U class - tank top coal box

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stockers

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I recently purchased a U class tank loco on Ebay and it has posed me a question.
Loose in the polystyrene packaging is the coal box.

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This presumably goes on top of the side tank

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but why is it loose. there do not seem to be any locating lugs or anything. Is the box an optional item? Do some locos not have it?
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Can you help with what the originals did (or didn`t) have.
 
I'm sure that I've seen different U versions (in model form) with and without it, Alan - I think that may be why there are no holes or lugs, I think LGB probably just glued them in place on the versions that needed them.

I recently picked up a good book on the U class, I'll have a look......

Jon.
 
Thanks, that's where I was coming from Jon - but before i get the glue out....
 
Of all the LGB locos I have, albeit none of the U-Class, if I held them upside down something would fall off with alarming regularity.
In fact bits fell off all the time, I got fed up of wandeing down the line looking for parts ::)
 
looking at the Lok book there are 2 versions of the coal box, depending on Loco and some dont have one at all, looks like it was just glued on if required
 
OK Alan, I just dug the book out (TransPress Fahrzeugportrait: "Reihe U" by Roland Beier)..... a great mix of modern and period photos of many, many U class locos in Austria, Germany and elsewhere. From a quick flick through the book, I'd say that (of the ones where the left side can be seen), about 50% of the locos have the coal bin, the rest don't. One of the most interesting sections is on the SKGLB, where NONE of the locos pictured in period shots appear to have the bins. Conversely, most of the Zillertalbahn examples DO seem to have them.

So, I'd say either glue it on or leave it off, to your choice - whichever you think looks better! ;)

Jon.
 
Thanks for looking that up. Still not sure which way to go though. This is not a Zillertal lok so maybe it goes without.
 
Forgive me for thinking logical here but..............(and I did own 2 Uloks but sold them both so cannot refure to any) .......If a steam loco burns coal then it needs a place on it to store coal. I seem to think that some Uloks had a bunker on the back and therefore would not need a coal box, however if the loco does not have a bunker then I would stick the coal box on...............
 
that certainly seems to make sense Steve.
 
That's a very logical deduction, Steve, and makes a lot of sense - however looking through the book again, though the MAJORITY of the locos have EITHER the tank-top box OR a cab bunker, there are indentifiable examples which have neither, and at least one pic of a loco that appears to have both! ;)

So, I still think you're free to use it or not as you wish - on the basis that in the weird and wacky world of European Narrow Gauge, it's pretty much like Rule 34 on the Internet - if you can think of it, then it most likely already exists..... :)

Jon.
 
Silly question from the fat middle aged bloke at the back, but what use was it ? Was it a lid to a hopper that extended through the tank and into the cab ? I can see a diagonal row of rivets but they don't line up.
 
Dtsteam said:
Silly question from the fat middle aged bloke at the back, but what use was it ? Was it a lid to a hopper that extended through the tank and into the cab ? I can see a diagonal row of rivets but they don't line up.
Click to expand...
As far as I know - yes. Its an extension to a side tank bunker to hold just a bit more.
 
On that basis, I think we can surmise that those U class that don't have the rear bunker, DO have a side tank bunker but may or may not have the extended-height box on top of it. I'm assuming that those which appear to have neither, still have a bunker space at the back of the side tank, but the filling hatch for it is most probably flat and flush with the tank top. Of course, very few photos actually show the flat upper surfaces of the tanks, except for a few rare ones taken from higher ground or bridges etc. Most are shot from ground level looking slightly up at the loco!

What all this boils down to in the end, is that if it were mine I'd probably stick the box on! ;)

Jon.
 
well - I have got it available haven't I. ;)
 
I think the coal box is just glued on, just like the shortened front buffer!

Incidentally, does the front, left, top corner of the coal box have a dent in it like mine does? I think LGB must have got a bit clumsy with the tooling.
 
Mine is loose in the box Sammler - hence the questions. No, it does not have a dent in it. Maybe the moulding process is a bit better now - these dents are often formed by cooling and contraction of the plastic in a thick area of the mould cavity.
 
Well? Does it? :D
 
I have 7 of these little beauties and a quick check reveals that the grey and black ones don't have the box but the green ones do. I can't get at them to check if the ones with the box don't have a bunker as I have some part finished models blocking the way.
It has always puzzled me that so many Continental locos have little or nothing in the way of coal storage. I have seen some of them in real life withe footplate crew standing on coal stored across the footplate!

EDIT after almost breaking my neck(!) a quick check reveals that the ones with a bunker are the ones minus the tank box.
 
A long trawl through the internet found this piccy of 99 7818 from 1968. Note the large coal box and also the straight stack.

U52.jpg
As you can see, the electrification work is already well advanced; on 28 September 1968 already reversed the opening move between St. Valentine and Kleinreifling. In Garsten the connecting train GK 21 Garsten waited (from 7:50 clock) - Green Castle with 298.52 (ex DR 99 7818, ex BBÖ U.52, ex NÖLB U 2, ex NÖLB [Mariazellerbahn] 6, Krauss / Linz 3710/1898, + 06.12.1982) at the Zugspitze:
 
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