The highland railway jones 'big goods' & loch 4-4-0 locomotives in 5in. Gauge (Part XXXIV)

摘要

The Jones tender tank poses a few slight problems in the making, as the corners are rounded at 3/8in. inside diameter. I think that to make the sides as two halves, left and right, joined front and rear is probably the best answer. Before we start, however, we should think about the material that we are going to use and its thickness. The obvious alternatives are brass, nickel silver, and tinplate. The best of these is probably nickel silver. This possesses all the advantages of being ductile and strong, which means that thinner sections can be used, it doesn't corrode, it solders easily and takes paint very well. The big snag is of course, that it is very expensive in 24 gauge sheet. It may be worth thinking about though for superstructure generally, if you can get hold of some at the right price. In fact, given the opportunity, I would never use anything else. Tin plate has most of the above advantages, and is of course very cheap. I don't know that it is readily available in sheets of more than about 0.023 in, thickness, which may mean that a tank side would need vertical bracing for added stiffness. The obvious snag is that it is only too easy to scratch through or otherwise degrade the protective coating of tin. This allows the underlying steel to corrode. As I mentioned a few months ago, this corrosion can largely be inhibited by coating the inside of the tank with a resin called 'PetseaP, This can be obtained from any Classic Motorcycle shop.