Masterclass: Industrials

As manufacturers tap into the potential of industrial-image models, Paul A. Lunn suggests how you can save some money and create them yourself.

Paul A. Lunn shows you how to make your own industrial locomotives.

There’s no getting away from it: the choice of suitable prototypes for ‘OO’ gauge ready-to-run models gets smaller all the time. There are fewer and fewer obvious main line locomotives for manufacturers to select, which is why they seem to have woken up to the possibilities that industrial locomotives, those myriad small machines built for collieries, steel works, dockyards – essentially any form of industry, have for a model.

Hornby, Hattons and Golden Valley Hobbies have led the way with some very nice little models. But all that’s currently available in ‘OO’ are two saddletanks (with a third on

the way) and three diesel shunters. When you think about the huge variety of shapes and sizes that poured out of the great locomotive cities of Leeds, Bristol, Glasgow et al, that’s quite a poor return.

You can, of course, expand your industrial collection thanks to the superb ranges of kits from the likes of Judith Edge, CSP Models and many others. But kit-building is not for everyone.

Luckily, there’s a compromise, a way to create industrials with side, saddle and pannier tanks, with four and six-coupled chassis. In fact, there are actually two options.

Here’s Option 1. It’s easy to forget that BR sold dozens of locomotives into industry and this can help in your search for instant industrials. Two of the most famous ex-br ‘industrials’ are EX-GWR ‘57XX’ No. 7754, which remained in use until 1975, and EX-LMS ‘Jinty’ No. 47445, which received an interesting orange paint scheme.

Both liveries are very simple. If you can’t find second-hand examples of Modelzone’s exclusive Bachmann limited edition, Hattons has ‘OO’ gauge ‘57XXS’ for sale from £35. Those with a BR emblem or a GWR shirtbutton roundel are probably the easiest to convert. Simply mask off the smokebox and footplate areas and spray with a suitable shade of green. Fox, Modelmaster and Railtec all offer suitable National Coal Board

lettering. BR and GWR panniers will not have red coupling rods and these will require painting, together with overall light weathering.

Bachmann has also produced a limited edition of No. 47445 in its orange, British Oak Coal Disposal Point livery. If you’re able to find one, Bachmann’s shade leaves a lot to be desired. But with lots of cheap second-hand ‘Jinties’ about – Hattons has them starting at £54 – it’s a simple job to create your own using a suitable shade from Phoenix Precision or Railmatch. There’s no lettering, but remember that the footplate valance is bufferbeam red.

My friend Paul Marshall-potter shows you just how simple it is to create an instant industrial with a repaint on p62.

Option 2 requires a little more work but will offer you something more industrial looking. And it’s cheap too – you can create an industrial for under £50. The key factor is Hornby’s Thomas The Tank Engine range. You can find a Hornby Thomas for almost pocket money prices (Kernow Model Rail Centre is offering Thomas for just £39.99).

Hornby’s Thomas range dates from the 1980s and it does look rather basic today, but you can turn these models into convincing industrials with a bit of clever thinking and some good old fashioned modelling.

Now that Bachmann Europe has taken on the UK and Ireland Thomas licence, it’s a good time to investigate the possibilities that Hornby’s Thomas has – and Dave Lowery has done just that on p66. After all, now that Hornby is no longer making its Thomas models they’re going to get rarer – and that might make prices rocket!

GORDON EDGAR/RAIL PHOTOPRINTS BR declared ‘57XX’ No. 7754 redundant in 1959 and it would spend 16 years as a National Coal Board machine. Former GWR fitter Howard Griffiths kept it going at Mountain Ash colliery until 1975, when it was donated to the National Museum of Wales and loaned to the Llangollen Railway.

JONATHAN STOCKWELL Hargreaves Ltd bought ‘Jinty’ No. 47445 from BR in 1966 for use at its British Oak Sidings, near Wakefield. Aside from a brief spell at sidings near Elsecar Junction in 1967/68, it remained at British Oak until 1970. It’s now under a thorough overhaul at the Midland Railway – Butterley.

GRAHAM SMITH/RAIL PHOTOPRINTS This is how easy it is to turn a BR locomotive into an industrial: with some simple computer skills and some Crafty Computer Paper, you could replicate APCM’S logo and fix it to a Heljan Class 14 to create D9526, which served its Westbury site from 1968 until 1977.