A loco with mysterious origins! Service request West Country Class Sidmouth [Very interesting]

Join me as we take a deep look at my friend Rowland's West Country class locomotive. It appears to be a heavily converted model and chassis but there are some clues to her origins, can you help?
We take a look inside and find a driving wheel in a most unusual position.
The X04 motor needs special attention and then the loco gets a clean and oil before being test run.
Sit back and relax now as we watch this fine locomotive come back to her full potential.
Guess appearance by 10800 with two new Dapol vans!
#WestCountryClass
#modelrailwaysunlimited #modelrailwaysuk #UKmodelRailways
#modelrailways #modelrailways00gauge #modelrailwaylayouts #modelrailroads #modelrailroadsforsmallspaces #fixingmodeltrains #modelrailwaysworkbench #modelrailwayreviews #BestModelRailways #BestUKModelRailways
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[@simonturner5450]

Mike, my guess is that it is a Crownline conversion kit. I have a BR Clan class, and a Thompson and Peppercorn LNER pacifics by them also based on Triang / Hornby chassis, plastic / resin boilers and metal parts. You had to cut and shut parts of an existing Triang / Hornby body and blend in the Crownline mouldings. They also did various BR standards and a Crosti 9F as well. PDK took control of the Crownline range and they still offer the kit (or an updated version) if you search PDK 27. BR/SR BULLEID 'LIGHT PACIFIC'. (WC/BB) you should find it. Thanks again for sharing her with us.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Oh that's brilliant information thanks very much indeed

[@Soupdragon1964]

That's really helpful info, thanks.

[@ngaugefouroaksstreetstatio6932]

Lovely work, great to see something refurbished.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Thanks, my favourite kind of video, building up a good few

[@johnbill9201]

Great video thanks for sharing J

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Glad you enjoyed, cheers

[@JPoulAndersson]

Nice loco Mike, you gotta love a West Country👍🏻 I have a kit built DJH rebuilt West Country, 34021 Dartmoor also very nice. Rgds, Joachim

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Sound lovely thanks for watching

[@Soupdragon1964]

Thanks Mike, she looks great and runs far better than previously! I think I am going to add some detail beneath the cab - will investigate how best to do it. Great to see her on the MRU layout too!

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

I'm so pleased you are happy with her, she's got quite a following here now lol. Should be with you tomorrow

[@premikyam2726]

this is a fascinating video Mike. Looks like a Triang BB cab on a Triang Britannia footplate/buffer beam, Triang B1 chassis / motor reversed as for the A3 . Boiler must have been a modified kit with an Airfix front bogie. Tender body also a custom kit or modified Airfix. In all , a brilliant piece of modelling.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Thanks very much, fully agree 👍💯

[@janetlewis7145]

Sidmouth has an interesting linkage. Forest Gump once said, " Live is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get." We glad to be among the 5500+. Bill and Janet from California

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Thank you both very kindly

[@AdiPullen]

Hi mike I hope you are well What a stunning bit of kit. It a kit bash? I'll love to see more of the model. Does guy have a channel Keep safe ARP

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Hi Adi, not too bad mate thanks and you? Yes its a remarkable model. No sadly he doesn't do KZbin

[@richardsweeney197]

Sidmouth is looking great!!! Very nice work.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Great to hear thanks 🙏

[@rodericfindlay4147]

Nice job. It's the smooth starting and stopping that's so important. Handsome locomotive and delightful video.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Cheers my friend :) she's on her way back to her home shed now

[@donniblanco5239]

Great to See a Smooth Running Working Model that was Actually Created with Care and Skill, and can be Maintained and Repaired when Necessary without the need of complicated expensive components, and spending hours reprogramming settings and Other Nonsense. Great Job Sir 👍🏻

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Ah yes amen to that. She put up a bit of a fight but is running lovely now

[@petertate5741]

Great repair job Mike, seems to run quietly and very smooth.Well done.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Thank you kindly, have to say I'm pleased how she came out. Most of Saturday was taken up working on her

[@petersmith4455]

hello Mike, just as my wife is making dinner the Bisto gravy wagon comes in to sight, wonderful ! love LMS 10800. looks great. glad Sidmouth is back on the rd, looks FAB.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Thanks, what a coincidence ahh Bisto lovely. Many thanks

[@neilfarrar6217]

Great investigation and repair work, it always surprising to see what's available out there. Running really nicely now.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Thanks, a most interesting loco with more secrets to tell I'm sure

[@111greatbear3]

Very interesting and fantastic video Mike🙂

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Glad you enjoyed it cheers

[@carlgauntletttrains3026]

Hi Mike, what a fascinating locomotive. Great video. All the best. Carl.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Glad you enjoyed it, cheers Carl

[@KellinoRail]

S.5826 is the spares number for the R374 Spitfire body. I imagine that the two L numbers are for parts for the body, presumably smoke box door and whistle.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Fascinating thanks

[@ewhurstgreen]

An intriguing and delightful model Mike - well done on the overhaul and getting it outshopped with such apparent ease - I’m most impressed! _Can remember my father’s magnetizer he made as an apprentice before the war. It comprised of a robust coil and two terminals across which a piece of fusewire was attached. Magnet in place, it was plugged into the mains with the fusewire blowing immediately. However, in that millisecond the magnet was re-magnetised._

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Thanks Colin, that must have been very dramatic, I assume there was some kind of rectifier as well?

