HOW TO MAKE AN INDUSTRIAL THOMAS
Dave Lowery shows you how to model your own industrial locomotive using an off-the-shelf Thomas.
Without doubt, Hornby’s Thomas the Tank Engine model range has brought a lot of young blood into our hobby over the last 35 years or so. Very few other hobbies have ever had such a successful ambassador.
Given that Hornby’s Thomas licence has come to an end, now’s the perfect time to see if it’s possible for Thomas to grow up and become part of the mainstream railway.
Paul A. Lunn has devised an interesting and colourful way to modify Thomas, which I have mostly implemented (see p61). However
I have deviated from his proposals a little. Paul suggests making a new smokebox door from Plastikard, but with a little internet searching you can find appropriate smokebox doors. Peter’s Spares offers a decent selection for a few pounds, but I found a supplier on ebay offering one little gem – a smokebox door from Hornby’s 1990s 0-4-0T, which was, ironically, offered as an 0-4-0T version of Thomas.
The main change I made to Paul’s scheme actually made the project easier. Rather than devise some kind of ‘label’ to hide the garish No. 1 on the side, I simply fitted an etched nameplate. There are loads of suitable ’plates available from the likes of Fox or Shawplan, so you can either choose something a little wild, or a name that means something to you.
That’s one advantage of a freelance project such as this. You don’t have to count rivets, or spend hours peering at black and white photos to determine colour and fine details – you can just simply have some fun!