Model Railway Forum

Hi Everyone

I have been thinking for some time ( easily 10 years or more ) of potential ways to model any of the Raven A2 locomotives besides kitbuilding option by using commercially available parts if possible.

The locomotive will be powered via the loco chassis itself ( no tender drive here ) and due to necessary requirements the tender will also collect power from the rails to ensure running is as smooth as is possible to achieve.

Before I even attempt to try and build a Raven A2 I need to get some advice to the following questions please.

1 ) What are the general parts I will require in terms of the chassis and bodies for the loco and tender ?

2 ) I know the locomotive will require outside cylinders and connecting rods to couple the cylinders to the leading driving wheels, but whiich cylinders and connecting rods do I need to fit on the locomotive for it to look like the real locomotive ?

3 ) My final question ( at least for this post ) is, given that the loco will be expected to haul a decent length train ( 10 - 12 mainline mk1 coaches ) roughly how much weight will I need to add so that the loco doesn't sit spinning it's wheels ?

I have rarely seen ( except on the LNER forum ) a model of these locomotives and would like to add at least 1 to my fleet.

If anybody has any information and guidance on how I can achieve this build successfully, I would be grateful for any information you have.

Many thanks in advance for any replies given.

That is a lot of questions. Are you sure it wouldn’t be easier to make a kit.

Unlikely to find anyone able to supply that info off the top of their head.
I did have a quick read of the Wikipedia entry for the Raven A2.
As WTD says a kit is the best option unless you are into some serious scratch building.

I had a chance once to buy a prototype Trix model of an LNER class A2 and it was superb. It had two motors, one in the tender and one in the locomotive as apparently they built the prototypes like that at the time so they could assess which option they wanted to go with. The model was being sold for £80. It was 00 gauge as far as I am aware. (Trix did a lot of 3.8mm scale in those days).
They decided for whatever reason not to go ahead with the model which is a shame as it looked supurb!

But hasn't another manufacturer covered the A2 yet in RTR form? Is the Ravens version different? I used to be a GWR modeller and the LNER was a little out of my zone... But I am sure the A2 was covered or announced by a main stream manufacturer in recent years? Or was it proposed and never built as a model?

(I just looked myself. Looks quite different to the Peppercorn A2's. (Think it was Peppercorn or a word like that). Looks a bit in the style of a GNR engine?)

Raven

Thompson

Peppercorn


I may have got the Thompson and Peppercorn the wrong way round, either way you can see that the Raven is very different.

Peppercorn has the large smoke deflectors. I know that as the Trix model had them. It was impressive.

Hi Everyone

Many thanks for your replies on this topic, I am not sure if there was once an article in 1 of the modelling magazines ( Hornby, BRM, Railway Modeller etc ) where a hornby B12 locomotive was converted into a Raven A2.

I did a bit of research and found that the Raven A2 locomotives had 6' 8" driving wheels whereas the B12s were on 6' 6" driving wheels as I was contemplating using a hornby B12 as the basis for the loco but with the difference in driving wheel diameter, I would guess there would be a glaringly obvious foul based on them alone. The only locomotive I know of that had 6' 8" drivers was the Peppercorn A1 unless anyone knows different.

One could probably use a mix of an A1 and B1 using the parts from each model (E.g. Triang or Hornby models from the past as they usually have interchangeable parts) to end up with ones desired model.