more pics of 5" Stirling single

[welshy]

Here is another photo of the Stirling still trying to work out how to get more than 1 pic on post (more to follow if any one interested)

Mike

[spug103]

lovely job,
im very envious i love the look of the stirlings.

keep up the good work
ben

[drumkilbo]

Keep posting them Mike, interesting stuff, neat riveting too.

Ian.

[GWRdriver]

Mike,
Well done. Whose drawings and castings? I have the bits for a 3.5"ga version and your photos are already useful in seeing whats going on inside, the smokebox casting for instance.

[welshy]

Thanks again for the kind comments, the drawings and castings are the Reeves ones drawn originally by JK Scarth and later revised by D C Piddington. The smoke box itself is a split one and was a bit of a pig to make i only assume it was split to allow access inside as the smoke box door is on the small side.
I have also done some work on the splashers, running boards and cab but am waiting for the boiler from Western steam which should be finished later this month, I originally ordered the boiler 2 years ago from another well known company but was let down badly so in the end i canceled the order (I was quoted 30 weeks and was still waiting after 60 weeks with no boiler.
Regards Mike

[Alan]

Excellent photos. keep them coming, they are an incentive for us all. You seem to be working very fast! whats the secret.
Alan

[garethp]

Hi Mike,

Looks good - I'm very jealous! The questions I've got are,

Do you know how old your drawings are? The ones I've got are about 30 - 35 years old and there are some differences such as your buffer stocks are round and my drawings show square ones.

How are you doing the springs? My engine (OK, my dads!) has dummy leaf springs with coils, your tender looks to have coil springs.

How did you bend the frames? Mine are bent but I dont think they are flat enough to mount the cylinders.

Are you getting your castings from Reeves? I cant justify spending £350 on the cylinder castings or the rest of the castings and will have to either fabricate them or buy them from elsewhere. Fortunately I have all engine wheels.

Is there internal baffle structure in the tender? None of the drawings I have show anything.

Is there a book worth getting that has the Stirling history in it? I'd like to know more about the engines.

No doubt I'll come up with more questions!!

Regards,
Gareth.

[welshy]

Hello Gareth, The drawings were bought during the last 3 0r so years I have been buying them from Reeves as i've gone along, the buffers are shown as square on my drawings too but some of the later Stirlings were fitted with the round ones which I prefer I have had the dimensions from a photo No1004.
Yes the springing on the tender has dummy leaf springs with coil springs fitted onto the axleboxes. On the loco the trailing wheels also have dummy leafs with coils fitted within, the driving wheels are fitted with double coils and no leaf springs (I believe some of the very early ones were fitted with leafs on the main wheels).the bogie has independant dummy leaf springs with again coil springs (2 per wheel)
I bent the frames on a Gabro sheet folder at work, I used a piece of 1/8" rod as a gauge to get the correct angles it had to be tweaked a few times to get the 2 folds right each side and exactly square.
All of the castings are from Reeves the cylinders a very expensive but were very good quality. I fabricated the rear and front smokebox rings from flat brass bar.
The drawings do not show a baffle in the tender and i have not fitted any yet (the drawings are very vague in lots of areas) I thought I could always baffle it if needed when finished (If it is ever finished).
I have some books on the GNR in general and photos of Stirlings in other books. There is a very good book by an author called Moody I think which I am trying to trace a decent used copy as its out of print.
Hope that helps a bit feel free to ask any more questions I will try to answer them for you
Regards Mike

[Alan]

there is a book that gives an excellent history and development of the Stirling single. I cant remeber too much details but will confirm when i get home this afternoon if nobody else mentions it.
Alan

[welshy]

OK thanks Alan
Mike

[spurley]

Hi Mike

Here is a link to a book you might like:www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=853212944&isbn=0901115622 published by the RCTS.

I have never looked at it myself but have all the RCTS books of the Southern Railway and consituents and they are excellent.

Cheers

Brian

[welshy]

Thanks Brian i am in the process of ordering it looks good to me
CheersMike

[chris vine]

Hi Mike,

The other book which you might be able to track down is
The Stirling Singles by Leech and Boddy. Published by David and Charles locomotive monographs.
My copy does not have an isbn and is published 1965. It is quite good, but the pictures are quite small and not often from helpful directions!

I Like you wheel castings, they even have the correct square section spokes.

Did you know that wheels of this age were not cast? They were made by forge welding lots of small pieces. Each spoke was separate with a t piece on the end and a wedge at the hub. The rim was forge welded from all the T pieces and the hub was forge welded together with the oval plates for the crank boss welded on the outside.

A staggering piece of work if you stop to think about it.

The problem was that in the old days they could not cast steel big enough for wheels. In fact the forge welded wheels were so expensive to make that they would often be used again on a new engine (even of a different type) when the original was scrapped!

Have fun
Chris.

[spurley]

For interest, I hope, the driving wheels under the Adams Radial 488 www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/loco_static.html#adams# at the Bluebell are of the construction described by Chris above, in wrought iron. She was built in 1885 and has 5' 7" drivers. The railway has concerns over restoring this engine, the boiler requires at least the front ring of the boiler replacing along with some attention to the wheels. She was restricted to light loads only during her last period in service.

Cheers

Brian

[welshy]

Thanks for the information Chris, I did not realise the wheels were built up i thought that they were cast, I wondered how they managed to cast such large wheels.
Mike

[simonwass]

Some nice fine work there.
Does the front coupling hook need some work, corners look a bit sharp.

[welshy]

Yes the coupling hook need some more work i have just done the 2d profile, i will get around to tapering and rounding it all sometime soon.
Mike

[Laurie_B]

An excellent piece of work.Should look splendid when finished.
I'm intrigued to know how you put the tender body together,as I can't see any signs of solder in the photos.
Your soldering might be much neater than mine usually is of course!
Did you use soft solder to seal the tank or some other sealant?The only reason I ask is that I am putting together the tender body for my 5" gauge loco,and I'm wondering what might be the best way of sealing the joints,other than soldering and possible distortion occuring.

[welshy]

I have not sealed the tender yet, just in case i want to dismantle it again, Iwill be sealing it with soft solder though. Distortion should not be a problem as it all held together by 1/4" brass angle along all the seams including the curved sections, the angle is screwed every 1" with brass 10BA screws.
I f you would like i could post a pic of the internals of the tender.
Regards Mike

[Laurie_B]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the reply.I've adopted a similar method of holding all the various plates together using brass angle and screws,maybe I'll put a few more 10 BA screws in though!Hopefully distortion shouldn't then be a problem.
A pic of the inside of the Stirling's tank would indeed be interesting.
Thanks again

Laurence.