This is a LGB 2070D analogue Austrian U-Class locomotive bought second hand, many years ago, on eBay. I have now digitised it by installing a LGB 55027 decoder, again bought many years ago and set aside for this purpose. The U-Class has been produced in many guises and liveries over the years, this being the U43 version with the low cab and rear bunker, finished in lined grey. The wiring was an early three pin version, which necessitated modifying the gear box from three pin, to four pin, to provide the required two track feeds to the decoder and two power feeds from the decoder to the motor.
I carried out various modifications to the appearance of the locomotive. Every example of a U-Class that I have ever seen, has a shovel and a rake on the top of the cab roof. As this feature has been perpetuated from the earliest to the latest versions, I must assume that it is based on prototypical practice. I have never liked this feature as the tools appear to be just laying, unsecured, on a sloping roof, which strikes me as being a highly dubious practice. I could accept this if it were not for the fact that on every example I have seen, the mounting holes on the roof, for the shovel, are too close together, so that the handle of the shovel is bent into an ‘S’ shape. This is a defect that LGB have never sought to address over the years. This state of affairs is one that cannot be allowed to continue on the Claptowte Railway. As with the other U-Class in the fleet, No2 Kristin, the shovel and rake were removed from the cab roof and the resulting holes filled in. The tools were set aside to be re-used later.
With its origins very much at the beginning of LGB, another feature that has never been updated, is the semi-relief mouldings of the brake pipes. Fortunately this version does not have a representation of a brake pipe on the rear of the bunker, so I only had the front of the loco to deal with. I set about remedying this for two reasons, first, all of the rolling stock, passenger and freight, on the Claptowte Railway, has the brake pipes fitted to the right of the centre buffer, on all the U-Class models the semi-relief pipework is on the left, the wrong side for the Claptowte Railway. The other reason is the aesthetics of not having separately applied brake pipes. I carved off the semi-relief representation on the front of the loco and sanded the bodywork smooth. I extended the width of the buffer beam, using plasticard, to facilitate the placement of a brake pipe by drilling two holes into which could be plugged a brake pipe salvaged from a previous conversion of a LGB Toy Train wagon. At the rear of the loco, the bunker extends rearwards above the buffer beam. I glued two short lengths of styrene tubing, to the buffer beam, to act as spacers into which another salvaged brake pipe could be plugged.
I also carved/sanded down the raised data panel on the bottom of the rear right hand side of the cab. All of the other transfers just peeled off. The moulded representations of handrails on the upper cab side were carved off, holes drilled and brass wire handrails glued in.
The cab contained the customary single LGB driver figure which I managed to remove and will be re-used on another project. To crew this loco, I purchased two G Scale 3D printed figures from Clavey Models, via eBay, Driver Bob and Fireman Ed. These had to be painted prior to installing them in the cab.
Having stripped down the model to its major component parts, I stripped out the cab of its fittings. The removal of the glazing represented a real challenge. Many early LGB models had component parts glued together rather than the later practice of designing them so that they could be clipped or screwed together, thus facilitating easy dismantling. The glazing had been glued in with a glue that was unrelenting, the only way the glazing could be removed was by breaking it out. The only way that the final bits of glue/glazing material could be removed was with a lot of chiselling, carving and sanding smooth.
The rear bunker is a separate component with the top surface moulded to represent the coal. I cut out the coal load and glued in a flat surface, lower down the inside of the bunker, onto which a layer of artificial coal could be glued after painting. I ran a razor saw sideways along the inside of the bunker top, to impart a bit of grain into the ‘wooden’ bunker extension boards.
I removed the funnel from the boiler. I then masked off the boiler so that I cold spray the tank tops and sides and the front end of the tanks/boiler. The cab, cab doors and rear bunker were prepared for spraying. The chassis unit was masked off so that the newly extended front buffer beam could be sprayed. Everything was then given a spray with grey plastic primer.
When dry, I masked off the rear buffer beam on the bunker as well as the ‘wooden’ extension boards at the top of the bunker. The bunker, cab, cab doors and side tanks were then sprayed with Halfords satin black. When this was dry, the cab interior was painted cream with the intention of Anglicising the appearance. Various control levers and wheels were picked out in red. The buffer beams were painted red. The white rims were sanded off the buffers and they were repainted black. The brake pipes were painted. The wooden boards of the bunker extensions were painted various shades of brown. I was not sure if the cab steps are meant to be metal or wood. I decided to paint them a wood colour to add a bit of interest. I re-glazed the cab windows with the same 1.5mm clear styrene sheet that I use to glaze my coach conversions. I glue them in using silicone glue, for ease of removal if required. The locomotive was then reassembled and the crew glued into the cab. Artificial coal was glued into the top of the bunker.
Most LGB U-Class models have a piece of equipment on top of the boiler, beside the funnel, I assume this to be an electricity generator. This equipment was missing from my model when purchased. Using an unlikely variety of odds and ends, I cobbled together a fair representation of what this generator should look like, I doubt anyone would notice the difference.
I fabricated and painted a pair of cradles from scrap brass strip and plasticard. These were fitted with brass wire pins, in the base, which were then glued into appropriately located holes drilled in the top of the right hand side tank. The moulded locating pins were cut off the tools, previously mounted on the cab roof, and, once painted, they were glued into place in the tank top cradles. I think this creates a bit more interesting detail than leaving them on the cab roof.
