Table of Contents
Building Selsey from an Agenoria Kit
Bought second hand and built by Allen Morgan
http://www.ragstonemodels.co.uk/agenoria.html
It all started at Guildex 2014. On the
Members’ Sales Stand was a part-built
Agenoria kit for the HMST 2-4-2 Peckett
tank locomotive. It was complete with
motor, gears and wheels. As this was an
ideal loco for the Colonel Stephens type line
I am building, the Wilden & Enville Lt
Railway (W.E.Lt.R.), I had to have it and so
parted with money.
Except for the partially completed
construction, the frets were intact and etches
were easy to identify. Some of the castings
had been removed from the sprues and
identification was quite difficult for a
number of the smaller parts. However, as
the loco is in the original long side tank
form, most were not needed.
The body
The boiler
is fitted ready
for the beading,
opening up various holes,
final clean-up and the
addition of the fittings
When I obtained it, the footplate, cab
(without roof) and side tank assembly was
complete except for some finishing, in the
original long side tank form. All the cast
brass and fabricated fittings had been
installed in the cab. Everything was square
and the soldering very neat. I completed the
cab/tanks by soldering on the handrails
and beading. To get the handrails vertical I
soldered wire though the holes in the
footplate and the top edge of the cab,
soldered to the ends of the beading, then cut
away the excess. I curved the roof, soldering
the central joint strip and whistle. To retain
the roof I cut a piece of 1/16 in brass to fit
inside the top edge of the cab and soldered
it to the underside of the roof, the weight
keeps everything in place. The tank
filler castings were rather poor so I
turned two new ones with
spigots, soldered on the handles
and fixed them to the tank
with super glue.
The castings for
buffer bodies were
soldered to the beam
and the turned steel heads
pushed through and soldered
inside the beam. I did consider springing
but there was very little space, and as it was
possible to get only about 1/32 in of
movement, I didn’t bother.
Photos seem to indicate that originally the
loco had screw couplings and safety chains.
It spent virtually all its life with only the
coupling hooks and lost the safety
chains sometime after 1912. My model
omits the chains and couplings. The cab and
bunker was cut back to the later square
shape and the tanks shortened, almost
certainly in 1908, when the boiler was
removed for repair.
The body as received with the boiler in place plus all the rest of the contents
The boiler
There were two boilers in the box, one was
the etched and rolled original while the
second was plain tube, I assume because of
the problem I will describe. The problem
with the original was that it was rolled in a
spiral, the boiler band etch lines did not line
up at the joint and the ends were not flat. A
small gas blow-lamp reduced the wrapper,
spacers and front plate to component parts.
By putting one edge of the wrapper
lengthways in the vice and a bit of pulling
with pliers I managed to correct it. I had to
make a filler strip from a bit of scrap to go
between the boiler and smoke box outer as
this was missing from the box.
With all the brass and old solder rubbed
down with a glass fibre stick everything
was re- assembled, the boiler bands added
and the holes opened up to suit the dome
(more about this later), chimney and smoke
box door. After a good clean, this assembly
was soldered to the cab and foot plate using
the tabs and slots for positioning.
Fitting the hand rails, showing how I got them vertical
Boiler fittings
The dome is hollow so, because I wanted to
keep it polished, I made and fitted a
‘mushroom’ with the head turned to fit
inside and soldered in, the stalk threaded
6BA to protrude into the boiler. The top
edge was also carefully measured
and drilled for the safety valve columns. The dome is held in
position by a very long nut accessed from
the underside after painting. The handrail
knobs were soldered in and the wire
inserted. The chimney and smokebox door
needed a little cleaning up and were fixed
with super glue just before painting.
The modification to the dome and new fixing screw.
Extra weight
There was about ¾in of space in the cut
away section of the boiler above the driving
wheels. I soldered in an extra spacer in front
of the motor position then filled this with
bits of lead from some old gas pipe,
soldering it as each layer was added.
The lead infill, the front cutaway is for the dome screw, the rear for the motor
The chassis
This is the first time I have built an etched
loco chassis. First I studied the assembly
drawings alongside the instructions and
identified all the required parts. As they
were found, each one was cleaned with a
glass fibre stick, cut out, folded and holes
opened up if necessary and then its
identification number marked on with a felt
pen. This was a help as time went on, since
several parts looked similar but were not
interchangeable.
The screw holds the dome in place
After checking, each part was fitted to the
next with just enough solder to hold it
together. When completely assembled and
checked for squareness, a solder fillet was
run into all the joints. Nuts were soldered
on for the bogie screws, and axle bushes,
1/8 in for the recommended Slaters wheels,
were fitted. I found it necessary to file off all
the locating tags after soldering as they
protruded quite some way out through the
chassis sides.
To aid fixing the guard irons in the correct
position, I put lengths of wire right across
the frames, soldered up and the cut off the
excess. After some correspondence on the
GOG Members Forum, I made up the brake
gear as a unit that is sprung into place.
