THIS KIT IS AVAILABLE NOW AND COSTS £108.95 plus £4.75 p & P

 

The NER Class L was a Wilson Wordsell's design for the NER while still producing his brother's smaller J71 and before the introduction of the J72.  The J73 was a much larger engine than the J71 being 10tons heavier than the J71. The 10 engines in the class were built from December 1891 to June 1892 at Gateshead works.

 

They were designed to work on steeply graded inclines on the Quayside and the Redheugh incline on the opposite bank of the Tyne. These engines had 19" x 24" cylinders and a larger boiler.  The grate was 40% larger and the heating surface was increased by 50%.  These dimensions were already proven and in use on his class A 2-4-2T passenger tank.  Joy's inside valve gear was used to operate the slide valves that were placed above the cylinders.  The slide valves were unusual in that they had tail rods fitted with tubular covers that had rounded ends.  These covers were kept throughout their lives. 

 

The boilers used on the class were identified as diagram 69.  In 1937 the boiler was redesigned and became diagram 69A, also used on the NER class O, LNER class G5 and the NER class P, LNER class J24.​

 

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The class were a specialised rather than a general purpose design and only 10 engines were built. Due to electrification of these lines, the engines were found other duties.  At Grouping the allocation was Ferryhill 5,  Tyne Dock 2,  Pelton Level 2 and Heaton 1.  The Ferryhill engines were employed on banking eastbound mineral trains up Kelloe Bank from Coxhoe Bridge  to Trimdon.

 

Between 1927-29 Ferryhill lost 3 engines to East Hartlepool where they stayed  for 5years.  In 1No's.  a wholesale withdrawal of class J71 and J75 engines from Hull sheds.  East Hartlepool got  547/58/53 Alexandra Dock got 546/9-52 for working heavy timber trains.

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In 1940 three engines 545/6/51 were transferred to Selby for work in the Marshalling yard at Gascoine Wood.  They stayed there for the rest of their working lives. At Nationalisation the allocation of locos was, Alexandra Dock 8360/1, Selby 8356/7/62, West Hartlepool 8355/8/9/64 and Tweedmouth 8363.  8363 continued on it's travels moving back to Alexandra Dock in 1949 then onto Botanic Gardens in 1954. In June 1959 it moved to Hull Dairycoates where it joined 68360/1.

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Withdrawals began in March 1955 when 68358 was condemned and finished with 68361 of Hull Dairycoates.

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Chassis specification.

All the chassis parts are etched from 0.38mm thick Nickel silver

The chassis is of the fold up type so there's no need to use expensive chassis jigs in the construction.

​The chassis uses fold in horn cheeks for the custom made horn blocks.

The chassis is compensated on all 6-wheels to ensure all the wheels remain in contact with the track.

Part of the chassis design is a custom gearbox that optimises the position between the frames and the weight distribution.  The Gearbox ratio has been selected to give optimum efficiency and performance.

Provision has been made on the chassis for Gibson Plunger Pickups.  We recommend these but they are not supplied with the kit as a lot of modellers tend to use their own preferred method of current collection.

The brake gear is prototypical in appearance.

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Body Specification.

All the parts that make up the body are made from 0.38mm Nickel silver.

Any part that the modeller may have difficulty rolling or forming will be preformed by us.

Initially, we will supply white metal parts for Chimneys,domes boiler backheads until current stocks of these parts are exhausted. We then intend to offer these parts as 3D printed parts.

We supply both diagram 69 and 69A preformed boilers with the kit so that you can model any era.

The kit uses many parts that were used on our NER class O, LNER/BR class G5 so we will supply a G5 Lost Wax sprue minus the Vacuum and Air Pipes.

We Can supply Gibson wheels and Coreless motors all at an additional cost.  Check with us for current prices.  These items are post free if ordered with the kit.

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