GWR Pannier Tank

[ColletArrow]

It's about time I posted this, I only built it a year ago...
 

The Pannier Tanks were the Great Western Railway's most prominent 0-6-0 tank engines. With the water tanks mounted to the boiler sides rather than the frames, easy access to the inside motion was possible, whilst keeping the centre of gravity lower than on a saddle tank. The design proved successful; these ubiquitous locos could be found anywhere from GWR shunting yards to branchlines and subsidary routes, and in their later years many were used to bank heavy trains up the notorious Lickey Incline. They are also possibly my favourite British 0-6-0, primarily because my first OO gauge model was of one.

This model is my second attempt at this loco in real bricks, but the 3rd or 4th digital revision. The first can be seen in this old topic, about 1/4 down. Whilst that model was not terrible, the unusual motor placement produced... interesting running. I've had constant trouble with designing robust, powerful gear trains, not helped by the fact I only have access to m-motors. For this new version I considered using the train motor; whilst this is economical on space and eliminates the need for a gear train, it also runs like a rocket, more so when given larger diameter steam driver wheels. The opposite way was to keep the m-motor but introduce a worm gear, which increases the model's power but at the cost of speed. I decided I'd have a go.

This model therefore uses a battery box in the boiler/tank, as low and far forwards as possible; a receiver just behind it in the firebox; and an m-motor, vertical but low in the middle of the cab. It's output is directly onto a worm gear, which meshes with a pinion on the rear axle.
In the WIP picture below, the running boards and wheel splashers have been added to the basic chassis, ready for the tanks and cab built over it all. For more pictures, here's the bricksafe folder: https://bricksafe.com/pages/Collet22/gwr-pannier-tank-v2. It also contains the .lxf file, which features a possible alternative gear arrangement I haven't tried, using the newer worm gear.

And here she is complete, basking in last August's sunshine:




 

So, what's the result of all this? The model has turned out to be a reliable, powerful... snail. Here she is running crawling along, with a quick BR 20-ton Brake Van "in need of restoration" (i.e. built from what I had to hand!):

Overall then; a successful loco, and well suited to me given the diminutive size of my "layout". I'm sure the slow speed doesn't suit everyone, but if you need a powerful shunter that can cope with poor track, heavy loads and more, this mechanism has you covered. 

And as for this loco in particular? She didn't last long in this form. By December I had decided she was too slow, and so switched the PF components into a model of an "Autocoach" (A single carriage with an extra drivers cab at the non-loco end). Nearly a year on the pannier still survives, but only as a "dead" loco for now. Thanks for reading!

Edited May 26, 2019 by ColletArrow
Fixed video link

[Trekkie99]

Archimedes: "Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth"

ColletArrow: "Hold my beer"

 Lovely model! 

[CaL]

Hi,

maybe you should give a buWizz a try!

1) It eliminates the IR receiver and gives you more space for additional gearing

2) If the gearing stays with the original gearing, you could run the buWizz in a high speed mode, which puts out higher voltage 

KR

 

Carsten

 

[Paperinik77pk]

Very nice locomotive! Clean and compact! :)

 

[ColletArrow]

10 hours ago, Trekkie99 said:

Archimedes: "Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth"

ColletArrow: "Hold my beer non-alcoholic beverage"

 Lovely model! 

 Thanks - and I've fixed that slightly for you!

@CaL - I would love to try a buwizz for all the reasons you listed above, but mainly the space-saving aspect. Unfortunately, as a University student, they are way out of my budget (of £0).

@Paperinik77pk - Thank you! I always enjoy building smaller models; it's a fun challenge to make them work, and these projects can be frequent, quick and cheap.

[Trekkie99]

1 hour ago, ColletArrow said:

 Thanks - and I've fixed that slightly for you!

[Hod Carrier]

What a lovely little thing. You know, it's sometimes hard to nail that prototypically slow speed that is often seen on the railways but I think you've gone a bit far down that route. Ha ha!! But that's the consequence of using the worm gear. It does gear the engine down rather a lot.

[Roadmonkeytj]

This is a swell compact model ... It will be perfect for incoperating PU (once the lack of budget allows).  

I really like how the driver sticks out

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Great design and huge traction power!

I like how you've squeezed all the PF component inside the locomotive ...vey well done!

[ColletArrow]

10 hours ago, Hod Carrier said:

What a lovely little thing. You know, it's sometimes hard to nail that prototypically slow speed that is often seen on the railways but I think you've gone a bit far down that route. Ha ha!! But that's the consequence of using the worm gear. It does gear the engine down rather a lot.

 It had an excellent slow-speed start up on the 1st notch of the speed controller. Shame it couldn't get much above that!

5 hours ago, Roadmonkeytj said:

This is a swell compact model ... It will be perfect for incoperating PU (once the lack of budget allows).  

I really like how the driver sticks out

Thanks, and I've been thinking about PU quite a bit. It certainly takes out the receiver, but the battery box is a much lighter colour and need an extra stud or two for the connectors at one end. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with the LEDs.

As for the driver, I always like to position them to one side - it's a lot more prototypical, especially for low-speed shunting where looking along the side aids precision stopping. Also, because he's on the right, he's technically the fireman - the driver should be on the left, but I decided to model that side "door" as closed. Perhaps the driver is busy with the regulator.

2 hours ago, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

Great design and huge traction power!

I like how you've squeezed all the PF component inside the locomotive ...vey well done!

Thank you! Squeezing PF into compact models is always satisfying to me. It would also be interesting to put the PF back in with fresh batteries, and properly measure the pulling power. The "20 ton brake van" doesn't actually weigh very much at all; it's the braking force, and hence the name, allocated by BR to the prototype that I based the model on.

[zephyr1934]

Hey, I think I rode on that tourist railway (grin). Seriously though, very nice looking steamer.

 

On 5/26/2019 at 5:09 PM, ColletArrow said:

with a quick BR 20-ton Brake Van "in need of restoration" (i.e. built from what I had to hand!):

Great phrasing

[Roadmonkeytj]

So after watching the video again ... Is there "space" to gear back up after the worm to gain some speed ... I rather like the "chuff" the gear makes lol.  But even for shunting that is slow ....

[ColletArrow]

@zephyr1934 Thank you! I had a built a small repair workshop at the time, so it seemed fitting to have a few run-down wagons around.
 

5 hours ago, Roadmonkeytj said:

So after watching the video again ... Is there "space" to gear back up after the worm to gain some speed ... I rather like the "chuff" the gear makes lol.  But even for shunting that is slow ....

Hmm. In the original configuration, no.

However, I think it should be possible to either position the motor higher in the cab with space for gearing up before the worm, or to apply the drive series to the central axle rather than the rear. The reason I did neither here is because I was trying to keep the simplest mechanism possible, to reduce the room for error and friction build-up. I'll have another look at the options when I get back home in a few weeks, but in the mean time anyone else is free to have a play with the LDD file: https://bricksafe.com/pages/Collet22/gwr-pannier-tank-v2.