Flea Bites

Last week I posted about the 'Barn' carriages in their short-lived varnished wood livery which were scratch built for the Minffordd project.

They are one of three core passenger trains which we run on the main line which traverses the back of the scene.

The one which most people probably associate most with the FR is the short train of the historic four-wheelers known in the period as the 'Flying Flea'.

This began as an unadvertised relief train cobbled together to cope with the surge in passenger numbers the railway reopened to Tan y Bwlch in 1958.

It only lasted for a couple of years in this form, so, historically, the heyday of the 'Flea' is a before the period setting for our layout.

Later in the 1960s the four-wheel carriages were mostly added to the top of trains of bogie carriages as strengtheners.

However, it helps us operationally to have three carriage sets to rotate, and it's also a fun little train to run, particularly with a single engine at the head of it.

To get a consistent look we decided to use the RTR PECO 'bug boxes' for this set, instead of the brass kits we have for the carriages on Dduallt.

The Quarrymen's carriage was made from a Dundas plastic kit because during this time the last survivor, number 8, had been repaired with plain plywood, rather than the historic matchboard sides which is how PECO produced theirs.

The same is true for brake van number 2, which I also had to kit-bash.

That is sometimes marshalled on the end of this set as the guard's vehicle, or, as in the photo above, it may be running with the new van 1 which was among the first brand new passenger vehicles on the FR in the revival era.

This model was scratch built in styrene and running on a Dundas Quarrymen's chassis.

It makes such a fun contrast to the large standard gauge trains passing underneath on the Cambrian line and, I hope, adds to the charm of the layout for a casual viewer.

Make It Stop

It's a contentious opinion, but I'm already fed up of the Platinum Jubilee, and there's still best part of a week to go for us in the media and every part of the service economy to work itself into a frenzy.

It's not a republican sentiment, or any ill-feeling towards the monarch, but more that I instinctively adopt a contrarian attitude when I perceive that I am under some expectation, or obligation, to get excited about an event, or behave a certain way, and when everyone leaps onto the same bandwagon.

I feel exactly the same every four years when the [football] World Cup comes round.  (So, yeah, 2022's a bit of a bummer!)

Right now it feels like you can't move for bunting, the union flag is being plastered onto every conceivable item, and anything that moves - or doesn't - is being painted purple.

Peco has even produced a special edition purple bug box, and it won't surprise you to learn I have absolutely no intention of purchasing one. (And certainly not at £34.95!)

But then again, we don't need to.

As Peco point out, there is a precedent for a purple Small Birmingham, and it dates back to the days of the 'Minffordd Shuttle', when number 4 was returned to service in what was called 'Damson' livery.

At the time it was believed this was a heritage colour scheme after the discovery of fragment of this colour, but it is now known to have been just undercoat.

You can read more about this model in a previous post, but for now its done its job as a vehicle for me to post a rant about the national celebrations.

Happy New Year - Start Saving!

Best wishes for 2021 to everyone who clicks in to read this blog! I wonder what this year will bring?

I predict it's going to be a very significant one for 009 narrow gauge modelling.

We know of at least one new locomotive (the Heljan Lyn) which is about to be released, and a couple of exciting projects in development (the Peco/Kato England engine and a VofR tank commissioned by Model Rail) and I wouldn't be surprised if there is not more announcements by the end of year.

2021 could get very expensive!

Himself has been trying out our second RTR item having received a Peco first class bug box in Victorian livery for Christmas.

First impressions are very good!

It looks at home running as part of our Victorian train with our kit built, brass stock.

Direct comparison with our fleet of 'Small Birminghams' from the Chris Veitch range show the Peco carriage is slightly longer and the lower body slightly deeper.

The FR monograms on this carriage look as if they might be a little on the large side when comparing with photographs.

The livery detail is very crisp and far better than we could replicate ourselves, but being made of plastic it could perhaps do with a little more weight, especially if it's going be positioned at the head of a string of brass carriages.

I suspect Himself will also look at replacing the plastic wheelsets with something with metal tyres.

If more are produced depicting the contemporary FR fleet - for example the 3rd class carriages fully glazed rather than with side panels - I've no doubt we'll see more of them join our fleet.

This model bodes well for the FR bowsider that Peco will be producing.  

See what I mean about 2021 being expensive??

 

Still Stocktaking

The process of giving every item of rolling stock a check before the exhibition next week continues.

These two 'Bug Boxes' have been brought in for a coupling transplant.

Being old school I still refer to them, even today, as 5 and 6

For many years when I was a kid number 5 was the only one of the iconic Small Birmingham carriages in traffic, and it wore the regulation red livery.

(A lot of younger people won't remember this, and part of me suspects that at the moment we're not allowed to.)

This model is a legacy of our original dateline of 1988 for Dduallt, which was the last year that the passing loop remained available for operation and the 'one livery' policy was just beginning to break down.

Prince had emerged in red in 1986 and then then next year the 'Mountain Prince' two-tone carriage livery was brought in, followed in '88 by the reappearance of Merddin Emrys from its cosmetic surgery and carriage 15 going into a royal purple and cream colour scheme.

In the decades since then, of course, we've kept up with all the developments in livery, locomotives and rolling stock, but there was some historical logic to our modelling, once....

MOTW - Bug Box 4

I've got one of the more lurid FR liveries for you this week.

I suppose some people with a more casual association with the FR might presume this purple colour scheme is a result of modeller's licence, but it is not. Here is the proof:

It's quite remarkable how in two decades the FR made the transition from a railway that gave BR's corporate blue livery of the '70's a real run for its money it terms of dullness and monotony to one which, for a short period in the late 90's, appeared to be painting its rolling stock in all colours of the rainbow.

Small Birmingham number 4's post-rebuild livery was certainly one of the more unusual.

The situation has settled down a lot more in recent years with most rolling stock either wearing the regular maroon / ivory livery or one of a more rationalised range of heritage colour schemes.

Today number 4 wears the rather unremarkable green with red ends scheme of the Col. Stephens era - not a personal favourite, I must say - so I'm quite glad that our Chris Veitch brass bug box looks a little more interesting.