Description
GWR “Beyer Peacock” 322 Conversion kit
This White metal conversion kit allows the conversion of the Society GL001 Dean Goods or the GEM 3SMR G1 GWR 57xx kits to the tender or tank versions of the Armstrong – Beyer Peacock GWR “Beyer” 322 class engines with Belpaire firebox. Nos 322-341 and 350-359. Rebuilding resulted in 322-327 becoming 0-6-0ST and apart from 324, they later became 0-6-0PT. For the tender version the rear of the frames must be cut away by some 9½ mm, check with a drawing, and the steps shortened to 3½ mm-. In both cases discard the footplate: for the tender version it will be necessary to cut away part of the rear lower smokebox – reducing the width of the front splashers will help here. The firebox also needs trimming front and rear and the cab cutting to fit. For the Pannier, assemble the tank sides to boiler top and front before fitting. The GEM kit is a Little over 1 mm too wide and the new footplate 1 mm too narrow if assembled tightly, so assemble the footplate with a gap between the frames and the buffer beam units, filling the gap with solder or Milliput. The tender engine uses the narrow, thicker buffer beam and the drag beam with a slot to take the tender coupling; the tank uses the wider, thinner, buffer beams. Appearance of the tank is greatly improved by fitting firebox sides and boiler undersides. The side frames have been made to accept a chassis with wheelbase 24mm + 24mm, fractionally under scale.
The kit predates the Bryan kits 57XX but can probably be used with that as an alternative to the GEM variant.
