Garden Railway Forum

Fowler never built any diesels in 15" gauge but they did build various designs in 2' gauge....
I'm planning a 'might have been' 15" estate railway loco based on this

The model will be built around an Accuaraft Baguley chassis which will be converted to battery power. Unlike all my other locos I 'm going to leave this one gauge adjustable (just in case I ever get invited to play at a broad gauge line!!). I've already turned the 'chimney' and it's base as these will form the speed control handle. I'm hoping this will be a relatively quick build, there's at least a chance it might be done for Waterfield Hall's next outing (York MRS at Easter)........

Here are some pics of the chimney, they are both turned from old plumbing fittings, the stack itself is one piece and the base three pieces. As you can see the base is drilled ready for the speed control pot. The stack will have a length of brass rod soldered across the middle which locate in the slot on the shaft of the speed control pot. the flange on the base is shaped to fit the curved top of the bonnet and was attached with a large solder fillet all round which was then shaped back with a round file.

Good luck with the build.
I do like these locos. I don't suppose there is any real reason why Fowler didn't make any 15'' gauge I/c locos apart from not being asked to.
Go for it and keep the pics coming.

This has tempted me over the edge. I have been toying with 1/12th for a while due to the fact I am a fireman at the SFR and own a loco in 15 inch. Think I may have to get on and build some kits!

I'll be interested to see what this comes out like. There are a few rod drive 0-6-0 diesels out there in 15 inch, none look like that but I suppose had things been different they could have done

Maybe not regaugeable to 15 inch, but at the same railway my loco is housed out (my loco can go from 9.5 inch to 15), we are building (eventually) a passenger diesel which is going to be a fowler like the picture. We have a cab mock up for it and the cranks.

Over the last few days I've been making a start on the cab, after a lot of consideration the cab design is being based on the Fowler 'Resilient' class 2' gauge locos but with a drop footplate.... The new rear buffer beam is made from 2mm steel, the other parts are brass with solder, rivets and 12ba hex nuts and bolts holing it all together.

Over the last few days I have taken hacksaw to plastic and been modifying the Accucraft 'footplate/frames', should be fairly obvious from the pics..... Yesterday this all got a couple of coats of satin black, just waiting for the Talisman couplers to arrive now. Last night I picked up the etchings for the radiator unit - more of that later...

Really brilliant, sturdy looking stuff. Looks well put together!

Jez, here is the cab mock up for our Fowler type diesel!

Very nice Matt, what gauge is this going to be?

Well I spent an enjoyable few hours yesterday building up the radiator components, beautiful etches from Allen Law as usual. Tonight I finally figured out where to hide the forward/reverse switch, I turned a brass filler cap for the rad and soldered this to a length of brass rod which operates the switch. The switch will be hidden under the gearbox cover - which is next on the build list. The first pic shows the how the switch mechanism fits, the second pic shows the completed rad unit.

It is primarily for 9 1/2 inch gauge but will be regaugeable to 10 1/4!

That radiator is a work of art, very nice etch

Over the last couple of days I've been doing some work on the bonnet and fitting the couplers. Next job will be to finish the cab (it's just resting there in the pics). I'm still hoping to have it running at York show over the Easter weekend - not long now........
I have also settled on a name, after much thought the loco is to be called 'Bartholomew' after the first person to ever build an internal combustion loco on 15". As is shown in the pics the bonnet sides are hinged to allow fitting/removal of the battery pack.

That's a classy piece of work there!
I do like your layout from the pictures I've seen. Well detailed and superbly finished. Should go down well at York.

Love the loco Jez

That is a cracking job you have done there. You have really captured the prototype.
What livery will it be in?

A quick phone vid of the loco running round the garden tonight, I still need to finish the cab interior and install the driver, fit the name and works plates and do some weathering.... But she runs, the vid shows her running at full speed on the 7.2v battery pack - taking nearly 4 mins to do a circuit of the garden. Looking forward to running on Waterfield Hall at York show this weekend..
http://youtu.be/WWJ6gH8AKeQ

This is all I'm doing before this weekends York show (hopefully name and works plates will arrive at the show), as you can see the driver and cab controls have now been fitted. The driver is one of the Busybodies/Modelearth figures and being 7\8 scale is only 5' tall in 1;12 - this wouldn't have been a problem with an open cab but on this loco he couldn't see out of the window!! This is a prototypical problem, we have a couple of drivers at Perrygrove who struggle to drive Lydia without the aid of a chequer plate 'booster step' which sits on top of the frames! For the model I decided to cut both his legs and extend them with brass rod and milliput.

Very nice, I'm looking forward to going to the York show for the first time in years!