At long last, seven months after starting, we have finished the first production batch of ten Quarry Hunslets.
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| The ten locomotives on parade. More Alice class locos than any one slate quarry ever owned |
The batch has turned out well. I built eleven but one had a fault that did not show up until the final steam test. It was painted, looked lovely and ran quite well, but not quite well enough. I have worked out what was wrong but wishing to be finished I will sort it out when the workshop has been cleaned and made tidy for the next batch. During the construction several minor points were found where the etch design will be amended. These were silly mistakes such as forgetting holes for the rivets that retain the side bunkers to the tanks, but it is these errors that slow down the construction of a batch.
Here are a couple of pictures that show what I think is a pretty nice model. They are to scale with no dimensions changed to make life easier. The mechanism is slip eccentric, as the exhaust is throttled, their top speed on a rolling road is slow. When warm they all self start. For testing I filled the boilers with boiling water and they all gave about 15 minutes of running. If the gas tanks are filled to the brim duration will be about 25 minutes. The boilers were tested to 180psi and the safety valves set to 65psi. The engines run steadily and powerfully from about 25psi. In use the gas can probably be set very low which will further increase duration.
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| A couple of locos showing the two offered colours, the works plates still to be fitted |
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| A bit closer to show the detail on the model. The smokebox door opens.That make burner lighting easy. |
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| A rear view to show the opening coal doors, not just a nice touch, but it makes cleaning the gas jet easier if needed. |
So what next? I think a break from the workshop then start a second batch of Quarry Hunslets and a small batch of Wrens. I do need to crack on. The interest list for the Hunslets is another 50+ and we have interest lists for other locos in our range in excess of another 50. Should keep me out of trouble until I drop!
