Motorising the Matchbox "Duke of Connaught"

PGN · November 21, 2021, 06:29:38 PM

This is SO frustrating! I am SO close to having a working Dean Single (slightly overscale, admittedly ... but so what?), and yet ...

It runs beautifully on the straights, and it will negotiate the curves, but the check rails at the points just throw it off the track no matter what I try.

I have come to the conclusion that the problem lies in my decision to go with the existing axle guides and run it as a 4-axle rigid wheelbase locomotive. There just isn't the necessary side play and that's that. So ... back to the drawing board. I'm going to have to fit it with a functioning front bogie somehow. As an absolute minimum I'm going to have to cut/grind/file/SOMETHING away the front axle guides ... but then what?? Can I fit a functioning bogie inside the cast outside bogie frames, or are they going to have to come off too?

And if they DO have to come off, where do I get suitable outside frames for my front bogie?

And even if I get the front bogie arrangement sorted, what's that going to do to my pickup arrangements?

Gah!

Sometimes I think I should never have started on this project. But then I think what it's going to look like, having a working single-wheeler running round my layout with a string of Cav'ndish 70' bogie coaches behind it (three should be plenty) ... and I decide to persevere. So far I've managed to get away without cutting off very much of the original models, or drilling any new holes into it ... but I think that's all about to have to change!!

Either way, I HAVE to get on with it now ... because I want it to be up and running before my Caley single comes back from Jerry Clifford (I decided to send it to him because, if I mess up the Dean Single, I can always go out and buy another; but my Caley single is one of a kind, and I have already shown that it CAN be made to go with a Union Mills drive unit inside its tender, it just needs a little bit of finesse - more finesse than I possess at present!)

Train Waiting · November 21, 2021, 07:14:17 PM

What a wonderful post! Thank you.

Please, please forgive me if this is idiocy on stilts but is there any possibility the UM 'City of Truro' bogie might be of some help?

I'm looking forward to seeing your model of No. 123.

With best wishes.

John

PGN · November 21, 2021, 07:40:48 PM

Far from it ... that's not idiocy on stilts at all: it may just be the answer!

I'll get on to Colin and see if he can provide me with a spare one ... I need to get a Dean tender unit from him as well (at the moment I'm using the one from the "Greyhound" that I'm turning back into LSWR condition ... and it's going to want its tender drive back sooner or later!)

icairns · November 21, 2021, 09:06:55 PM

Hi Jeremy @PGN :

You are in the middle of a very interesting conversion!

You probably already know this but there is a good article by David Tomkiss in the 5/15 edition of the N Gauge Journal on this same subject. The article is very detailed and describes using a Dapol Terrier chassis to motorize the Yesteryear Duke of Connaught loco.

Also, in the 4/21 issue of the Journal, Jeff Brown describes various ideas to motorize the same model.

Finally, in Journal 6/11, Gareth Collier describes powering small tender locos.

I realize that you are on a different path forward but I thought that these articles (especially the one by David Tomkiss) might give you some ideas to consider.

Please contact me if you need any additional information about these articles.

Ian

PGN · November 21, 2021, 09:40:33 PM

Hi Iain -

Yes, I know of these (and other) conversions of the Duke of Connaught ... but for me, the issue has always been the weight of the base model. With so much weight to propel around the track, as far as I'm concerned it HAS to be a Union Mills tender drive if you hope to have it pull a decent payload as well ... and that, in turn, means you have to take power off the locomotive wheels on one side, which leads to all sorts of further consequentials.

I'm nearly there. If moves, It goes round the bends. And just as soon as I can get it to go through points, I'll stop going round the bend too!

Dorsetmike · November 21, 2021, 11:14:59 PM

Quote"Greyhound" that I'm turning back into LSWR condition ... and it's going to want its tender drive back sooner or later!)

For that might I suggest using a watercart tender from a Langley S15 kit as in my sig below.
You can replace the S15 tender with a more correct Urie N15 tender from BHE using a UM tender drive plus an extra axle (only a few S15s had watercarts between the mid 1930s to mid 1950s)

PGN · November 22, 2021, 06:27:49 AM

Quote from: Dorsetmike on November 21, 2021, 11:14:59 PM
For that might I suggest using a watercart tender from a Langley S15 kit as in my sig below.

d'oh!

You're right ... and I was always going to do that ... so the "Southern" UM tender drive IS a spare .... but I still need to replace it with a Dean tender before putting Duke of Connaught into service.

Dorsetmike · November 22, 2021, 11:26:10 AM

Quotebut I still need to replace it with a Dean tender

Can you not scratch build or hack a Dean tender body to fit the UM drive from the T9?

PGN · November 22, 2021, 07:19:53 PM

Quote from: Dorsetmike on November 22, 2021, 11:26:10 AM
Can you not scratch build or hack a Dean tender body to fit the UM drive from the T9?

Possibly ... but why bother?

Colin is happy to supply tenders and drives or whatever partial bits of locomotives you require, and his tenders already have all the right fixing screw holes in all the right places.

I spoke to him today and he'll be making some more Cities of Truro (or should that be City of Truros?) round about Easter time ... so I have until then to figure out which bits I'm going to need to hack away and how. That's a working schedule which suits me just fine ...