Hello ! Potential Proto-something?

[Crayons]

Like someone else (I had a quick look at the posts here) I know very little about trains but i do like steam trains! I have had a trip on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway and I have been to the NRM in York, so perhaps I'm a proto-train-something-or-other?

Anyhoo - what I have been doing lately is modelling a modified Hall 4-6-0 from the one diagram findable on the web and lots of photos on the web (mostly of 7903 Foremarke Hall). The modelling is computer modelling/rendering using POVray.

I have most of the main assembly modelled now but there's all the fiddly bits that I don't entirely know what they are... if there's someone who knows the "fiddly bits" I'd love to hear from you!

Blank bits at the moment...
Brakes - I assume is the diagonal bar arrangement along the right hand side of the firebox but it's the stuff underneath that doesn't show well in photos. There has to be some sort of pivot point down there but I haven't quite figured it out!
Underneath the cab ladder plate thingy. There's an octagonal container that looks like a sand dispenser (I guess ) I think I can manage with my piccies of that but then there's a pistonny looking thing at the bottom of the plate (no idea what that is! ) and (as mentioned above) the rear drivewheel brakes,
That big pipe! It comes from (?) the smoke box and back along the right side of the boiler and then something wierd and pipey happens there beside the firebox - what is this stuff???
So? Do we have whizzo expert on brakes and sand and odd pistons and pipes here?

When I've finished this chap I'll bung the code up here somewhere for anyone who's interested and probably start on another loco so suggestions as to what might be nice are invited. I do prefer the more common workhorse steam than say, for example, Mallard. Maybe a common shunter or freight train?

Are there any other POVray blokes here? FYI - POVray is a free rendering program.

Attachments: the main thing so far and the blank space under the cab steps,

Cheers! and Hi
--
Olly

[locojoe]

Hi Olly welcome to the forum.

[pavorossi]

Hello and welcome to the forum Olly. I'm not an expert on such things, so I'm afraid that I can't really be much help to you, but I'm sure one of our members will be able to sort you out. The one thing I can help you with is the diagonal bar alongside the firebox. It's part of the reversing gear, and not the brakes. Hope that helps.

[G6 UXU]

Hello Olly and welcome to the forum, all the best.

[John H-T]

Originally Posted by Crayons

I have most of the main assembly modelled now but there's all the fiddly bits that I don't entirely know what they are... if there's someone who knows the "fiddly bits" I'd love to hear from you!

Brakes - I assume is the diagonal bar arrangement along the right hand side of the firebox but it's the stuff underneath that doesn't show well in photos. There has to be some sort of pivot point down there but I haven't quite figured it out!

Underneath the cab ladder plate thingy. There's an octagonal container that looks like a sand dispenser (I guess ) I think I can manage with my piccies of that but then there's a pistonny looking thing at the bottom of the plate (no idea what that is! ) and (as mentioned above) the rear drivewheel brakes,

That big pipe! It comes from (?) the smoke box and back along the right side of the boiler and then something wierd and pipey happens there beside the firebox - what is this stuff??? :confused.

Cheers! and Hi
--
Olly

Welcome to the Forum Olly.

The diagonal Bar on the right hand side is the reverser. Its set the valve gear for direction of travel and cut off ( how long steam goes into the cylinder on each stroke)

The octagonal container under the cab is the sander.

So there is a start I will have to have another look at your image to identify the rest if someone else doesn't get in first (please!)

Best wishes for Christmas and 2009,

John H-T.

[Crayons]

Thanks John, Adam... guys!
I have been in contact with John Cruxon, the Foremarke Hall Locomotive Manager and he says he'll have a look for details. Cripes! Reversing thing yup! Pipework along boiler is "the exhaust pipe from the Vacuum Ejector" for the brakes! (I type this trying to sound like I understand!)

