Connoisseur - Southern Railway Class O2 0-4-4 Tank Loco Kit
Purchased and reviewed by John Cockcroft
http://www.jimmcgeown.com
This is not the latest kit from the Connoisseur stable but it is the latest locomotive kit that is not a re-release. Jim McGeown had always had an O2 in mind when he introduced the kit for an LSWR G6 0-6-0 tank loco many years ago – but the wheels of production grind slowly and a move of premises made them slower still. However as this is now the latest new kit in the range it features all of the experience and customer feedback that Jim has acquired over the years and I can genuinely say it is one of the best produced kits I have ever built. The instructions are so good that I followed them! Practically all the ideas and tricks that I have used to make 0-4-4 tanks run well and pull stuff are included in the kit – weights in the front end, compensation of the front drivers, and bogie pick-up - are all in the design of the kit.
This finished model represents a mainland O2 as running in the 1920s to early 1930s
The O2’s were successful smaller 0-4-4 tanks, designed by Adams for the London and South Western Railway. They had long lives beginning in 1889 and lasting until 1966. They are probably best known for their service on the Isle of Wight, that outpost of the Southern that maintained its Victorian charm until 1966. The most obvious and distinctive alterations to these engines on the Island was the fitting Westinghouse brake pumps, and then in the 1930s a much bigger bunker was added to increase their range and duration between coaling stops. The kit provides for both the standard low bunker and the enlarged Island bunker and is very comprehensive, enabling the engines to be represented from their pre grouping condition right up to BR times on both the Isle of Wight and the mainland. One point to note is that there was one variation in the class that cannot be made using the kit, this is that the last 10 locos Nos 227-236 that had higher cabs and this affected the shape and size of the cab cut-out making them look quite distinctive. Fortunately all the locos transferred to the Isle of Wight were low cab examples so there is no confusion there.
This finished model represents an Isle of Wight loco in early 1930s condition with low bunker and
Westinghouse pump
These represent Isle of Wight locos in the late 1940s to early 1950s with extended bunker. Painted
malachite green with BRITISH RAILWAYS over painted above the nameplate
As I noted earlier the instructions are really good and consist in the main of photographs with captions and notes giving further information and pointing out things not immediately obvious from the pictures. The sequence of construction is very sensible and recommends that some details are fitted before the main parts are assembled – for example cab beading. The chassis and body are covered by separate instructions and I followed my usual procedure of starting with the chassis to the point at which it can run under its own power, then going onto the main elements of the body so that I can be sure it all fits the chassis and unfortunate short circuits are dealt with before lots of detail can be damaged. The instructions are available for download on Jim’s website and I would recommend anyone reading this or anyone contemplating buying the kit to download a copy I have built four of these kits, three representing Isle of Wight engines with Westinghouse brakes and one mainland engine. I made two of the IoW locos with the high bunker and one with the original low bunker and obviously the mainland loco has a low bunker. All of these variations are catered for in the Reviews kit which includes two full sets of etched tank and bunker sides and back so you don’t have to cut and mess about to change the bunker.
One thing to watch is the bogie wheels. The instructions recommend some special LSW wheels produced by Slater’s under Cat No 7836SW which are more accurate but have thinner axles and include small bearings and need a smaller Allen key. However the bearings supplied with the wheels are too small for the etched holes in the bogie side frames and I used the full sized bearings from the kit and sleeved them down with 3/16in O/D tube to take the narrow axles. A much simpler solution that Jim has now highlighted in the instructions is to use Slater’s Cat No 7837GP wheels with are a bit less accurate but fit standard axle bearings.
In the main I followed the instructions and you can download them yourself.
I will point out things I did that were a variation in the instructions and the odd
places where I added some detail or other. Apart from the Slater’s wheels I used
an ABC mini motor/gearbox two with Maxon motors and the others with Canon
motors. The only reason for the variation was that they happened to be in my
store.
The fit of the parts and accuracy of the model are excellent and I found the whole process one of low stress and considerable satisfaction. After all this is a hobby and I know some people like a challenge – but hassle and inaccurate parts are not a challenge. I used good photos of all of the prototypes I built because there are lots of minor variations such as the location or presence of rivets notably on the buffer beams and smokebox.
This is one of the pages in the instructions, in this case it is about building the smokebox and
fitting in the cast weights, but as mentioned in the text, it’s possible download the instructions if you are considering buying a kit
The kit is designed so that the front driving wheel can pivot on a beam inserted between the front spacer and the motion bracket. I located the beam by dry fitting the front bearings and axle and ensuring the beam was in contact with the axle while I soldered it to the spacers. The instructions advise that the front bearings are soldered in the frames and you can then gently file the bearing hole at the top and bottom to give a small amount of play. This has to be done carefully so as to avoid any for and aft movement. I opted to file the holes in the frames in a vertical direction and then located the bearings by fitting extended axles through them and used the coupling rods to ensure they were accurately spaced. I then soldered a spring wire to the top of the front bearings so that they cannot rotate and are securely located but free to move up and down. You could of course use commercial hornguides and bearings located by the same method.
