Peco James Kit - Dwarf drivers needed!

[Eric]

I'm very new to modelling (since teenaged aircraft modelling over 20 years ago).

I'm building my first white metal kit (a Peco GL2 James) and last night got to the stage of identifying a driver & fireman to help hide the motor that protrudes into the cab, only to realise that the cab doorway is only about 18mm high (ie 4ft 6in) and thus presumably designed for crew of restricted stature! Has anyone got any suggestions? My 8 year old son made the comment "perhaps the engine is driven sitting down"!

I presume that I'm not the first person to discover this. One idea is to convert it into an open cab engine. Alternatively I could raise the cab by building up from the bottom, but doing this in plasticard would presumably not be very stable or easy. What have other people done?

Cheers
Eric

[Graeme Dunbar]

You are not alone. I'm trying to remember if it says "H0/00 scale" on the box, but even then it is a bit short on headroom.

I bought the James and Jeanette kit pair out of a sense of nostalgia. My first ever Railway Modeller was the Christmas 196x issue that showed what might now be considered a twee Victorian Christmas card scene featuring one of them, but I was in love.   :laugh:

I'm still thinking of a way to "raise the roof".

[Isle of Stoner]

One solution that I have used on several locos for the diminutive is to have the crew sort of hanging half out of the cab, which is actually pretty much how tiny locos tend to be driven in 12" to ft scale.

[Eric]

As to scale the box hedges its bets as 00-9/HO-9!

Unfortunately the hanging out of the window idea would require some re-enginneering of the layout as we have some very tight clearances with rock faces in a couple of places...

If the Janette kit (which I was thinking of trying next) is similarily designed for dwarf drivers, are there any other relatively cheap kits I could try instead? Any recommendations? Or shall I try my hand at scratch building...
Cheers
Eric

[MickT]

One compromise solution is to assume that there is a footwell inside the cab, chop your figure's feet off and fix them in that way - the amputations won't notice! I'd suggest using plastic figures rather than whitemetal, as some metal ones are rather large, even for 4mm scale, whilst an adult Airfix standing figure that I just happen to have in front of me is 22mm tall - 5ft 6in in 4mm scale.

Another thing to consider is if you intend to add to you loco roster in future. Both the James and Jeanette are attractive little freelance engines in their own right, but do have very low cabs as you have already noticed, if compared to some other 009 locos, Welsh miniatures such as England 0-4-0ST's excepted! Ted Polet used a Peco Jeanette on the Craigcorrie & Dunalistair with an open cab, that allowed the loco to sit comfortably alongside some real giants on the C&DR roster, whilst earning its keep first of all as a branchline engine and latterly as the distillery shunter until he decided to rebuild it into a steam railmotor - which the Preservation Society are still chasing him about!  ;)

Mick

[RJSRdg]

One compromise solution is to assume that there is a footwell inside the cab, chop your figure's feet off and fix them in that way - the amputations won't notice! I'd suggest using plastic figures rather than whitemetal, as some metal ones are rather large, even for 4mm scale, whilst an adult Airfix standing figure that I just happen to have in front of me is 22mm tall - 5ft 6in in 4mm scale.

It may not apply to the James Kit - being wm anyway - but using wm crew can also affect the balance of the loco - I seem to remember one prominent 009er telling me when he put a wm figure in one of his locos, it started doing wheelies!

Richard

[JulienW]

Try looking for some HO scale loco crew as they will be shorter being for the slightly smaller scale.  I think Priser do some...

As to Jeanette it should be possible to modify the cab (and then apply the same mods to James?).

Alternative loco kits...  Define "reliatively cheap".

The Peco Glyn Valley Tramway loco is a better looking loco (in my opinion) than either James or Jeanette - and is based on a real loco and can be fitted with practically any chassis that will fit (like the Kato tram chassis).

Gem make a War Department Baldwin to fit the old style Farish 08 chassis (the inside frame version) that as far as I know will fit the J94 (0-6-0 saddle tank) chassis.  They also make a Snailbeach Bagnall 0-6-0 kit to fit a farish chassis (the General Purpous tank I think) but it is a big loco for 009 and if you have problemning out of windows then "Dennis" is unlikely to fit.  Then there is the Gem "Varikit" which even though it is freelance still looks pretty good and is probably about the same size as the Peco kits (and it used to be sold by Peco).

