Hod Carrier

I shot my mouth off earlier. I said some things that I now know were wrong. I'm embarrassed and I'm sorry. Please forgive me and say that you'll stay. R40 plateway curve. Only 158 parts (curve not included). *Ahem*

It's weird how having a competition deadline starts to play tricks on your mind. I'm finding that every time the postman comes to my door and doesn't bring me any of my orders I seem to turn into Gollum. "Where is the precious? We wants it! We needs it!" Gollum by Pat Scullion, on Flickr As you might have guessed, I'm at that awful waiting-for-the-bricks stage of any build when all I do is watch my post and the Bricklink order page. I don't yet have enough to make any sort of start, as I'm still waiting for a large order containing key components without which I can do very little indeed. According to Bricklink page it was despatched before the weekend so it really should be here by now. ("Gollum!! Gollum!!") So although they aren't exactly part of my entries, I have been designing some additional bits and pieces connected with my competition builds. Following on from the discussion about what I'll be running the Trevithick locomotive. Given it's tiny size the idea that it will run at all is very ambitious, but it did raise an interesting question. Very early locomotives wouldn't have run on rails as we would recognise them now, but on waggonways or plateways. These would generally have been of wood or iron and would have had a raised lip on the inside to guide the wheels, so I thought I'd have a go at building something to represent these plateways at a gauge that matches the Trevithick locomotive. Whether or not it would prove to be suitable for a running model is to be proved, but I'm not sure if this is the best solution given that it won't be suitable for curves. In addition to this, I have also had a go at designing the rolling stock for the Hythe Pier Train. This runs as a three car train with a control car at the seaward end for push-pull operation. One of the cars has been designed to include a pair of Circuit Cubes motors and hub in order that the train will be self-propelled (I hope). With the train formed up, it's clear to see how the train dwarfs it's tiny locomotive.

Thank you, gentlemen. That’s most kind Although there are certainly no photos, I’m comparing my design to the schematic drawing I linked to previously and taking the scale from that. Ideally the centre gear should extend above the top of the boiler, but raising up the motion by one plate has brought the boiler level with it. I’d have preferred not to have done it, but it was a necessary choice in order to include the tender.

Boring…? I’ve not seen anything boring here. Anyone else? I think that this is a brilliant build to a very high standard. It may only be a Kof but it’s shaping up to be one helluva Kof.

Man, you're channeling Mr Peet. That's not just close to the illustrations but pretty darn near identical. What did you say your day job was...? Illustrator for Disney...?

I've been watching your progress with this over on Flickr, and I'm very impressed with how well you've been able to package everything into such a small space.

I did wonder why you had both combined your discussions, but now I see the progress you've been making it makes perfect sense now. That's a lovely pair of steeple-cabs you're creating there. I find it interesting how you've taken very different approaches to building to versions of what are essentially the same locomotive. It's a fantastic contrast in the pursuit of your aims. Keep up the good work.

It looks like that design has been fighting you, but you seem to be winning now. Keep on with the great work.

What a beast!! Those old style glass bottles must have been seriously heavy to have required machinery like that to move them about. (Maybe my internet search using the words "coke" and "quench" must have lead me down a blind alley.) It would be great if you could get this built in time for the contest, but even if that's not possible it would still be eligible as a virtual build.

Thank you, everyone. I'm very gratified to have positive feedback for this build. I mentioned last night that I'd had to make some compromises in the design in order to make enough space for the tender. The piston, motion and firebox door all had to be moved up 1 plate to generate adequate clearance which unfortunately means that the boiler is a bit too tall (not that I think anyone would notice, especially when the whole loco is way too wide). On the plus side, this does now mean that I've been able to banish the cheese slopes from the top of the boiler and have a curving boiler top along both sides. You say that as though I'd never seen any of your amazing designs. Sven, if you'd decided to build a Trevithick loco it would have knocked mine clean out of the park. You're one of those guys that the rest of us want to be and serve as an inspiration to us all. If I could achieve half the things you've done I should be very happy indeed.

It's taken one or two minor compromises, but the Coalbrookdale locomotive now has it's tender. There's going to need to be a few minor cosmetic tweaks to make it look as I'd want it to, but it is largely ready. Now I just need a length of plateway to pose it on.

