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No.1 L&YR

No.2 L&YR

BEL 1

BEL 2

EE1

EF1

ES1

B.E.L. №1

This locomotive was a 4 wheel battery electric locomotive built by the Midland Railway at Derby Works in 1913. It was used as a pilot loco at the West India Docks in East London shunting coal wagons. Its works number was 1550. In 1948 it was allocated the number 41550, but never carried it. In 1951 it was renumbered B.E.L. №1 and was later used at Popular Docks until 1964 when it was replaced by a diesel locomotive. It was later broken up on site in November 1964.

A 3D body only print is made by Recreation 21 available via Shapeways. Having built BEL 2, I thought I'd order one and have a go.

Recreation 21 BEL №1 in primer

Supplied in white natural versatile plastic, the first thing to was to wash it and spray with grey primer. I happened to have some suitable split spoked wheels, so added these for photographic purposes. As usual with 3D prints, there is some surface roughness that will have to be smoothed off, hopefully without losing any detail. The print is a fairly good representation of the prototype, but will need some extra detail added, such as hand rails. These wouldn't have been able to be printed successfully and would have been fragile.

Motorising is an interesting problem. I would have preferred to keep the space between the wheels free of any mechanism, as with the BEL 2 kit. This isn't really possible unless I obtained another BEL 2 chassis. So I have taken the easy way out with a 31mm Tenshodo SPUD motor bogie. The wheelbase is actually 32mm, but this is the nearest. I re wheeled the SPUD with the split spoke wagon wheels and find a way to securely mount it to the body.

The print is very light and will need additional weight added. The small size of the SPUD and space under the bonnets are ideal for this.

BEL №1 with details added and primed waiting painting

As can be seen by the above photograph, I have added some extra details that were missing on the print as supplied. These are the handrails and sand boxes. The sand boxes were shaped from plasticard, using my previously built BEL 2 as a pattern. The locomotive is seen sitting on the Tenshodo SPUD having had split spoke wheels fitted. I made a bracket for the SPUD which enables the motor unit to screw into the lead weights under the battery covers. Final painting is next. This is straightforward for BEL №1, black with red beams.

The model was then spray painted with Halfords Gloss Black with the buffer beams finished off in red. The 'cycling lion' BR crest is from Fox Transfers, whereas the numbers and letters are from a sheet of war gaming transfers I had to hand. The model was then finished off with a coat of Phoenix Precision satin varnish. Three link couplings from an old Exactoscale pack I had were fitted along with my usual Alex Jackson couplings. Glazing was fitted using clear acrylic heet cut to size and secured with Glue'n'Glaze. A DCC decoder will be fitted in due course.

In later years, B.E.L. No.1 had its outer window frames painted white. Although this would have been nice to do, I felt the surface quality of the print would not take it very well.

For a cheapish 3D print, I am quite pleased with the result. It is a pity, at the time of writing, that Recreation 21 only offer their prints in white natural versatile plastic. This has a naturally grainy surface to it requiring a lot of preparation if a smooth finish is to be achieved. Other better finishes are available and hopefully these might be offered in due course.