My 7mm scale 1950s workbench

[Galteemore]

1 minute ago, Mol_PMB said:

Beautiful work! Really captures the lines of the real thing. Will she be blue or black? 

Thanks. The PPs were never blue, so that simplifies things. As built, they were green but in this rebuilt form she’ll be black, like the other two in the pics.

[Mol_PMB]

Ah, I should have consulted my library before asking a daft question! I did nearly include green as an option. 
I must go back and re-read the GNRI locos tome. 
 

[jhb171achill]

13 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Thanks. The PPs were never blue, so that simplifies things. As built, they were green but in this rebuilt form she’ll be black, like the other two in the pics.

Worth pointing out too, for those too young to remember, far from a perhaps modern impression that GNR locos were blue, the vast majority were black. Only certain passenger classes were blue. Even preserved 85 "Merlin" and her classmates were black when first in traffic, only later repainted blue. None of the P or PP class were ever blue.

[Mol_PMB]

Yep, I’m too young to remember them anything other than blue. 
And I still need to organise myself a trip behind Uranus to see a black one… 

[Galteemore]

10 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

Yep, I’m too young to remember them anything other than blue. 
And I still need to organise myself a trip behind Uranus to see a black one… 

Now oddly enough 131 was a blue engine at one time….for an open day at Inchicore in 1968 she was painted blue…..preservation does awful thing sometimes …..

[jhb171achill]

36 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Now oddly enough 131 was a blue engine at one time….for an open day at Inchicore in 1968 she was painted blue…..preservation does awful thing sometimes …..

Personally, despite my aversion to historical inaccuracy in liveries, and ongoping frustration at the fact that the majority of preserved items in Ireland are not correct in this regard; I actually thought that looked quite well! Even if they HAD been blue in traffic, this blue is a bit too light, plus the "G" and the "N" on the tender were way too close together, but there ye go!

I confess, as a teen, to painting a model green BR railbus in BR corporate blue with yellow ends, a livery they never carried. To railbus fans, I apologise and prostrate myself accordingly. The things teens get up to....

 

52 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

Yep, I’m too young to remember them anything other than blue. 
And I still need to organise myself a trip behind Uranus to see a black one… 

My only steam recollections were black GNR locos, either in GNR livery or UTA black; and dim recollections of a filthy dark grey CIE loco, probably an old J15.... and withdrawn CDR locos, yes, with RED domes, NOT black!

[Tullygrainey]

1 hour ago, Galteemore said:

More fettling and fiddling lies ahead but most of the grunt work is done. Lots of scrubbing and cleaning and then we’ll try the primer. That will doubtless reveal all sorts…..something I have already noticed that she droops at the front end, so we’ll have to beef up the bogie spring. 

That is very fine indeed! Lovely job David

[David Holman]

Handsome engine and a very handsome model. Got to be pleased with that! Nice to complete a project that was otherwise languishing in a shelf somewhere.

[Galteemore]

Achingly slow progress on the PP. Cab is more or less done / even if reversing gear moved too far right when I was glueing it  Few bits of toning down to do but almost there. Making transparent gauge glasses was ‘fun’

 

Edited March 6 by Galteemore

[Mol_PMB]

Looks great! Nice work. The gauge glasses are very effective.

[leslie10646]

On 9/2/2025 at 9:38 PM, jhb171achill said:

Worth pointing out too, for those too young to remember, far from a perhaps modern impression that GNR locos were blue, the vast majority were black. Only certain passenger classes were blue. Even preserved 85 "Merlin" and her classmates were black when first in traffic, only later repainted blue. None of the P or PP class were ever blue.

Personally, I think that a plain black loco with mahogany coaches is ALMOST as attractive as the blue variant.

The PP looks super, David. Happily, I did manage a run behind ONE of them!

[David Holman]

Very fiddly, but very worthwhile, especially on a tender engine. Handy reference for me because am starting to do the same job on my Swilly tank.

 Intrigued to know what you used for the gauge glasses? I usually cheat and paint square section brass a silver colour, but yours looks far more effective.

[Galteemore]

1 hour ago, David Holman said:

Very fiddly, but very worthwhile, especially on a tender engine. Handy reference for me because am starting to do the same job on my Swilly tank.

 Intrigued to know what you used for the gauge glasses? I usually cheat and paint square section brass a silver colour, but yours looks far more effective.

Hi David - I used some square plastic rod, coupled with whitemetal valve parts from SD Models. The tube has a core drilled through it which nicely replicates the gauge glass inside the shroud. White plasticard backing with chevrons completes the look. 

[Horsetan]

On 9/2/2025 at 9:55 PM, Mol_PMB said:

...a trip behind Uranus ...… 

Just say this part again, very slowly....

[David Holman]

10 hours ago, Galteemore said:

Hi David - I used some square plastic rod, coupled with whitemetal valve parts from SD Models. The tube has a core drilled through it which nicely replicates the gauge glass inside the shroud. White plasticard backing with chevrons completes the look. 

Clever!

[Galteemore]

Very short vid of PP chassis crawling with wander leads. Next job - try and fit inside the body. Clearances are tight to put it mildly….

 

Edited March 17 by Galteemore

[David Holman]

Always so satisfying to  get to that stage!

[Galteemore]

Well after much fettling and fiddling the PP is done. Thanks to the helical gearbox she floats along very nicely and runs very smoothly. Haulage seems adequate. Little bit more subtle weathering to do but that’s it I think. video of her rolling - and hitting the buffers! https://youtu.be/65vNarq38KY?feature=shared

Also fascinating to see how tiny PPs were. Look how she (in the middle) stacks up against a JT and SG2…

My thanks to @Rob R and @Colin R for alerting the forum to the box of bits on eBay! 

 

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Galteemore

[Patrick Davey]

Stunning!!!!  Great choice for the number too - a favourite of mine from historical photos!

[Galteemore]

Thanks Patrick. I picked 74 as it was both a regular Enniskillen engine, and the last PP of all to survive in service. Although, famously, she wasn’t scrapped bearing the number 74 but rather 42. About 1961, UTA HQ decreed that 74 should be withdrawn and 42 kept running. Newry shed was horrified - 74 had the newest boiler in the PP fleet and was a superior engine. So they simply painted over the numbers on each engine and sent the real 42 off to be scrapped. 74/42 ran her last years with an x suffix meaning she would be withdrawn when any major fault developed and would not be repaired. She lasted long enough to do a fabulous railtour to Omagh. The sound of her getting away from Pomeroy must have been something else. Were you there @leslie10646? 

Edited 4 hours ago by Galteemore

[leslie10646]

Indeed I was, @Galteemore, but I was too young and inexperienced to value it.

I DID get rare track - the Coalisland rump of the GNR line to Cookstown and I've even got a friend's log of the run!

[Tullygrainey]

1 hour ago, Galteemore said:

Well after much fettling and fiddling the PP is done. Thanks to the helical gearbox she floats along very nicely and runs very smoothly. Haulage seems adequate. Little bit more subtle weathering to do but that’s it I think. video of her rolling - and hitting the buffers! https://youtu.be/65vNarq38KY?feature=shared

Also fascinating to see how tiny PPs were. Look how she (in the middle) stacks up against a JT and SG2…

My thanks to @Rob R and @Colin R for alerting the forum to the box of bits on eBay! 

 

 

 

Terrific work David. Love the footplate detail and that three quarter view in the second photo is a gem. Very convincing.