X-Rated Thomas Character

The Rev. Awdry book you won't find on anyone's shelves is the one titled 'Shitty the Shunter'. 

Himself has been cracking on with Harold II, competing all the alterations and additions to the basic white metal body.

Thanks to the tiny coreless motor installed in the Arnold Kof chassis the cab area is open and there's space to put a driver.

The rear of the engine cover and the roof supports are made out of brass, as are the chassis frame pieces at the sides.

The axle boxes have been repurposed from a set of Dundas VoR carriage bogies.

It's a shame we don't have a Boston Lodge diorama on which to run it.

What excuse can we come up with for the occasional foray to Dduallt or Beddgelert??

Five Years Later

It's been a very drawn-out affair but the end result of our second Conway Castle was definitely worth waiting for.

Himself has fitted the glazing - which is a very tricky operation - and finished it off with the nameplates which include the badge of Conway on the cabside, supplied by our friends at Narrow Planet.

The one compromise we've had to make is with the headlights.

It seems its no longer possible to get hold of the large clear jewels we've used before, and we've had to settle for amber ones.

But given that Conway became rather neglected in its years as Dinas shunter and helping out with construction trains its headlights let in water and took on a distinct yellow hue.

Colourful Carriages

Himself is very busy attempting to finish off some more rolling stock with the exhibition at Dinas just a little over a week away now.

Carriage 16 looks a real rainbow of colours when it is disassembled like this..

He's also been putting the finishing touches to the third of the 1st generation Super Barns 108...

It isn't just carriages, either.

Work has restarted on our new Conway Castle

The main blocks of colour are all there and the challenge now is to add the rather complicated lining where they meet.

Conway Cab Alterations

We've got so many projects on the go at the moment it's hard to keep track of them but Himself can never resist a new kit and has soldered together the body for our 2nd Conway Castle.

The Five 79 body requires a few alterations to represent the locomotive in its more recent condition.

For a start it had proper cab doors fitted after a few years in service and he's knocked up something in brass to represent these.

It also needs two small grills cut out of the whitemetal panel on either side nearest the cab.

Other modifications will include a pair of air filters protruding from the bonnet and the headlights will be drilled out and replaced with some blingy jewels.

Christmas Kit

We've had a bit of a tradition going over the last few years that Himself finds a new locomotive kit beneath the Christmas tree.

First there was Lyd, followed 12 months ago by the NGG16 he has turned into 138 which is being painted currently.

And this year we're going back to where it all stated with another one of these....

(I forgot to take a snap of the Five79 (ex-Chivers Finelines) kit for Conway Castle before I wrapped it up. Oops!)

It was the very first OO9 model he made back in 1989 in its orange, black and grey livery dubbed Liquorice Allsort.

It's still going strong a quarter of a century later, although its Ibertren chassis has had a motor transplant, being exchanged for a Mashima unit.

On Bron Hebog, though, it looks very out of place.

Conway Castle played a big part in the reconstruction of the WHR along with Upnor Castle, but all the while wearing the push-pull green livery its had since the early 1990's.

Making a new one has been on my To Do list for a long time now and at last I've got around to buying one,

I do, however, have a small supply of spare Ibertren chassis so we'll be able to have two 'Conk Out's in operation at the same time should we every have the need....