Steve's Britannia

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5" gauge Adams O2 - Calbourne

Drawing E1(a).	Drawing E1(b).	Drawing E2(a).	Drawing E2(b).
Drawing E3.	Drawing E4.	Drawing B1.	Drawing B2.
Drawings S1 and S2	Boiler Assembly	Assembly and Alignment	Errors and Ommissions

Introduction

Calbourne is the sole surviving member of the William Adam's "O2" design of tank engine and is the flagship locomotive of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. I have started to build a 1/12 scale / 5" gauge model based on how Calbourne appears at the present time but using the Don Young "Fishbourne" drawings as the main source of reference. I am aware of the discrepancy between the scale and the gauge. Living on the Isle of Wight, I have reasonably easy access to the locomotive for photos and measurements. I have used laser-cut mainframes, bogie frames and equaliser beams and also cast wheels but the rest has been machined or fabricated from scratch using basic materials. Where the photos differ from the drawings, the photos take precedence. The drawings cannot be scaled and are not always accurate, so care needs to be taken. Before I started any machining, I spent a good while checking over the drawings. Interestingly, there are only eight of them but there are enormous; nearly a yard high and each a serious contender for the length of the Bayeux tapestry. The first thing I did was cut them down to a more manageable size, generally getting four or six sections per sheet. One useful thing is that each drawing has an index of parts with the materials required listed on it. This was cut out separately and acts as a folder for the other sections. It became obvious that much back-and-forth cross-referencing will be required because many items have no dimensions - "spot through from frames" being one of the favourites. I have never been a fan of "spotting through", preferring to mark out and make items accurately in the first place, so I shall be transferring dimensions to other drawings beforehand where possible.