LMS 10,800
This was my entry into a competition and I will build this loco -after I have finished the Fell...
BACKGROUND:
In 1945 the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMSR) Chief Mechanical Engineer H.G. Ivatt decided to produce a basic design for an 827 bhp diesel-electric locomotive for comparison with his slightly less powerful Class 2 2-6-0 and 2-6-2T and slightly more powerful Class 4 4-6-0 steam engines on secondary and branch lines.
In 1946 the LMSR placed an order with the North British Locomotive Co (NBL) of Glasgow to produce a locomotive to their specification. The design adopted was like an elongated shunter, mounted on two four wheeled carriage type bogies - each carrying two nose suspended traction motors - with the cab slightly set in from one end. The power unit used was a centrally-mounted 16 cylinder Davey Paxman 16RPH engine which drove British Thomson-Houston (BTH) electrical equipment located just behind the cab in the long hood section, which also housed a radiator group with side grilles and a roof fan. A ladder on the side of the short nose gave access to the filler cap of the 300 gallon tank of the Clarkson train heating boiler. The Clarkson device however soon proved unreliable and was replaced by a Clayton boiler. The cab arrangement enabled the driver to face the direction of travel using duplicate controls.
The loco was constructed just after Nationalisation in 1948-50 and when completed carried the British Railways number 10,800 (as opposed to the envisaged LMS number 800) beneath the diamond shaped NBL works plate. The livery was standard black with silver bogies and - prior to press demonstrations - a silver hood roof. After release from North British No.10,800 underwent testing in Scotland. After a few months the loco was allocated to British Railways London Midland Region (LMR) at Willesden and operated tests in the London area.
In March 1952 it was reallocated to Brighton from where it operated on the Victoria to Oxted line and various Central and South Eastern routes such as those between Victoria and London Bridge to East Grinstead and Tunbridge Wells to assess branch line operation. During its brief time on the Southern Region, 10,800 gained the nickname 'The Wonder Engine', from the locomotive department's daily query, 'I wonder if it will go today?'. The Southern sojourn of 10,800 ended in early 1955 when it was reallocated to Plaistow shed on Eastern Region for further testing, eventually being returned to the LMR and deployed from Rugby shed on such workings as Birmingham-Norwich line before being withdrawn from service in August 1959. By this time a small class of very similar Bo-Bo single cab locomotives built by NBL were being introduced as part of British Railway’s 1955 Modernisation Plan. However, these Class 16s - and the very similar Class 15s produced by British Thomson-Houston, were to have careers of only a decade as branch and secondary lines were felled by the infamous Beeching Axe.
After withdrawal 10,800 was taken to Doncaster Works where it lay for many months awaiting a decision on its future. In 1962 however Brush of Loughborough bought the Bo-Bo machine for research into commutator-less traction motors. Brush replaced the original Paxman engine with a 1,400 bhp Bristol Siddley Maybach MD655, which turned a Brush 3-phase brushless alternating current (ac) generator. The generator output was then passed through sophisticated electronics before powering ac traction equipment. In the tradition of Brush experimental locomotives it was named, although no "Hawk" plates were ever carried or even cast. It was numbered 710 on the Brush construction list.
After modification at Brush, “Hawk” was put through a test programme for most of 1963-64, prior to receiving major body attention and repainting into a green and grey livery. In early 1965 the loco was inspected by BR and transferred to the Rugby Testing Station for performance tests. After further static trials “Hawk” was accepted back onto BR tracks for active operation over the former Great Central Leicester to Nottingham route. Although basically successful it suffered a number of technical problems, and by 1968 Brush decided not to continue with the project. “Hawk” was stored at Loughborough before being finally broken up in 1972-73. During the 1972 Miner's Strike the engine and generator were cannibalised to provide emergency power for the Loughborough works.
Section One:
This is not a painstakingly exact model of 10,800. The locomotive being a prototype underwent modification throughout its life and eventually changed completely to become the Brush “Hawk” project. There were two classes of locomotive that were evolved from it C14 and C15, both of which are easy conversions from the plans. Thus this sequence could be used to produce four different locomotives.
It is however a model that has been painstakingly designed -to be cheap and easy to build... The Design has been altered to produce a readily usable dimension matrix based on 0.25cm increments.
The chassis is made of wood and the bodywork is ABS sheet “plated” over plywood and MDF. This gives a shell that is very lightweight compared to metal and very rigid in comparison to a pure plastic shell. Although the exterior of the shell looks very detailed actually it is not -most of the pieces encrusting the shell are simple shapes that can be cut from lengths of ABS extrusion or carved from ABS sheet.
The Traction Bogies are modular and break down into four units -these same units can be used to produce C0-C0 Bogies with a little thought. The Traction Bogies are based on the “9 Feet” coach bogies as supplied by G3S -this are modified (with a saw) and overlays fashioned from ABS sheet epoxied to them to provide the correct “outline”. Retaining a compensated bogie system removes the maths required for a suspended system and is cheaper and easier to build. The power axes are based on a Brandbright RSA37 with a MOD1 gear pinned to it.
