The Jubb
Atlantic
A New Record Run ?
26/9/2020
Revised 20/4/2021.
The Gauge 2 Jubb Atlantic simmering quietly after a possible
record run, April, 2021.
This Gauge
2 locomotive was acquired from Osbourne Antiques in Rushden,
Northants in 2019 by courtesy of Jeremy Viewing. Osbourne
recalled acquiring it in turn from a collector on the South
Coast who had owned it for about 50 years, back to WW2, who said
that it was by Jubb. Is it seen here running on a temporary
Gauge 2 track at Welton, Northants, in May, 2020.
Mr FW Jubb
was a keen model railway enthusiast in the years before the
Great War and had produced models for his 'Greystones' Gauge 2
model railway, built in an upstairs bedroom in his house in
Sheffield. After the
war, he went into business producing mostly ‘O’ gauge rolling
stock and accessories under the ‘JLS’ (Jubb Ltd Sheffield).
In 2020, a
chance observation of an index page from of Henry Greenly’s
monthly magazine “Models, Locomotives and Railways” appearing on
the Brighton
Model Museum Website led to a fascinating discovery: there
was an article in the September 1910 edition entitled “Mr F. W.
Jubb’s “Atlantic” Model”. Eventually a full set of these very
rare magazines was acquired and the Sept. 1910 edition did
indeed contain an article about a Gauge 2 Atlantic Model,
strikingly similar to the one acquired from Osbournes. But was
it the same one?
Here is
the article:
All of the dimensions given in the article tally, but there are
differences: the surviving loco has a Belpaire firebox, the
buffers are a different style, and there are other minor
discrepancies. At least now we knew for sure that the model was
indeed a Jubb, and so it rested until a good friend in
Pennsylvania, Murray Wilson, discovered another Jubb article in
the July 1911 edition describing Mr Jubb’s second
Atlantic. And here it is:
(About
Gauge 2. Model railway gauges were defined by Henry Greenly at
the beginning of the 20th century as Gauges ‘0, ‘1’, ‘2’, and
‘3’. All of these survive to the present day, with ‘0’ Gauge
being more popular than ever and Gauges ‘1’ and ‘3’ having
strong followings. But not Gauge 2, which disappeared
commercially after the First World War and today is relegated
to collectors shelves, the last known track being torn up in
the 1960’s. So this small test track is the only one known to
exist anywhere in the world. For now).
But for
the engine to have survived for so long in such excellent
condition begs a series of questions, principal amongst which is
“did it actually work?”. It was clear that it had worked,
because there were signs of obvious wear including a loose
driving wheel which had been re-pinned to the axle more than
once, but later we discovered direct evidence that it not only
worked, but worked well.
The engine is very unusual amongst early models in having been
handed down to us complete with the meths burner, even though
the asbestos wicks had been lost. This was a great advantage in
getting the model to run, because usually burners have to be
re-created by guesswork and lots of trial and error. The first
observation was that there’s no automatic meths regulation, or
‘chicken feed’, and fuel from the huge tender tank simply drips
into a sump beneath the footplate. The fuel is regulated by a
simple plug cock in the tender, mounted in such a way that it
can't be removed for maintenance. Over the years this has become
so loose that vibration would cause it to full on, leading to
some spectacular flare-ups, several times melting the pressure
gauge connection! (The gauge was missing when the loco was
acquired, so it is modern ones that have been sacrificed here!).
How Mr
Jubb managed with his indoor railway in an upstairs bedroom
without setting the house on fire we’ll never know.
A puzzle as that there was no loco to tender coupling or meths
feed pipe to the open sump under the cab. A newly made pipe was
made to lead down into the burner and this did hold engine and
tender together, but a stronger coupling was made using
attachments that Mr Jubb had presumably intended to use. The
mystery of why the coupling was missing until we came across yet
another item in 'Models', a letter from Mr Jubb explaining his
new technique for coupling engine and tender using the feed pipe
alone! Hmmm...
Initially we experimented with ceramic rope wicks to try to
emulate the original asbestos (It's a pity that many early locos
have been stripped of asbestos before modern equivalents could
be develped) but it turned out that the soft stringy material
would not stay in shape and greatly added to the flaring
problem, so much that at one point thought was given to
abandoning the project because of the fire risk. However,
successful wicks were finally made from rolled up stainless mesh
which stays in shape, doesn't burn and gives sufficient heat to
emulate the original asbestos.
