Wisbech & Upwell J70

[Enginehouse]

Having decided that this bit of kit looks an easy build, I have been investigating both of the options - possibly available kits or a scratch build. Looking at the kits and the measurements of the kits on offer, to my mind they seem to be a bit of a compromise too far. The P/W offering seems somewhat narrow although possibly suits our narrow gauge quite well, however the length bears no comparison to the original at our 16mm ish scale. Ivan's offering is not yet available and will not make an appearance unless sufficient orders are received. That to my mind makes a scratch build electrically powered unit at probably half the cost seem a very attractive proposition indeed. So collecting the various bits and pieces needed at the moment.

While I can find basic outline and power plant details of the loco and some excellent pictures of the originals, I have as yet been unable to find a picture or drawing of the interior layout of the cab(s). Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

Cheers.

Roy H

 

[pbmm]

hello roy the names malcolm pbmm to my friends your upwell tram .now the "toby" is in fact a y6 040 side tank in disguise and the cab detail was very basic indeed nothing fancy at all. Due to the lack of photos of the inside of the cab the only thing i can suggest is to look at any L N E R . 040 of the same period ie j 60 0r j70 the loco was i believe just a small 0.4.0. side tank in a garden shed ive built several of them. in various forms but the on thing one thing that makes the stand out from the crowd so to speak is the cabin body
mine are built on a brass frame they used steel and are clad as they should be with real planks and there is quite a lot of them i found out the hard way that this is the only way to go if you want the body to last any lengh of time because you have to build strength in to the body if you dont the first time you pick them up you may have a big repair job to do hence the brass frame. are they costly well that depends on what you use as the loco the cabin will set you back a few pounds depending on the price of brass channel and strip you will need a fair bit of it too you will also need some angle and some sheet for the skirt use a good hard wood for the cab oak is the best i found are they cheap to build well no but then what do you want if you cut corners then you may as but a toby but if you are prepaired to put time and effort in to a model of this calibour you will have something you can be real proud of and a tram style loco that will last a lifetime so if i can help give me a pm and feel free to ask questions do what i can to help you all you have to do is ask by the way i dont bite all the best malcolm

 

[3Valve]

How about GRS?

They do the Wisbech & Upwell Y6 for G64 (Standard Gauge), and a freelance narrow gauge version based on the Y6 bodyshell.

£146 for the narrow gauge body kit, £179 complete with chassis.

£246 for the standard guage (I think without chassis but it isn't clear on the website).

 

[Enginehouse]

Thanks guys. I am not a great fan of GRS kits - I still have one here waiting to be built (or rather well modified) A steam loco kit. I will definitely go down the scratch build path on the tram.

Like the idea of using brass section for the frames. Have plenty of old Honduras Mahogany and other hardwood sections to play with, as I used to build lakes steamers.

Cheers.

 

[3Valve]

Thanks guys. I am not a great fan of GRS kits - I still have one here waiting to be built (or rather well modified) A steam loco kit. I will definitely go down the scratch build path on the tram.

Yeah, GRS aren't the easiest things to put together. I should imagine that a scratchbuild of the body shouldn't be that difficult, and if you you don't fancy making up the "cowcatchers" they can be purchased separately as castings from GRS, Brandbright etc.

Malcom does bite BTW

 

[yb281]

Thanks guys. I am not a great fan of GRS kits - I still have one here waiting to be built (or rather well modified) A steam loco kit. I will definitely go down the scratch build path on the tram.

Yeah, GRS aren't the easiest things to put together. I should imagine that a scratchbuild of the body shouldn't be that difficult, and if you you don't fancy making up the "cowcatchers" they can be purchased separately as castings from GRS, Brandbright etc.

Malcom does bite BTW

Cow catchers are easy.