The only contemporary historical source is this, which shows a locomotive of 3 foot gauge. It's not even know for sure whether this is actually the Coalbrookdale locomotive but, as the Coalbrookdale Company's waggonway was 3 foot gauge, it seems entirely possible that it does. Either way, it has been used as the blueprint for the replica locomotive which still operates in the Coalbrookdale area at Blists Hill Victorian Village Museum. I've one or two ideas of how to fix a coupling point, but the issue is size and, therefore, clearance. I'll be having a little doodle over the coming days to see what I can come up with for a tender. As for rails, I've not yet explored that in any great detail. That's something that might come after OcTRAINber has been completed. --------- But now it's time for another announcement. I'm not limiting myself to just one category but am hoping to enter three, so it's time to introduce my other entries. When we talk about seaside piers we tend to think about Sunday afternoon strolls, amusement arcades, ice creams and pavilion theatres. What is not often remembered is that many piers were built during the 19th century as part of an area's transport infrastructure. In many cases, a pier started life as an extended jetty reaching out from the shore into deeper water so that ships could tie-up and passengers embark and disembark. Given that those lucky enough to be able to afford the luxury of travel tended to be wealthy, the idea of having to schlep the length of the pier with all their baggage would have been tiresome in the extreme, so provision had to be made to transport them along the length of the pier. So come with me now to the village of Hythe on the western shore of Southampton Water, and to it's modest pier. Hythe has for many years had a ferry connection across Southampton Water to the city of Southampton and, like many coastal towns during the 19th century, a pier was built to allow for larger vessels to be used. Although the plans called for a tramway to be built along it's length this was not initially constructed but, when it was found that the carts being used to move passengers and their luggage were damaging the pier's boards, this was added. It opened in 1909 using hand-propelled trolleys on a two-foot gauge tramway. HythePierTramway-Hythe-081005 by Michael Wadman, on Flickr In 1922 the line was electrified and operation began using a pair of diminutive locomotives built by Brush Traction. These had had a dark history prior to being introduced to the pier railway, as they had been built in 1917 for use in a factory producing mustard gas. Initially powered by batteries, the locos were converted instead to run on a 250V DC third rail. My design shows the locos approximately in their current condition. With a footprint of just 4x8 studs, there is still just about enough room inside for some cab detailing. More will be revealed at the construction stage, but in order to ensure parts availability in the colours I need, some aspects of the cab have been built upside down before being mated to a "studs up" chassis. It only took a minor amount of head-scratching to make that work. These locomotives power a train of two or three coaches, the one at the seaward end being a control car to permit push-pull working. I will be building these also but as they are not suitable for OcTRAINber I shall not be spending a lot of time describing them, except to say that one of these coaches is likely to include motors. However, the last vehicle that completes the train is one I will be mentioning, as it will be an entry. It is the tiny baggage trolley. RD7947. Hythe Pier Railway. by Ron Fisher, on Flickr I've no idea of the precise history of this vehicle, but I suspect that it may be one of the original hand-propelled trolleys and therefore pre-dates the line's electrification. As such, on a line where the entire fleet is around 100 years old, this humble trolley may be the oldest vehicle and still being used in service for it's original purpose.

Thank you everyone for the feedback so far. I'm glad you're liking the design too. I was intending on adding the tender to complete the model but I'm unsure where I can add a coupling point to the loco. The problem with Trevithick's designs is that they are frameless with everything just being attached directly to the boiler, and that everything is all at the one end (chimney, piston, motion and firebox door). I'll have another good look at the design to see what options I have. At the time waggonways were made up of either wooden or iron plates rather than rails, which would have had a raised lip on one side to act as a guide for the wheels. I was thinking about how to make a LEGO equivalent, possibly using track pieces, but that idea is on the back-burner at the moment.

I have to confess that my OcTRAINber story has been a bit chaotic so far. Normally I find the contest a joy but this year has been a bit more of a struggle. Given how quiet the BMR site has been so far this year it was clear that the guys were busy with their real lives, and so I'd initially assumed that they were going to take a sabbatical this year. As such I wasn't looking in the right place when the announcement was made which meant that it was a few days before I knew that the contest was underway. This made me glad that the theme this year was "Critters" and other small builds, as it should mean that I could still get something built within the timescale. The first problem that I had was that "Critter" is not a term that I initially recognised, so it took some time to digest and understand what it meant. Thankfully the explanation was incredibly helpful and, backed up by an image search, I had an idea where to go. The next issue was that I didn't have the "Eureka!" moment that I've had with previous OcTRAINber contest. Nothing that I'd seen was really talking to me, as there was a lot of generic mining locomotive, feldbahnloks and the usual off-the-shelf offerings from the likes of Hunslet, Peckett and Manning & Wardle. But then I saw her. At last, here was an interesting and unique locomotive that I could build. It was Samuel Geogehan's Guinness Brewery locomotive. I spent a couple of days doing some research, got the design down to an appropriate scale and did a little preparatory design work to make sure it was capable of being built. I was excited and sweaty-palmed as I made my way to Flickr to announce my entry only to discover that she'd been unfaithful and winking seductively at someone else. There she was in all her glory coming to shape just as I had imagined her, but sadly at the hands of another builder. OcTRAINber 2021: second entry #1 by Ewout Rohling, on Flickr So it was back to the drawing board and yet another trawl through the internet to try and find myself something else to build. It took a while but I think I've found a prototype that will yield me a couple of models, of which more to come later. However, just today I hit upon the realisation that I already had a design that would fit the contest which I have not published up to this point. Having become interested in the pioneering days of steam locomotion I had done quite a bit of reading into pre-1829 steam locomotives. As such, the works of Richard Trevithick were a big source of fascination and so I attempted to design the grandfather of them all, the Coalbrookdale locomotive of 1802. Trevithick’s 1802 Coalbrookdale locomotive by Zoë, on Flickr There is a bit of controversy surrounding this locomotive, as there is no firm evidence that it was ever built or ran. It is certainly the case that Richard Trevithick designed a steam engine capable of locomotion for the Coalbrookdale Company but the last mention of it was in a letter of August 1802 when he states that "the [Coalbrookdale] Company have begun a carriage at their own cost for the railroads, and are forcing it with all expedition." If it had been built it would have been used on the Coalbrookdale Company's waggonway within it's works, thereby satisfying the definition of a "critter". I have designed the model to be approximately minifig scale, which makes it quite tiny. The boiler is 4x3 studs and the entire model comprises just 81 parts. I did explore whether or not it would be possible to motorise it, but I think the only option would be a Studly Tiny Trains motor but there's no chance of getting hold of one of those by the end of the month. The model runs on flangeless wheels as the real locomotive would have done. The biggest challenges with this design was in getting the proportions correct. Once I'd mapped out the gearing everything else slotted quite neatly into place. Being so small it's hard to include all the details, especially around the piston motion and guide bars. On the downside, the use of LEGO for the motion has made the model far wider than it ought to be, but the only remedy for that would be to scale the whole model up to compensate for that. Unless anyone can see any particularly glaring mistakes in my design, there's not much else to do with this model now except to build it.

