Inspired by the post by John Harris https://www.009society.com/forum/index.php?topic=4597.0 (https://www.009society.com/forum/index.php?topic=4597.0) I started to look for chassis that I could use with my ancient Peco James and Jeanette kits.
I appreciate that these are poor quality by todays standards, but I can remember wanting these many years ago before I could afford them and my wife bough them for me as a Christmas present so I really need to get on with them. (And I though she just switched off when I started rambling about railways!)
The suggested GRAHAM FARISH 57XX/8750 Pannier Tank Chassis are getting difficult to find in good condition at a reasonable price, and the one I bought for £55 was so nice that I couldn't bring myself to destroy it and will probably make another micro layout for it to run on!
I don't really want to put Tram skirts to hide a Kato 109 and an not fussed if there are valves, bit I would like to see some kind mechanism if possible.
I am currently bidding on two Non-woring ones with a view to fitting a Tramfabriek motor, but would prefer something that just worked :-\
Thanks
This one, Stephen?
https://i.imgur.com/fJeDB1t.jpg(https://i.imgur.com/fJeDB1t.jpg)
Quote from: Stephen Rainsbury on April 03, 2021, 00:08
Inspired by the post by John Harris https://www.009society.com/forum/index.php?topic=4597.0 (https://www.009society.com/forum/index.php?topic=4597.0) I started to look for chassis that I could use with my ancient Peco James and Jeanette kits.
I appreciate that these are poor quality by todays standards, but I can remember wanting these many years ago before I could afford them and my wife bough them for me as a Christmas present so I really need to get on with them. (And I though she just switched off when I started rambling about railways!)
The suggested GRAHAM FARISH 57XX/8750 Pannier Tank Chassis are getting difficult to find in good condition at a reasonable price, and the one I bought for £55 was so nice that I couldn't bring myself to destroy it and will probably make another micro layout for it to run on!
I don't really want to put Tram skirts to hide a Kato 109 and an not fussed if there are valves, bit I would like to see some kind mechanism if possible.
I am currently bidding on two Non-woring ones with a view to fitting a Tramfabriek motor, but would prefer something that just worked :-\
Thanks
Over the years, it seems to be a non sequitur that as soon as a loco body kit arrives on the market, the required chassis disappears from the market.
jch
Quote from: John Harris on April 03, 2021, 09:20
Over the years, it seems to be a non sequitur that as soon as a loco body kit arrives on the market, the required chassis disappears from the market.
jch
I think that's called "Murphy's Law" :)
But wouldn't it be nice if other manufacturers followed Kato's practice of just selling the chassis on its own.
Along similar lines and after Mrs Beaton's jugged hare recipe*. "first catch your chassis".
* I'm fairly sure this is apocryphal.
Oh dear, where to start! - And apologies if it looks as if I am trying to teach Granny to suck eggs and all that!
First of all Stephen, if your kits are for the Grafar pannier tank, then they are relatively recent ones as the original James and Jeanette were designed for the Arnold 0-6-0. I don't know if there were design changes when the recommended chassis was changed some years ago.
The obvious problem with using a Grafar pannier tank is that it has inside cylinders and simply does not look right under a 2ft 3in gauge loco without them. There are ways and means of course such as a bit of camouflage around where the cylinders should be. I've used a portion of varikit tram skirts to disguise lack of cylinders and piston rods on a "bitza" loco that looked very bare under the footplate to reasonably good effect for this purpose. if you don't have a big spares box with varikit bits in it, then something like this can easily be thrown together with microstrip and a bit of 10 or 20 thou sheet to hold the little bits together, slap some matt black on and nobody will notice!
