08+08 = 13 (Welcome to Sheffield)

[Mjwomack]

Once, Sheffield had a massive steel industry¹- its named train to London was The Master Cutler, and to support this huge industry was a huge railway network, the freight operations of which were centred on Tynsley. Here shunting took place by the (frankly) scary method hump shunting, where you push the wagons to the top of the will, set the points accordingly, give them a push and leave it to gravity.² Slightly simplified but you can see why it scares me!

 

Here's a video of it being done at Totton which is sort of a bit to the south, well it's in Nottinghamshire not South Yorkshire and so could be a different world.

 

 

To do it at Sheffield, a unique class of three mutant Class 13 Locos were made...

 

 

The plan is to repeat this in miniature with incredibly old kits coupled (I thank you) with some very modern 3D printed parts for a different model, Just like hump shunting, what can possibly go wrong🫣

 

First, very old styrene, I picked this up at an auction with a view to the Lesser Known Classics GB

 

 

 

Getting home, I discovered the bulging box was due to it being a 2 for 1 multi buy!

 

 

 

With 3 unusable sets of decals and TWO sachets that contained glue once but have long since perished.

 

So old, that one of the instructions is for the 'with compliments of Nabisco' original issue.

 

 

 

To this we add the DiU Models 3D printed conversion set.

 

 

 

Obviously not for the Rosebud Kitmaster but for the newest Hornby version! Very crisp, shame the floor of the 'slave unit's 'cab' is misshapen- hopefully a warm bath (without Radox) will sooth it along. Vastly superior detail to the Rosebud parts (but they tried with what they had, back in the day).

 

Very simple instructions

 

 

 

Except all 3 of them had subtle variations and the advice it so check source photos. Except I never saw any of them, but it's not impossible that I have friends who did!

 

What can possibly go wrong? Having nearly finished the Italian Tank Loco for the same stable- the plastic doesn't respond to cement and even worse affinity for paint. Oh, yes paint- putting the necessary yellow (that colour!) and black chevrons on the end will be the proverbial 'challenge'

 

¹ I leave it to @Rob Sutto to provide a clip from The Full Monty, which for all it's comedy captures the decline of Sheffield very well.

² The passenger train equivalent was the Slip Carriage, which was uncoupled and rolled back down to the station you'd just gone through as the guard applied the brake with the intention of stopping at that station. 

[Mr T]

Toton(note only one 't') yard was a hump shunting yard that dealt with a lot of coal traffic from the Notts/Derbys coalfield. So lots of four wheel mineral wagons and a shed full of shunters and goods locos, including up to the mid fifties, a goodly proportion of the LMS Beyer-Garretts. Having opened in the 1850swith a peak in the 1950's. Toton is still operating. It is a major Traction Maintenance Depot with extensive storage and training facilities. Also engineering trains operate from the site. I catch a glimpse of it from the A52 when we are coming back from seeing my aunt. 

Tinsley marshaling yard dealt with a lot of stuff to and from the iron and steel works. It only opened in 1965, but was closed in stages from 1985. Only a road - rail interchange and some sidings remain. The associatied TMD closed in 1998. 

Having lived in Sheffield for nine years (1972-1981), I am saddened by what has happened to it. My birthplace (Nottingham) and current abode (Leeds) seem to be fairing a it better, although Leeds needs better public transport. 

[Rob Sutto]

On 16/09/2025 at 15:44, Mjwomack said:

a clip from The Full Monty

 

Not actually watched it, which is a bit remiss of me as I lived in South Yorkshire around the time it came out.

 

I used to wonder what the point of the Class 13 was, though never motivated enough to find out, even with seemingly endless conversion articles in Railway Modeller through the years.

 

I've vague memories of reading somewhere that Sheffield (or perhaps another northern city) had a real mess of a freight infrastructure with small inefficient yards dotted all over the place (quite probably applies to all cities post nationalisation) before BR built a mega marshalling yard, just before pulling the plug on carrying mixed freight.

 

 

[Mjwomack]

37 minutes ago, Rob Sutto said:

Not actually watched it,

I'm VERY disturbed by this🥲. spoiler alert (and now you'll have to watch it to understand this) They really do it- the audience hadn't been told to ensure an accurate reaction for thew single take. Oh and the Arsenal off-side trap scene is another classic!

[Planebuilder62]

My suggestion to paint the yellow and black stripes is this:

 

1. Prime the model ends with pink.

2. Paint the yellow, much fewer coats than normal due to the pink.

3. Cut lengths of black decal stripes and apply. Both Hannants and Fantasy PrintShop sell these.

 

The pink is counter intuative, todays way of saying bomkers or don’t be daft, but it works. Take a look here : 

 

Regards Toby

 

[Mjwomack]

On 20/09/2025 at 06:57, Planebuilder62 said:

My suggestion to paint the yellow and black stripes is this:

 

1. Prime the model ends with pink.

2. Paint the yellow, much fewer coats than normal due to the pink.

3. Cut lengths of black decal stripes and apply. Both Hannants and Fantasy PrintShop sell these.

 

The pink is counter intuative, todays way of saying bomkers or don’t be daft, but it works. Take a look here : 

 

Regards Toby

 

 

I like your style Sir

 

This is what we'll be dealing with in this little project...