You are a generous man, my friend, but I’ll not spoil the fun over on Flickr and allow them the chance to puzzle over your clues. If they don’t work it out you’ll have the pleasure of revealing your creation yourself. I’m sorry if I ruined your enjoyment of tantalising us. I think you’ve hit on a great idea to create something a bit different which will stand out from the other entrants. I look forward to seeing how you tackle the design and build.

Because you’ve used the words of Mr Bill Peet in your posts; words that can be found in The Caboose Who Got Loose.

I have to say that, when you consider that you’re getting two motors, battery and receiver all for that one price, it’s a bit of a bargain compared to what LEGO would charge you for the same.

By the way, I think I’ve worked out what you’re building. I think it’s a lady called Katy who would be celebrating her 50th year this year. Am I close…?

Sounds like an interesting roster you're building there. I am interested to see more as the designs progress. I wonder if you could squeeze a Circuit Cubes motor and receiver into the Spartan. Certainly LEGO PF/PU would be far too big to fit without some sort of tender as you describe. They do permit third party elements and I'm sure there will be any number of entries that use these little motors (and maybe something even smaller).

That's a really good idea!! I like it. I shall be interested to see what you make of it and how you integrate the Technic parts into your design.

Having seen how little has been posted on the BMR site I had a feeling that the guys were busy with their real lives and, given how time was going by, assumed that they were giving OcTRAINber a miss this year. So I'm very grateful to you for being the first one to bring it to my attention. Unfortunately I may not have an entry this year as I've already suffered a setback and time is tight. Just a word of advice from a former entrant. The contest is very much Flickr based, so discussions and WIP posts tend to go there. We definitely appreciate your updates and are very much looking forward to seeing what you're building (I can see some bragging rights on offer to the first person who guesses correctly), but it might be worth just replicating them over on the appropriate discussion thread.

Has it started..?? I must have been looking in the wrong place for an announcement. That’s an intriguing start you’ve made. I wonder what it might be. I shall be watching developments with interest.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that only applies where the seller is in the EU and not for all overseas sellers.

I've had a few LEGO related items come from the States in the past few years and I have found that the application of the VAT regulations seems to vary. Twice I've won competition prizes and have had to pay the duty on them before I received them, but then I have also ordered third party parts (including BBB wheels) and not had to pay a penny. I can only assume that there is something in the shipping declaration that has not attracted the attention of the excise men, but whether it was in how the contents were categorised or their stated value I could not say. Either way, it was the small parcels that seemed to slip through while the large ones got stopped. I think that you just have to accept that ordering items from overseas will attract costs that are built-in to the final price when buying from a UK seller. For this reason I try to limit my Bricklink orders to UK vendors and check part and colour availability during the design process, substituting as necessary. The other thing you need to accept is that ordering parts from the States means a long shipping time, potentially as much as 4 weeks. @Phil-B259's description of the process is correct and reflects my own experience.

Ey up, chap. Now there's a lovely little slice of GWRness. Now I'll preface this with the caveat that I'm no great expert on steam locos, so my comments are based solely on the comparison with the OO gauge model you've posed your MOC with. My feeling is that the loco looks a little bit too short which is making it look out of proportion. I agree with @Phil B that the drivers are not evenly spaced, although I disagree in that the larger gap should be between the middle and rear driver. The other thing that stands out from the comparison is the shaping of the boiler. I've nothing to offer in this regard because I've never tried to build one, but I wonder if it could be made less square in section and whether you could incorporate the fairly obvious taper of the prototype. Got to echo @Feuer Zug's comment that it's really good to see the evolution of the model and how you've incorporated so many ideas so quickly. You're doing a grand job. With that I'll go back into my shell and play with my very square modern train models.