An Oceanic Odyssey

Gather a small bunch of O9 modellers together and at some point the conversation will turn to the fact that what they would really like, really, really like, is a model of a 15" gauge Atlantic.

It can be done, Tim Ellis as has demonstrated on the  NGRM Online Forum with his model of 'Count Louis', based upon a Minitrix chassis.  Seeing Tim's model made me even more determined to have a go at this myself and a little asking in the right places produced a Minitrix 'Britannia' chassis in a state of flux, it had been subjected to a half-started attempt to build a Barlow stream-outline loco by Andrew Blackwell (who went on to use a different chassis for his project).

After a thorough examination of the parts to hand, I set to work, reducing the chassis from a Pacific to Atlantic be removing the front  driving axle position, but retaining some metalwork above to hold various new parts such as the cylinders.  A new front bogie came from an N-Brass kit fitted with Parkside wheelsets and various other modifications were made such as reducing the length of the con rods by 3mm.  After an attempt to use some old crossheads from the spares box I eventually made new ones from Nickel Silver scrap and brass rod, these slide in N-Brass GCR 'ROD' slide bars, sitting in temporary cylinders for the time being.

The rear truck is a Farish 'V2' spare that Andrew had fitted as part of his Barlow build, it certainly looks the part here.  There is one slight problem with the chassis as built, and that is my fault due to my scratchbuilt crossheads... it is a little too wide.

Although the whole thing it too big anyway (think of it as a 7.5 mm scale loco), the extra width could cause a few issues as and when a body is built, although I may be able to loose some of the excess in due course with some cunning new cylinder covers.  As to what the cylinders look like will depend on what the final outline is, there is an equal chance of Basset-Lowke Class 30, 'Sutton' outline or a slimmer chance of a Barnes style loco from Rhyl (with a new rear axle of course).

Watch this space....

The ones that got away... No. 3: Class 30 Atlantic

So we've had an abandoned 'Badger' and half-baked 'Pioneer', but the third loco in this series is different in a number of ways.  Firstly, I actually still have the bits (although finding them proved fun), and secondly should it ever get finished in this form, it will be a static model.

It is perhaps the holy grail of miniature railway modelling to achieve a model of a Bassett-Lowke 'Atlantic', certainly the person who produces an early style 'Little Giant' of Class 10 outline, to scale, will be worthy of much more than a shrubbery. There are design features across all three of the Bassett-Lowke Atlantic designs that make locating a ready-to-run chassis a potential problem, that is before you consider the issue of there being no ready to run N gauge Atlantics!  The driving wheelbase is very tight, and perhaps almost impossible to scale.

So my attempt was to be a static model in the style of Kitmaster, based around the undergubbins of a Del-Prado 'Flying Scotsman' model:

As can be seen, several years ago I got as far as rebuilding the chassis as an Atlantic and shaping up a running plate. Andrew Blackwell had suggested using parts from Dapol Drewery Shunter wheels as splashers which I duly did, before giving up on the model as other priorities took over.  The shape is certainly there...

The Del-Prado tender chassis was re-shaped to look like two bogies rather than the 4 fixed axles of the A3, and at this stage things faltered as I couldn't decide which way to go next, did I go for a fictitious name, or model 'Synolda' or 'Count Louis'?  Then I hankered after 'Count Louis' with the later, longer tender and things ground to a halt, not before I had wondered about one of the Sutton Miniature Railway locos, then couldn't decide between them either!

One person who has proved more decisive is Tim Ellis, a member of the NGRM Online forum.  Tim has taken on the completion of a loco started some years ago by another member of the forum based around a Minitrix pacific chassis.  I seem to recall that I had some correspondence with the original builder over the choice of chassis and even which N-Brass fittings to use for the chimney, dome, buffers etc based on my experience.  Tim has finished the loco off as 'Count Louis' and it has won much praise for it's appearance (as has all of Tim's work):

(C) Tim Ellis

Tim's entire workbench thread can be found here, with the Atlantic build starting on page 11 (my apologies for non-forum members, but trust me, it is an incentive to join!).  Tim has promised me an extra special picture of the loco on his O9 micro layout but he is a busy chap...

So what hope is there for the rest of us?  Well, I do have a Minitrix chassis courtesy of Andrew Blackwell, and one day an Atlantic may be built on it following Tim's lead.  However, like a bolt out of the blue, there is a remote possibility of a commercial model of a Class 30.  Roger Chivers, of Chivers Finelines fame, has recently posed the possibility of a kit to build one of these delightful machines here.  If you would be interested in the model, please do respond to the forum thread and make yourself known - with no commitment to buy at this stage.

Us O9 modellers live in interesting times!