Finney7
The locomotives which form the subject of this kit were to the design of William Adams for the LSWR and fitted with one of the two Drummond boilers built in 1907 with dome-mounted lock-up safety valves. A total of 71 locomotives were built by four outside builders; four of these locomotives carried the Drummond boilers. It is these locomotives that are the subject of this kit:
3125 (30582) Built by R. Stephenson & Co. in 1885 with high front long tanks and 3’ 6” trailing wheels. Rebuilt with Drummond boiler, double slidebars and new frames. Drummond boiler fitted 6/1936-11/1938, 11/1941-10/1944 & 5/1954-7/1961
486 Built by Neilson & Co. in 1885 with low front long tanks and 3’0” trailing wheels. Drummond boiler fitted 9/1907-1/1928
3488 (30583) Built by Neilson & Co. in 1885 with low front long tanks and 3’0” trailing wheels. Drummond boiler fitted 12/1946-2/1959
520 (3520) Built by Dubs & Co. in 1885 with high front long tanks and 3’6” trailing wheels. Rebuilt with Drummond boiler, double slidebars and new frames. Drummond boiler fitted 8/1907-3/1948
For a detailed history of this numerous class we suggest you refer to the following definitive books by the late D.L.Bradley:
Part two of The Locomotives of the LSWR published by the RCTS.
LSWR Locomotives - The Adams Classes published by Wild Swan.
Other valuable sources of information and photographs are:
A Pictorial Record of Southern Locomotives - J.H.Russell - OPC
Locomotives Illustrated No. 59 – LSWR Outside-cylinder Tank Locomotives - Ian Allan
Southern Steam Locomotive Survey - The Adams Classes - Bradford Barton
From Devon to Dorset: the Story of the Lyme Regis Branch by George Reeve
Due to the large number of locomotives, built by four different builders, and lasting in service for over seventy five years, there are considerable variations between individual engines even amongst the small number that had Drummond boilers. Martin has covered many of these by including alternative components in the kit which can be combined with the Drummond boiler parts recently developed by Finney7. It is therefore recommended to have a photograph of the individual locomotive you propose to construct to enable an authentic model to be built.
Blower Valve. The original position of the blower valve varied depending on the builder. The locos with Drummond boilers had the blower valve positioned on the side of the smokebox, as typical for most Drummond locos.
Dome. The Drummond boilers had distinctive domes incorporating lock-up safety valves.
Trailing Wheels. The variation in trailing wheel diameter is catalogued in the table above.
Tank Front. On some engines the top edge of the tank front was flush with the tank top. On others the front was extended to the same height as the tank sides with the beading carried round over the tank front.
Chimney. When built the locomotives had Adams stove pipe chimneys. These were replaced by Drummond from February 1901 with his distinctive design. It is possible that an Adams chimney may have been used with a Drummond boiler, however all the photographic evidence currently available to us shows the locos to have the Drummond chimney.
Slidebars. From circa 1907 numbers 47,52,57,125,129,415,419 and 520 were fitted with double slidebars.
Front Frames. The Neilson & Co. engines had front frames to a profile different from the remainder. The frames of numbers 125 and 520 were replaced by the Southern Railway during an extensive rebuilding at Eastleigh during 1930. The new frames were to a new profile at the front.
Cab Cut-out. The Neilson & Co. engines had a different cab side cut out to the remainder.
Tank Lifting Brackets. In SR days lifting brackets were fitted to the top of each tank.
Coal Rails. Three bunker coal rails were fitted from circa 1900. Later still the coal rails were backed by metal sheeting to stop the loss of small coal.
Cab Rear Windows. After the fitting of coal rails most engines were fitted with bars of either wood or metal over the rear cab windows. Some of the later survivors were subsequently fitted with smaller windows.
Water filler. As the coal rail and rear window changes took place so the height of the water filler increased to allow more coal to be carried.
Steam Heating. From circa 1901 carriage heating steam pipes were fitted.
Lamp Brackets. The locomotives were built with Adams’ socket style brackets. Drummond added new brackets of his design over the buffers at the front and rear and above the coupling hook at the rear. The SR standardised on a design with the socket in the lamp and the later survivors were gradually fitted with new brackets of standard design.
Smokeboxes. When smokeboxes were renewed by the Southern Railway, the flush riveting was often replaced by visible snap head rivets.
Wheels
Bogie wheels 3’ 0” diameter, 9 spoke (2) Slater’s Ref. 7836ARMF
Driving wheels 5’ 7”diameter, 18 Spokes (2) Slater’s Ref. 7867S
Trailing wheel 3’ 0” diameter, 9 spokes (1) Slater’s Ref. 7836ARMF or 3’ 6” diameter, 10 spokes (1) Slater’s Ref. 7842ARMF
Motor & Gearbox. A Canon motor with a SDMP 40L/15 gearbox (available from Finney7) or an alternative such as an ABC VML2 gearbox.
Crankpins. Heavy duty crankpins are available from Finney7.
Inside Motion. A separate kit is available from Finney7 to construct the working inside motion.
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.