The final update was to affix the etched brass name and number plates supplied by Light Railway Stores – Custom Nameplate Studio. It is the custom with the Claptowte Railway that all steam locomotives are named after female members of my family, in this case No1 is named ‘Joyce’ after my Mother.
The completed locomotive
David
I carried out various modifications to the appearance of the locomotive. Every example of a U-Class that I have ever seen, has a shovel and a rake on the top of the cab roof. As this feature has been perpetuated from the earliest to the latest versions, I must assume that it is based on prototypical practice. I have never liked this feature as the tools appear to be just laying, unsecured, on a sloping roof, which strikes me as being a highly dubious practice. I could accept this if it were not for the fact that on every example I have seen, the mounting holes on the roof, for the shovel, are too close together, so that the handle of the shovel is bent into an ‘S’ shape. This is a defect that LGB have never sought to address over the years. This state of affairs is one that cannot be allowed to continue on the Claptowte Railway. As with the other U-Class in the fleet, No2 Kristin, the shovel and rake were removed from the cab roof and the resulting holes filled in. The tools were set aside to be re-used later.
With its origins very much at the beginning of LGB, another feature that has never been updated, is the semi-relief mouldings of the brake pipes. Fortunately this version does not have a representation of a brake pipe on the rear of the bunker, so I only had the front of the loco to deal with. I set about remedying this for two reasons, first, all of the rolling stock, passenger and freight, on the Claptowte Railway, has the brake pipes fitted to the right of the centre buffer, on all the U-Class models the semi-relief pipework is on the left, the wrong side for the Claptowte Railway. The other reason is the aesthetics of not having separately applied brake pipes. I carved off the semi-relief representation on the front of the loco and sanded the bodywork smooth. I extended the width of the buffer beam, using plasticard, to facilitate the placement of a brake pipe by drilling two holes into which could be plugged a brake pipe salvaged from a previous conversion of a LGB Toy Train wagon. At the rear of the loco, the bunker extends rearwards above the buffer beam. I glued two short lengths of styrene tubing, to the buffer beam, to act as spacers into which another salvaged brake pipe could be plugged.
I also carved/sanded down the raised data panel on the bottom of the rear right hand side of the cab. All of the other transfers just peeled off. The moulded representations of handrails on the upper cab side were carved off, holes drilled and brass wire handrails glued in.
The cab contained the customary single LGB driver figure which I managed to remove and will be re-used on another project. To crew this loco, I purchased two G Scale 3D printed figures from Clavey Models, via eBay, Driver Bob and Fireman Ed. These had to be painted prior to installing them in the cab.
Having stripped down the model to its major component parts, I stripped out the cab of its fittings. The removal of the glazing represented a real challenge. Many early LGB models had component parts glued together rather than the later practice of designing them so that they could be clipped or screwed together, thus facilitating easy dismantling. The glazing had been glued in with a glue that was unrelenting, the only way the glazing could be removed was by breaking it out. The only way that the final bits of glue/glazing material could be removed was with a lot of chiselling, carving and sanding smooth.
The rear bunker is a separate component with the top surface moulded to represent the coal. I cut out the coal load and glued in a flat surface, lower down the inside of the bunker, onto which a layer of artificial coal could be glued after painting. I ran a razor saw sideways along the inside of the bunker top, to impart a bit of grain into the ‘wooden’ bunker extension boards.
I removed the funnel from the boiler. I then masked off the boiler so that I cold spray the tank tops and sides and the front end of the tanks/boiler. The cab, cab doors and rear bunker were prepared for spraying. The chassis unit was masked off so that the newly extended front buffer beam could be sprayed. Everything was then given a spray with grey plastic primer.
When dry, I masked off the rear buffer beam on the bunker as well as the ‘wooden’ extension boards at the top of the bunker. The bunker, cab, cab doors and side tanks were then sprayed with Halfords satin black. When this was dry, the cab interior was painted cream with the intention of Anglicising the appearance. Various control levers and wheels were picked out in red. The buffer beams were painted red. The white rims were sanded off the buffers and they were repainted black. The brake pipes were painted. The wooden boards of the bunker extensions were painted various shades of brown. I was not sure if the cab steps are meant to be metal or wood. I decided to paint them a wood colour to add a bit of interest. I re-glazed the cab windows with the same 1.5mm clear styrene sheet that I use to glaze my coach conversions. I glue them in using silicone glue, for ease of removal if required. The locomotive was then reassembled and the crew glued into the cab. Artificial coal was glued into the top of the bunker.
Most LGB U-Class models have a piece of equipment on top of the boiler, beside the funnel, I assume this to be an electricity generator. This equipment was missing from my model when purchased. Using an unlikely variety of odds and ends, I cobbled together a fair representation of what this generator should look like, I doubt anyone would notice the difference.
I fabricated and painted a pair of cradles from scrap brass strip and plasticard. These were fitted with brass wire pins, in the base, which were then glued into appropriately located holes drilled in the top of the right hand side tank. The moulded locating pins were cut off the tools, previously mounted on the cab roof, and, once painted, they were glued into place in the tank top cradles. I think this creates a bit more interesting detail than leaving them on the cab roof.
The final update was to affix the etched brass name and number plates supplied by Light Railway Stores – Custom Nameplate Studio. It is the custom with the Claptowte Railway that all steam locomotives are named after female members of my family, in this case No1 is named ‘Joyce’ after my Mother.
The completed locomotive
David
-
8
-
6
- Show all