The loco uses a cheap PWAM of 10Amperes capacity at 32KHz -this is controlled by a simple 100K Ohm potentiometer. The power supply is a Sealed Lead Acid “Gel Cell” of 12Volts 3.3Ampere Hour capacity. SLA cells offer the twin advantages of being fast to charge and heavy. The electrics are very simple and allow the model to evolve to full R/C when costs allow.
Cambrian Models can supply all the of the plastic mouldings required to detail the loco - but metal items, (such as wheels, the vacuum hoses & chains), will be sourced from Brandbright.
Section Two:
What you will require in the way of tools.
You will require a piller drill, or equivalent motion frame for a pistol drill.
A set of HSS twist bits ranging from 1mm to 10mm in 0.5mm steps.
I recommend a 3mm TiN drill be purchased as these will last longer and 3mm is common hole size on this model.
A 1/4 inch drill.
Vee Blocks -for drilling axles with.
A “Cutting Broach” for fine tuning the holes to “just right”...
Thin Super Glue for wood metal and plastic.
“BLUE” threadlock.
Water proof wood glue for all wood parts.
1 hour Epoxy.
Gas Blowtorch MAPP, Propane, or Butane.
Silver Flo-24 Silver solder.
Easi-Flo flux.
25Watt Soldering iron.
60-40 Electrical solder.
Set of “Helping Hands”.
“Sav-Bit” solder.
Fryʼs soldering flux.
“Lucar” wire stripping and crimping tool.
“Three and a half digit” display AVO digital multimeter
Try square.
Mitre block.
Marking Gauge.
Various spring and “G”cramps for holding things whilst they set.
“Gents” Saw
“Tenon” Saw
“Hack Saw” with 18TPI blades.
ABS sheet cutter.
Set of std modellers knives, scrapers, (eg X-Acto etc).
Screwdrivers 1&2 Posi.
Linemans Pliers plus Round and Snipe nosed.
Pastry Rolling Pin -to form curved roof sections with.
A sheet of glass -or stable flat “surface” to assemble items on.
Section Three:
Garden Railway Specialists.
G716ABS sheet 60 thous £12.22ONE
MKS248 K&S 64 thous 1 inch brass strip£ 4.70TWO
£21.62
Cambrian Models.
NA27 “Fowler” Loco Axleguards £ 2.90TWO
NA7 230 Rivets £ 1.60 ONE
NA12Coach/Wagon Sprung Buffers£ 3.45ONE
NA24Diesel Horns£ 1.10ONE
£11.95
Technobots
4255-1624mm flanged bearings £ 1.19EIGHT
1400-024model motor ‘e’ £ 2.48FOUR
4607-070sleeve reducer £ 0.14FOUR
1310-10020mm fuse chassis £ 0.15FIVE
1320-0505A QB fuse £ 0.07TEN
1320-10010A QB fuse £ 0.07FIVE
1222-031crimp red blade ins (100) £ 4.69ONE
1224-001crimp male blade (100) £ 3.75ONE
£20.72
Gauge ‘3’ Society
004-00019 ft wheelbase £ 5.00ONE
£ 5.00
Hobby’s
PSP55Pine strips 5mm sq £ 5.57ONE
30MDFMDF 3.0mm £ 1.43THREE £ 9.86
Brandbright
RSA3747mm coach wheel set
supplied as axles and wheels £14.00TWO
RSA1143 link coupling and hook £ 6.40ONE
RSA49straight vacuum pipe £ 5.70ONE
£40.10
Muffet Gears
S1.0 012H12 tooth gear 4mm bore£ 0.36FOUR
S1.0 027H27 tooth gear 6mm bore£ 0.45FOUR
S1.0 045H45 tooth gear 6mm bore£ 0.57FOUR
£ 5.52
eBay
10A ESC £13.99ONE
£13.99
Total Cost: £138.28p
N.B. all prices correct as of June 2011
Section Four:
The loco pictures.
The Working Drawing.
End of Entry.....
If anyone would like to build the model based on the plans and information above then feel free to do so.The Competition collapsed (in my view) due to the organiser insisting on retaining copyright to the plans and all information associated with it. I am in my own way a small radical and I subscribe to to the idea of the GNU Open Public Licence ver 2.0 -so to show him how a promotional entry should be done I published it under the above guidelines. So, feel free to grab yourself a copy of it and mangle it to your hearts content -but please remember that the original drawing and plans are mine and I would like a credit (somewhere) for it!!!
Ok eagle eyed observers will have noticed that a partially dismantled FELL loco is at the rear of the LMS 10,800 in the shot Picture 3. Is this the reason for building both locos? Well actually -yes!