MOTW - 'The Darj'

Another topical Model Of The Week post for you, this time coinciding with the WHR Superpower event this weekend coming, the 'King Of The Hill' trial which has been billed as the equivalent of the 1948 locomotive exchanges on the 2 foot.

One of the locomotives which will be showing what it can do on the 1:40 grades on the WHR will be 'The Darj'.



The loco in question is Adrian Shooter's Darjeeling and Himalayan B class 0-4-0 19B. It is a Backwoods Miniatures kit and is pretty standard, with no alterations, and it runs like a sewing machine! (Anoraks will notice that it's missing the tender which Adrian had built for it to run on his 2 foot gauge 'garden railway')

This model always causes a stir at exhibitions, usually eliciting smart-arse comments from people who don't realise that Adrian's engine, and its two Boston Lodge built carriages, paid a visit to the FR a few years back.

In fact, if you've ever seen a copy of a lovely painting of 'the Darj' steaming over Rhoslyn Bridge on the spiral at Dduallt with Taliesin posed on the line below, it's a little known fact that the inspiration for this was a photograph taken on our layout Dduallt while exhibiting in the carriage works at Boston Lodge during a gala weekend.

The carriages are built from Worsley Works scratch-aid kits. Yes, we do use them too, you know!