 

 

 

The rear (right hand in picture) isn't to painful and I may even have some black line from Hannants already, the nose/ front end (call it what you will) is trickier because of the radiator. to my surprise that's not as crude as I was expecting on such an old kit. But there's still plenty of of 'texture' to gobble up the micro-sol on. I see that there are firms that offer a decal for all the black stripes (were they a band) to go on as a single piece- sure that would end in tears with all the undulations.

 

Fortunately that's a long way off and I can ponder some more. aka procrastinate.

[Planebuilder62]

Pink primer will not cover the black very well, I suggest grey primer and then pink.

 

[Mjwomack]

I was thinking along those lines. I'd ruled out white 

[Mjwomack]

With everyone rattling down the Fast Lines, I've made it as far as the washing plant🤣, and a bonus. There's actually 2.5 kits in the box, so no wonder it was straining at the edges. Enough for 3 bodies and 2 chassis. Given the trauma of the Italian Tank Loco in the Lesser Known Classics GB I probably need all the spare parts it gives me. Pleased to say that the 3D printed part has responded to a nice soak in a warm bath and is now flat again.

[Mjwomack]

Parts are being gathered, if not assembled just yet, so here's a sample of RailTec quality for @Redstaff

 

 

 

Beautifully done, with a spare of everything which is a lovely touch, I'll just have to remember that when I come to put the stencils on! Assuming I do, I subscribe to the view that life's too short to bother with all the stencils; especially on a grimy shunter where they'll be obscured. Lovely registration for the fuel gauges and OLE warning flashes. Plus attention to detail with 13 003 (my current favourite) having a narrower spacing correctly shown.

 

Also inspired by Tim @theplasticsurgeon's lovely yellow on his rocket, I'm itching to get started now but do need to clear some of the other builds first.

[Mjwomack]

Because the Tamiya kit is going so smoothly in that GB, I needed a challenge! Two pieces glued together

 

 

 

So I stuck two pieces together. This is the rear of the rear unit, and so far so good! Especially as the parts have an age difference of roughly 60 years and aren't meant to go together👍. Because it's speciality was argy-bargy shunting the Class 13s had a more rugged buffer beam, which was also lower- simply a case of filing the old one smooth and gluing together, made easier still as the little lip on the new part correctly lines up with the bottom of the old buffer beam and for the top. Noice!

 

I think I'll do some wheel-sets next. They look very crude but with it having outside frames, they are pretty much obscured. Plus due to this purchase having plenty of of spares I have 9 sets and only need 6 so I can be picky about the ones I use.

[Mjwomack]

Hump shunting used gravity, so I indulged myself....

 

 

 

Wheelsets waiting to be cleaned up on the left, get a test run down the slope and go into the 'Fit to Run' area on the right. OK, so maybe of them had a few test runs more than  necessary but it was fun!

 

Even my relaxed approach to Health and Safety thinks there should be more to the cab floor than this

 

 

 

A pit of styrene will do the job for me as I'm not going to town on the interior of this. It is an intriguing approach though, not having any 'base' to build up from

 

 

[Paul821]

As usual - if someone builds a kit of a railway item, it's then announced s Ready To Run

 

https://railsofsheffield.com/blogs/news/bachmann-announce-all-new-class-13-shunters?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&utm_campaign=Bachmann OO Class 13 Announcement&utm_id=01K6JKQ59HE4SZ4M74DMC8SHK7&_kx=yp43FBFW4SDBoY22x0x_CRfI9kPvK7353tvXPpq_mNZEPZ_JhpQgMZoANxhBTgyY.RXkVMS

 

 

[Mjwomack]

5 minutes ago, Paul821 said:

As usual - if someone builds a kit of a railway item, it's then announced s Ready To Run

 

https://railsofsheffield.com/blogs/news/bachmann-announce-all-new-class-13-shunters?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&utm_campaign=Bachmann OO Class 13 Announcement&utm_id=01K6JKQ59HE4SZ4M74DMC8SHK7&_kx=yp43FBFW4SDBoY22x0x_CRfI9kPvK7353tvXPpq_mNZEPZ_JhpQgMZoANxhBTgyY.RXkVMS

 

 

But where's the fun in that 🤔

Very appropriate that it's rails of Sheffield though, kernow models would seem wrong 😉

[Planebuilder62]

Whoa, that was a steep asking price for the Bachmann loco.

