Lack of Southern 4-6-0s

[Dorsetmike]

Not counting Drummond classes there were 4 classes of Southern 4-6-0s, H15, N15 (King Arthurs) S15 and Lord Nelson - none are available RTR; for other companies most if not all their 4-6-0s are or have been available RTR, I've found the following 14 RTR British 4-6-0s, there may be others
GWR               LMS                            LNER        BR Std 5
  King              Scot,                          B1
  Castle            Patriot ?                     B12
  Hall               Jubilee                        B17
  Grange          Black 5
  Manor            Prince of Wales       

Maybe not all available at the same time but any no longer in production are still to be found on Ebay and in shops . So it's not impossible to produce 4-6-0s, maybe one of the existing chassis would be correct or close enough so why have the manufacturers so completely ignored the SR
The only SR passenger locos available are the Schools and T9 4-4-0s the N class 2-6-0 is mixed traffic, and the Bulleid pacifics  which were late on the scene, the MNs appeared from 1941, the WCs and BOBs from 1945, so of no use to anyone modelling pre WW2 SR.

There are 2 white metal kits: Langley S15 which requires an expensive Fleischmann chassis and is only correct for a few of the class between mid 1930s and 1950s due to the tender and BHE N15 intended to fit the Poole Farish Black 5 chassis on which it looks dire wheels way to small and incorrectly spaced, also is only correct for some of the class.

It is possible with a fair amount of hacking the kits and use of different chassis to make a reasonable job of the H15, N15 & S15, but a heck of a lot would need to be done to approach the standard of present day RTR detail. Both kits have the ex LSWR cab roof, ther Maunsell roof is nota difficult hack, The BHE N15 tender can be used for any of the "15s (H,N or S)"
The Lord Nelson loco can be hacked from a Scot or Jubilee with a BHE N15 tender kit for up to about 1938/9 after which they were fitted with a high sided tender.
It is also possible to adapt the BHE N15 tender to take a Union Mills drive with the addition of an extra pair of wheels and some bogie side frames

Lord Nelson hacked from a Peco Jubilee with Rivarossi Nord pacific tender drive and brass tender body - currently in works having BHE tender and UMdrive tp replace the failed NORD drive


H15 Minitrix 4-6-0 chassis and tender drive - needs some coal grains!


N15, work in progress, Peco Jubilee chassis Minitrix tender drive, Maunsell cab hack, bogie side frames worsley works etch.


Langley S15 and Fleischmann chassis no modifications


Maunsell S15, Langley body with hhacked cab roof and straight frame over cylinders,Fleischmann chassis, BHE tender with Minitrix drive


Urie King Arthur, BHE N15 kit, Peco Jubilee chassis, Minitrix tender drive.


The Langley tender and Fleischmann  from the Kit used on the Maunsell S15 above ended up on the UM T9 in my sig below.

The UM drive to BHE tender mod thread
https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=37655.msg446004#msg446004

[Dorsetmike]

Another point occurs to me, looking at GWR classes they are very much alike, apart from overall size there never sems to me to be much difference, in a similar way the SR 4-6-0s of Urie and Maunsell  have a family likeness the easiest way to tell them apart is driver diameters and spacing and cabs; the H15s have 6' drivers, N15s 6'7", S15s 5'7".
Only the LSWR H15s had parallel boilers all others had taper boilers,  LSWR H15s and S15s had stepped running plates over trhe cylinders. All H15s and the LSWR built N15s and S15s plus Eastleigh rebuilds of some Drummond 4-6-0s as N15s  had Drummond style cab roofs, SRbuilt S15s and N15s (except the rebuilds) had Maunsell cab roofs to fit the composite loading gauge. Tenders were mostly Urie style except for the Drummond rebuilds and S15s 504-509 which surrendered theirs to the N15X class (converted from ex LBSC Remembrance class tanks)  in 1935/6 the S15s received Drummond watercarts from withdrawn C8 class reverting to the Urie type in the 1950s froom withdrawn N15s. A few N15s were built with Ashford 6 wheel tenders for use on Central section where turntables were not long enough for the additional length of 8 wheel tenders.

So  it should be easy enough to produce at least some of each class without too many differences a standard boiler would suit all except the LSWR built H15, a running plate with no step over the cylinders only the LSWR H15 and S15 had a step. Cab roof  Drummond style for all LSWR builds and Drummond rebuilds, Maunsell for all others.

Taper boiler, straight running plate, Maunsell cab roof, Urie/Maunsell 8 wheel tender, The N15s had a long low splasher, 3 similar chassis with Walschaerts valve gear drivers 5'7",6'3"-7'6" 6'0" 7'6"-7'6" and 6'7" 7'0"-7'6", that would be a welcome start; to extend the range maybe detachable cabs with choice of LSWR or Maunsell roof; the stepped footplate option would probably need to be a complete body. The Watercart tender is  comparatively less common, the 6 wheel tender should be close enough to that of the N class.

[Ollie3440]

Evening Mike,

I'll start off by saying I'm absolutely in the market for an N15! I'll be first to sign up for a 30777 Sir Lamiel.

Initially my thoughts were that as Hornby do severl of the 4-6-0s in OO there is not a shrinkray option with them into N as has been the case with many Bachmann models. Then I thought that until recently there was not much in the way of available stock to accompany them. The latter has now been helped out with the Maunsell, Bulleid and Birdcage stock so I think it's only a matyer of time before we see one of these locos in the pipeline. I also feel the pending Light Pacific from Dapol will provide another reason a manufacturer may look into more SR prototypes as the more available of a region, the more will sell.

One for Sonic to do perhaps?

Cheers

Ollie