Shaka Zulu Building a Lawley in 009

(1994)

In the December 1991 issue drawings appeared of the Lawley 4-4-0s once used on the Beira

Railway in Mozambique and later on various 2ft gauge lines in South Africa. Although a light

Colonial 4-4-0 wouldn't be the first choice for my stiffly graded Craigcorrie & Dunalistair

Railway in the Scottish Highlands, I always had a weak spot for this wheel arrangement. The

Lawley is an almost Emmett-like caricature of the type, so very soon the idea of building a

model of the F4 version came up. An additional factor was that long ago these locos worked

on the SAR Avontuur line which I once visited.

This would be my first near-scale scratchbuilding exercise, so the H0 drawings were scaled up

a factor 1.15 (to 4mm scale) as a start. After measuring the front view photo in the article it

was decided to build the engine to a footplate width of 27mm. Having accumulated many bits

and pieces of locomotive over the past 25 years, my scrapbox produced several weird and

wonderful items for the project.

loco chassis

Powering and weighting a 4-4-0 is difficult enough in standard gauge, let alone in the

watchmaking business of 009. An easy way out would have been using the Farish 4-4-0

chassis, but this would have precluded outside frames and motion. From the outset therefore it

was decided to use a tender drive, enabling me to design a purely cosmetic loco chassis. For

this, a defective Roco 0-6-0 turned up that proved to have exactly the right wheelbase if

altered into a four-coupled configuration.

Construction started with cutting down the Roco chassis block, leaving only a marginal

thickness of material in some areas. Mounting faces were left for the dummy outside frames.

Atlas wheels replaced the small diameter original ones, being much less underscale. To clear

the flanges some material had to be removed from the chassis block. The intermediate gears

were retained to enable outside cranks to be used without having to worry about the

mechanical consequences. The general arrangement is shown in Fig.1. The frames and

footplate were cut from 1mm styrene. In full size this scales out at 3 inch armour plate, but I

like a certain amount of rigidity in my models! In the frames the cutouts shown by the

drawing were made, and slots for crank extensions to the wheels. Using 1mm spacers to

create enough room inside, the frames and footplate were glued to the chassis block. Here I

forgot to make the cutouts in the footplate for the valve gear and the smoke unit, which I later

came to regret! Thin styrene overlays were added to the footplate to suggest thin plating with

a light frame underneath.

Outside cranks were built up as shown in Fig.1, using buffer heads and coupling rods from an

old Airfix saddle tank kit, and glued to the wheel face. The crank protrudes through a slot in

the frame where normally the axleguard should be. Care was taken to quarter the cranks

properly within the slack of the gears. The motion was built up using Roco coupling rods,

connecting rods from a scrapped Minitrains Baldwin, and Minitrix piston rods and cylinders.

The crankpins were secured in the cranks using epoxy glue, and left to cure. This unlikely

assembly then was pushed around the layout by another locomotive to see if anything would

fall off, which to my surprise it didn't. An initial stiffness in the chassis proved to be due to

the gears, not the motion, and was cured by the following drastic approach. After removing

the rods I applied a rotating wire brush clamped in my minidrill to the wheels, spinning them

at great speed. Repeating this at a slower speed with the rods replaced proved that the chassis

was completely sound.

Frames, footplate, chassis block and tender mechanism.

Assembled loco chassis.

The completed bogie, packed with sheet lead.

The bogie was built up around a discarded axle keeper plate from an Atlas diesel. Two pieces

of aluminium tube were fixed at 16mm centres using epoxy, and Roco axles inserted with

wheels to correct back-to-back dimensions. A spare coupler pocket and coupler were glued on

the end of this frame. A swing link was made out of scrap material, and both pivots situated at

axle level for optimal running behaviour. A nylon fixing screw pocket was epoxied to the

chassis. The bogie frames were built up using styrene, and detailed using Microstrip. The

graceful swan-neck equalizing bars were bent out of a narrow strip of lead. Some sheet lead

ballast was added. Due to the underscale wheels, the bogie sits low on the track and clears the

cylinders on curves, although I had to forget about draincocks to the latter. Pushing the

assembled engine chassis by hand, a sizeable train was propelled through pointwork to ensure

that the bogie would not derail.

boiler, cab and electrics

Building up the superstructure started with cutting a piece of PVC tube for the boiler. As I

wanted to add a Seuthe smoke unit and no piece of brass tube would fit around it, I spent an

afternoon building up the chimney from rolled sheet brass and copper wire, a procedure which

I won't recommend to anyone else! After soldering the rough assembly, the chimney was

gripped in the head of a heavy duty drill with a 3.5mm bit inside for support. Then I turned it

to shape using a needle file, constantly fearing that it wouldn't stand the strain and fly to

pieces. The resulting chimney is subject to some compromise in that it isn't tapered and has a

flat bottom flange. It was glued to the boiler assembly with epoxy.

The dome was built up using the rounded end of a small plastic container, the kind used for

needles or pencil bits. The firebox was made using laminated styrene sheet, with the space

between the boiler barrel and the firebox sides filled with epoxy filler. The safety valve base

is a piece of plastic tube and the valves themselves are gold-plated IC plug-in connectors.