 

 

[Mjwomack]

While numerous Railway Barons power on with whole layouts, I'm burrowing deeper into my one loco rabbity hole. My usual sandpaper for the cab flooring. As shown above a cab flooring is needed! Then I discovered I had some appropriate Airfix (don't think they started with Rosebud) figures, and that has led me into the rabbit hole! Here's a mock up thus far

 

  

 

The rabbit hole? Well, maybe I should added some sanding pipes to the sand-boxes. Also realised that the Class 13 didn't have the ladders at the front of the bonnet, so now I'm going to take them off, and so it begins! Oh, and then there's the prosect of cab glazing. It's companion, the Italian Tank Loco was such a pain in the Lesser Known Classics, that I thought I'd shy away, but it seems I won't to show this one that I'm the boss.

[Redstaff]

Looking good, don't worry about being down the rabbit hole, I'm right there along side you with the same problems. Every time I look at my reference pics for the 9f I see something else that I think should be there, I've also contemplated adding glazing to the front and front side cab windows plus the tiny ones on the tender, but I'm thinking it's going to be awkward and could look awful, but I don't think I'll be happy until I've had a go 😬 

Ian 😀 

[Mjwomack]

12 hours ago, Redstaff said:

don't worry about being down the rabbit hole, I'm right there along side you

It's going to be crowded in there! Time for Monty (the @Enzo the Magnificent of rabbits) to come and help us

 

 

 

 

He's more of a Build Find 'em All kind of guy though!

 

12 hours ago, Redstaff said:

I don't think I'll be happy until I've had a go 😬 

 

I totalt understand that, does our ambition/ folly know no limit? At least I have an enclosed cab so my current thought is that if I can't get the glazing right, to put strips on the inside and build up with layers of varnish- you're in a more vulnerable situation though. And of course you know what the can should be like, wheres I've never even seen a Class 13 (or cabbed a gronk!)

[Circloy]

On 30/09/2025 at 08:48, Mjwomack said:

Parts are being gathered, if not assembled just yet, so here's a sample of RailTec quality for @Redstaff

 

 

 

Beautifully done, with a spare of everything which is a lovely touch, I'll just have to remember that when I come to put the stencils on! Assuming I do, I subscribe to the view that life's too short to bother with all the stencils; especially on a grimy shunter where they'll be obscured. Lovely registration for the fuel gauges and OLE warning flashes. Plus attention to detail with 13 003 (my current favourite) having a narrower spacing correctly shown.

 

Also inspired by Tim @theplasticsurgeon's lovely yellow on his rocket, I'm itching to get started now but do need to clear some of the other builds first.

Be careful with the number you select. Thre were three in the class and all three had different arangement of the boxes on the running plate.

[Mjwomack]

4 hours ago, Circloy said:

Be careful with the number you select. Thre were three in the class and all three had different arangement of the boxes on the running plate.

Yes! For such a small and localised class they had a huge amount of variation🫣. None of my friends have been willing to admit to any 'professional interest' and supply photos, so that combined with what I'm starting from, I'm relaxed about this being an 'indicative' build. It'll be an achievement in the wheels go round given the lack of any sort of grommet or lubrication for the plastic on plastic.

[Redstaff]

Tbh if nobody can tell the slight variation differences, nobody will be any the wiser 😉 I haven't got a clue as to what is what with gronks, so in my non steam eyes it will look right 😀

It took me years at the GCR calling one of them an 08 until someone told me it was in fact a class 10 because it had a different engine 🤔

[Mjwomack]

19 hours ago, Redstaff said:

if nobody can tell the slight variation differences, nobody will be any the wiser 😉 I

What I have to decide is if I can live without the handbrake in the open 'cab'! The lack of one in the driving cab probably doesn't matter given how dark it is in there.

 

[Bengalensis]

"Hump shunting", I had all forgotten about that, and certainly didn't know the English term. It was still widely practised in the mid 70's where I grew up. As a young lad I spent quite some time train spotting at the local railway station, which is also a junction point connecting two important lines. Actually it's probably the only reason the place exists. Late nights with all the freight trains arriving and leaving, with lots of shunting, was great to watch, and not always from the allowed areas... Often the guys got it so right that there was just a small bump as the wagons met up, but on some occasions the bump was not that small at all... Good times, fantastic what we kids still got away with. Thanks for the memories.

[Mjwomack]

An 'ensemble' photo before everything gets back away because we're really moving house tomorrow 🫣

 

 

 

Of the many hints and tips I've picked up from BM over the years, the transformative one is using pink underneath yellow! This is just one coat of Humbrol Trainer Yellow and it really pops! Yellow hold no fear for me now and I'll be going for The Simpsoms B737 in all it's yellow splendour if this gets through

 

 

Well, I've got to use this pot of pink up now🤣

 

Even facing my dislike of people😉

 

 

 

Doubt the driver will be even visible in the cab as more than a blob, and far from convinced that the shunter is accurate, but in for a penny, in for a pound and all that.

[Redstaff]

Looking good, I might try some pink under the yellow bearing covers on the 9f tender as it's always a colour I've struggled with 

Best of luck with the house move 👍 

 

Ian 😀