LNER J39 Locomotive

[Mjwomack]

Going Loco down in Eastern England.. not that it scans very well.

The Ferrari is rather stalled at the moment, so I think it's time to look at something else, another big engine! Well, in the scheme of railway engines it wasn't that big, but it was a key engine in Eastern England, the 6 wheeled J39 designed by (Sir) Nigel Gresley- I think he knocked out a few others while he was about it!

 

All the technical details here to satisfy the inner nerds and rivet counters...

 

https://www.lner.info/locos/J/j39.php 

 

https://www.brdatabase.info/locoqry.php?action=class&type=S&id=601039 

 

False Economy?

There's a ready to run version which has been available for a few years for around 120, which seemed a bit steep for a scrooge like me. And I rather enjoy the challenge of battling with old models. 

Admittedly the kit itself only cost 20, but then I had to pay another 65 for the chassis as it's only a body kit. By the time you add in the paint, decals and accessories, I'll end up at over 100 and then it seems an extra 20 for all the extra detail may not have been such a bad deal. But hey, where's the fun in that?

 

Let the fun begin?

 

This then is the beginning of the fun..

 

Black paint and decals for a Norwich based engine to follow in due course

 

 

[PeterB]

Snap!

Actually this is the OO Wills kit which could be either a J38 or a J39 depending I believe on the size of wheels used. I was building it about 20 years ago when for one reason or another I had to dismantle my railway layout so it never quite got finished - I had problems with the chassis. Wills made some nice kits - always fancied their Peppercorn Pacific! I also built their J11 together with Keyser's O4, Small GNR Atlantic (C1?) and the mighty Streamlined P2 - I never forgave Thompson for what he did to that class - used to see poor old Mons Meg regularly in Leeds!

 

Good luck with yours.

 

Pete

Edited November 21, 2023 by PeterB

[bentwaters81tfw]

Only travelled once behind a J39. Usual fare between Ipswich and Felixstowe was an L1. My first trip to London. L1, Britanna (Hereward the Wake), Class 40, then new, and J39 back home on a relief. Criminal how they took steam away in 1960 from the Eastern.

[Mjwomack]

10 hours ago, PeterB said:

Snap!

Actually this is the OO Wills kit which could be either a J38 or a J39 depending I believe on the size of wheels used. I was building it about 20 years ago when for one reason or another I had to dismantle my railway layout so it never quite got finished - I had problems with the chassis. Wills made some nice kits - always fancied their Peppercorn Pacific! I also built their J11 together with Keyser's O4, Small GNR Atlantic (C1?) and the mighty Streamlined P2 - I never forgave Thompson for what he did to that class - used to see poor old Mons Meg regularly in Leeds!

 

Good luck with yours.

 

Pete

At least I won't have problems with the chassis- it was tested before leaving the shop and being second hand is thoroughly run-in😉. I doubt If I'll manage the rest of it as beautifully as this, and not just because I've got half the size to work with. Always a sucker for the LNER gold lettering; you've got me wavering from my BR black intentions. I was thinking of a BRITISH RAILWAYS on one side of the tender and a logo on the other,  but who knows now that the seed has been sown.

[Mjwomack]

10 hours ago, bentwaters81tfw said:

Only travelled once behind a J39. Usual fare between Ipswich and Felixstowe was an L1. My first trip to London. L1, Britanna (Hereward the Wake), Class 40, then new, and J39 back home on a relief. Criminal how they took steam away in 1960 from the Eastern.

Britannia- first class I had for a 'cab', at a very impressionable age on Oliver Cromwell at Bressingham- never looked back! Certainly not at a Class 40 which I always think a very ugly loco with FAR too many wheels😁. Must have been designed by a committee!

The railways of East Anglia should have been awarded a George Cross (like Malta) for their part in the war effort; especially supporting the American bomber bases. They were completely and literally worn out by it; which is why I like @Paul821's

 Mega-project - seems very appropriate that the railway contribution is reflected.

[Paul821]

10 hours ago, bentwaters81tfw said:

Criminal how they took steam away in 1960 from the Eastern.

It was a relief to my mother! My childhood home backed onto the Enfield line and the changeover from steam to electric meant that washing on the line was no longer dirty when you brought it in.

[PeterB]

1 hour ago, Mjwomack said:

At least I won't have problems with the chassis- it was tested before leaving the shop and being second hand is thoroughly run-in😉. I doubt If I'll manage the rest of it as beautifully as this, and not just because I've got half the size to work with. Always a sucker for the LNER gold lettering; you've got me wavering from my BR black intentions. I was thinking of a BRITISH RAILWAYS on one side of the tender and a logo on the other,  but who knows now that the seed has been sown.

