Caledonian Railway conversions from RTR

I noticed the other day that Hornby were going to be bringing out a J36, and my first thought was not, how nice to have a North British locomotive available, but was rather, if I change the cab sides and remove the coal rails from the tender, what Caledonian Railway locomotive would it look like.

Now I'm not thinking of a 100% accurate replica, but something that would look like a specific class of Caledonian engine, with maybe a few inaccuracies, but no glaring errors.

There are probably a few other candidates for this treatment, most obviously the LSWR T9 and "Black Motor". The Hornby 0-4-0ST could, of course be turned into something more accurate than it is and could also form the basis of a Killin Pug. I would have to check a few of its dimensions and be prepared to overlook the larger driving wheels and longer smokebox (the latter may not be a problem for me, as I would be painting it LMS black) but maybe a Southern Railway King Arthur might be turned into a passable (just) representation of a CR 956 class.

Does anyone have any other thoughts or suggestions? I noticed that Ben Alder seems to be rather creative in this regard.

 

Here's a Caledonian 264 class. It wouldn't take much to turn a Hornby "Smokey Joe" into one of these:


And a "Killin Pug", which would be a bit more of a challenge:


I'm not sure if this might be taking my idea one step too far, but I do see a similarity between a Southern "King Arthur" and the Caledonian 956:




I did say RTR, but there is a whitemetal kit of an NBR Glen 4-4-0 that might be able to be converted into a Caledonian Dunalastair IV or Pickersgill 4-4-0, but I digress.

Mind you, I am currently in the planning stages of a proposed layout, so my efforts for now might be concentrated in that direction rather than towards the production of more locomotives that I can't run anywhere.

 

With a bit of surgery to the cab and bunker and top of the sidetanks, and a bit taken off the area between the smoke box and the buffer beam, an M7 could be made to look like a 439 class.

I'm not sure if the boiler diameter of the M7 is more than that of the 439, but with a conversion like this it's inevitable that there will be some inaccuracies. It's the sort of conversion I was thinking about when I started this thread.

I won't be going down this track myself though unless I want a second one, as I already have an unmade DJH kit of a 439 class. Come to think of it, Brechin shed used two of them, so maybe I should too....

 

jakesdad13 wrote:

Yes, thank you, I would be interested in that - however, I already have enough modelling projects on hand to keep me going for a couple of years, so it might be a while before I get around to anything like that. I have sent you a PM with my email address.

 

scottystitch wrote:

No, I'm not. I had at one time started work on a layout that never eventuated, which was to be somewhere on the Strathmore line. I did build some rolling stock and a few structures, but that was about it (some years later I started another unfinished project, this time NSW railways in H0, but that's another story altogether). My Strathmore layout was to have been a fictitious station somewhere between Perth and Stanley Junction, so that I could run both Caledonian and Highland trains.

Even though the layout I am presently planning will be very different, I still fancy having a Strathmore connection, even if it is confined to some of the locomotives used. I plan, when deciding on the numbers for my locomotives, to select those that were allocated to Brechin, Dundee, Forfar and Perth (that hasn't stopped me from getting my hands on a Wemyss Bay tank, which I did just because I wanted one) and my 439 class, when completed, will be LMS 15200.

My reason for picking locomotives allocated to Brechin is simple. I may have lived on the other side of the world for almost 60 years, but I am originally from Brechin. My father grew up in Park Road, his bedroom window had a view of the station yard (when I visited the house in 1975, I was able to watch an 08 shunter pottering about) and one of his Sunday School teachers was an engine driver, who gave him a few footplate rides from Brechin to Bridge of Dun.

And the layout I'm to be building now? It's rather different from what I contemplated a few decades ago. I have, over the last few years, gathered a decent sized collection of Hornby Dublo 3 rail, and I will be constructing a double track oval, with reversing loop and three platform terminal station. The buildings will all be Dublo, so it won't resemble anything on the Strathmore line, but that's not going to stop me running a few Caley locos (in LMS guise) on it. Any locos I build or convert from RTR will therefore have to be converted to 3 rail (using Marklin skates) and the six coupled engines will need flangeless centre drivers to negotiate the Dublo standard curves.