Slow 16mm Modelling

A wonderful aspect of railway modelling is that you are creating your own organisation. A model has a physical presence, it has boundaries and it does something. It looks to you to be the boss. You are the head maquetteur. I’ve borrowed from the French (maquette can mean layout). Don't the French create a term with such style and panache?

A model 16mm Wrightscale Wren on our layout. This is whjat modellingis all about!

It those heady early days of planning, levelling and the all-important discussions with friends, the role of the boss is pretty clear. The boss leads from the front, makes compromises, sacrifices and whatever it takes to get things done.

As boss as your own little world, there are a plethora of decisions to be made. Before beginning, there is the story behind the model – or in business-speak the Company Objective. Something all-inclusive such as ‘layout which is not too complicated to run and can accommodate a maximum of rolling stock’ seems like a good idea. As the market-place is already crowded with Busy Great Western Railway Stations At A Time Just After Reorganisation, a little more imagination is required.

The Boss eventually settles on a scenario which takes account of the rolling stock he/she truly loves. In Malcolm’s case, this includes model Wrens circa 1922, a Glyn Valley Baldwin, a Quarry Hunslet or so, slate trucks, passenger wagons etc. It must also accommodate  the rolling stock friends bring. ‘1920s rural branchline serving a quarry would do’ It would take the loco’s and wagons which friends bring – they have come down the branchline to make a special delivery.

16mm Wrightscale Wren doing what she does best, pushing a train of skips. Photographed in a friend's garden

The idea has then to be fitted into the space available.  Should the track feature a turning circle, fiddle yard or an American Triangle? All are solutions to the modeller’s perennial problem. Prime mover and train progress into the layout and then majestically progress out again. They can procede into a concealed fiddle-yard to be reconfigured and turned around. They can go round in a circle and reappear; this is most fun if parts of the circle are artfully concealed. Best of all for the radio-controlled loco or layout boasting reliable electrical switching is the American triangle. A lot of hands-free fun can, in principle be had turning the train around.

Layout design by MD Wright showing station building, carriage and engine sheds and a bridge over a stream. The track is complicated but not overly so.

Depending on the space available, most maquetteurs go for some combination of these. Here the ingenuity and resource of the boss can really show itself. As we are no longer children, happy to play on the carpet, the layout has to make concessions to creaky old bones. There have to be elevated sections of track. In theory, this was easy for the Wrights as our garden slopes; all that is required is a little gentle terracing so we thought!  It is an interesting fact, probably not obvious until earth-moving starts that one cubic metre of normal soil ie mix of sandy, clay and stony earth, weighs roughly two tonnes. Measured in builder’s buckets filled to the brim, this is perhaps twenty such buckets – measured in buckets that can be carried by an amateur, considerably more. The boss has to have personal strength and be able to use a variety of ways to exhort, bribe and cajole the workforce.

At last, the plan starts to take shape. The maquetteur must become a details nerd. A train, especially its locomotive can cope with rough track, sinuous track or gradients but not all three at once. Careful planning, not to say yet more earthmoving is required.

Truly, going from being a dreamer to boss of a fully fledged working layout requires time, talent and treasure, to say nothing of energy.    

The successful boss is known for his/her stamina.

We all love the stories in our specialist journals of the maquetteur who rises at 5am to be at railway gathering. This and the get-together afterwards may last until midnight or after. He or she is perfectly coherent throughout even when all others go from enthusiastic to incoherent to forgetting where they left their car keys.

Boss and workforce beside elevated section of a turning circle.

This is what it takes to make and run a railway which is fun for self and all the group.

The trouble comes when the railway is up-and-running. A year of group meetings are in the calendar and a comfy ‘garage nook’ has been set up for repairs, storage and fiddling.

What now? The weekend comes when the maquetteur charges into the garden at 7am, eager to get stuck in. In these days of lock- down, it could happen any day of the week.  The only problem is what to do. The boss has to realise that the layout has reached a new stage. It is a matter of same-old same-old rather than the former headlong rush of challenges.