As to others, Roxey Mouldings make kits for Cyprus Government locos, with the 2-6-2T and 2-6-0 tender loco using readily available Farish Prarie chassis.  If you want a 0-4-0 loco then you'll best look at the N-drive chassis from Nevile Kent designed to replace the Bachmann and Ibertren chassis.  there are lots of kits for these oldes chassis, but some minor mdification will be needed to take the N-drive unit.

[Eric]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. The solution I've come up with is different again. Rather than raising the roof I'm dropping the floor of the cab in a similar way to the ex-Corris no.4 Edward Thomas on the Talyllyn. I've managed to get the chassis far enough forward so that cab doorways are clear of the motor. I've cut through the footplate and extended the cab downwards with plasticard. Unfortunately I miss-measured (distracted by my 8 year old busy building a card building) so that I extended it too far downwards, requiring a giant driver to see thorough the specticles! But in principal it works and looks good to my eye, but I'm going to redo it a couple of mm smaller (also giving me a chance to get the joints a bit neater).

What I could do with doing now however is to add a trailing set of wheels just forward of the cab doors, converting the 0-4-0 to a 0-4-2. Any suggestions of how best to acheive this modification would be very greatfully recieved!

[RJSRdg]

Use a Dapol 14XX chassis?

[Dave2010]

I would echo the use of the Dapol 14xx chassis; I have used this on a Peco Jeanette and with some minor mods to the chassis and trimming of the body, it does not intrude too far into the cab.  Runs very well and doesn't look too bad.  Agree about the restricted height drivers though, wish I'd thought of open cab when I was building it, thanks for the tip, will try that next time.

[murphy1570]

Hello Mick
I have been following this subject with great interest as I am in the process of building the Peco "jeanette", I am  not at the stage of fitting the sides or the cab roof yet thankfully!!, as I did not realise this problem re drivers still being a relative beginner, I like a few of the answers on the forum but I am most interested in your comment re the method used by Ted Pollet on his Craigcorrie & Dunalistar layout.
  I would like to see a few photos of this layout particularly as regards the open cab roof to overcome this problem, I have tried googling the layout name etc with no joy, could you Mick or indeed any other member advise me on where I might find the site as I assume (perhaps wrongly) that it contains a photo of this modification and I think I would like to try this on my model, but I would like to see the end result.
All the best Mick and all fellow members for ideas on this topic.
Thanks, John. 

[MickT]

Apologies for taking this thread temporarily off-topic, but to answer John's query:

Not sure why you managed to draw a blank on Google. I just did a Google Images search for "Craigcorrie & Dunalistair Railway and got 161 hits; also got a good number by doing an image search under "Ted Polet"

Anyway: Go to the 009 Society website - At the Welcome page, select "Area Groups" from the list on the left of the page - Select "Dutch Group" by clicking the internet icon in the right hand column - when this opens, select Option 1 "Dutch Group Website" - select "English Version" in the panel on the left - and then select "Archive" - under 2005, select "Steam Railmotor". The photos that appear in this section show Ted's Peco Jeanette in all the different configurations it has been in during its 42 years of service on the C&DR. This includes a good photo of when it ran as the Kilbirnie branch loco and as the distillery shunter as an open cab 0-4-0T before it was rebuilt as a steam railmotor.

The site includes many more sections covering aspects of the Craigcorrie & Dunalistair Railway - well worth spending a couple of hours going through all the different sections in the Projects and Archive parts of the site.

For paper articles of the layout published there have been 1 in Continental Modeller on scratchbuilding the 4-4-0 Lawley tender loco(Jan 93), 13 in Railway Modeller (between April 91 and the July 2010 issue recently published) plus one in the Peco 1985 Modeller Book of Narrow Gauge (out of print but frequently turns up in the Society sales), 3 in Narrow Gauge World (issues 32 (photo only), 33 and 35 - both excellent articles and worth getting the back issues for) and no less than 38 in 009 News, the most recent being in the July 2010 issue that was posted to members last Wednesday evening so should be with you by now.

The Society Archivist holds a copy of the bibliography index listing all published article references - ask him for a copy.

Also, which I have posted before under different threads and I am sure I remember sending you - apologies if I am thinking of somebody else: the best way to learn the history of the C&DR up to 2000 as it covers all articles published and some that weren't published up to that date plus many more items and photos, is to purchase Ted Polet's, CD "West Coast Narrow Gauge" from 009 Sales. it may not currently be in stock, but Brian can order more copies from Ted if there is a requirement. There is also an excellent video of the C&DR available from Society Sales on DVD called "Day Return to Dunalistair" which is normally in stock.

Mick