BOXHILL by Martin Evans

[jma1009]

i spent part of the weekend hacksawing the A1X sandboxes out of BMS steel lumps. new 18 teeth per inch Eclipse hacksaw blade fitted. good exercise! they are 1" x 1 1/14" x 1 3/4" with slopes on 3 sides. there is quite a lot of work to finish them and get the front ones to fit to clear the brake hangers and other parts.

next task is to mill all the faces of the boxes and radius the edges. my Dore Westbury Mill doesnt really like milling large lumps of steel so the milling will have to be done slowly with light cuts.

i really dont like making these sort of bits that 'dont work' and serve no purpose. however at least in fullsize they dont work on Stepney either! they will add an extra 2 lbs to the weight of the miniature loco.

anyway a few pics.

the 2nd and 3rd pics were kindly taken for me by Fred Bailey of the Bluebell, and show some of the complications.

cheers,
julian

[ejparrott]

You're obviously fitter than me!!

[Roger]

Now that looks like proper hard work, no need to head for the Gym today Julian, you're excused.

[jma1009]

i finished milling the sandboxes at the weekend. originally hacksawed out of large lumps of steel.

my Dore Westbury Mill made a heck of a racket doing the above! im afraid ive never got a decent finish on steel being far too impetuous.

the edges need the curves added with a file, and quite a few other details in due course added such as inspection covers and the steam sanding equipment, plus method of attachment to the frames.

cheers,
julian

[Roger]

They look fine to me Julian, and the finish is plenty good enough to make for easy hand finishing if you want it any better. At least all the really hard work is done.

[ejparrott]

I assume you'll be painting them, so you don't want the finish too good!

[jma1009]

a bit more progress on the sandboxes for Stepney...

ive milled the backs of the rear sandboxes for a strip of steel to attach them to the frames. the strip also got milled to size to a press fit. secured to the 'boxes with 2 6BA screws. the holes for these strips were drilled and tapped in the frames over 3 years ago. ive also made a start on curving the edges of the sandboxes. i now need to do a partial dismantling of the loco to mark off the existing holes in the frames.

cheers,
julian

[jma1009]

i spent part of this evening sorting out the support for the valances and running boards this evening, plus the 2 rear sandboxes are now bolted to the frames. the running board and valance supports are a bit unorthodox but hidden and owe a lot to my old friend Johnny Seymour of the SMLS who made his running boards out of thick steel plate.

i will hopefully take a few pics tomorrow of further progress.

cheers,
julian

[jma1009]

havent had much time in the workshop the last few weeks, but i have nearly finished the sandboxes for Stepney. not a very interesting job!

ive fitted the inspection covers on same with 10BA studding and nuts.

ive made 1 sand trap to fit in the bottom of 1, but this is only a trial and will probably get altered. i have Don Young's 'Doncaster' and 'E.S.Cox' drawings for same.

a lot of work for something that in my case doesnt work because the sandboxes are solid steel!

the hole in the right hand box is for the draincock linkeage to fit through, same as fullsize.

anyway a further pic

cheers,
julian

[uuu]

These look much nicer than mine, which are also dummies.

What we need is some zealot to come along and tell us that a non-working sandbox is an abomination. Like a non-working injector.

Wilf

[jma1009]

i am afraid progress has been very slow of late, due to me being fed up doing the sandboxes!

anyway a bit more progress. here is the left hand front sandbox fitted with arm for the cylinder drain cock gear, and actuating rod going through it as per prototype. the sand pipes have been added to both front boxes of 5/16" dia copper tube ( ex BR Mark 2 carriages) and covers out of steel fitted.

unfortunately no more progress with the steam sanders.

cheers,
julian

[Roger]

I too find it a struggle to keep motivated from time to time, especially when it's something I don't enjoy. Still, they're coming on nicely now, so a big push and they will be done.
I was stood in front of Stepney on Sunday, but couldn't get a signal to ask if there was anything you wanted photographing. I should have asked before I went, but I didn't think of it.

[Cro]

Julian, looking good and some progress is better than no progress! Like Roger I was too stood in front of Stepney (I think at the same time!) I am sure if you ever need anything I can always pop down its only 20 minutes away!

I remember you asked about the sander jets, were you hoping to add them soon? If so I will see when I can fit them in and get them modeled but if there is not rush I will fit them in in the new year.

Adam

[jma1009]

hi Adam,

i am green with envy that both you and Roger saw 'Cheltenham' at the weekend on the Bluebell!

i am so fed up with doing the sandboxes that the steam sanders are likely to get left till a later date. the sandboxes are tapped 1/4" x 40 tpi for same, but can be sleeved or altered subsequently. as you know i strongly object to buying anything off Doug Hewson for personal reasons, and if you can in due course do LBSCR Marsh type steam sanders i will be in the front of the queue! Fred Bailey has all the relevant drawings at the Bluebell and is an East Grinstead club member.

cheers,
julian

[jma1009]

here we have my weekend's work despite very bad back pain saturday evening which continues!

this is a sort of a few steps forward and one BIG step backwards...



here is one side of the valances plus cab step profile fitted



unfortunately the cab steps come a bit too close for comfort to the rear crankpins!

this is due to my using scale buffer beams plus overscale wheels and coupling rods etc

i will have to try and work out a way of getting round this problem. for various reasons it wasnt apparent on my re-drawing of everything to 'scale' in 2011, but hey ho!

cheers,
julian

[Lisa]

Looks like quite a bit could be taken off that retaining collar on the coupling rods Julian. I know on my Blowfly the front crankpin has the retaining collar flush with the rod to give clearance behind the crosshead.



P.S. Your build here was one of the main topics that drew me to this forum, I do love the A1X.

[ejparrott]

Mill the top of the step where it sit's behind the valance, thin it down a bit? How much clearance do you want?!

[donashton]

Much as I wish him well I'm not gonna tell the master Julian what to do with his coupling rod/step, nor hazard a guess at his solution. What I DO know is that the result will satisfy everybody, but primarily himself. He's endured this sort of job (did someone say problem?)for 43 pages, so just sit back and watch out for the master strokes - it's a joy to read.

Don.

[jma1009]

thank you Don and Lisa for your kind comments.

Lisa, you are quite correct the crankpin collars are too thick. since the above pic was taken yesterday daytime they have all been removed and reduced by 1/16". reducing the length of the crankpin ends to match the thinned collars will have to wait till the wheelsets come out of the frames.

more drastic measures may have to be resorted to!

cheers,
julian

[jma1009]

i think ive sorted out an acceptable solution to the cab step problem. ive cut out new parts and will post a few pics in due course.

ive rivetted all the valances to the running boards. not worth posting details or pics as all bog standard stuff.

once ive done the cab steps (mark 2!) i will be onto the tanks, which apart from springing and pipework and painting is all that is left. i might have a go at describing the making of the side tanks as have received considerable advice from Jim Scott re construction of same, as i have also received with the springs. there is of course the temptation to steam up the loco with completed springing and pipework first, but i really ought to make the side tanks first. to make an 'accurate' Stroudley side tank in miniature requires a lot of extra work to make it look 'right'. thankfully Jim has done his and has been very generous in telling me how.

cheers,
julian