Tich Loco. A sad tale. Can anyone help?

[simon1479Participant @simon1479]

Really appreciate this suggestion Clive Thank you.

[simon1479Participant @simon1479]

Some great pointers, support and advice….thank you gents.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Tich was pitched as a beginner’s project, and it does have the advantage of not needing a massive workshop; though I am not sure it would be a beginner’s locomotive to drive.

Nevertheless, the rally reports in ME hint there may be more experienced constructors wanting a relatively simple, lightweight engine they can transport readily for a couple of hours’ enjoyment at their own or a host track. This particularly so among we of late middle-age (70+) as anno domini seem associated with the increasing value of g , and for some, perhaps the need for a smaller car, even a smaller home.

I have indeed known model-engineers who have gone even further, down to “garden scale” railways; simply because anything of 5″ gauge and larger became physically too difficult for them to handle.

Clearly one would not expect or advise a tyro to embark on scratch-building a 5″ g. 9F. Yet sometimes perhaps we need think why individuals choose the locomotive, rather than blanket classifying the machine as a “beginner’s”  project just because it is physically small and simple, and because its originator said it was for the “Tyro” –  one of LBSC’s favourite words.

Tich and her slightly larger sister Juliet may indeed be suitable introductory designs, but there is no reason why the 9F’s builder might not also plump for one of these!

Looked at in this light, the GWR Pannier Tank that Gerald Martyn is now bringing us, simplified he tells us by a round-topped firebox (hidden under the cladding) and no superheater, is a potential rival or shed-mate to the two LBSC freelance designs, but with the added advantage of replicating an actual prototype, in quite fine but achievable detail, without undue extra complexity.

Perhaps with due care to advise beginners properly, it is time to drop the label from the designs. They are simply small, readily portable, 3.5″ g. live-steam locomotives, whoever builds them.

Might the rise in 16mm scales and the resurgence of 2.5″ gauge, make the little 3.5 g. locomotives capable of towing the driver and perhaps passenger, popular again even among experienced builders?

 

So don’t despair Simon –

Decide whether you want money for that part-built engine or not, how much you will haggle over; say so, and stick to it. If you chuck it in the bin you’ll get nowt but its destruction on your conscience.

Bear in mind a part-built project is very difficult to value, and a dealer won’t pay much for it anyway. However, I managed to find a new owner for a very much more ambitious, unfinished project left behind by a departed friend after a long illness, knowing the sad fact that its monetary value barely dented his private care fees.

Yet the dealers evidently manage to sell these things, so don’t give up. Someone, somewhere surely would like to give your father’s loco a new home.

…

Oh – and I am in a slightly similar position; knowing I am very unlikely to complete the Maid of Kent 5″ g. loco for which I have the unfinished chassis I bought part-built, most of the castings, and the boiler kit. I still have my main project to complete and that is dragging on for far too long. I am presently also recommissioning a 7.25″ g. version of Juliet, and am drawn to building a loco still, but something much less ambitious.

 

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