Care was taken to ensure the boiler was quite horizontal when placed on the chassis, using

Microstrip shims on the smokebox saddle.

Partly completed loco outside Rae Bridge shed. Note smoke generator inside boiler barrel.

The smoke generator under test. Note tiny LED inside firebox end.

Completed loco, next to the Fleischmann diesel that will supply the tender drive.

At this stage the smoke unit, the headlamp and the firebox light were fitted and connected as

in Fig.2. Part of the wiring runs inside the boiler and the ends are soldered to terminals on a

piece of PC board under the front of the footplate. Power is supplied using wires running from

the rear of the loco, concealed on and below the footplate. The smoke unit has no heat

insulation from the plastic as I haven't experienced any trouble with this before. The ornate oil

headlight which would become much hotter because of the bulb which is a tight fit inside, was

largely soldered up from scrap brass. The bulb is passed into the lamp housing from inside the

smokebox, the front of which is detachable in order to have access to the bulb. The firebox is

lit by a red miniature LED connected in series with a 0.5K resistor. For complete protection of

the LED another diode should be installed as in the diagram. As soon as the electrical parts

were installed, a test was made with everything connected to full power for about 15 minutes

to see whether all would hold together without melting into a glob.

The smokebox front is styrene with the door turned from a 1mm styrene disc fixed in my

minidrill using a craft knife held vertically to the spinning styrene. The loco showed a

tendency to tip forward, so some sheet lead was added at the firebox end. As no information

on the boiler backhead was available, this was based on a general layout with the usual

fittings. On either side of the backhead the springs of the rear drivers were added.

The roomy cab of the Lawleys was clearly designed for African conditions, with louvred side

windows and room to handle wood fuel. In view of the harsh Scottish climate the engine

would operate in, I decided to skip the louvres and add drop windows instead. The side and

front sheets and the roof rear sheet were cut from 0.5mm styrene and cemented together with

additional corner bracing. The cab roof wasn't fitted with a false roof as in the prototype. It

was laminated from two pieces of 0.5mm styrene and cemented to the sides. The resulting

construction is light but surprisingly strong.

Supports glued to body shell of N scale diesel used for tender drive.

Tender body built up around supports. Lead ballast in place.

Detail work on tender frames glued to diesel chassis.

tender

The Fleischmann 0-6-0 diesel mechanism used for the tender drive is a scale 2ft too long. As

the SAR eventually fitted some of the Lawleys with bogie tenders, it was decided not to cut

down the mechanism, but stretch the tender body and add short front and rear platforms. The

tender frames were made from 0.5mm styrene, detailed as in the CM drawing, and glued to

the cut down nylon framing of the mechanism. The tender body was built as a styrene box

around formers glued to the cut down diesel body, and packed tight with sheet lead. The

flared top of the side and rear sheets was produced using sections of small diameter styrene

tube split lengthwise.

The tender interior rather puzzled me, as the front of both the four-wheel and the six-wheel

tender in the photos seems to lack bunker doors. It looks as if the fuel was stacked on top,

which of course with wood fuel was convenient enough. This corresponds to the fuel space of

only 30 cu ft mentioned in the CM article, and the 2 ton coal capacity mentioned in '24 Inches

Apart'. Several photos showing a Lawley as SAR class NG6 show a kind of bunker protruding

from the tender, and it can be safely assumed that the SAR added bunkers with coal firing in

mind. As the tender isn't a scale model anyway, I added bunker doors to the front and a

suggestion of a coal space to the flat top of the tender body, trying not to spoil its graceful

lines. A full tender was represented with most of the 'coal' in the form of scraps of lead to

increase ballast weight, covered with slate chippings.

The tender link was made by epoxying a piece of aluminium tube to part of the original

Fleischmann coupling. This fits over a pin soldered to a piece of brass glued to the rear of the

loco. Electrical power is transferred from the tender to the loco by carbon brush springs

soldered to brass strips that in turn are soldered to the current collectors of the mechanism, see

fig.2. On the rear of the loco two tiny rounded brass studs (left over from the Roco

mechanism) are soldered to shims folded around the footplate rear beam, which are connected

to the loco circuit. When coupling the tender to the loco, first the springs are slipped over the

studs, and then the tender link is lifted over its pin. This arrangement proved more flexible

than using thin insulated leads, and the loco effortlessly negotiates 9" radius curves without

interrupting power to the headlight and smoke unit. The springs also prevent the nose-

wagging gait usual in many model 4-4-0s. Some care should be exercised not to damage them

when the tender is uncoupled but on the track no problems are experienced. On test the model

proved to be about as powerful as my four-coupled tank locos, despite the dead weight of the

dummy loco it has to push around.

Loco in 'works grey' showing most of the styrene detail. Note freelance tender top detail.

detailing and painting

The loco was detailed and painted as a Lawley might have looked in SAR days. They would

still have carried the large headlight. On the model the smokebox door handle and the number

plates are SAR style, but most of the character comes from the paint scheme.