The bogies were initially built in
accordance with the instructions including
a piece of lead in the top. However I had to
cut away the arms to allow enough
clearance for my 3ft radius curves so I
thickened them up with some scrap fret. I
also opened up the mounting hole to fit
over a 1/8 in axle bush on the 6BA screws.
Lining up the guard irons
The cylinders, according to the
instruction, have castings to represent the
piston rod glands, however I could not
find/identify these in the contents so I
soldered in a length of tube for the rod to
slide in and used a bit of scrap fret to form
the support. The rest of the assembly was as
per the instructions. The crossheads needed
careful straightening and a little filing of the
rods to make them round. Not mentioned
in the instructions, the slidebars needed
tapering at the wheel end to clear the
connecting rods. This can be seen in photos
of the real loco. I did not fix the slidebars to
the motion bracket.
The brake gear assembly
The completed chassis. The collectors and motor restraint are clearly seen
The drain cocks are actually hand rail
knobs. The photos of the real loco shows
that they are simple cocks with a ‘handle’
through the cock and pointing up and back
about 45 degrees. The operating rod then
pushes them forward to open. I put a bit of
wire through the knob and soldered the
push rod behind.
This is where I found the only error on the
frets and a look at photos of the actual loco
will make it clear. The chassis construction
includes a wire across the frames in front of
and below the cylinders. This is to transfer
the drain cock operation to the LHS from
the RHS push/pull rod. This rod is too short
if fitted as the instructions. Fortunately there
is a spare on the fret. First cut the
vertical/horizontal rear end to a point just
level with the rear of the cylinder, now take
the second and line it up with the cross rod
and cut to suit at the rear of the cylinder and
solder together. The spare front bit lines up
with the cross rod and back to the cocks on
the LHS. This is missing from the
instruction.
Right Hand side, the modified slide bars, drain cocks and modified operating rod, the joint can be seen in front & below the
motion plate
The Slater’s wheels Slaters were drilled and
tapped 10BA and Markits Romford crank
pins fitted, the type associated with their
00/EM wheels. These are plenty big enough
for such a small loco. The connecting and
coupling rods are 2 layers of fret soldered
together.
Left Hand side, modified slide bars and the missing drain cock operating rod
The motor is held in place by the collector
in front and a bit of etch scrap soldered on
to the rear. A turn of insulation tape was
wrapped round the motor to prevent any
chance of shorting on the collectors.
I had to have the motor shaft cut off at
the top and there is no room for a flywheel.
I also added some heat shrink tube over the
terminals as they are very close to the inside
of the boiler.
Collectors
These are conventional wire pickups on the
top of the wheels. However the
construction may be of interest. The etch
was cut out where marked but a little wider
and deeper. A strip of single sided PCB (a
bit of sleeper in my case) was soldered
between the frames copper side down and
just, importantly, the top edge just a little
higher than the frame cut out and low
enough for the collector wire to lie below
just below the top of the frames.. This was
drilled on the centre line and an 8BA screw
soldered in pointing up.
The collector proper is cut from double
sided PCB. On the underside slot the copper
each side and close to the mounting screw.
On the top the copper is cut inboard of the
underside of the body and again before the
mounting screw. Now, towards the centre
drill through, insert a bit of wire and solder
top and bottom to join the tracks, and solder
on 2 motor leads. Add the pickup wires to
the outer ends and secure on the screw with
a nut.
Painting
The chassis and bogies were brush painted
with satin black enamel as the build
progressed. The body was given a scrub
then primed with Halfords metal primer in
a rattle can, building up with thin coats. 24
hours later the body was sprayed with
Halfords satin black, again using several
light coats. After a couple of days the inside
top of the cab was painted cream and the
controls picked out in red. The roof,
smokebox and tank tops were given a coat
of matt varnish, all brushed.
On shed between running in duties
Personal comments
The castings that I used needed very little
cleaning up, but see earlier comments
through the text. The etchings were superb
and fitted very well, again with just the
comments mentioned regarding the drain
cock rods. There is a general arrangement
drawing by Les Darbyshire originally
published in Model Railway News,
November 1970 issue, together with notes
on both the original long tank and later
short tank rebuild. There are also assembly
drawings for the cab and footplate, the boiler and the chassis. I did find the chassis
drawing in the kit a little difficult to follow
as the frames, spacers, cylinders and bogies
are all on one sheet. It would help if the
bogies and cylinders were separate as with
the boiler/cab. This is my only comment
that might prevent it being suitable for
someone without some experience of
etched chassis construction.
The spare tanks, dumped in the best colonel Stephens manner
As for photos, there are several in Branch
Line to Selsey by V Mitchell and K Smith
(Middleton Press), all of the rebuilt version.
The only photo of the original that I know
of is in The Hundred of Manhood and Selsey
Tramway written and published by Edward
Griffith, B.A.
I would have preferred the rebuilt version
as it would fit my 1925 period better, but the
assembly too far advanced and too well
done to try and start again. I may repaint it
HMST blue in the future but give it a
fictitious name as if Peckett had built a
second of the class. I am, however, very
pleased with the outcome.
