NSW - 1156 - GWR Collett Goods Class 2251 - Synopsis
NSW - 1156 - Locomotives and Rolling Stock - "Collett Goods Class 2251 - 2257" GWR 1930's DCC 7mm/O
| GWR |
Collett Goods Class 2251
|
Built 1930 - 1948 - 120 were built | |
| 2257 | 7mm/O scale | DCC | |
|
Acorn
/ Javelin Kit
|
Internal working valve gear and motion from Laurie Griffin |
ESU Loksoundv4 decoder
| |
|
|
Final painting
and detailing to complete...
|
GWR Class 2251 Collett Goods number 2257
The Prototype
The Class 2251 locomotives were built from 1930 to 1948 to replace the Armstrong and Dean engines. Whilst they are generally known as Collett Goods they were in fact a Mixed Traffic engine. They were a “Yellow” group from an axle loading point of view and were slightly heavier than the classes they replaced and hence had a more restricted route availability.
Engine 2257 was one built in the first batch in 1930 and served until September 1964 at Engine Sheds at Stafford Road, Tyseley, and Reading.
The Model
The model has been constructed from an Acorn / Javelin Kit where Acorn provided the locomotive and Javelin the tender. As usual, the motor, gearbox and wheels needed to be sourced separately. The wheels are Slaters whilst the motor and gearbox were supplied by ABC Gears.
The locomotive kit was supplied with a nickel-silver etch for a rigid chassis and with cosmetic (non-working) representation of the internal motion (Connecting Rods and Valve Gear). The tender kit had allowance for cut-outs for horn blocks. All other etches were brass.
As the model was to be DCC controlled it was decided that all driving wheels and tender wheels would be sprung and so the cut-outs were created in the loco frames and the tender frames. Slater’s brass horn guides were used for both.
Power is picked up from the loco and tender. The DCC decoder is mounted in the tender with track and motor feeds to the locomotive. The decoder is an ESU Loksound v4 unit with speaker installed in the smoke-box (and wires running back to the tender).
The supplied cosmetic internal motion was replaced with a working motion kit from Laurie Griffin.
The locomotive was built with separate chassis, cab, and firebox/boiler/smoke-box to facilitate painting. Buffers are sprung.
Performance
Whilst the loco has not been loaded to see how many coaches or wagons it can deal with it does run very smoothly and is responsive to control. The loco itself is heavily weighted with a roll of lead running through the boiler and placed to distribute the weight evenly over the driving wheels.
Conclusion
This was the first serious model build in O Gauge although a few models had been built previously in OO. In fact, this locomotive is responsible for my entry into 7mm/foot scale. It was offered to me just after returning from a trip to the U.K. and witnessing 3205 (a preserved example built in 1946) running on the South Devon Railway and noticing in particular the internal motion which is very visible beneath a fairly high boiler. I was hooked!
The Prototype
The Class 2251 locomotives were built from 1930 to 1948 to replace the Armstrong and Dean engines. Whilst they are generally known as Collett Goods they were in fact a Mixed Traffic engine. They were a “Yellow” group from an axle loading point of view and were slightly heavier than the classes they replaced and hence had a more restricted route availability.
Engine 2257 was one built in the first batch in 1930 and served until September 1964 at Engine Sheds at Stafford Road, Tyseley, and Reading.
The Model
The model has been constructed from an Acorn / Javelin Kit where Acorn provided the locomotive and Javelin the tender. As usual, the motor, gearbox and wheels needed to be sourced separately. The wheels are Slaters whilst the motor and gearbox were supplied by ABC Gears.
The locomotive kit was supplied with a nickel-silver etch for a rigid chassis and with cosmetic (non-working) representation of the internal motion (Connecting Rods and Valve Gear). The tender kit had allowance for cut-outs for horn blocks. All other etches were brass.
As the model was to be DCC controlled it was decided that all driving wheels and tender wheels would be sprung and so the cut-outs were created in the loco frames and the tender frames. Slater’s brass horn guides were used for both.
Power is picked up from the loco and tender. The DCC decoder is mounted in the tender with track and motor feeds to the locomotive. The decoder is an ESU Loksound v4 unit with speaker installed in the smoke-box (and wires running back to the tender).
The supplied cosmetic internal motion was replaced with a working motion kit from Laurie Griffin.
The locomotive was built with separate chassis, cab, and firebox/boiler/smoke-box to facilitate painting. Buffers are sprung.
Performance
Whilst the loco has not been loaded to see how many coaches or wagons it can deal with it does run very smoothly and is responsive to control. The loco itself is heavily weighted with a roll of lead running through the boiler and placed to distribute the weight evenly over the driving wheels.
Conclusion
This was the first serious model build in O Gauge although a few models had been built previously in OO. In fact, this locomotive is responsible for my entry into 7mm/foot scale. It was offered to me just after returning from a trip to the U.K. and witnessing 3205 (a preserved example built in 1946) running on the South Devon Railway and noticing in particular the internal motion which is very visible beneath a fairly high boiler. I was hooked!