The Last Bowsider

Things have been a little quiet in the world of Bron Hebog these last few weeks - at least on this blog - but we've been quietly working away on various projects in the background and one of them is ready to break cover.

Himself has been painstakingly painting and lining our model of bowsider 18 in its current peak-Victorian livery.

This is a Worsley Works brass kit and the gold lining is all done using the narrowest of the waterside lining and corners range from Fox Transfers.

I think it looks absolutely gorgeous.

This completes our set of vintage bogie carriages, although I suspect Allan Garraway would have had something to say about the order they've been marshalled for the 'works photograph'.

Himself would probably had been summoned to the managerial suite and informed - in no uncertain terms - that this is not an Irish tramway!

Last Of The Bowsiders

Having cleaned every wheel on ever item of rolling stock ahead of Model Rail Scotland this weekend - and, no, he didn't count them -  Himself has been engaging in a spot of interior painting.

These are the seat units for bowsider 18 which will slot into the Worsley bodyshell.

The body itself has had the door ventilator hoods added, and the grab handles as well.

This carriage also has fake lamp pots on the roof in its Victorian condition, so I've cast a quartet of those to be fixed onto the roof.

The Green Vale

Apart from a few etched brass finishing touches - such as windscreen wipers and nameplates - our second Vale of Ffestiniog is ready for action.

The body has been given a coat of varnish and the glazing fitted.

Tests runs on the upper part of Bron Hebog show this Funkey is able to haul a reasonably prototypical 6 carriage rake up the hill without doing its transmission a mischief.

Given the lead times on custom etched plates I doubt it will be named in time for the Glasgow show at the end of next month but it will certainly be getting a run on the layout.

Class Divisions

I walked into my modelling den the other day, fully intending to look out the superbarn moulds and make a start on 'Bob', when my gaze fell upon the empty brass shell of bowsider 18, and my conscience got the better of me and I decided I'd better get this job finished before starting on something new.

This will be the last of our second generation of bowsiders.

Our existing model of 18 is one of the Langley kits, finished in the very basic maroon and ivory 'Mountain Prince' livery of the late 1980s - although it is strictly speaking not accurate because the carriage features the full panel detail which had been pulled off 17/18 as an economy measure all through the '70s and '80s.

This version - a Worsley body etch - will complete our rake of Victorian bogie carriages showing 18 as it runs today in its plum and off-white livery.

When it went through (*edit) privately-funded restoration in the HLF workshop it also regained a 2nd class compartment, although in effect this functions as standard class in service today.

As a result I need to be very accurate lining up the compartment wall at the bottom end because it has to hide behind a very thin pillar, whereas there's a nice chunky panel either side of the 1st class compartment which hides a multitude of sins.

I'm also reminded that 18 also runs with the fake lamp pots on the roof, these days, so have to try and find the mould I used for the resin ones on 19.

Funkey Colours

Himself has embarked on what could be a prolonged process of painting the new Vale of Ffestiniog.

Not only does the locomotive have quite a few colours on it but the places where they join are awkward.

For example, there is a very obvious fold line on the cab sides, but that is not where the dark green changes to the mid green.

Also, there's that long central body section full of access doors which is not conducive to a simple masking operation, either.

So instead Himself is planning to use his go-to workaround solution for situations such as these and use waterslide lining transfers to give him a target to aim at.

The reason the paint in the picture above looks so rough is that the shot was taken before the transfer was applied to mark the lower edge of the dark green upper section.

Still, it was his idea to build this second one, so.....

Replicas Running

Now the varnish has set, and the bogies been fixed on,  Himself has sent me a couple of pictures of our new replicas - Ashbury 21 and Hudson toast rack 39 - on a test run on the layout.

21 is from a Worsley brass body kit and 39 was scratch built with most of the body cast in resin by myself,

This gives us a very respectable length of a 'Garraway' vintage set strengthens our 'Col Stephens' options as well, although we are a few green bug boxes short in that department.

They look very good posed in the platform at Beddgelert station on Bron Hebog.

It shouldn't be too much longer before our Bachmann Double Fairlies arrive and I'm really looking forward to seeing what the green Earl of Merioneth looks like hauling some of our green and ivory and all-over red stock.

Totally out of period for us, of course, but it's nearly Christmas so we're allowed, aren't we?

Venting

As well as the Vale of Ffestiniog II, Himself has been doing some work on replica carriage 21 this week.

Now all the detailing work has been done it has been sprayed with primer ready for the application of its green / ivory livery with red ends.

It's adding the small details which really lift these Worsley Works kits, such as the ornate door grab handles, and the vents at the top of the doors.

These were made from a single strip of styrene which was scored with parallel lines and propped up with a smaller strip behind.

This was shaped subtly and chopped into the small lengths and glued in place.

Dissatisfied Customer

A complaint has flooded in!

Last week I cast a set of bogie frames for Vale of Ffestiniog (II) for Himself, but I am informed they are not up to scratch.

