The Midland 4F
Also see the Midland 4-4-0
And the Engineer's Train
This Gauge 2 Midland 4F was made by Mr Albert Victor Franklin, Bassett-Lowke's
first apprentice. That would presumably have been around 1908 and
the 1911 census shows him working as a model maker in Northampton. Albert was a skilled model maker and the two locos described here have survived to be handed down to us, along with a complete engineers train. This Midland 4F was never finished but we can be sure it was meant to be a working model because it has sprung axleboxes on engine and tender:
It's amazing that the loco survived to modern times, latterly in a shed belonging to the by now late Mr Franklin's daughter where it was discovered by my friend Mr Phil Nunn in a rather rusty condition. Phil cleaned and painted the model and once again it retired to an attic room, where it rested until quite by chance Phil came to an event at Rushden Historical Society where we were running the Gauge 2 railway. He said: "I think I have some of these in my attic" and so he did - This 4F, a beautiful Midland 4-4-0 and a complete engineer's train in Gauge 2, all by Mr Franklin's hand!
It's
not clear when the model was built, but the prototype came out on
the Midland in 1911. There nothing especially BL about the
model, although the sprung axleboxes also appear on the Midland
4-4-0 also built by him. The screw threads are Whitworth, including
the tiny 1/16" Whit screws holding the keep plates in place.
However, the model seems to have been built to metric dimensions -
the axles are 8mm for instance (although no wheels or axles had ever been fitted). Here is the loco with it's newly 3D printed SLS nylon wheelsets:
The driving wheels were copied from a 4F sectional drawing but made 2mm undersize to allow for the G2 flanges which otherwise would have touched the inside of the splashers. The tender wheels were copied from those on the 4-4-0 engine, as were the springs and axleboxes.
Built to 7/16" scale, this is quite a big model in Gauge 2 at almost 2' over engine and tender. It's made from tinned steel, somewhat heavier than tinplate, and all soldered. The fasteners are all Whitworth, mostly 1/16" which is similar to 12 BA, suggesting a pre-1914 date although there's no way to be sure. (The prototype came out in 1911).
Christine Sanderson, to whom I am most grateful, has discovered that Albert Victor Franklin was the younger brother of Bassett Lowke's partner, Harry Franklin who had a Gauge 2 railway before the Great War. As a young boy, I once met the elder Mr Franklin whilst exploring his then derelict Radwell Miniature Railway at Radwell, near Bedford. It's a small world!
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