Paul's Nellie

If you've yet to construct the 'Gasworks' Paul, then remember that steam loco's would definitely not have been allowed near when gas was being produced! As a kid nearly 70 years ago, I can remember the old gasworks in Chesterfield (A couple of the gasometers are still there!) and when gas was being produced, loco's had to shunt the wagons to a nearby siding in the brewery yard, wait for the main Chatsworth Road to be closed,(not many cars about in those days!) then a chain was attached, threaded through a hole in the gasworks wall, and hooked onto the end wagon, given a 'tug' to get them moving across the road, smartly unhooked and the chain pulled through the hole in the wall and reattached to the wagons when inside the wall, then pulled into their final position to unload. A gas powered engine was used as power for the winch chain due to the risk of explosion. There is still one of the cast iron tubes in situ in the remaining wall with a plaque stating that chains were put across the road to close it but this is inaccurate as the chains were used only for haulage, gates were used to close the road from the old Brampton Brewery sidings across to the gasworks which is now long gone.
Somewhere on the forum is a pic I took of the pipe and plaque some time ago.
Keith.

 

Yes but whatever the set up for traffic movement is Nellie still does not really need a full set of lamp irons because she is only shunting internal traffic into and out of exchange sidings. So you can happily go with just one front and one rear lamp iron for safety purposes.

 

The way I bend lamp irons is make the first fold then lay the piece sideways on a piece of white paper holding firm with tweezers then form the other folds using the back edge of a blade to apply gentle pressure, once all the folds are made I'll tin the whole item to keep everything solid. The lamp iron can then be attached to the loco in the normal tinning and sweating into place method using gentle heat. The trick is to hold the lamp iron in place with tweezers as the solder flows and then to tease into position with a quick touch from the soldering tip if the iron accidentally moves out of alignment, obviously the loco must be held foirmly in a vertical and flat position.

 

Indeed that is a good way to hone the skill when it comes to making more substantial and costly models.