Nonneminstre Hudson Hunslet:
In October 2016 I started a Nonneminstre Hudson Hunslet loco that I was mounting on a Wrightlines 14mm gauge bogie.
The bogie performed well when I first built it but has progressively degraded for reasons not yet identified. I was looking at this loco in February 2020 as part of my campaign to try and finish off things started some time ago and I thought “would a Locos n Stuff bogie fit under it?”.
The answer was yes, if a couple of cross ribs from the underside of the footplate were removed. I had put a couple of bits of brass angle on wither side of the Wrightlines bogie to take a couple of mounting bolts and I thought I could cut the Locos n Stuff mounting plate to suit the same fixings.
The chassis was built up following the instructions. Although I used Ultrascale wheels as I had them to hand. I have to admit that I struggled with fitting the motor and making the pick-ups work and I really don’t know why as I have built 2 of these before. Eventually everything went together and worked – and it fitted into the footplate as well!
The hole in the footplate was filled with a piece of nickel silver sheet and the castings recovered from the top of the Wrightlines bogie before finishing off the body.
I had managed to get most of the loco built apart from the exhaust pipe and couplings before the Rainford show in February 2020. I had even managed to get a bit of weight added behind the rear buffer beam which helped to balance up the loco. I was very pleased with the results as it proved to be a smooth and controllable runner and I think should only get better with some running in. It took a while longer to finish it off as there is a little bit of filling to do and I had to wait for some better weather before painting it. I had hoped to finish it in time for Narrow Gauge South but then everything was cancelled due to the Coronavirus lock down.
I had a Modelu figure that fitted into the limited space in the cab but it wasn’t really a prototypical position for driving so I searched around for a more appropriate figure. I found something suitable from Andrew C Stadden which needed a little bit of adjustment before fitting in.
Overall I am very pleased with how this has turned out although it is noisy, even under exhibition conditions!
KB Scale Hudson Hunslet 24hp:
Both this Hudson Hunslet 24hp 4wD and the Lister Rail Truck were part of the late Bob Barlow’s collection intended for his Lincolnshire potato railway. Whilst I have these two locos in the build pile, they seem to be getting lower in priority as I get distracted with other projects that I believe are easier! The opportunity to get professionally built models from Bob’s collection was too good an opportunity to pass.
The loco arrived in grey primer and just needed painting and a bit more weight. I managed to squeeze in some lead under the bonnet and added a white metal driver. I used a Phoenix OF229 industrial locoman (which I think was designed for the Roy C Link Ruston locos) from S&D Models.
This required a bit of surgery as his legs needed to be split so the right leg could be bent down a bit and the left leg raised up quite a lot. The original figure is shown on the right.
Both photos were taken before painting and weathering were completed.
Overall, I managed to get the weight up to 74g. This compares with my 3d printed Hudson Go-Go and Randsom-Rapier locos which run okay with the lighter goods trains. I am hoping this means it will perform okay on my iffy trackwork and with a gear ratio of 120:1 it is faster than the Lister and less likely to lose the public’s interest!
These photos show the almost finished Hudson Hunslet which will benefit from a bit of weathering powder, particularly on the driver.
The driver only just fits and it must have been very uncomfortable in real life as it needs quite an odd position. To my mind, the top of the bonnet/cab comes back too much for you to be able to sit comfortably. I know that pictures I have seen on the internet show a much bigger space but I am guessing that is for a larger loco?
Pretty much finished now.