Titfield Thunderbolt

Jon Nazareth · Jan 07 2015 15:00

Dear All

I'm quite certain someone will know the answer to this one. What were the 'vehicles' that were attached behind the Titfield Thunderbolt in the film of the same name? Oh, and if they are available commercially too, please.

Regards
Jon

John Candy · Jan 07 2015 15:56

Jon,

If you are referring to the vehicles behind the 14XX 0-4-2T (and not those hauled by the Liverpool & Manchester Rlwy. "Lion" which was the actual "Titfield Thunderbolt" loco) then they were a Wisbech & Upwell bogie tramcar (ex-GER No.8 ) and a GWR "Toad" brake van (don't know the diagram No. but I do have the DVD of the film if you want to borrow it).

Both available as kits from GRS.

Regards,
John.

cabbage · Jan 07 2015 17:43

Don't forget the chain....

regards

ralph

Doddy · Jan 07 2015 18:35

Quote from: Cabbage on Jan 07 2015 17:43
Don't forget the chain....

regards

ralph

Ah the version 2 variant of train connections!

Version 1 was rope I believe.

Doddy

Jon Nazareth · Jan 07 2015 20:21

No, not the ones behind that engine, John, but the ones behind 'Lion.'
The dvd arrived today so, I'll watch it this evening.

I've started to build the tender for Lion. I have the underframe made up and am presently working on the tender horns/axlebox guides. I'm working from a drawing that appeared in an issue of Model Engineer some years after the build it yourself series.
Regards
Jon

John Candy · Jan 07 2015 20:48

Jon,

The train behind "Lion" was formed of "Old Dan's" home (a grounded carriage) placed on a "Lowmac" wagon!
Without watching the DVD again I am not sure whether the GWR "Toad" was also in tow.

The carriage body might be represented by a Bachmann "Thomas" 4-wheel coach body placed on a GWR "Loriot" machine wagon (GRS kit)....I think that is about the only machinery wagon available in G3.

Sounds like "fun"!!

John.

John Candy · Jan 07 2015 20:54

Thinking again....regarding "Dan's" coach body.....Mike's London & Birmingham coach could be a better basis than the Thomas coach.

Being "flat-sided", scratch-building the body should not be too difficult.

Regards,
John.

blagdon · Jan 07 2015 23:12

From memory, the BR train behind the 14XX was coach, cattle wagon for the Squires produce, and TOAD. I am not sure if the cattle wagon was in the 'independent' consist.

The 'Lion' train was old coach body on machinery wagon and TOAD; the TOAD had an extended stove chimney which could be dipped down to get under bridges. (You could just extend it enough to stay within the loading gauge).

Ian the Gauge '3' Pirate

hornbeam · Jan 08 2015 07:12

Should make an interesting and different train. Has anyone built the W&U coach think it's one piece sis so should be easy enough.

John Candy · Jan 08 2015 07:38

I have two of the W&U kits which are complete except for final detailing (and have been in that state for several years)!

They are not one-piece mouldings (separate sides, ends, etc.) and the moulded detailing on sides is not quite correct (I removed and replaced elements of the panelling) while other areas benefit (e.g. roof) from additional details.

Underframe and bogies lack the Westinghouse brake gear and the end gas tanks are missing from kit.
Body lacks the "drop plates" which connected carriages as well as the prominent wheel for the hand brake.

The bogies need "beefing up"....they lack torsional rigidity and the whitemetal soldered joints easily fracture.

If you want the original W&U design of passenger boarding steps (i.e. as they were before the cars were transferred to the Kelvedon & Tollesbury Light Railway following cessation of W&U passenger service in 1927) you will need to modify the buffer beam section castings and make them (I cast mine from whitemetal).

The buffers are dreadful .... in halves which have to be joined and then drilled out to fit the heads... but at least the heads are steel.

I stop there but it is not the full story!

John.

P.S. Attached is photo of No.8 .... you can see panel mods and the added brake gear, end gas tanks and original W&U steps. The end "ironwork" (gates,etc.) need to be added and the bogies will have to be removed and further reinforced. The model of No.8 (with 7 to the right) have been standing for several years on top of a wardrobe....I had not noticed that one bogie had de-railed...with result it had twisted and a joint broken...and that was after it had been reinforced!

Geoff Nicholls · Jan 12 2015 15:10

Jon,
do you have any photos of your progress so far? I'm really tempted by the idea of building a model of 'Lion' myself. I believe it was downgraded from mainline use in the late 1850's, so it might have pulled Mike's carriage, although it was a goods engine.
Have you come across this book:
"Liverpool Road Station, Manchester: Historical and Architectural Survey" published by Manchester University Press ? It's full of drawings of the station and warehouses. Lion would definitely have been there.
There are several copies available on Amazon.
At the Alex Palace Model Engineering show, there was a stall run by a Society wholly devoted to Lion.
I've been wondering if the power unit from John Candy's Sentinel, could be used as a tender drive, then I could model the inside motion of the loco....

Jon Nazareth · Jan 12 2015 19:21

Dear Geoff

The Titfield project is one that has to fit in between other projects so, progress is slow. All I have at the moment is the framework for the tender, which was rather a fiddle and looks like deck framing from the Mary Rose, and the axlebox guides. If you would like to see a picture, I could try and put one on the Forum but I've never been that successful in the past.
The Society that you talk about is called OLCO, old locomotive company, and they will be at Alexander Palace this week end but sadly, I won't be. I think that they will be at the Guildford MES track in August and I will catch up with them there. OLCO can supply some drawings if you are thinking of going down that road. I have two drawings of the loco that I shall use for the build when I get to that stage. What I would really like to do is drive up to Liverpool and take lots of pictures of her but it is something in the region of a ten hour round trip if I allow an hour for photography. I can't see me doing that somehow.
If you saw the tender frame, I think you may change your mind about using it to house the motor as you couldn't get the motor to mesh with the axle with all of those beams in the way.
I bought all of the back issues of the Model Engineer with the construction articles by Curly Lawrence but they are pretty useless for what I'm doing well, at least that's what I thought. The tender is in a much later copy of ME and was drawn from the original. If you would like copies, I'd be more than happy to get these for you.

Jon Nazareth · Jan 12 2015 19:23

............somehow the message went off without me pushing the send button but, I think that I was more or less finished.

Regards
Jon

Geoff Nicholls · Jan 12 2015 22:43

Jon had trouble uploading these, so I'm doing it on his behalf

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