I made a few errors with the cast detail parts largely due to not being sharp eyed enough to see details in the photos in the instructions. In fact the kit has a considerable number of castings to cater for prototype variations and in many cases there is a surplus just in case something goes pinging off to oblivion. As I keep saying – this is a really good kit. One detail that I added was a lubricator on the smokebox side of the mainland loco – I got that from Laurie Griffin. They seem to be on earlier locos and sometimes later mainland locos. There only appears to be one, on the right hand side of the smokebox but none on the other side – knowledgeable readers may be able to clarify.
The almost unique feature of the kit is the provision of cast white metal weights to hold down the front end. One in the front of the boiler, a pair that slot into the smokebox and one between the frames just behind the buffer beam. This latter means that it is difficult fitting a sprung front coupling unless you cut a slot in the weight – I didn’t bother, and simply soldered the hook behind the buffer beam.
I fitted sprung buffers to one model but it involves a bit of modification
particularly if the model has guard irons mounted on the rear buffer beam –
clearance has to be made and the guard irons then need strengthening. I also
modified the injector pipework behind and around the cab steps. These come
as white metal castings and are fine for the more complicated arrangements
on later Isle of Wight locos but the mainland locos and pre war IoW locos had a simpler arrangement that I copied from photos.
I will conclude by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed the construction of all
four models - evidence in itself of the hassle free nature of this kit. So I
congratulate Jim McGeown, and if I could order you all to go out and get this
kit I would do so!
The kit is designed to have the front drivers compensated using a pivot beam soldered to the
frame spacers. I fit the bearings using some extended axles made with turned down ends that can
take a Slater’s crank pin bush. The extended axles are passed through the bearings and fitted into
the frames and the coupling rods fitted over the ends of the axles. In this way I am assured that
the axle bearings are located at exactly the same spacing as the coupling rods. I usually solder the
bearings to spring wires fastened to the frames. The rear bearing is soldered rigid to the frames
and does not need to move.
Here are the main components of the tank side and cab ready for assembly on the footplate. Notice
that some parts have already been fitted such as the locker and window coal bars on the cab rear. All
this is as recommended in the instructions. It is particularly important to fit the cab doors so that the
whole tank side is rigid – this is done while the unit is still in the etched sheet. If you don’t there is
only the thin metal above the cab cut out to hold everything together…which it won’t
The body is now taking shape with the cab assembled and the bunker rear in place. It is now time
to move onto the boiler unit
One thing that must be fitted before the boiler unit is soldered to the footplate are the weights
that slip inside the smokebox. The weights make this model a good runner and hold down the
front end excellently
The most complex part of the detailing of these engines is the pipework for the Westinghouse
pump arrangement on Isle of Wight locos. I find copper wire is much the best for this sort of
plumbing job! Copper is very malleable and easy to form. The real engines had even more pipes
and if you like you can really go to town on that detail.
With everything in place on the chassis, I sprayed it with Halford’s grey primer. You can just see the
control wires under the bogie that project up between the mainframes and limit side play at the
inside end of the bogie. Note also that the bogie has wire pick-ups as explained in the instructions.
This is a really good kit and to some extent spoils the builder.
The chassis is more or less complete, notice how close the bogie wheel is to the brake crank, which
is why I used control wires to limit sideways movement of the bogie. I have lined the wheels
because unlike most Southern locos, those on the Isle of Wight usually seemed to be lined. The
wires sticking up by the motor are from the bogie pick-ups and are not yet wired to the motor
Here is a variation that is not in the instructions. I wanted to model one of the cab doors in an
open position so I soldered these temporary wire supports in place to hold the cab rigid prior to
fitting to the footplate. Once the tank side is soldered firmly to the footplate these temporary
supports can be removed
The instructions are clear about how to assemble the smokebox and then attach it to the boiler, I
simply did as instructed. The O2’s had a radiused join between the boiler and smokebox and I used
some copper wire to represent this. I forced the copper wire to be a tight fit onto the boiler and
against the smokebox and tack soldered it as I worked round then flooded the area behind it with a
generous seam of solder
The injector arrangement provided in the kit is fine for a later Isle of Wight O2, but both the
mainland and earlier versions of the loco appear to have simpler pipework. In this photo the
pipework on the right side of the loco has been simplified. On the left of the model some of the
cast pipework has been removed and copper wire arrangements substituted. Notice also that on
this mainland version the guard irons are soldered to the buffer beam
I sprayed the models with Halford’s grey primer, then matt black. BR black models can be lined
and finished but I had to mask mine off and finish them in green
