GWR 1365

Posted byTrevorPosted in7mm GWR equipment, DCC, Wiring, and Sound, Great Western Railway in 7mm scale
GWR 1365 awaits a crew in Bydemill

I was prowling through eBay and came across this lovely locomotive. And now it’s on the layout…

GWR 1365 is one of five 0-6-0 saddle tanks designed by GJ Churchward and built by the railway’s workshop in Swindon. The 1361-Class was designed to move wagons about docks and other spaces where tight curves restricted the size of locomotives that could be employed. All five locomotives served more than 50 years, finally being withdrawn in the early 1960s. One – the 1363 – has been preserved: The rest were scrapped.

The class was built in 1910, which makes this Tower Models example a little bit too new for my 1905-era model railway. I also don’t have any docks or other tight spaces for it to patrol. (That said, one of the class ended its life as a works engine at Swindon, which – like the Highworth branch on which it is based – is the mainline connection for my GWR Bydemill layout. So maybe recently built or repaired locomotives made a couple of break-in trips to and from Bydemill before being dispatched to their regular assignments elsewhere.)

Regardless, I liked the look and enjoy a variety of equipment for its own sake. Also, the price was right.

I have equipped all of my models with DCC and sound, and I assumed this one would be a straightforward conversion – what with it being a fairly chunky tank engine in a generous scale. Boy, was I wrong.

Tower’s builder did a fine job, including reproducing the open air gap between the boiler and the frame. But this came at the cost of access to the interior. There isn’t any. The boiler is fully enclosed, with the model’s electric motor mounted vertically in a space that’s barely bigger than the motor. I tried several options for mounting a decoder and electronic flywheel module – including in the motor cavity, or between the frames. But nothing worked and in the end I decided the electronics – including a speaker – would have to go in the coal bunker.

The following photos illustrate the installation:

Note the solid plate at the front edge of the firebox, which denies one access to the inside of the boiler. I assume there’s a weight in there. I drilled a hole in the cab floor (at right) to run wires from motor and wheel pickups to a decoder.
Note the hole drilled in the cab’s rear wall, below the window line.
The only DCC installation that would allow me to disassemble the locomotive for servicing required running wires through the cab. Fortunately, a crew member to either side will hide these non-prototypical cables from view. A micro plug/socket below the cab allows me to separate the superstructure from the frame if necessary.
The electronics package, installed in the coal bunker. An ESU Loksound V5 is against the cab wall and below the black speaker enclosure. An ESU PowerPack is tucked beside the speaker. The wiring runs through a piece of heat shrink tubing glued into the hole in the cab, to prevent the metal edges from nicking the wiring’s insulation. A piece fo heat shrink tubing was also installed in the hole in the cab floor. A piece of foam covered in coal will hide the wiring.

One thing that bothered me about this approach is that the sound comes from the back of the locomotive. I looked at ways to pull it forward – and discovered that with some creative construction I could add a second speaker.

An ESU 50321 “sugar cube” speaker is just 11mm x 15mm. I built a large, off-centred sound chamber using the included components, plus spares from another project that employed a 50321.
The odd shape allowed me to mount the sugar cube speaker directly below the front axle, with the sound chamber attached to the bottom of the smokebox using double-sided foam tape. The purple and black wires are the speaker leads, which run through the frame to the cab. The speakers are wired in series and provide excellent sound. The front speaker does a terrific job of repositioning the sound so it’s not obviously coming from the coal bunker.

In the end, this was a fun little project.

Now that I have this model running, I must paint a crew and build a coal load to conceal the electronics. GWR 1365 will also benefit from some weathering to tone down the green paint, lighten the running gear, and give it that “worked-in” look.

Finally, I’d love to know more about the as-delivered livery these locomotives wore, and what livery this model is painted in – eg: What years it was used. In particular, I wonder if the GREAT WESTERN spelled across the tank is appropriate on a lowly dock shunter…

Published by Trevor

Lifelong model railway enthusiast and retired amateur shepherd who trained a border collie to work sheep. Professional writer and editor, with some podcasting and Internet TV presenting work thrown in for good measure.