Finney7
The subjects of this kit are the forty Bulleid 5500 gallon tenders, of nine feet width, built for the last forty West Country and Battle of Britain Light Pacifics. Tenders were not allotted in strict numerical order. For a complete listing of the initial allocations and all the subsequent changes see Richard Derry's book.
Between June 1957 and May 1961 sixty of the one hundred and ten Light Pacifics were rebuilt. The modifications to the tenders involved removal of the side raves, replacing them with covered fire iron tunnels on each side. Also the four vacuum reservoirs were moved forward against the raised rear of the coal bunker and protected by a cover.
The intention was to allocate these rebuilt nine feet wide tenders to the rebuilt engines. Needless to say the results were not entirely as planned. On 30th June 1961 after rebuilding had ceased all but the following tenders had been rebuilt and attached to rebuilt engines.
Tender 3328 had not been rebuilt and so retained its side raves. It was still attached to its originally allocated engine 34078 which had not been rebuilt.
Tenders 3351(34091), 3359(34099), 3362(341 02), 3365(34107) had been rebuilt but were still attached to their originally allocated engines, which had not been rebuilt.
During rebuilding those tenders to be allocated to rebuilt engines also had their sanding gear removed. The tenders still attached to engines which had not been rebuilt, retained their sanding gear.
If there is a definitive reference for a detailed history of these tenders it is the recently published The Book of the West Country and Battle of Britain Pacifics by Richard Derry published by lrwell Press.
Other valuable sources of information and photographs are:
Locomotives of the Southern Railway Part 2 - D.L.Bradley - RCTS.
The Power of the BULLEID PACIFICS - Stanley Creer and Brian Morrison - O.P.C.
Bulleid Pacifics at work - Colonel H.C.B. Rogers OBE - Ian Allan
Locomotives Illustrated No. 28 - Bulleid Light Pacifics - Ian Allan
Locomotives Illustrated No. 89 - Bulleid West Country
Battle of Britain Pacifics - RAS Southern Steam
Locomotive Survey - Bulleid Light Pacifics - Bradford Barton
Modellers' Backtrack - Bulleid's Light Pacifics - April/ May 1991 - Volumel No.1 - Atlantic
A Pictorial Record of Southern Locomotives - J.H.Russell - OPC
Bulleid Locomotives - Brian Haresnape - Ian Allan
Alternative components are provided to enable the tenders to be built in their original condition and their later rebuilt condition with the side raves removed.
Tank vents. The two tank vents and the fire iron cruciform on the left hand side were removed on rebuilding.
Coal hopper rear plate. This was raised at the time of rebuilding and strengthened by two ribs.
Rear ladders. The up stand on the rear ladders was modified usually, but not always, at the time of rebuilding.
Water treatment systems. When new the tenders were fitted with the TIA system. This was later removed from circa 1955 - 1957, and replaced by the BR system.
Sanding gear. Originally sanding gear was fitted to the tenders for tender first running. The rebuilt engines were fitted with rear sanding and the tenders allocated to them had the sanding gear removed.
Water gauge. From circa 1954, BR type water gauges were fitted.
Wheels. 3' 7" Boxpok (Slaters 7844MF).
To obtain a pdf copy of the instructions please click on the links below; the pdf will open in a new window. Unfortunately the A4 and A3 pages have to be in different files.