Who Built This Loco?

[Stuart FirthParticipant]

I have posted this query before, on RMWeb and in our newsletter, but it’s worth trying again.

I bought this Kitson built LMS dock tank on the Members’ sales stand at Expo some years ago (for a fiver!). It is scratchbuilt and has a very old Romford motor and wheels with very thin axles, which, someone has suggested, might be Hamblings tender wheels. I have put it back together and it runs on the layout from time to time, but I’d love to know who built it, and anything about its history, as it is clearly quite an early EM gauge loco. Any ideas?

 

• This topic was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by Stuart Firth.

[Richard SymsParticipant]

Hello Stuart, at which expo (north or south) did you obtain the loco? My initial thoughts would lean towards one of the Manchester MRS EM pioneers, such as Sid Stubbs or Norman Whitnall. Sid is less likely as he specialised in pre-grouping MR locos and built many of his locos (in their entirety, including wheels and motors) from scratch. Looking at your photos, I wonder(from the pickup arrangement visible) if this is a split-frame chassis? If so, the way in which the split frames and the half-axles are insulated might provide a clue. From the Romford motor and Hamblings(?) wheels, I would date it as middle 1950s/early 60s. Hamblings wheels went largely out of fashion after Romford drivers came on the market, although I continued to use their axles and wheel press to rewheel Triang motor bogies in the late 60s.
I have something nagging me at the back of my brain that the loco looks familiar from long ago; I will try to remember why.
Regards
Richard Syms

[Stuart FirthParticipant]

Hi Richard – thank you so much for your reply. I got this at Bracknell 5-10 years ago. It isn’t split frame – one set of wheels is live to the frame and the other has insulation at the hub. I had to replace this to get it back in one piece, and renew the oil-soaked fibre insulation on the insulated side brush, which was allowing a partial short. It also has new brushes from an XO4, and it works OK. It does have that aura of those pioneering days about it. Any further information gratefully received !

[Steve FlintParticipant]

Hi Stuart, why not send the photos and your story to Steve Young for publication in the newsletter. We still have older members who are not on line, it might generate some more answers.

[Stuart FirthParticipant]

Thanks Steve – I did this a few years ago, but to no avail, sadly.

[David FranksParticipant]

Hi Stuart, I have a faint memory from years ago that someone did a precut ‘kit’ for one of these locos along the lines of Jamieson loco kits. One had to source your own motor, wheels etc. The wheels do look like Hamblings.

 

Dave Franks

 

[Charlie BloomfieldParticipant]

Hi, it looks like the Hamblings-Stewart Reidpath-Romford Gnat 0-4-0ST

[Stuart FirthParticipant]

Thanks Dave – that’s interesting, I wonder if that’s its origin.

Charlie – yes, quite similar, a friend has one, though he hasn’t converted it to EM yet !

[Gerald GrudgingsParticipant]

Think almost certainly its a Hamblings Gnat.

I am the fortunate owner of a product of the Manchester legends. The standard even by todays benchmark is still excellent.  Some went to great lengths, it is an exL&Y 0-6-0 tender loco, it has a bespoke motor lying flat in the tender which drives the loco wheels via a cardan shaft;  this is turn has allowed working eccentrics, very visible in these high pitch boiler locos. The only limit to its pulling power is when a coupling pulls out!

Does anyone know what happened to Ross Pochin’s superb Furness collection?

[Stuart FirthParticipant]

Gerald I’d like to see a picture of that. This isn’t a Gnat however, it’s a scale model made from brass.

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