During their 60-odd-year life the Lawleys were extensively modified and cannibalized, which

makes life easier as long as you don't try to model one particular loco. It therefore carries the

number NG108, which was allocated to a loco that was cannibalized for spares. It was named

'Shaka Zulu' after the famous Zulu king.

Apart from pipework and handrails, all details were built up mainly using microstrip and

plastic scrap. This includes springs, axle guards, valve chest covers, rocking levers, slide bars,

valve gear, sandboxes, and footplate steps. The loco contains about 400 tiny styrene detail

parts and I was thoroughly disgusted by the process by the time they were all in place. Below

the footplate the ashpan shows through the frame slots between the drivers. A cowcatcher was

made from microstrip and fitted to the bogie instead of the buffer beam because of the

movement of the bogie-mounted coupler. The Lawleys may have usually run without one, but

perhaps the SAR wouldn't have approved, and the loco looks much neater with one.

I spent some time to find out how the locos would have been painted in SAR service. In '24

Inches Apart' I finally found a reference to all broad and narrow gauge SAR locos having

been painted black since 1910, athough 'Steam locos of the SAR' mentions several

experimental liveries tried on the broad gauge during the 1930s. The loco therefore was

painted in the standard scheme which has been smarted up a little as usual in SAR locos fresh

out of the shops. Before painting the model was degreased using alcohol, followed by a coat

of flat grey primer. Then the model was finished in unlined eggshell black, with a faded

aluminium smokebox (mixed silver and matt black) and some parts picked out in red, white

and silver. The frames and running gear were painted black first and then toned down with a

thinned mix of matt black, rust and matt grey, which shows off the detail.

The number and name plates were drawn using software on my PC, and subsequently photo-

reduced on to yellow paper. Perhaps less pretty than etched brass plates, but much easier to

produce. This results in a black background to the plates instead of the more usual red, but I

have seen several black number plates, so this isn't exactly incorrect. The reducing process

only left the name and the loco number readable, not the 'NG6' classification and the text

around the edge of the number plate. Pre-war number plates would still have the English text

only instead of the more recent bilingual 'South African Railways/Suid Afrikaanse Spoorweë',

but as it is unreadable this really is picking nits!

The boiler bands were cut from thin paper painted silver beforehand, and fixed after the final

black coat. All piping is unpainted copper wire and includes feed pipes, blower pipe and valve

chest lubrication lines (oh horror!). The injectors are tucked behind the cab steps and haven't

been modelled. Finally, fire irons and oil cans by Springside were added, and the cab

windows glazed. In contrast to the prototype which relied on the handbrake fitted to the loco,

the cab was fitted with a vacuum ejector and brass vacuum pipes will be added as standard on

the C&DR.

Cab and tender detail, most of which is guesswork. Note loco-mounted handbrake, and

vacuum ejector.

'Shaka Zulu' on the quay at Dunalistair.

An unkind close-up showing some of the additional detail.

Piloting CDR no.7 on a coal train during running-in.

'Is dat nog baie ver na Humewood Road?'

'I'm afeared I canna help you, laddie, you’re in Scotland now...'

...with a head of steam in Glenclachan Gorge...

conclusion

As a dyed-in-the-wool freelancer I had to get used to the extensive research necessary for a

near-scale model. Studying books and photos for details has taken up about as much time as

the actual building activity. As described, the process may seem to carry things a bit far, but

most complications in constructing this model were caused by the outside frames and the

elaborate electrics needed to power the smoke unit and headlight. If one is prepared to do

without these and use a Farish 4-4-0 as a basis, building a reasonable likeness of a Lawley

should be quite straightforward and well within the scope of anyone familiar with plastic kits.

The main effort then is reduced to making one's own kit parts out of styrene sheet as shown

above, and building up the model around the cut down Farish superstructure. Suitable boiler

fittings and detail parts are readily available in the Trade. It would even be possible to work to

the smaller H0e scale instead of 009.

'Shaka Zulu' recently went into service on the Craigcorrie & Dunalistair Railway, looking

particularly nice with a head of steam in Glenclachan, or at night with the powerful headlight

shining on the rocks and an eerie red glow from the cab. Why a Colonial loco turned up in the

Scottish Highlands nobody knows, but can be explained by the final batch of the prototype

having been built in Glasgow. An unusual but attractive model, the Lawley is ideal for the

light winter passenger service, and the crews prefer its comfortable cab to the primitive

weatherboard of the other passenger engines when the snows come to Inverlochan Moor.

notes, 25 years later (2019)

Over the years, Shaka Zulu has proved to be one of the most reliable locomotives on the

C&DR. The tender drive is virtually indestructible, even if it is noisy. The smoke unit was

disconnected after a few years, because it didn’t work at low voltages. It was nice as long as it

worked. The styrene detail is a bit fragile, and I had to replace or repair some of the finer

strips such as the reversing and cylinder drain rods along the boiler. In addition, I fitted

wooden bunker extensions to the tender, so I could cram in a little more lead ballast.

The plastic cranks were replaced by brass ones on turned-down roofing felt nails. These prove

to be better running. As to the gears and the connecting and coupling rods, lubricating them

with graphite is the best way to go, because it won’t turn sticky like oil will.