The Rocket in 009...

Well ok, not that 'The Rocket', rather the one from Cliffe Hill, brother to Jack (pictured here), a Bagnall 0-4-0st, rather peculiar looking...

It was order by Cliffe Hill for use on the 'tramway', i.e. the mainline. Therefore it was larger than the other small saddle tanks, not only did it sport a strange saddle/pannier tank look, but also strange frames. In the book these aren't explained, but with a touch of Engineering knowledge they make sense. The Cliffe Hill system was 2ft, and the locomotive used a conventional firebox, rather than a marine boiler. This means the firebox drops between the frames, but it can't on an inside framed 0-4-0... there isn't space... so in this case, the frames with the wheels in actually steps just behind the rear wheel, infront of the firebox, and a stretcher connects to the outside frames that then run to the front and rear of the locomotive, heavier at the rear, obviously, as there are no frames behind these 'outer'. Why Bagnall went for this design, over conventional outside frames is a mystery. The locomotives were built at the end of the 19th century, so it wasn't uncommon, and how it does give us an interesting prototype.

For some time I've pondered what to build around my Tomix Percy... and now I think I know! I'm going to use the outline of the peculiar Bagnall, but add a Bagnall style cab to hide the motor.

More soon...