View allAll Photos Tagged prototyping
Strathclyde [Greater Glasgow] AH1 was the prototype Volvo Citybus. Fitted with an ungainly Marshall body it is pictureed with an Alexander bodied Metrobus and an Atlantean of the same Falkirk pedigree, the latter wearing the new orange and black livery that was to replace the green, yellow and black.
Although this was the first of Volvo's new mid engined Citybus chassis it did carry an Ailsa badge on more than one occassion during its life. It survived the disastrous Larkfield fire of the mid nineties but that wasn't enough to ensure its preservation and the bus was scrapped circa 1998.
Here is the prototype of the Daimler XJ40. This is the top of the range model for the Jaguar XJ6! The car is exposed in the Coventry Transport Museum.
An exhibit at the British Motor Museum.
A prototype based on the Rover 75 and revealed in November 2003. It was never produced as a production model.
Car: MG RDX60 prototype.
Engine: 2497cc V6.
Date taken: 16th April 2024.
Early prototypes for set 8487. New parts here were made with a 3D-printer, prints are low-quality inkjet stickers, and most parts are spraypainted. Sarge has two brackets cut to approximate a new bracket part. My favorite part is the curved slopes in aqua, which were never released without studs :)
SoNE freebuild
Incom prototype RZ-2b, based on the famous RZ-1 A-Wing.
The goal is to enhance the interception performances of the A-wing by improving speed and maneuverability.
Except for the concussion missiles launcher, the weaponry system remains the same, for now.
Had that cockpit setup in mind for quite some times now, so I had to test it, and it works very well :)
Not very happy of the engines and the central landing gear :/
RM1, RM2, RML3, CRL4, together at North Weald EOR station on 28/9/14. Hearty thanks to all involved for making this possible.
Neil F.
I had this idea sitting in my head for about a year and I'm happy I finally got to do it! Probably one of the most messy shoots EVER. There was literally black water all over my bathroom walls and floors after this but it was worth it.
Blog post with behind the scenes & extra photos: melanielapointe.blogspot.ca/2013/05/prototype.html
Model: Elodie Lima
East Midlands Trains' ex-Grand Central HST powercar 43484 hauls prototype HST PC 41001 up the Through Road at Wakefield Westgate, working as 5Z50 from Derby Etches Park to Leeds Neville Hill T&RSMD. 41001 was being hauled to 'NL' for engine attention, after one of its cylinder compression rings failed at the K&WVR's gala back in May.
Scanned from the LNER book, The first railway between Manchester and Sheffield, 1945.
The British Rail Class 76, also known as Class EM1 (Electric Mixed-Traffic 1),[1] is a class of 1.5 kV DC, Bo-Bo electric locomotive designed for use on the now-closed Woodhead Line in Northern England.
TOMMY - the prototype
The prototype, LNER No. 6701 was completed at Doncaster Works in 1941 to a design by Sir Nigel Gresley, but electrification of the Woodhead Route was delayed by the Second World War. It was tested on the few sections of 1500 V DC lines owned by the LNER but had not worked any great distance by 1947 when it was loaned to Dutch Railways to help with their post war shortage of locomotives. In September 1945 the LNER assigned it the classification EM1; previously it had been unclassified.
The prototype locomotive, renumbered 6000 in June 1946, remained on Dutch Railways until 1952 when the Woodhead electrification was complete. While in the Netherlands it gained the name Tommy after the nickname given to British soldiers and ran for the rest of its working life with a name plate which included an explanation of the origin - "So named by drivers of the Netherlands State Railway to whom this locomotive was loaned 1947-1952". It was renumbered to 26000 following the formation of British Railways.
It is not clear what, if any, modifications were required for the locomotive to operate in the Netherlands. Four valves on the front of the cabs carried various combinations of pipes, but these were fitted when the locomotive was built.
26000 Tommy was used alongside the other EM1 locomotives equipped with train heating boilers, in everyday service. It was withdrawn and scrapped in 1971 when passenger services were withdrawn over the Woodhead route and several locomotives became surplus to requirements.
The time in the Netherlands had shown that the design did not ride well at high speed due to the bogie design. The buffers and couplings were mounted on the bogies which were then linked together by a drawbar, a feature intended to remove stress from the superstructure. It was also felt that the cabs were too small with poor visibility.
Production locomotives
In 1950–1953, a further 57 locomotives were built at Gorton locomotive works, Manchester, to a modified design; these were also classified EM1. There were also to have been 24 built at Darlington Works, but these were cancelled. Electrical equipment was supplied by Metropolitan-Vickers, who completed the final assembly of the locomotives at Dukinfield Works. They were later reclassified as Class 76 under the TOPS classification scheme introduced on 28 March 1968.
The locomotives were fitted with twin diamond-shaped pantographs. At certain points on the Woodhead Line, notably in the vicinity of steam locomotive water-columns, the electric overhead lines were as high as 20 feet above the tracks. The pantographs had to stretch to almost their full height to reach the wires at such points.
Although mainly intended for freight working, the locomotives also regularly worked Woodhead Line passenger services – especially after the sale of the Class 77 locomotives to the Netherlands Railways in 1968. Fourteen locomotives (26020, 26046–26057) being fitted with steam heating apparatus. Thirteen of these gained classical Greek names. The names were removed in 1970 after the discontinuance of passenger services in January of that year.
