Live Steam scales GER Models

EDIT 6th Apr to add links to two videos of T26.
Now for something slightly larger. I never expected to get into live steam, I not sure I even knew it was a hobby until an experienced model engineer came to work with me in about 2000. We got chatting about trains and he showed me his 5” Britannia and then current project to build a Standard Class 4 tank loco and before you knew it I was setting up a little workshop and making a start on a GWR tank loco because I didn’t think the only GER design readily available would be powerful enough which was the Y4! Moving on after few years of slow but steady progress due to lack of skills and equipment followed by redundancy the loco got put on hold for a bit and I built an RCH 7-plank mineral wagon from an unmachined but complete kit in order to have something completed to take to events. Shown below with a 7mm scale wagon for scale.



Having now got a bit of a taste for the quicker results from building wagons and having won a set of split spoke cast iron wheels on eBay I cast my eye through the various books and decided to build a Dia.1 10Ton Brake Van. This time there was no kit available so a General Arrangement drawing was obtained from the NRM and off I went using a mixture of commercial fittings and lots of hand cut platework & timber.



By now it was 2012 and I was still not expecting to have a GER loco when a 5” gauge T26 2-4-0 became available and was purchased quickly before I lost the opportunity. I believe it was originally built by David Garrick who also built an N7 but I didn’t get to see that one. It took me a few months to get it up to scratch for the mandatory boiler certification as it was the first time I had done so but once up and running I had five good years running mainly at Ryedale Model Engineers track with the odd trip away. Unfortunately one of the valvegear eccentrics then slipped and it is currently awaiting overhaul as it is a full boiler off job to get access to do the necessary.






Fortunately by this time I had also acquired a 5” gauge Y4 so have been able to continue running. It is not a finely detailed model being built to the earlier 5” gauge drawings but the basic dimensions are correct and contrary to my earlier opinions it is a good powerful and most importantly fun loco to drive. I am a bit lacking it good photo’s of it though as I rarely think to take any, I’ll try and rectify that this year. I have done some upgrade work to this one, removing the axle pump and replacing it with a second injector. EDIT:- I know they were never blue but it looks nice and will stay that way until it needs an overhaul & repaint at which point it will probably go into grey.



Bringing my live steam loco history up to date I now have a 7.25” gauge Y14 built by David Harbour to recommission but the current situation has prevented me getting to the club since buying it. I am currently preparing it for a boiler test once I have the opportunity to do so. The only photo so far is just after test steaming it at the suppliers premesis between lockdowns last year, I’ll update with some on the track once I have the chance.


I have made a start on a pair of Dia.16 5 plank wagons over the last year, again working from a General Arrangement drawing obtained from the NRM. I am not making rapid progress as I have been working throughout the pandemic but I do a bit when I have time. This time I have had a lot of the platework laser cut to improve accuracy and save time.