A few
items, like piston and gland packing, needed attention before
the fire was lit for the first time. And then came the
moment. And yes, it did run. In the beginning, the huge Smithies
boiler ran out of water long before the equally huge (1/2 pint!)
tender meths tank and performance was lack lustre. But I've been
through this before with the Carson Precursor and know that
there comes a critical point where there are more things in
favour than not, and the model suddenly transforms from a
sluggard to a Star! And so it was with the Jubb Atlantic.
(Operator skill level is just one of those factors!!)
And the exhaust note is absolutely wonderful. So there we have
it: a 110 year old model locomotive, almost as pristine as when
it left Mr Jubb’s workshop, still doing what it was built to do.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wkjdeufup91lfe7/V_20200529_134347_vHDR_Auto.mp4?dl=0
Later, we
even discovered an actual test of it’s performance, described in
the Dec 1912 edition of 'Models': (Note that the writer, almost
certainly Greenly, refers to Mr Jubb's engine "illustrated in
the July last edition". That's our engine!). Here, Greenly
decribes the performance as 'Record' runs.
All this
begged a question: could the engine repeat this feat in modern
times? On Sunday, 17th April 2021, the stage was set in a very
different world of space travel, atomic energy and the Internet.
(When Mr
Jubb built this Atlantic, the Bleriot monoplane was the hottest
thing in aviation. On this
day in 2021, in the small hours of the very next morning, a tiny
electric helicopter became the first aircraft to fly in the
skies of another planet).
Much fettling of cylinder packing and the addition of a second,
vernier valve to the meths feed line ensured that a good fire
could be maintained with less risk of the 'flare - ups' that had
marred earlier testing. The addition of recently acquired wood
bodied coaching stock gave a substantial but free running load.
So the
stage was set. The boiler was topped off with about 400ml of
distilled water through the safety valve, the level about 1/4"
the top. (There's no pump or clack on this loco). The moment the
fire was lit the wind became gusty and it seemed too much for
the Smithies boiler arrangement, but despite considerable
fluttering of the flame it kept going. Note the electric fan at
the chimney - this is a self contained centrifigal fan with
speed control and Lipo battery - I really don't know how Mr Jubb
got the fire going by simply opening the smokebox door!
Steam raising takes about 20 mins when pressure creeps up to
around 40 psi, where the safety valve begins to feather. Time to
go! Initially there's a lot of water ejected from the chimney
(No drain cocks in 1911!), but soon the engine starts to 'bite'
with a clear 2 cylinder exhaust note and visible surging on the
connecting rods. After about half a lap of 'helping', the water
clears and she's away! It's very hard to know how far to open
the regulator on these models, because speed builds up very
quickly. I've extended the regulator handle to make it easier to
flick shut as the train roars past, slows, and allows me to try
a less aggressive opening.
I immediately noticed that something was different because there
was none of the progressive slowing that I'd had on previous
runs. Even though the cylinder packing was a little tight,
making the engine a little lumpy to begin with, it was clearly
keen to run! A couple of stops for minor adjustments (The front
bogie is senstive to track quality and derails easily) and she
was away in a style I'd not seen before. I realised that she was
going to keep going, and noted the time.
Minutes ticked by, and still she kept going, soon beating any
previous run. 10, and then 15 minutes went by. Now I became a
little nervous about water. (There's no water gauge). At 20
minutes I snapped the fuel cock in the tender shut as she came
by. Even then she ran another three full laps before slowing,
which says a lot about the potential for flare - ups with
quantity of meths held in the open sump under the cab.
Finally she slowed to a halt, and I sent the 1904 Bing 'Sydney'
(now reversibly converted to Lipo powered electric drive) out to
fetch her. This is the first time I've stopped her on a run
without the water going low first.
So, how did this run compare with the one in 1911? Well, in 1912
she made 63 laps of 53 feet in 18 1/2 minutes, running 3,340
feet at an average just over 2 mph. In 2021, with an
easier track than Mr Jubb's, she made an estimated (I wasn't
counting, so this is based on the video) 60 laps of 80 feet in
20 minutes or 4800 feet at a speed of just over 2.7 mph,
equivalent to 24 scale miles at 73 mph! Is this a record for a
110 year old locomotive in completely original condition, at any
scale? I can't wait to be proved wrong!
Here's the video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bfcbsc4kn2jnmfn/V_20210424_142804_vHDR_Auto.mp4?dl=0
