GWR and BR (WR) Models 11
The 'Atbaras'
This is a very interesting model for all
those Great Western fans who want something a little bit different. No.4127
"Ladysmith" is an 'Atbara' class loco, and was the result of a
kit modification project, using a Nu-Cast 'Flower' kit as a basis (for a
picture of a 'Flower', see page 12).
'Atbaras' were the forerunners of the famous
'City' class, and as built between 1900 and 1902, had parallel boilers (see
below). However, they were the subject of boiler experiments by G.J.Churchward,
and latterly the boilers became tapered, or coned as the GWR called them,
and eventually received superheaters and top feeds (circa 1915), as in this
model. With tapered boilers, 'Atbaras' looked very much like the later (1903
built) 'Cities', but featured the smaller standard no.2 boiler, instead
of the 'City's' standard no.4 unit (the 'City' boiler being six inches larger
diameter at the smokebox end). A total of forty 'Atbaras' were built, but
ten were subsequently rebuilt with larger no.4 boilers and transfered to
the 'City' class.
The first twenty-three 'Atbaras' were fitted
with the large oval combined name and number plates on their cab sides,
which makes them rather distinctive. Other members of the class carried
the normal GWR name/number plate layout, as found on the 'Flowers' and the
'Cities'. The first batch of names incidentally, were derived from places,
battles, warships and people who were associated with the Sudanese and Boer
campaigns that were being fought, and subsequently reported on in the newspapers
at the time - Atbara is the name of a city in the Sudan - the site of a
battle in 1898, whilst Ladysmith is a township in South Africa, which was
besieged during the Second Boer War in 1900.
This loco is the first in a number of 'Atbara'
projects that I have been commissioned to build, and more examples will
be featured as I complete them.
A parallel-boilered 'Atbara', carrying
the lovely Indian red-framed livery - basically the as-built condition,
circa 1900 - 1902. This project involved a little more 'kit-bashing' than
the loco above, with an etched nickel-silver boiler section being substituted
for the cast white-metal tapered one normally supplied in this kit. The
loco also features open coal rails on the tender, and the eagle-eyed amongst
you will notice that there are no sand boxes in front of the driving wheel splashers - this feature being added later on in the locos' lives.
When first built, these locos were numbered
in the 3373 to 3412 series, and this is No.3394 "Adelaide". Along
with all the other outside-framed GWR 4-4-0s, they were renumbered in 1912
- "Adelaide" then becoming No.4140.
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"Atbara", the doyen of the class,
in the lined green 'garter crest' livery, with top feed and superheater,
and after renumbering to No.4120 in 1912.
Here is my 'Atbara' - No.4124 "Kitchener".
This loco will eventually feature on my new Great Western 1920s era layout.
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