Suitable alternative chassis: unfortunately most if not all of these are obsolete, but they can still be picked up in Society 2nd hand sales. I know that "wants lists" are not catered for nowadays, but send a polite request to the Team asking if they have a chassis that you seek in stock and you might be rewarded. I have a part assembled old pattern Jeanette that I purchased and to my surprise it came with a chassis in the box (sometimes you get lucky!) which is a Lifelike 0-6-0 - it fits without problem and looks perfectly OK. Others have used the Fleischmann Piccolo (other wise referred to as the 7000). Ted Polet has a Jeanette with this chassis on his roster - check out the Dutch Group website for a photo. As an 0-4-0 it suits the loco body very well. There's also the Arnold 0-6-0 that the original kit was designed for, which you probably know can be an 0-6-0 or an 0-4-0 simply by dropping the middle axle out as it is not connected to the gear train.
Other possibilities: Minitrix dock tank, Ibertren 0-4-0, Atlas 0-6-0 but beware that these will probably be over 40 years old if you find one - they are basically exactly the same as the much more recent Lifelike, Egger 0-4-0 - I've seen several James and Jeanettes during my travels sitting on these, so they must fit inside OK (!) - which leads one to suggest that any or most of the more reliable and more recent Minitrains 0-4-0's will also fit, although I can't recall seeing evidence of this. Nearly forgot: how about the very recent Bachmann Percy which are quite compact so should be able to fit under almost any "standard" 1980's pattern whitemetal 009 loco kit - I don't have one but postings here and on NGRM indicate that they are very popular and reliable, ie good value for the money.
That's about exhausted my own suggestions, I'm sure that some of our colleagues who have more knowledge and experience on this sort of thing than me will be along to offer their own contributions to further confuse you!!
Finally - don't forget that both James and Jeanette have vastly underscale cab heights - OK for miniature Victorian quarry workers suffering from bad diets who were only 4ft tall, but to match in with your other 009 stock you might want to consider raising the height of the cabs on both of these!
Mick
Quote from: Hobby on April 03, 2021, 08:51
This one, Stephen?
That's it. I bought one from eBay for £60, but somebody has done a really good job of weathering it and it runs like a dream. It is even back in the original box.
I have vague plans for making a n-guage GWR branch terminus at some point, based on an RM layout that inspired me as a young lad. This would be perfect so am leaving for now, but next job will be to fit a DCC decoder if I can get one in.
Quote from: John Harris on April 03, 2021, 09:20
Over the years, it seems to be a non sequitur that as soon as a loco body kit arrives on the market, the required chassis disappears from the market.
jch
Indeed. Kato and friends really have the diesel chassis market sewn up, but I keep thinking that there must be a cottage industry making kits of parts to make small steam chassis to take a small coreless motor.
I have no idea how I would go about it, possibly 3D printed, but that would mean using brass inserts for the bearings. But I would still have to have teh valve gear laser cut and no ide about things like wheels etc..
Don't tell me... there is already somebody doing it?
Quote from: GraemeD on April 03, 2021, 10:41
Along similar lines and after Mrs Beaton's jugged hare recipe*. "first catch your chassis".
* I'm fairly sure this is apocryphal.
;D Indeed, but in this case I wanted those specific locos and I assumed that the chassis would become available somewhere, little did I know.
Quote from: MickT on April 03, 2021, 10:47
Oh dear, where to start! - And apologies if it looks as if I am trying to teach Granny to suck eggs and all that!
Not at all I only came back to model railways in 2019 after a 5 year gap so this is relevant, thanks.
Quote from: MickT on April 03, 2021, 10:47
Finally - don't forget that both James and Jeanette have vastly underscale cab heights - OK for miniature Victorian quarry workers suffering from bad diets who were only 4ft tall, but to match in with your other 009 stock you might want to consider raising the height of the cabs on both of these!
Mick
Now you have said that I can see what you mean. Guess which is the only bit that I have finished on both of them. We are trying to sell our house at the moment so we have had to turn the railway room back into a bedroom for viewings, but once its sold and we are waiting to move this could be a great kitchen table project.
You can have that one for £30 Stephen! PM me.
Just a thought, but would an N-drive chassis do the job? I understand there is quite a waiting list (I was 105 in the queue when I requested a chassis).