Class 55 Ancillary Equipment

[LegoDeltic]

Hello All,

New here so please be gentle and let me know if I should be in a different section!

Life rich pattern has dictated that I find something not too physically taxing to occupy my time and I have reverted to my youth playing with toys, in particular Lego Technic. (stop laughing, its serious stuff
I was a little tired of the endless parade of cars, lorries and construction equipment that dominates the adult Lego scene and decided to model the Napier Deltic engine this endeavour is amply provided for by almost limitless data on the internet and progresses well to a compressed air operated unit of circa 1/12th scale. (the appalling effort with 21?? cylinders that is on youtube is not mine!)

Naturally the logical next stage is to find a home for the engine model(s) and since I'm not a nautical type.....

External and engine bay images are in abundance on the internet, running gear proved a little more challenging but has gradually been teased out of the available info from various EE locos.

I'm now trying to research the ancillary equipment fitted to Class 55 locos and am hoping that some of the knowledgeable people here can help as many of the normal avenues are closed to us at the moment and the internet is proving remarkably sparse on nose end equipment, particularly post brake conversion to air train brakes.

Its my understanding that these modifications involved removing the Worthington Simpson (V-twin?) OE compressor and replacing it with 2 Davies and Metcalfe 2A115 units.
Although these units seem to have been ubiquitous in BR traction there seems to be negligible details online. I believe they were 3 cylinder inline, 2 stage compressors with 2 LP cylinders and 1HP cylinder with the motor direct coupled?
Does anyone know bores, and strokes? Also what was the crank/piston phasing, 120 degrees?
The one low res image I have found seems to show a stacked plate assembly on the side of the unit crankcase, would this be the inter stage cooler? If so was there any mechanical (fan) ventilation? Were the two units controlled as duty assist?
There doesn't appear to be any air reservoir included in the unit?

Moving downstream, I have found no mention or images of air reservoirs anywhere on the Class 55, I can't believe there weren't any! Any hints about position, capacity and systems supplied (train brakes/pipe, loco brakes, AWS, horns & wipers etc) would be gratefully received.

Moving down to the other nose end the Exhausters make the compressors look like online extroverts Two Reavell rotary vane types? If so would they be similar to the units pictured on this webpage?

TENMAT brings 21st Century Materials to Historic British Rail Locomotives.

(Terry Deacon from The Diesel & Electric Preservation Group (registered charity) has shared with us his great story about restoring an old exhauster and returning ex-British Rail Locomotives back to service.) In 2013, a requirement was identified to find a replacement for exhauster vanes used in...

www.tenmat.com

This unit looks to be two stage with a side channel primary impeller, marked Consolidated Brake, and rotary vane section, with the broken casing. More likely, I suppose, the toroidal casing is a gearbox?

Lastly, I'm assuming that the traction motor cooling blowers are some form of centrifugal fan? Any details of the major specs would be helpful,images would be brilliant.

I've bought several Deltic books that were referenced in webpages in the hope of finding some of this information but found them to be pretty exclusively devoted to operational matters, does anyone know of book(s) wit a more technical bias?

Thanks for reading this far and hopefully someone will be able to help.

Simon

 

[Cowley]

Welcome to the forum @LegoDeltic.
Now you’ve definitely caught my interest with this one as I was (and still am really) a huge fan of Technical Lego.
These are quite technical questions that you’ve asked and albeit there are some very knowledgeable people on here, it would probably be worth also asking on wnxx as I think there may be people on there that have actually worked on the 55s. You’ll have to join but it’s very easy.
Here’s the link:

WNXX Interactive • Index page

www.wnxxforum.co.uk - wnxx web forum v4

www.wnxxforum.co.uk

I’m fairly certain that you’d find the answers to some of your questions on there.

A couple of questions from me though.
Are you making this out of the newer generation of Technical Lego as in the sort of stuff that’s for sale now, or are you using the older stuff that was more like standard Lego but with the gear wheels, square pistons etc that used to come with kits like the 1980s car chassis?

Technicopedia: 8860

(I actually bought that set a few years ago off eBay to relive a bit my own childhood)

Also, when you get going with it could you please keep us updated with your progress?
I’m sure that quite a few of us would be very interested...

 

[LegoDeltic]

Hi Cowley,

Thanks for the suggestion re WNXX. Not one I have come across yet but will definitely give it a go!

As a child of the sixties (just) things panned out just so for me to receive this

Technicopedia: 850

for my eighth birthday (1977, the year it all started) to replace the Fischer Technic (too expensive even by Lego standards) that my baby brother had destroyed as he teethed and because dad was more keen on my Mecanno than I was (too impatient at that age)
A steady stream of sets (inc 8860) then until the first generation pneumatics arrived http://www.technicopedia.com/8851.html , about the same time girls started to pique the interest and absorb those paper round funds
I'm not sure what possessed them, but about ten years ago my folks bought me a new set for my birthday, one of the new fangled studless types. At about the same time one of my business suppliers saw it and started giving me sets (at Xmas) because i don't like whisky - bit of a joke but the bug bit and now Technic boxes dwarf my wife's shoe mountain.

So to answer your question I use both studded and studless types - they both have their strengths in different areas.
Lego pneumatic engines (LPE's) have become a bit of a thing in recent years and that kinda set me down the road I'm on though I'm not using Lego pneumatic components, the original square pistons or the new tiny pistons - mine have the correct three parts, gudgeon carrier section under main body carrying rings (fishing line) and copper alloy heads

I'm far more interested in reproducing the electro mechanical systems than just producing a Deltic shaped lump of bricks hence the relatively large scale that might give the lads at the NLME Soc a laugh at Colney Heath when I take it to beg a run round their five inch tracks!
I will no doubt post some work in progress pics and videos as things move along on one of the AFOL websites like Bricksafe and will post some links here if that's allowed/appropriate.

As a lifelong engineer all the myriad different aspects of railway engineering seize my interest but life took me to power generation and chemical plant as a career. But now, researching for this project has been hugely enjoyable in its own right, opening up the huge array of subjects and systems that I had not previously considered. Before I embarked down this road I would have definitely labelled myself as a steam man only, scorning diesel traction worse than a small blue tank engine, like him I've learned better.
Thanks to all here and elsewhere that create this wealth of knowledge and interest and share with the newbies!