Brief stay in Essex
The first section of the Manchester to Sheffield "Woodhead" route, that between Dunford Bridge and Wath, was not electrified until 4 February 1952. The lines between London Liverpool Street and Shenfield had already been electrified in September 1949 using the same 1500 V DC system, and on 27 October 1950, the first two locomotives to be completed, nos. 26001 and 26002, were sent to Ilford depot in Essex for trials; these were joined in early 1951 by 26003–26010. The trials involved a variety of trains, passenger and freight, and included tests of the regenerative braking system on Brentwood bank, which has a gradient of 1:103 (0.97%). In June 1951, the ten locomotives were sent north to Wath, where the overhead lines had recently been energised, for further trials.
Brakes and controls
The locomotives were fitted with air brakes and regenerative braking; the latter, which could only be used at speeds between 16 and 55 mph (26 and 89 km/h), caused current to be fed back into the wires during the long descents on both sides of the Woodhead Tunnel, and so assisting any train which was ascending at the time. Rheostatic braking was also fitted several years later as an additional safety precaution; this was effective below 20 mph (32 km/h). Train brakes were operated by vacuum. From November 1968, thirty of the locomotives were later modified for multiple unit (M.U.) control.[8] This became particularly important from January 1970 with the introduction of "Merry-Go-Round" coal trains from South Yorkshire to Fiddlers Ferry Power Station near Widnes, operated by two Class 76s (and banked by two extra locomotives up the Worsborough incline between Wombwell and Silkstone). Such trains became the mainstay of the Woodhead Line in the 1970s. Locomotives fitted with M.U. control were also given train air brakes; the last nine conversions had their train vacuum brakes removed at the same time. A "Clearcall" intercom system was fitted, allowing communication between the drivers of the leading pair and the banking pair of locomotives via the overhead line. An early version of this system had been tried on six of the locomotives in the late 1950s, but had been abandoned as unsatisfactory following tests concluding 26 May 1960. Beyond the Woodhead Line, the trains to Fiddlers Ferry were diesel-hauled west of Manchester.
Liveries
As delivered, the locomotives were painted black (as in the main photograph). From the late 1950s onwards Brunswick green was adopted, with small yellow warning panels on the cab ends. From the late 1960s until withdrawal, the Class 76s started to appear in British Rail monastral blue with yellow cab ends.
Withdrawal
The fortunes of the Class 76s were inextricably tied to the fate of the Woodhead Line. The reduction of the freight traffic on the Woodhead Line, plus the ending of passenger services, resulted in the early withdrawal of several locomotives.
By the late 1970s the locomotives were amongst the oldest in service on British Rail and replacement would ultimately become necessary. However, the closure of the Woodhead Line between Hadfield in the West and Penistone in the East (July 1981) resulted in the withdrawal of the entire fleet.
Class 76 had served well, having been built to an evidently sound design and cared-for well by the maintenance teams of Reddish and Wath. Many were still entirely serviceable when withdrawn and British Rail sought to sell the fleet to the Netherlands Railways, but neither they nor any other operator of 1500 V dc railways wished to purchase the Class 76s - many of which were already over 30 years old. Accordingly the remaining locomotives were scrapped (many at the yards of Booths of Rotherham), apart from a single preserved example now in the National Railway Museum, York.
Preservation
One locomotive has been preserved by the National Railway Museum along with at least one cab from another locomotive; 76039 at the Manchester MOSI.
The preserved locomotive, No. 26020 (later 76 020) was specially chosen because it was built with stainless steel handrails and had been exhibited at the Festival of Britain. Later, it was the locomotive that pulled the opening day train through the Woodhead Tunnel. It retains the stainless steel handrails, although they are currently painted over.
A complete cabside from No. 76039 Hector and a door from No. 76051 are preserved in original condition at Barrow Hill roundhouse.
Information sourced from the Class 76 page on Wikipedia.
The new M3 "Grease Gun" prototype from Brickarms is exceptionally awesome. Here, Will's taken a real weapon that has an overly simple design, and made it perfect for the minifig aesthetic.
One that I've been wanting to see for quite some time, and it's so well done!
Still a mystery what these may have been used for, but one theory is some kind of display stand or support.
They have remains of the same round labels found on the cut baseplates:
"F. F." test markings underneath which we very often see on prototypes. No Lego logo as all studs have holes through them.
Closer look:
Update:
The mystery has been solved.
These are used to test clutch power with different connections and are still available for LEGO designers today in different forms and with different connections.
Unregistered prototype Arrival Gen 2 Electric Bus manufactured by Arrival Ltd, Banbury. Not the same one seen in Towcester in 2020 as that was LHD and had different styling.
The four prototype Routemasters came together for a gathering outside the iconic Earls Court Exhibition centre before its demolished. From left to right, RM1, SLT 56, RM2, SLT 57, RML3, SLT 58 and CRL4 SLT 59.
A second photo of the Leyland Dromedary chassis,
I have cropped the picture to give a better view of the prototype Atlantean bus in the background,
I will post the complete picture shortly
Specter's Arctic division,situated in Alaska,has gotten their hands on the MP Spec-A and has done a few modifications of their own.The MP Arctic has coated internals and improved drainage channels as well as internal etching to negate lock up from freezing in low temperatures.The MP Arctic also has a small detachable Magpul MOE stock for increased control in wet conditions and thick gloved hands.For more detailed info on specs go to the original in my galleries.
These are all of my current Brickarms prototypes, including the new ones from Brickfair and previous ones that I also obtained from the past years, and before you ask, they are NOT for trade or sale. If you even ask for one, your comment will be deleted and may have a block-threating message.
These are the various stages of development of my LTM/M39 mount adapters for broken point&shoot camera lenses.
I put in a lot of effort to make sure that the design would activate the internal rangefinder follower properly without risk of breaking the camera like I have seen on other designs that can be found online.