The above locomotive was finally finished off during July 2011 after a lot of effort. When I made the first version the result left a lot to be desired! The chassis of the earlier attempt was made by I.P. Engineering which I purchased as the one I saw in a article in SMT (The 16mm Association magazine...which gave me the idea of making a locomotive) was made of metal and bolted together. When I purchased mine I found it was made out of PLASTIC and was to be glued together....There was very little clearance by the wheels of the motor. The controller was made by Cambrian Models and this item did not work very well either. On restarting building I purchased a GRS ready-made chassis with slidebars which is well made and heavy. The controls this time around are made by Brian Jones in Lincolnshire and called strangely enough the 'Chimp'...! The name does not matter as the product works well. The taller chimney was made for me by Tony Bird of Cardiff and this fits nicely on the 'Millie' smoke box as sold to me by Roundhouse Engineering. Roundhouse as usual supplied great service. The boiler is a old toilet paper central roll filled with a Evo-Stick foam filler that hardens up in no time. Harry Ashcroft (named after a good scout master I knew years ago) is the driver of 'Jennifs' and scales 6' 2" if you use 7/8" scale but only 5' 6" if you are talking of 1. 12th. scale. This figure could be called 'fine scale' like all of my people as the features are normal and not made to look like a caricature like many people seem to faviour in these larger scales.

This picture shows the other side of 'Jennifs' and you can see how well 'Arry stands in the cab. The locomotive is self sufficient as it carries its own water and coal plus sand pots over the front wheels of the locomotive chassis! The dappled paint-work is caused by me using up my old gloss and satin shades of black as I only use MATT black as it is more natural in garden railways. The cab steps are just bent thin brass but the fine looking hand grabs are proper 7/8" scale. Once again Roundhouse Engineering came up with help as the nice tank fillers are off one of their more expensive locomotives. The cab sides and bunker is made of 1/8th. thick plywood which works well in these scales. I made a batch of coach roofs for some worker's transport in the past but aborted the job after some thought. The cab roof was made from this effort but cut down to match the engine. The little coal bunkers you can see on the side tank tops are just simple box's of plywood with real coal added and held down by black house-hold mastic. Under the rear bunker sit's the electronics (which can be seen in the top picture!) plus two battery holders of eight 1.5v AA sized batteries. This I am told gives me and the engine 9.5v which allows plenty of pulling power, more so as there are a few 'hills' and a rather tight curve on my line and the power is really needed. I find the short wheel-base well suited to my illregular trackwork. When I made inquires at Roundhouse regarding a steam dome and turret I was informed that the company sells off their 'seconds' in these as well! When I purchased some I could not see where the 'seconds' came from to tell you the truth! I am debating making another of these locomotives as this one turned out so well. When this engine is running around my line there is very little differance between it and my live steamer in action but price-wise hundreds of pounds differance!

The picture above shows how well the new locomotive 'Jennifs' compares with the existing live steam locomotive 'Jenny'. If I make another I may lower the cab roof a bit but with 'Arry in the cab the cab roof does not look out of scale at all.