OO9 Ruston Proctor part 1 - a look at the body and references.

Ruston Proctor were one of the early builders of internal combustion locomotives. They made single pot and two cylinder petrol/paraffin locos, think of a low revving horizontal stationary engine, complete with a pair of heavy flywheels, on wheels, enclosed in a characterfull body complete with steam engine style 'chimney' (actually a vent for the cooling water hopper). These locos were based on a German design, from Duetz, and many were built for shunting gunpowder factories during WW1. Some were also sold to industrial concerns, both at home and abroad, to gauges varying from 1'4" to 3'3". One loco was even built to 3'5" with outside flanges for Associated Portland Cement's odd system in Swanscombe. The wheels either sat inside or outside of the frames according to gauge.

This project started with the purchase of a 3D printed body from Tebee's Shapeways shop. This is for the upper body only, everything below the footplate, including the mechanism, needs to be scratchbuilt;

Its printed in Frosted Ultra Detail, and some layering is evident. So work will be needed to smooth out the surface finish. Comparing the body to the drawing published in the Parkinson book (see below) shows that its actually overscale by a fair amount. The length should measure a scale 9'11" (not including buffers), in fact it works out at 11'6", the width, which should be a scale 3'6", is actually 5' and the cab height from the footplate is a scale 6' when it should be 4'4". Still, the level of detail is very good and it gives me more room to fit a mechanism in there.

The first job is to sort out a chassis.

References;

'Ruston Proctor and Hornsby Akroyd Oil-Engined Locomotives' by Robin J. Parkinson, Moseley Railway Trust. All you need really. Very good drawings.

'Railways of the Royal Gunpowder Factory Waltham Abbey' by J.M. Jenkins, Moseley Railway Trust. A reprint of an Industrial Railway Society book. Includes the same drawing as the above book.

'The Eighteen Inch Gauge Gunpowder Factory Railway at Waltham Abbey', Brian Clarke, privately published. Includes a 4mm scale drawing.

'The British Internal Combustion Locomotive 1894-1940', Brian Webb, David & Charles.

'Narrow Gauge & Industrial Railway Modelling Review' 66, re-print of an article from 'Engineering' magazine, with a cut-away drawing.

Paul.