Yes - getting the PC Pressfix markings on locos, coaches and wagons was bad enough in OO gauge, I should imagine N can be a real test of eyesight and hands which I would certainly fail now. Funny how good the relatively simple Gill Sans font looks, particularly the countershaded gold version on passenger locos. Apparently the J39 class had the biggest production run of any Gresley designed loco and yet it is not well known.

 

Pete

[Mjwomack]

8 hours ago, Paul821 said:

It was a relief to my mother! My childhood home backed onto the Enfield line and the changeover from steam to electric meant that washing on the line was no longer dirty when you brought it in.

The Jazz services! A long way from Enfield, but leads to my favourite Eric Treacy photo

https://images.app.goo.gl/LkiiZBw3ZLfPGhcSA 

Copyright claimed as Getty as you can see, but I think its actually National Railway Museum collection

[Mjwomack]

This is going to be harder than I thought!

And I'm sure no other modeller has ever had that thought as the moment of realisation dawned. It's also going to be a lot more expensive than I might have intended.

 

That's a very ugly seam line running through everything- going to be an order going off to 'n' Brass for a new smokebox door just as soon as I've figured out what size it should be.

 

 

I was intending to replace the handrails in any case so it'll really be a case of enlarging the order, whilst trying to be realistic and restrained about how much else I decide to upgrade.

I know I could have built the tender first but I'm waiting for personal visits to the model shop to resume a week tomorrow 😃 to get some bearings for the wheels.

 

[PeterB]

At least white metal rubs down fairly easily and after a go with a burnishing "brush" it will look a lot better - certainly quite a rough casting but I supose at that scale the seams look a lot worse than on my 00 ones.

 

Pete

[AdrianMF]

Wow. This looks like a world of pain! I built a couple of the Airfix/Rosebud locos as a kid and have never felt the need to re-visit (although I do have the Prairie tank and City of Truro in the stash to do “ properly”). Will be watching with interest!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Mjwomack]

12 hours ago, PeterB said:

At least white metal rubs down fairly easily and after a go with a burnishing "brush" it will look a lot better - certainly quite a rough casting but I supose at that scale the seams look a lot worse than on my 00 ones.

 

Pete

That's a more economical entry point for Plan A, and if it doesn't work then the Plan A is  replacement door etc. There need to be some budget cuts, not least because I've discovered Union Mills do a ready to run metal body version for 68, which is hardly any more than the cost of the chassis, has a modern tender drive for better performance and with the motor in the tender means the compromise of the boiler is avoided and you can see daylight under it. So, I really am throwing good money after bad, but maybe that's half the point of a hobby is that it's pointless (refer to Oscar Wilde on art)

[Mjwomack]

11 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Wow. This looks like a world of pain! I built a couple of the Airfix/Rosebud locos as a kid and have never felt the need to re-visit (although I do have the Prairie tank and City of Truro in the stash to do “ properly”). Will be watching with interest!

 

Regards,

Adrian

You flatter me! Let's leave it at, my theoretical knowledge considerably outweighs my practical ability and my ambition usually surpasses them both!

Because I want this to be a working model, there are all manner of compromises with the boiler and cab to fit the motor in. The advantage of a static model is that you are spared those; and the person who really knows how to make a silk purse out of the pig's ears that are the old Rosebud/ Kitmaster/ Airfix/ Dapol/ Did I miss anyone moulds is @nimrod54 who regularly produces work like this...

 

I'm sure there's a 9F somewhere, but I can't find that thread.

 

There's also a rumour that the Lord High Sherrif of GB aka @Enzo Matrix will be along later to demonstrate how to build a locomotive. Seriously, those will be the builds to follow, mine will be more a worked example of 'how not to do it'- but if it encourages you to get steamy it'll be a job well done.

[PeterB]

Hi Mj,

 

The mention of Airfix kits reminded me of a long term project which is currently on hold. I bought a couple of the Airfix/Dapol Schools and a West Country ( I once visited the Dapol "shop" in Winsford I think, it was not long after Dave and Polly started up - he was a bit of a character - I remember him throwng a car from his minature version of Scalextrix against the wall to prove how robust they were). They are half built and I will be upgrading then with handrails, chimneys etc, not to mention proper name plates and decs., but they have been standing unfinished for so long I might not be able to match the ruddy paint - we will see. My Standard 4 came out quite well as I recall.  And yes, I found tender drives the way to go whenever possible - I used both Hornby and the Airfix 4F one on several conversions when I found problems with certain makes of motor when using the old Hornby "Zero- One" control system. My  O4 "ROD" has the Aifix one from a 4F whilst my P2 has a Hornby one from an A4 and my Mainline Jubilee has a complete Fowler tender and motor from the Midland Compound I think. As you say, tender drive does offer a chance of getting the correct profile under the boiler as well.

