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 I have yet to run it on the layout as I can’t really set it up at home. Usually stock gets tested at exhibitions which unfortunately are cancelled at the moment (April 2020).