Anyway, what really works is photos.
The way it works is that people (me too) take pictures of steam trains, but... a lot of those pictures are understandably at a distance, front angle, nice steam.... and why not !???
Uuuuunfortunately for me these lack the detail for the "fiddley" bits! (And yes, at some point in the new year perhaps I should get off my dot dot dot and go and look at a real modified Hall ! I think I shall.)
What's needed then is what my friend (who is a train buff, unlike me) called "Train Porn" - naughty close-up pictures taken "under the skirts" and of all the nice curvey bits and pipes! the sexy little details...
What "porn" I can find is still a bit blurry and if we're talking "under skirt" stuff, it's usually a bit dark and mysterious.
If you have any such detailed photos of 6960 Raveningham, 6984 Owsden, 6989 Wrightwick, 6990 Witherslack, 6998 Burton Agnes, 7903 Foremarke or even 7927 Willington... Halls, I'd love to see them.
Any closeups of the more intricate areas, and even bits on benches! This may be sacreligeous but, the less actual steam in the photos the... er...

My email if you want to send anything is
crayons(at)twoflower(dot)fsnet(dot)co(dot)uk
just use the real symbols for at and dot. If you could put something like "Train Photos" in the subject line I can see it among all the spam!

As I mentioned, when finished I will post the code somewhere or send it to anyone interested. I publish under GNU licensing so it's free, and so is the software I use for rendering the image (see www.povray.org).
I suspect you guys prefer oily metal to pixels but...

cheers!
Olly

[John H-T]

Olly,

Here are 4 photos of 7903 Foremarke Hall and one of Classmate 6990 Witherslack Hall which might be useful. All taken at The Gloucester and Warwickshire Railway.

If you need them in higher deffinition I will e mail them to you.

Best wishes,

John H-T.

[Crayons]

Thanks John!
They're not as "pornographic" as I'd like, but two of them reveal a bit of what's hiding behind the name plate and the front views confirm that I missed the lower (heating?) pipe. One really has to get hard-core with some images !

I have one picture which "almost" tells the tale of under the ladder and some of the info I'm getting clarrifies things. (attached image I found on the web, my thanks to the photographer - I've forgotten where I found it!).
I looked at this and the bars coming down from the reversing gear thing above and they seemed related, but apparently not. So the pivot point for the brake pad must be at the point just above... I almost have it figured.
However, no naughty pics of that pipe stuff up by the firebox...

There's a lot of guess work here for me. For example there's a thing on the backof the main steam pipe down to the piston. I modelled "something" based on vaguely blurry images... (attached) (and no - I don't put threads on bolts!). I hope this illustrates my perspective/viewpoint?

Anyway - I've moved my queries to the modelling forums rather than here, it seems more appropriate there?

Cheers!
--
Olly

[John H-T]

I am stunned by the level of detail you are achieving. I do think that your best bet is to find a Modified Hall and take you own photos.

You may not find anymore info on the Model Railway Forums. There doesn't seem to be any greater depth of expertise there than you get here.

At the moment they are all getting worked up about Hornby's plans for 2009 to be announced at Midmight tomorrow!

Merry Christmas,

John H-T.

[Crayons]

Well, this is just an update for anyone who's interested? I'm still hoping to find a similar render modeller like myself of this sort of thing in the UK but not yet, it seems.
The basic loco is pretty much complete, although there are bits I do intend to add later and some stuff I've connected more by guesswork than fact.
Yes, I do intend to go and visit a real one this year! Probably Foremark Hall, I think it's closest and the one I've had the most photos of to work from. It's often better to try and model first then look at something real later when you realise which bits need the extra information. Anyway, I want to get on with the tender and a few bits of rolling stock and then scenery - what's a train without leaves on the track? And that blasted steam that will hide all the work I've done!
(BTW - the colour scheme and no identification or name plate is based on the available data/information about the state of locos that were at the SSR, I intend to put butterfly marks on at some point.)
Quite a large attachment, sorry!
Cheers!
--
Olly