, but it would appear that it did still have its ash pans in place, so I’m making up a representation in styrene.

The other key job - which would stand out like a sore thumb if it wasn’t done - is to fit out the coal space in the bunkers on the stoker’s side.

You might also notice that I’ve removed the handbrake and reverser mouldings from the sides of the firebox because it would appear LT lost both of those when it was retired - did they get transferred to the new Earl of Merioneth ?

In which case, where did the parts Livingston Thompson has in the cab now come from?

The Princess

That’s one job ticked off the lockdown wish list!

Himself has completed the painting, lining and (matt) varnishing of Princess.

It almost looks too good to be unpowered, doesn’t it!

I’ve had an ambition to have a  model of the engine in post-Blaenau plinth condition for as long as I can remember.

On this model the green is very faded from exposure to the elements but in all other respects it’s in peak Garrawegian condition with unique red frames and the wheel rims picked out in white.

Sadly, the loco made its way back home to Boston Lodge on the back of a lorry (much like its first arrival in Wales) but ours will be towed around Dduallt as a bit of self-indulgent modelling make believe.

I can imagine it might also spent much of its time parked on the truncated siding behind the signal box as a reminder of what might have been....

On Tow

Livingston Thompson is looking deceptively complete.

In fact it is just posing on the first finished pair of ambulance bogies to see what it might look like

The bottom end boiler / tank casting and the upper cab are still to be fixed down until the firebox is fitted permanently in place.

With the bogies we’ve decided to revert to the original frame casting and accept the wheel sets will have to remain fitted during painting because to attempt to remove them risks them cracking - resin is inherently less flexible than injection moulded plastics, alas.

I think they’re pretty effective, and they certainly run freely - if this whit metal Livingston Thompson breaks away while being hauled uphill around the spiral we’re in trouble!!

Firebox Fitting

I’ve received Livingston Thompson as the backload from a lockdown shopping delivery to Himself.

He was smarter than me and realised that if he soldered the whole body together it would be impossible to insert the firebox casting.

The resin copy I made of the white metal chassis block has undergone a lot of filing at the bottom to sit lower inside the cab - on the Langley kits it rises too high into the cab to accommodate the motor.

What I’m wondering now is whether I was wrong to fatten it out with a thick wedge of styrene in between the two halves?

Cracked It

I’ve been making swift progress on the ambulance bogie design for Livingston Thompson with a prototype rolling chassis completed.

I’ve also worked up a master for the axle box and suspension casting which will slip onto the side of the bogie frame.

There has been a slight setback - I suspect the frame is a tiny bit too narrow.

The wheel sets are a very snug fit inside the bearings cups.

While this is fine with the frame alone - which is able to flex enough to insert them - when the extra castings are fixed on the outside it becomes too rigid and I ended up cracking the frame trying to get the wheels in and out.

There are a couple of options to explore including a mark 2 casting, countersinking the frame where the bearings go on, or accepting that the bogies will have to be made up with the wheels inserted at an early stage.

Bunkering

Even in bare white metal Livingston Thompson has already got the look of the hulk that sat hidden away in Minffordd yard for so many years.

Himself has corrected the bunker casting error and the added details such as the handrails really set it off - it’s remarkable what you can achieve with these old Langley kits when made up carefully.

The bogies it’s sitting on just now are a pair Himself has sitting around in his den while I work on the proper ambulance bogies.

One of the important details - which Himself didn’t thank me for - was to hack out the cast coal detail in the bunkers.

Now it’s being passed over to me to fit in the firebox casting and complete the bogies.

Emergency Service

My current challenge is to try to produce a pair of Fairlie ‘ambulance bogies’ to go under Livingston Thompson.

The bogies in question are the ex-Polish ones which I previously scratch built to run under our oil tanker 66, which I’m using as a guide.

These bogies have a very distinctive short wheelbase and a semi-circular frame at the front.

Last time I fabricated them entirely from styrene but this time I think it might be a better idea to try to cast them from resin as one piece to give it more strength.

I’ll use the technique I adopt with the brass-framed bogies of having the axle box and suspension detail as a secondary casting to glue the sides afterwards.

The first attempt at a master for the frame is ready to create a mould, and we’ll see if the concept works.