MORE LOCOMOTIVES

3643 - 45038 - 41535

Pannier Tank 3643

The first of four Bachmann pannier tanks to be modified to run on Worseter. All four have High Level chassis and gearboxes and are powere by Mashima motors. 3643 has Ultrascale wheels. I have used Alan Gibson plunger pick- ups that have been modified to provide softer springing. The loco is heavily weathered as it is due for a heavy overhaul at Swindon.

3643 was a Gloucester engine, that was often seen on the Forest of Dean branch, which is very handy as the model sees use on both Clinkerford (BR) and Worseter.

 

'Black 5' 45038

This 'Black 5' was originally built by Rod Neep for Model Railway Journal (see Issue No. 25). It started life as a DJH white metal kit with an etched brass chassis and Mike Sharman wheels. Rod opted to use a Jamieson etched nickel silver tender in lieu of the DJH white metal one. The loco is powered by a Portescap motor/gearbox.

When Rod moved away from model railways, he sold off all his stock and I was able to pick up the loco for a reasonable price. However, I soon discovered that it was not a great runner. After mainy hours spent trying to improve the running, I finally gave up and, after a much negotiation, convinced Brassmasters to sell me a set of chassis etches from their Black 5 kit. This was built re-using the bogie wheels, motor and gearbox from the original model. I fitted new Ultrascale driving wheels but retained the original axles. I had to remove quite a lot of white metal from the body to get it to fit the chassis, mostly from the underside of the footplate. It now runs a lot better and has seen service on Brinkley in the early years.

 

Dock Tank 41535

The little Deeley tank is built from a Brassmasters etched brass kit.The loco is powered by a Portescap motor/gearbox and runs on Alan Gibson wheels. It was not an easy kit to build and needed quite a bit of modification and fettling. It has seen very little use since it was built and the pressure from the plunger pick-ups over time appears to have twisted the wheels on their axles so it tends to waddle along the track! There are several colour photographs of this loco in various books, so I was able to use these as a reference when painting and weathering. This is a very small loco, so if Worseter does go DCC in the future, I may have problems finding somewhere to fit a decoder!

41535 spent a lot of its life allocated to Gloucester (Barnwood) and was largely employed on the Gloucester Docks branch. It was for this reason that it was chosen to operate the dock branch on Worseter.