 

Almost all of my locos were either 2nd hand or old models being sold off cheap - I think I paid £9 in around 1985 for the gloss green "Evening Star" 9F which is now a much more detailed and suitably filthy black one, but even then the new OO locos were getting expensive and it no longer was a "kids hobby". Back in those days Hattons in Liverpool carried a good stock of second hand models and parts like bodies for the loco and tender, together with power "bogies" but since they moved from the old shop in Smithdown Rd which I used to visit before our family "up North" passed away, they seem to have less of that sort of thing - may be a sign of the times and changes to the sort of person still into the hobby I guess. Another source on family visits was the old Frizinghall Model Railway shop which was only a few yards away from my old school, which was also good for bits and pieces like the PC Pressfix marking, lamps, couplings, vac pipes etc and I bought my 2nd hand Triang Midland Pullman set from them. I believe both businesses are still going but have expanded into industrial units out of town, which in some ways is a pity as the old shops had a lot of character, as did the occupants!

 

Anyway, good luck with your build whichever route you decide to take. I don't envy you working at that small scale.

 

Pete

Edited April 5, 2021 by PeterB

[Enzo the Magnificent]

6 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

There's also a rumour that the Lord High Sherrif of GB aka @Enzo Matrix will be along later to demonstrate how to build a locomotive.

 

Now I think you're flattering me!  

[Mjwomack]

The long anticipated trip to the model shop wasn't a run away success, but I've returned with a burnishing pen/ brush and had some fun. I realise there is some bemusement about how someone who didn't even see the 'pull' sign on the door into Sepcsavers is going to manage any of this; hopefully by trickery...

I take off a bit of the old handrail, then drill the holes for the new handle before taking the side right back. Next, I threw the handles onto the rail- taking care to bend over the 'trailing' end so they don't all fall straight off.

Now the handles are glued into the holes and left well alone for a while

 

 

Finally glue handrail onto one of the handles (it just sits in the others) and clip off the other end...

 

Except this one I got a bit too close to the handle and snipped that as well- whoops!

I feel progress, and eyestrain ahead.

[Ray S]

This is a daunting build, but I am watching with interest!

 

And I agree about the George Cross for the railways too, such a sterling job they did.

 

All the best,

 

Ray

[PeterB]

Am I alone in not being able to see the pics - I keep getting "ths site cannot be reached"?

 

Pete

[Mjwomack]

I think postimage is having a bit of a day.of it. I noticed that others using that site are having problems as well. Hopefully it'll feel better after a good night's sleep ☺️

[PeterB]

Back now! As you say looks like a problem on their site.

 

Pete

[Mjwomack]

That was a productive afternoon...

 

 

I've noticed some of the resin and vac-form models are illustrated with piles of shavings, so I give you today's pile on the left. In the centre I've started opening up the cab windows; on this model it counts as a big piece of work! Because next up is the happy delivery (or at least part of it) with the pack of brass, as opposed to ball, bearings; they're so small that I actually decanted them into the outer packaging because I need tweezers to open the inner one. They're arrival meant I could drill out the apertures in the tender for it's axles, one thing about a rolling rather than static model is the need for less friction, so in go the precision brass ones. The top tender side just about shows them in situ the bottom one has now got both handrails reworked.

 

It has to be said that I'm having so much fun with this, even allowing for the eye-strain, that I keep wanting to order some more brass bits and upgrade more detailing but my new year's resolution this year was to have less ambitious plans and try and actually finish some models, so I'm trying to keep it sensible.

[Ray S]

19 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

 

I've noticed some of the resin and vac-form models are illustrated with piles of shavings, so I give you today's pile on the left.

 

That is good! You gotta have a pile shown somewhere in the reports! I think we aught to make it a tradition. Like someone said about my vacform dust, don't sniff it! It is looking like great work so far, and a topic I have pretty much kept clear of except in my early youth when I did a plastic (shock horror!) loco.

 

Cheers, Ray

[Mjwomack]

1 hour ago, Ray S said:

You gotta have a pile shown somewhere in the reports! I think we aught to make it a tradition.

It would work in this GB, though I wonder if the card modellers would start printing on A3 sheets to generate bigger off-cuts🤔

And I've not got such a good pile to flaunt today, but I've reached a very tricky stage...

 

 

Hopefully you can see the brass bearings in place and the offcuts of angle to try and help everything to be square- clearly if it's not then the wheels are going to bind and that will be a, well a bind tbh😬

Now to work out how to position 2 sides, 3 axles all the while trying not to glue myself to it all. I think my glamourous and dextrous assistant Mrs W will be summoned before the night is out.

[AdrianMF]

...and not short circuit two rails?

 

Ever more complicated! But your build is looking fab!

 

Adrian

[Mjwomack]

11 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

..and not short circuit two rails?

And that too!

No progress last night, I forgot that Call the midwife was back and I'd be lower priority😬