The moment of change has arrived. The boss has hit all the key performance indicators. Now is the time to slow down. The wise maquetteur recognises a limited number of projects to be carried forward. Roughly half our craft can do this instinctively. The others can face a problem. The pulsing, relentless energy which got the layout built is still there. It was great before – shouldn’t it be used to go forward? Well, no, sometimes it has to be reined in. It is time to get in touch with your inner weekender.

16mm water tanker built by Jim Hawkesworth on Wrightscale WD bogies.Why is it about to appear on a rural peacetime branchline? If you've got what it takes, you will have an answer.

The weekender is one who will stand there, sometimes thinking, or sometimes just sitting. The boss, especially one who has a group of friends dotted about the layout may even be bored. He/she is getting to grips with the subtle underlying reality of the mature organisation. It can’t be expressed in a few slogans. It needs a series of pictures, even stories. It comes out quietly, even shyly. Overmuch activity frightens it away. The posh name, I suppose, is The Strategy.

Now that the layout is coming of age, the boss has to consider maintenanc and improvements. Action must onlybe taken if the improvements they enter the spirit of the existing outfit, or makes a train day even more fun. A great layout empowers others.

Happy steaming!

16mm indoor layout created by the late Henry Holdsworth. Photo courtesy Jim Hawkesworth

Living History: Building The Baldwin Gas Mechanical

Building a 16mm Baldwin Gas Mechanical (BGM) can help to bring history to life. There are many reasons why we should get to know this extraordinary locomotive a bit better.It was a First World War locomotive which was then repurposed for peace so touches on many other stories. Malcolm and I admit that this old rogue of an engine inspires love and fascination. Many others have agreed. 

Wrightscale 16mm model of a Baldwin Gas Mechanical 50hp

Here we are, still producing them after thirty years. A batch is under way.

The Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia were first approached in 1916 by the French Army. They were looking for an engine which did not emit a pillar of fire by night and of smoke by day, giving itself away to enemy gunners. Motor vehicle technology fitted this bill. The USA was a world leader in MVT, the Philadelphia-Michigan area a leader within the USA. Henry Ford and many others were just up the road at the time.

Although not yet officially a combatant nation, the USA was definitely open for business. The Baldwin Works were able to offer the French a design with possibilities – the Russian Army had been there first. Rodney Weaver wrote an instructive article in the Industrial Railway Record 1977 Issue 71 pp 45 to 47. With a few alterations to existing designs, the company came up with a locomotive that suited.

The French ordered the 50 h.p. version, six hundred in all, bearing the Maker’s Numbers 1001 to 1600.

On April 2, 1917, President Wilson went before a special joint session of Congress and asked for a declaration of war against Germany, stating: “The world must be made safe for democracy.” On April 4, the Senate voted 82 to 6 to declare war. ... In early 1917, the U.S. Army had just 133,000 members. Numbers quickly rose into the millions.

The American Expeditionary Force AEF were now looking for a locomotive suitable for trench warfare. They also liked the BGM and ordered Maker’s Nos 7000 to 7126. They also ordered a 35 h.p. variant, numbered 8001 to 8065.

Under the bonnet of a Wrightscale 16mm BGM Photo courtesy MD Wright

Building the model brings some of the style and experience of building the original. A few compromises have been made - unlike the prototype, the model runs on battery power or 12 volt AC.

Baldwin had a huge erecting shop where large numbers of locomotives were built at one time – unlike the cramped little sheds of Britain and France. When Malcolm batch-builds, a large number of components will be on the bench at one time. They are interchangeable – at least to begin with.

One of the works halls of the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia. Photo courtesy of Raymond PECHOT

Baldwin were looking for economy in design. Rather than a chassis on to which was built a superstructure, the frames would do for both. Hence the massive frames which to some seem weird and to others quite unorthodox. The frame which appears below is laser cut from steel; cutting the original was done without the benefit of computerand laser-technology. All the same, many methods are similar. 

