Claptowte Railway - Locomotive No5 'Christine'

David1226

David1226

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I have amassed a fleet of ten locomotives to service the traction requirements of the Claptowte Railway, five steam and five diesel locos. It is my intention to ultimately repaint, renumber and rename them to portray a unified corporate identity. The steam locos will all be named after female members,and the diesel locos after male members, of my family. I am not concerned about potential loss of resale value as I have no intention that they will be resold. Arrangements have already been made that upon my passing, the railway, in its entirety will be passed to my two grandsons.

The first loco to be modified started life as LGB 20272 RhB No11 'Heidi'. The loco was purchased second hand on eBay. It is factory fitted with a decoder and sound.

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I have altered this model by removing the RhB markings and numbers and the name 'Heidi' from the smokebox. There was a need to touch up the paintwork here and there. I am not overjoyed with my efforts, I had to mix my own paint to try and get the shade right of green, it's not perfect but close enough at normal viewing distances. I painted the buffer beams in signal red, which I am pleased with as I feel it gives the model a lift. The smoke box door had to be repainted once I had scraped off the name 'Heidi'. The model was finished off with new number plates and name plates for 'Christine', my wife, custom made by Light Railway Stores - Custom Nameplate Studio. So here we have it, the first of my upgraded locos and the pride of the line, being the only one of my steam locos fitted with sound.

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David
 
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David1226 said:
I have amassed a fleet of ten locomotives to service the traction requirements of the Claptowte Railway, five steam and five diesel locos. It is my intention to ultimately repaint, renumber and rename them to portray a unified corporate identity. The steam locos will all be named after female members,and the diesel locos after male members, of my family. I am not concerned about potential loss of resale value as I have no intention that they will be resold. Arrangements have already been made that upon my passing, the railway, in its entirety will be passed to my two grandsons.

The first loco to be modified started life as LGB 20272 RhB No11 'Heidi'. The loco was purchased second hand on eBay. It is factory fitted with a decoder and sound.

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I have altered this model by removing the RhB markings and numbers and the name 'Heidi' from the smokebox. There was a need to touch up the paintwork here and there. I am not overjoyed with my efforts, I had to mix my own paint to try and get the shade right of green, it's not perfect but close enough at normal viewing distances. I painted the buffer beams in signal red, which I am pleased with as I feel it gives the model a lift. The smoke box door had to be repainted once I had scraped off the name 'Heidi'. The model was finished off with new number plates and name plates for 'Christine', my wife, custom made by Custom Nameplate Studio. So here we have it, the first of my upgraded locos and the pride of the line, being the only one of my steam locos fitted with sound.

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David
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David I see the valve gear has been bent out of kilter on both sides. The downwards facing rod closest to the piston should be closer to vertical, the bar from it has flipped over somewhat. Example below though not a Heidi but I hope you see what I mean.
image.jpg
 
dunnyrail said:
David I see the valve gear has been bent out of kilter on both sides. The downwards facing rod closest to the piston should be closer to vertical, the bar from it has flipped over somewhat. Example below though not a Heidi but I hope you see what I mean.
View attachment 293011
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Many thanks, I had not noticed, now rectified.

David
 
Very nicely done ✔
 
No5 Christine now features on a new mouse mat for my desktop computer.

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David
 
Neil Robinson said:
David, if you look back at post number 4 you'll see that the hiccup in the valve gear is present in the photo on your mouse mat. :-(
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Now that bit of news will antagonise David every time he uses his pc. Well it would me anyway.
 
Not being a rivet counter, it doesn't bother me in the slightest, I shall never give it another thought.

David
 
David,
I am not a rivet counter either, so please excuse my ignorance. Do British prototypes have 3 headlight like the German ones?
I just wondered since Christine still has 3. ;);)
I hope she is less temperamental than Stephen Kings old Chrysler by his novel of the same name... :lipssealed:o_O
 
Technocrat said:
David,
I am not a rivet counter either, so please excuse my ignorance. Do British prototypes have 3 headlight like the German ones?
I just wondered since Christine still has 3. ;);)
I hope she is less temperamental than Stephen Kings old Chrysler by his novel of the same name... :lipssealed:o_O
Click to expand...
The short answer is no, but then this is not a prototypical British Railway, it is a completely fictitious free lance kit bashed set up. You would need to read the History of the Claptowte Railway in order to understand the thinking behind it. I think the history is worth a read, but then I am biased as I wrote it. It can be found as post #2 on the attached thread.
The Claptowte Railway - A Complete Rethink

David
 
David1226 said:
The short answer is no, but then this is not a prototypical British Railway, it is a completely fictitious free lance kit bashed set up. You would need to read the History of the Claptowte Railway in order to understand the thinking behind it. I think the history is worth a read, but then I am biased as I wrote it. It can be found as post #2 on the attached thread.
The Claptowte Railway - A Complete Rethink

David
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Thank you, David.
It is indeed a good read. It is nice to see someone else devise a complete "alternate reality" for their dreams.
The road I want to build when I retire will be a similar history although an American, transition ere theme.
Imagine a world where petroleum was never as cheap, and cal filer steam survived another 20 or 30 years...
 
Technocrat said:
David,
I am not a rivet counter either, so please excuse my ignorance. Do British prototypes have 3 headlight like the German ones?
I just wondered since Christine still has 3. ;);)
I hope she is less temperamental than Stephen Kings old Chrysler by his novel of the same name... :lipssealed:o_O
Click to expand...
The 3rd (top) headlight appeared in the 2000s on new builds and rebuilds(class 37s/57s/73s etc). The first loco fitted was the class 92s, they had what we call the "cyclops" or"Ulysses" headlight for the channel tunnel and French railways, if you had problems with them, you could put them into euro/French mode to get out of trouble, however the headlight would come on, a bit of a give away! Also the speedo would change to KPM:eek: this was very much just to clear the mainline. Most GB Rail Freight ones (used on the Caledonian sleepers) have been modified to work on BR AC.
Hope this helps
 
Fezwig said:
The 3rd (top) headlight appeared in the 2000s on new builds and rebuilds(class 37s/57s/73s etc). The first loco fitted was the class 92s, they had what we call the "cyclops" or"Ulysses" headlight for the channel tunnel and French railways, if you had problems with them, you could put them into euro/French mode to get out of trouble, however the headlight would come on, a bit of a give away! Also the speedo would change to KPM:eek: this was very much just to clear the mainline. Most GB Rail Freight ones (used on the Caledonian sleepers) have been modified to work on BR AC.
Hope this helps
Click to expand...
Thanks
The two lower "ditch lights" were added here in the 80's.
 
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