[@ewhurstgreen]

@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited Not quite a Mercury Arc Rectifier but yes - quite substantial with parts being bought from the RS Compenents shop in Soho - all on a three round-pin plug as well. _I do not recomment modellers replicate this today as standards have changed over the last ninety years and houses now have trip switches!_

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Lol good advice.

[@hamshackleton]

Considerng how light you said 'Sidmouth' was,it wasn't lacking in tractive effort!

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

No indeed, I did add a small amount of extra weight as well

[@railway187]

Very interesting! What's the function of the capacitor on DC? Is it a stay-alive?

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Thanks, the capacitor is for radio interference suppression and helps control the sparks between brushes and armature

[@ciaranburke3243]

Nice job mike that's probably the smoothest triang loco out there 👍

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Haha thank you, she certainly runs lovely

[@davidportch8837]

very interesting loco Mike. Great job and looks to be running nicely now. I have a few motors which could really do with re-magnetizing but re-magnetizers are difficult to get hold of and very expensive. I keep trying to find out if I could use any neodymium magnets to do the job of re-magnetizing instead. Not sure if it's anything you have experience with? Cheers... David

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Hi, No they won't have much of an effect, where in the UK are you?

[@davidportch8837]

@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited in SE London...

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Mail me, [e-mail]

[@Night_Ferry]

Nicely done Mike. What a cool model. Love the wheel in the boiler! Looks like a triang Britannia chassis that's been re wheeled. A great bit of modelling and the paintjob is worth praising. Nice bit of luster to that green. Also looks like my marmite van should be arriving soon, couldn't resist that one.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Cheers, yes it's a lovely model and very cleverly done. Ah yes the Dapol vans are lovely little things. Not sure if to get the next release or not.

[@DennisLora2001]

Excellent work Mike

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@DennisLora2001]

@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited My pleasure

[@hotdogpilot6319]

Wow Mike, that's quite a mish mash, doesn't run half bad though.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Thanks, interesting isn't it

[@class_31clag]

At a guess you sure it isnt a tring britannia body shell, i mean irl the rebuild bullieds did look very similar to BR standards. Mabe a standard 7 at heart?

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

That did cross my mind, we have it confirmed that the cab at least came from Spitfire an unrebuilt model.

[@themidlandconnection]

I could swear that this would've been a kitbash done in railway modeller or model railway constructor over the years, I've definitely seen the marriage of a brit and an unrebuilt done in tt3 before.....

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

wow that's interesting

[@Tobeshadow]

Fun video. I have a West Country with the air smoothed casing. The chassis is Triang but with fine scale wheels and the body is from an Airfix static kit with added white metal parts. It would have been a step up from the Triang Winston Churchill when it was made. Not sure if Airfix did a rebuilt west country but could well be where the body shell originated!

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Thanks very much, amazing how these things come about

[@Tobeshadow]

@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited Thanks fella! I remember the late 70s and early 80s being the zenith of customised locos, my grandfather would often add white metal parts to his models in an effort to make them as accurate as possible. A lot of Hornby's locos didn't get proper retools till the early 2000s and once they did, a lot of these custom projects fell into obscurity but pop up fairly frequently these days, often very cheap as no one knows what they are. Lovely to see Rowland's rebuild, a far better job than my air smoothed version which has always run poorly. One day I'll get it out again and try to improve it. Thanks again for the video, very interesting as always!

[@AL___667]

Hi Mike, S5826 is listed on Hornby service sheet 132 (R374 - Spitfire, unrebuilt Battle of Britain) as the loco body. I’d guess that explains the origins of at least the cab!

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

@@AL___667 ah brilliant bit of detective work thanks

[@JohnDavies-cn3ro]

No, Airfix didn't make a rebuilt West Country - their BoB (inherited from Kitmaster) was an original 'spam can'. Whoever made her did a very, very good job. That's a lovely model.

[@Shauniboy1984]

@Mike, hope you are well? Wasnt sure how to ping you but Ive got a little loco donation if you might be interested - you could possibly make a cheeky little servicing and history video around it. If you can ping me directly somehow. Cheers Shaun

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Hi Shaun 👋 that sounds kind and interesting [e-mail]

[@Shauniboy1984]

@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited Ill drop you a line this weekend. Cheers

[@Shauniboy1984]

@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited Mike email hopefully will reach you shortly 👍

[@Shauniboy1984]

Mike email hopefully you'll have my email shortly 👍

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

@@Shauniboy1984 ok, been a hectic day so I've not checked. Many thanks I'll be back to you soon 😌

[@stephendavies6949]

My first thought was the body is from either a Triang/Hornby Std 7 or 9. Great to see the old girl working smoothly. Nice job, Mike. It would have been interesting/educational to see you solder those intricate parts!

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Most kind, yeah no room for camera with the finest of fine tips on my soldering iron lol

[@kellyashfordtrains2642]

I'm sorry, I don't know anything about your friend's model's origins so I can't help you. Fancy seeing a real GWR 57xx pannier tank engine hard at work? You and your wife Cheryl are invited to join in the chat of my new premiere video, on Kelly Ashford Trains, tomorrow at 6:30pm. Hope to see both of you there.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

OK thanks

[@donniblanco5239]

Great to See a Smooth Running Working Model that was Actually Created with Care and Skill, and can be Maintained and Repaired when Necessary without the need of complicated expensive components, and spending hours reprogramming settings and Other Nonsense. Great Job Sir 👍🏻

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Thanks kindly agreed 💯👍