History
The history of these two engines has been well documented by Les Derbyshire, and the following notes are taken from his
work.
Ordered by the Rother Valley Railway in 1899, as Works Numbers 2420/2421, they were very similar to an 0-6-0
(No.2409) built for Seaton Burn colliery, which had double slidebars as the only major variation, apart from the wheel
arrangement, and which could possibly be built from this kit. The two locos worked until the mid 1930s, bu8tn in very
different forms as described below.
No.1 (Tenterden) was rebuilt at some point, possibly as early as 1910, receiving larger second hand driving wheels of 4’
diameter, and the pony wheel being retired to 2’10”. No alterations were made to the chassis; instead the buffers were
moved lower down the buffer beams. Both these variants can be built from the kit.
No.2 (Northiam) retained her 3’2” driving wheels and worked widely, on the East Kent Railway, the Weston, Clevedon and
Portishead, and famously on the Basingstoke and Alton where she starred in the film ‘Oh Mr. Porter’.
Both engines had their original chimneys replaced by stovepipes, No.1s being cut down when rebuilt with larger wheels.
No.1 certainly did not work past the mid 1930s, and was scrapped in 1941, whereas No.2 worked at least through 1937
(whilst filming!) and was also scrapped in 1941.
Wheels
The prototype had 3’2” 11 spoke driving wheels and 2’6.5” 8 spoke pony wheels as built, and the kit is designed to take
wheels of this size. The nearest Slater’s equivalents are Code 7838I, 3’3” Kerr Stuart Industrial drivers, and Code 7832HR
2’8” 8 spoke pony wheels. However, when measured, these wheels were found to be 3’1” and 2’9” dia. respectively. This
has the effect of lowering the rear of the chassis by some 3mm relative to the front which is unacceptable. One option is to
use Slater’s 3’6” 11 spoke wheels as the drivers, or, in my opinion, the favoured choice, to lower the motor cradle in the
chassis. To do this, follow the relative instruction below.
The rebuilt ‘Tenterden’ had second-hand 4’1”driving wheels with the front wheels increased to either 2’9” or 2’10”
(sources vary) by re-tyring. Apart from lowering the front axle slightly, this avoids most of the clearance issues, but the
motor cradle will need to be moved slightly upwards to bring the chassis level.
If using cast wheels, they can be turned to the correct size, avoiding these problems.
Livery
Both locos were painted blue on delivery (Somerset & Dorset Loco Blue is suggested as the closest match), bordered in
black and separated by a red line which was scalloped on each corner. The cab front, sides and rear, bunker sides and rear,
tank front and sides (not the plating between the tanks and boiler), footsteps back and possibly the sandboxes were treated
in this way. The boiler and firebox were blue, with two red lines on each side of the boiler bands. Etched boiler bands are
provided, but it is suggested that these are omitted from the build, and replaced with painted and lined tape as this is
generally easier to do. Wheels had a single red line around the rim, and the cylinders were black, with a blue panel on the
side, again with a red line separating the colours, scalloped on the corners. The rest of the locos were black.
Originally, the chimney were copper capped, and the dome polished brass.
Under the K&ESR, a double ellipse was painted on the tank sides around the nameplates, and it is suggested that the area
between the two ellipses was painted a lighter blue, but this is not confirmed.
Later the dome was painted over, and their chimneys replaced by stovepipes.