DJH Jones Goods

I seem to have this habit of starting the next project before I have finished the last one, to the extent where I often have three or four on the go at the same time. I was looking through my unmade whitemetal kits a couple of days ago, and the predictable happened - I have added one of them to my current projects, although how close it will get to being finished before I start on another remains to be seen. It is, as the title suggests, a Highland Railway Jones "Big Goods", in the form of an old DJH kit. So far all I've done is some preparatory work on the chassis.



Now where's that Stanier 2-6-4T.......

 

I have a few Highland kits to construct: a Castle, a Small Ben, an 0-6-4T banker, another Jones Goods (which I was going to use as the basis for a Loch, as I missed that kit when it was available), an NBR Glen (which I was going to use as the basis for a Big Ben), and a River (although that one really counts as Caledonian rather than Highland). Then there's the Barney I converted from a Hornby 700 class - I'm not satisfied with the paint finish on that one, so I intend to strip and repaint it. I might do something about shortening the smokebox and splashers while I'm at it, to get it closer to the correct dimensions.

I also have a number of Caledonian kits to do.......

 

I started work on the chassis (I know it wouldn't be everyone's choice, but I decided to just use the existing two rectangles of brass) and I struck my first problems. The axles (it's one of the older kits where DJH supplied the wheels and axles) are too tight a fit in the bearings - easily taken care of with a small round file. The other problem is that, in the Jones Goods, the leading and centre driving wheels are very close together - a bit too much so in the model (and that is using the ones supplied in the box!), as the wheels touch and this prevents them from rotating. We have our grandsons staying over tonight, so there's no way I'm going to sort that out until tomorrow at the earliest.....

 

Fixed that by using an electric drill and a file as a makeshift lathe and removing 1.2mm from the diameter of the wheel (the centre driver is flangeless, so altering the profile isn't an issue).

Next problem: the distance across the outside faces of the axle bearings is greater than the back to back measurement......

 

They appear to be old style Romfords with metal tyres and wheel centres and an insulating bush between them. It seems that the heat generated when I removed the flanges weakened the insulating material, and the tyres became loose, so I just took them off.

Then, after I filed the outside of the bearings back, I found that the backs of the front and rear driving wheels touched the screws that held the sideframes together - more filing called for.

I had a few tries at soldering a mount for the pickups to the sideframes, but it didn't work, probably because they're so thick (1.54mm). I ended up getting a piece of wood 9mm square (I had to buy a piece 1.2m long, so it will cover all the kits I have to construct and more) and cut two short pieces and stuck them inside the frames - I also drilled oversized holes in each to feed the axles through. I will be using DCC Concepts pickups which I will screw into the underside of the wood. Here's where it's up to:





The third rail pickup will be in the tender - I'm using a three rail Hornby Dublo Stanier 8F tender chassis, which has plunger pickups fitted. It's almost the same dimensions as the Jones Goods tender......

 

I haven't attached and wired up the pickups yet, but I did run it under its own power after affixing the connecting rods, and it works.