The problem seems to be the bottom half, which attaches to the swivelling bogie of the Farish chassis, is shorter than it should have been.

As a result, Himself has decided to use the upper casting, which is fixed to the chassis block, and scratch build a set of the lower parts.

These pictures give a good illustration of how we solved the problem of the bogie frames on the Funkeys being much taller than those on your typical 2mm scale diesel, and I think its quite an effective illusion.

You can also see how he attaches other extra details like the air tanks to the chassis block.

So there you go, that's customers for you. No pleasing them sometimes.

Honestly, who'd be a model manufacturer?

Too Funkey

This week Himself's been doing a bit more work on version 2 of Vale of Ffestiniog.

Most of it is stuff you don't immediately see, such as making sure the body is sitting level and square on the Farish diesel chassis, and matching it up against its clone to make sure the ride height is set correctly.

In this front view you get a good look at some of the extra details Himself adds to these Worsley Works body kits.

The most obvious is the light clusters down near the buffer beam abd in the centre above the cab windows.

He's also fashioned the lip around the hole for the coupling shaft as well as the handrails, vac pipe and - new on this version - the lamp bracket in the centre between the lights.

Unfortunately - I think - this version won't have the lovely big twin headlamps because in the form he's chosen, it now has a rather less impressive set of square LED lights, much the same as those on the recently restored Garratt 130.

At my end I have cast the large fake bogie side frames and I'll hand those onto him the next time I'm passing.

The Vale Again

Himself has decided we need another model of the FR's Funkey Vale of Ffestiniog.

We've had a model for years, built from the Worsley Works scratch aid kit, and finished in the National Power livery it first appeared in after the magnificent rebuild by our much-missed friend, Steve Coulson.

In recent years, though, the loco has sported a two-tone green livery looking just like a 1960's class 47, and it appears Himself would like one for us too.

Unfortunately it's not a case of just building a new body to swap onto the existing chassis, because the 'blue brick' had a light grey underframe and bogies and the repainted one has those bits painted black.

I thought this might be an issue, because the Farish 91 chassis is like hens teeth to get hold of these days, selling for silly money on eBay whenever they appear, but I had forgotten that many years ago Himself invested in a spare, so that's what will go under this one.

He's been working on putting together the body, with it's very tricky angles, and correcting the errors in the kit such as the over-long roof.

My contribution will be to cast the new side frames for the bogies.

 

Covid Safe Carriage

I'll never get tired of making the argument on the treatment of the FR's modern relics - such as Earl of Merioneth and the tin cars - that things which happened yesterday will one day become tomorrow's heritage.

This is probably what lies behind my decision that our model of the replica carriage 21 should be made with the temporary plywood 'covid safe' compartment dividers in place, rather than its 'historic' - and future? - condition with fresh air between the seat backs.

Horrible and traumatic as it has been, I think it's important that in our relief at getting back to 'normal' life we do not discard the memories of what we've all been through.

The FR's response at the height of the crisis, and the operating model which was adopted, will, I believe, become seen as a very significant moment in the railway's history.

I'm not privy to the thoughts of the railway's management beyond what is shared in public communications, but I can see the sense in retaining many of the aspects of the way the business has been forced to operate for the last two seasons, such as the use of pre-booking tickets to match operating capacity (and costs) to demand.

Who knows if public sensibilities will change permanently, and whether from now on passengers will prefer to have a solid physical divide when sitting back-to-back with strangers in a narrow gauge carriage?

But presuming that these temporary panels will eventually be removed, I think it's only fitting that we have a reminder, in model form, that represents just one of the many changes we all had to accept as a society to get through this.

Unforgiving Benches

I always consider the return of Strictly on the telly as the start of modelling season.

Especially during the early rounds of the series it keeps the ladies of the house entertained for long enough on a Saturday night for me to sneak off to the study and get a decent amount of work done - more than two hours worth in this case.

While Adam Peaty and the other celebs were wiggling their hips I was merrily chopping and bonding styrene to make a start on the interior for carriage 21, starting with the bench seats.

This carriage is unusual because the compartments above the bogies have the floor raised up, which is different to the Ashbury carriages inherited from the NWNGR / WHR.

The one thing I'd forgotten - until Himself pointed it out - is that it will have have to be split up in order to get it into place.

I've been building it from above, with the roof off.

But once that's soldered in place the only way in is from underneath, and I haven't accounted for the 1cm wide plates at the end of the carriage which the floor bolts onto.

It should be an easy fix.

The Carriage That Had The Last Laugh

At long last we've got our hands on a set of etches for FR carriage 21, which we'll be doing up to represent the volunteer-built replica which entered traffic a couple of years ago.

This pair of Asbury carriages were rather basic compared to what Victorian passengers had become accustomed to with the 'bowsiders', and although apparently intended for tourist traffic other accounts say they were bought to be nothing more than bogie quarrymans carriages.