Just like the workers of that factory in Philadelphia, Malcolm breaks down the job into sub-assemblies. First come the frames and the frames feature throughout the build. Central and essential to the build, the frames must be fitted squarely or all goes wrong afterwards. In other locomotives  chassis and superstructure could be assembled separately. This meant that, in theory at least, the superstructure and plate-work could be square and satisfactory. Less remedial action would have to be taken …. Well, that’s the theory.

A frame and two sorts of connecting rod, laser ct form steel. A pair of each are necessary for each BGM. Photo courtesy MD Wright

Rest the frames on a flat surface at the correct distance apart. Now raise them on blocks, still keeping them parallel. Now fit the buffer beams. It is most convenient to make jigs – prepared blocks which hold the frames at a suitable height. On the model, the buffer beams have to be marked, predrilled and countersunk before final fit. We suspect that this would have been the case on the prototype. They could not trust the parts to have been made with millimetre accuracy. Now turn the assembly over so that the frames are resting on their upper surface. Check again that the assembly is square. Any faults will start to show up; now and not later is the time to adjust!

    If all is well, solder in a cross-tie.  Again, a scaled-up version would have been fitted to the prototype. Only then could the chassis be considered rigid and square.

The next job is fitting the axle-boxes. Making sure that these small parts are in place and running smoothly is essential and fitting this early is the best policy. First job – turn the frame so that the wheel-slots are facing upwards. Second job is to clean up the axle-box castings. You are aiming for an easy running-fit between axle-box and the cut-out on the frame. Fit the four axle-boxes.

Cranks and axle-box castings. There are four of them, viewed from different angles

Now push a spare axle-rod through the front two axle boxes. It should fit squarely. Any compensatory work should be done now and not later! Check the back two in a similar way.

In the prototype, springing was fitted between the axle boxes and the frame, hence the castings. Personally speaking, I love these chunky white metal cylindrical springs on the model, all part of the character of the locomotive. These springs are added at a later stage which Malcolm calls ‘detailing’. He dryly adds ‘with a lot of effort, working springs could be made to fit’. In theory, they could improve the running of the loco on a model track. He has designed in a rare compromise on the model.  On a 21^st century layout, heroic compensation is not needed. In the conditions of World War One, it was essential. One side of the track might disappear into a shell-hole at any point. The one comfort for the driver and crew was ‘Oh well, if it hadn’t landed near us, it might have been on top of us’  

At the detailing stage, other non-working items are added – the brakes. They are not actually needed on an electrically driven model. ‘Stop’ means ‘Stop’.

But I digress. We have reached the point when one pair of gear boxes is in its appointed place on the frames. Repeat with the other pair, making sure that the temporary axle runs smoothly. If an axle box jams, once again, rub it gently up and down the steel until the white metal has been polished to a smooth-running fit. In the presence of steel, white-metal becomes, very slightly, a lubricant. Make use of this phenomenon sparingly!

A prototype Baldwin Gas Mechanical, only partly restored, on the rack at Apedale, Staffs. The axle-box niches can be clearly seen. Photo courtesy Jim Hawkesworth

Now the wheel-sets can be fitted. Again, you may need to lightly polish the working areas, this time with an abrasive pad. Your aim is to have both wheel-sets in, rotating freely.

In the model, Loctite or similar engineering glue are used to keep the axle-boxes in place. On the prototype, of course, the axle boxes were sprung.

The integrated chassis-cum-superstructure is taking shape. In addition, you are entering into that Yankee ‘can-do’ mind-set. You think about what you are going to make and then you bash theory about a little until it fits!

Try to get hold of Rich Dunn’s ‘Narrow Gauge To No-man’s Land’ Benchmark Press and

Dr Christian Cénac’s  ‘La voie de 60’ Auto-édition