User blog:Sir Ralph Wedgewood II/Sir Nigel Gresley the Grand

Sir Nigel Gresley the Grand”

Wednesday, 9 July 2008



This was my first OO/HO steam locomotive ever achieved from Bachmann:

 60007, SIR NIGEL GRESLEY

Finished in ex-works condition, 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley is ready for her first run!

You may notice some changes that have been made to the A4. I wanted this engine to be completely ex-works, so the buffers, cylinders and the reversing rod have been picked out in "bolt gun metal silver" (from the Games Workshop range) which is my biggest complaint on the Bachmann A4, and the one least relevant to the model - which is still an absolute stunner. I attached a “Sooth no.21 generator” inside the model to give off smoke and steam through the chimney, cylinders and cylinder drain cocks. The nameplates were removed to be cleaned and polished using a rag sprayed with “Pledge” spray and then put back on using Fox Transfers and then sealed using a light cover of varnish, as shown here:







<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The model looks like the real thing! It looks so big because of my camera. It is so <span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">shiny <span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">. If you want to make your own model but not show up so shiny then I would recommend giving it some Light Weathering. But I will keep my model like that.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Here she is hauling the Cathedrals Express passing Dorchester South Station. You may notice a few people figures. That part was actually an accident because I did not check it but it still forms a good background. If you are wondering why does the weather looks cloudy that is actually the background edited by me.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Here is Sir Nigel Gresley with the Cathedrals Express at speed along the mainline. The locomotive runs smoothly and gracefully around the layout. I am proud of a job well done on my first received OO steam locomotive. The coaches’ axles and wheels were oiled and polished with a cloth or tissue evenly and the body shells were cleaned using lots of soapy water, uses a small rag filled (dipped in the bucket) with soapy water and then rinsed using non-soapy water in another bucket. Then they were dried using a dry rag. Doesn’t she look marvelous with the coaches? The livery suits her very well indeed.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Here she is standing proudly letting off some smoke and steam from her cylinder drain cocks. Seemingly being prepared by some of my workmen figures:

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The workmen are supposedly to look lie as if they were checking her connecting rods, valve gear and cartazzi truck and axle as if they were working properly and as if they look good enough.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">If you think these people are real then yes they are. But they are just edited from another picture. In this photo you can also see that I <span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">modelled <span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> the tender tank too! In this picture she is hauling a stopping train and to further exert it here is a better photo:

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Here is Sir Nigel Gresley steaming and whistling while crossing a small bridge at Brayford Pool, in the centre of Lincoln, with the "Lyndum Fayre"

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;mso-background-themecolor:background1">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;mso-background-themecolor:background1"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">You can see that Sir Nigel Gresley is indeed a long engine. It looks so big because of my camera. This is my very first project to ever be done in my whole life and it was a complete success. The time taken to retool the tender for instance. To aka it beautifully reflects Sir Nigel Gresley’s corridor tender. The livery is perfectly and evenly applied, right down onto the marker’s plate picked out in silver.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white;mso-background-themecolor:background1"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">You may notice a small stick with a rag but actually that was my fault. A N scale cocktail stick is there and I did not see that rag in the background. I don’t even know why it is there.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white;mso-background-themecolor: background1">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white;mso-background-themecolor: background1"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Steaming up a hill with the Flying Scotsman Express. It has no trouble at all! Snorting, Sniffing, Puffing and Panting until she reached the top. And then she whooshes down the other side easily.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white;mso-background-themecolor: background1"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Before I came up with this project I thought of what livery should she be into. Garter Blue in BR Branding sounds good but I changed my mind. I know the Gresley A4 Pacifics wore BR Brunswick Green but Sir Nigel Gresley just does not look good in it. I had come up with the final verdict that she should be in Express Passenger Blue ex-works condition. Plus she is my <span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:16.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black;mso-themecolor: text1;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">favourite <span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black;mso-themecolor:text1"> engine.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background:white;mso-background-themecolor: background1">

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Last photograph of the day when all was quiet and no one else is seen here. Sir Nigel Gresley sits at Grosmont Station at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Reflecting perhaps what a busy day she had this morning. She is quiet, clean and not steaming with a deep respect of silence in the air.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#111111;background:white">..Watch this space. <span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#111111">

And on that bombshell, thank you for reading. Good night! <span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">