Sitting in one of the end compartments of the replica for just a few minutes while it was under construction at Boston Lodge, I soon appreciated how they developed this reputation for not being the most spacious and comfortable carriages, and I know I wasn't alone in wondering quite why some people were so keen to recreate one it its original form?

That was before Covid-19 came along, and suddenly compartment stock roared back into fashion!

Along with the other 'lock ups' 21 has become a mainstay of the FR fleet for the past two seasons and those who built it - while others looked on with a sceptical look - have had the last laugh.

As built there were never any dividers between the compartments, but these were hastily added as a Covid precaution before the start of the 2020 service.  

Now it's been handed over to me to make the interior,  and I'm wondering whether I should make it with the plywood walls in place as our little miniature memorial to the pandemic?

The Forgotten Carriage

It's possibly the affect of age, and a touch of confusion creeping in, but I was very surprised to discover recently that we didn't have a model of bowsider 18 in its current ornate Victorian livery.

The only one we have is one of our very first 009 models from around 30 years ago, built from a Langley brass kit, finished in the very simple two tone 'Mountain Prince' livery of the late 1980s.

(This model is not strictly correct because it has all the panelling etched in brass, whereas at this time number 18 was running with smooth panels along its midriff.)

We're going to fix this gap in the stock list and have bought in a Worsley Works body kit which Himself is busy soldering together.

That's the easy part - the hard part will be the painting.

Painted Pickering Carriage

And just like that, a few days later, a new carriage takes to the rails.

Himself spent the week putting the finishing touches to the Pickering brake replica which looks quite the part posed at the platform at Beddgelert station.

When the body side is brass, as this one is, it makes painting the drop lights neatly especially challenging.

I'm also very pleased with how the resin cast lamp pots on the roof look now they're been picked out in black with the base ring matching the off-white roof.

What really sets it off, of course, is the W H Rly lettering.

This has been done by transfers, rather than the slightly raised metal letters on the real carriage, but at this scale I think it hardly matters.

I look forward to seeing it as part of a WHHR rake running behind Russell, and hopefully it won't be too long before that scene happens in real life.

Painting The Pickering

With the construction phase done Himself is putting the Pickering brake carriage through the paint shop.

After being sprayed with primer it has now been treated to four coats of gloss green before the tricky task of picking out the window droplights in a woody brown.

I'm still quite satisfied with how the third generation lamp pots look.

Hopefully that won't change when they're painted black against the light grey roof.

Pot Luck

Or perhaps more a case or persistence pays off.

I think we're both satisfied with the result of version 3 of the lamp pots for the Pickering brake replica.

They are without a doubt the biggest pain in the backside I've had on the modelling bench for quite a while but I think the result of many weeks tinkering will be worth it.

You'll also notice Himself has added the air and vacuum pipes, this being a dual braked carriage, and a very pragmatic decision by the WHHR which is to be applauded. 

The long, sweeping rain strips have also been soldered onto the roof.

It's details like these, and the styrene ventilation hoods above the doors, which really make the difference on these Worsley scratch-aid bodies.

Benches In

Today's update is to show you where I've got to with the interior for the Pickering brake.

As carriages go this is a very simple one with only three compartments and basic bench seats.

The real ones - as you may know - are made up of horizonal slats, but I'm not motivated enough to try to recreate that when you won't have a hope of seeing them inside.

Same goes for the vertical boards on the compartment walls - I'll be quite content with plain panels as long as they're the correct shade.

What I am going to be fussy about is getting the lamp pots to look right, and in the background of the picture you'll see a tiny styrene box filled with RTV rubber.

Under there is my third prototype!

Having seen the pictures of the carriage being delivered to Gelert's Farm it's obvious that I need more of a stacking rings effect, so this latest effort uses a smaller diameter tube for the very top section.

Once the rubber is cured I can cast a few and see whether I've cracked it at last?

P - P - Pick Up A Pickering

A Sunday morning off - the first in ages - gave a chance to catch up with Himself for coffee in the garden and get instructions for what I'm to do with the interior of the WHHR Pickering brake replica.

I haven't decided whether to take the easy route and do the inside of the carriage first, or have another crack at the lamp pots.

So long as the Indian variant doesn't begin to run riot across the whole of Scotland we can, from today, socialise in each other's houses again, so we also spent some time working out the basics of a design for a fold-down layout in the spare room in my house to be built over the coming months.

Ostensibly this is so my youngest has somewhere more practicable to run his burgeoning 00 collection than the current layout-on-wheels which lives under his bed, but I've got a secret plan to make sure that it's a mixed gauge layout with some 9mm NG track on there as well.

Purely as a test track, you understand......

Brake Two

I've had an update from Himself on progress with the second of the Pickering brake carriages.

This one is the Worsley Works version.

It is the correct length but has the wrong panelling detail on the doors - you can't win!

Himself has also made a correction to the windows at the van end, which needed a fillet of brass on their outside edges to make them the right width.

Regular readers will also be please to know that I found the motivation to return to the work bench and have a bash at making a master for the rather ornate lamp pots on the roof.

More to follow....