2019 - Part 2

The next instalment of our review begins in April when I was making the interior for another 'bowsider' which was destined to become number 20 in Col. Stephens green.

Himself was being challenged with building up a prototype chassis for Gelert which we had been asked to test, seen here beneath the Robex 3D printed body.

Some finishing details were being added to observation carriage 152.

May

Dduallt was back on show just down the road from us in Troon.

I was puzzling out how to fit an interior into the Gladstone carriage while still allowing for the floor to be removed for painting and maintenance.

Carriage 20 was swiftly painted and made its debut on the layout at the show.

June

I was embarking on a project to create a kit of parts to build the P Way van 51 in its current condition - shown here are the first of the castings for the body.

The chassis on Gelert was progressing with the motion now in place.

And carriage 152 was taken for a first test run on Dduallt.

Fortunately, this time I'd drilled the holes for the bogie pivot bolts in the correct position and it didn't foul the rockface in the cutting beneath Rhoslyn Bridge!

Breaking Cover

The varnish was barely dry on our new carriage 20 when it made its debut at Troon.

It made up a very nice little Col. Stephens set with 16 and 10, but what it really needs is a plain green big box on the front to finish it off.

There is one in the stock box which hardly ever sees the light of day. For some reason, which I can’t recall, we painted it all over cherry red - the vends and everything - which wasn’t even correct for our nominal layout year of 1988 (because only number 5 was in use then.)

I wonder if I can persuade Himself to repaint it?

Chequers

Himself got to an advanced stage with carriage 20 - having given the body a coat of primer - when he spotted something that wasn't quite right.

This is one of the bowsiders which still bears the evidence some of the more practical overhauls they've had to keep them going after 140 years or more.

In this case it's the chequer plate which covers the step on the balconies, while others have been rebuilt with wood in more recent years.

It was quite a simple job - for him at least - to cut and bend some etched brass sheet to shape and get it fitted.

As always, it's the little details...

In Da Hood

I must confess I’d overlooked how much there was still to do to finish carriage 20.

Since I handed it back with the interior done Himself has added fixed on the roof and put on the ventilator hoods above the doors (made from wee bits of styrene) and what I’ve always assumed to be the communication chord actuators on the ends.

If I’m wrong it won’t take someone long to correct me....

Fitted Out

This week saw me finish work on the interior of bowsider 20.

These are quite complicated to make, especially the ones with two first class compartments, but it’s helped by being easy to break it down into bite-sized bits sections.

I’ve handed it over to Himself to paint it in the woefully dull Col. Stephens colour scheme....

Divisions

I've returned from a week's holiday and got straight down to work on the next project - creating an interior for 'bowsider' 20.

Like the others this will be made in three pieces on account of the change in floor level.

This later pair of carriages came with two first class compartments in the middle, and so my first step is to get the dividing walls made and positioned.

It is our second version of carriage 20 and will be finished in the (very drab) 1920s dark green livery with red ends to make up a Col. Stephens set with 16 and van 2.

(Or 10, if you're stick-in-the-mud like me.)

And Another Thing

I've had a surprise delivery.

I returned home from work yesterday to discover Himself has been beavering away on bowsider 20 (version II) and has got to the stage where I'm expected to provide an interior for it.

This will require a little research before I begin, specifically with regards to the furnishing in the first class compartments, following my faux pas with 17.

There's just the one more bowsider to go before we've completed the replenishing of our fleet, and that's number 18, which I can't imagine Himself will be in a hurry to do given it has the most complicated of the liveries, and that he finds them rather fiddly to put together.

Not that he struggles to do it, of course - this is a man who makes light work of a Backwoods Garratt remember - it's just that these scratch aid kits can be a bit of a faff in the way they go together.

Our first 20 is also a Worsley etch and was finished in its 1988 condition, when it was the first of the bowsiders to be painted in a mock vintage red and ivory livery with the panels picked out.

This one will be finished in the exceedingly drab 1920's Col. Stephens green with red ends livery, which is a complete waste of one of the most exceptional Victorian carriages, whether on standard or narrow gauge, in my opinion.

Seventeen Times Two

Himself has soldered together yet another new carriage - this one is going to be our second version of bowsider 17.

The first was made around 30 years ago from a Langley etched brass kit and was finished - inaccurately - in the simple two tone 'Mountain Prince' livery.

(Inaccurate in that at this period the carriage had most of its distinctive panelling removed in favour of flush plywood sides, but the Langley kit has all that detail on.)

This version is from a Wosley Works scratch aid kit and will show the carriage running as it does currently in the green and ivory 'Garraway' livery and will go very nicely with our 11 and 12 pairing.

It's not been completely straightforward, though, because we discovered that the ends which come with the kit have too many vertical strips to show the carriage as it currently is.

As luck would have it we've been able to arrange a transplant from the body which was supposed to be turned into carriage 20.

So what's happened to carriage 20?

Well, it turned out that there's bit a of a cock up.

Since the last time Himself assembled a model of the 19/20 kind of bowsider it turns out the Worsley etches have been redrawn, with the result that when he put it together he discovered the frame was much longer than 19, by a couple of scale feet.

While we wait for a replacement set of etches - with the previous proportions - at least we can made some use of part of the otherwise redundant body.

Twenty Twenty

After my (assisted) efforts to construct a Worsley carriage body Himself has continued with another of the batch I have bought, which is an additional model of bowsider 20.

Our existing model, which is also a Worsley one, is finished in the two-tone red and ivory livery the carriage was turned out in back in 1988 - which was the original nominal year setting for Dduallt.

If my memory is correct, 20 was the only one of the bowsiders which escaped having all its beading stripped off in the 1970s, and so when the 'Mountain Prince' livery was introduced the ivory went in the panels aping the green and ivory livery so familiar from the revival era in the 1950s.

Now, of course, 20 wears the incredibly depressing pain dark green livery of the Col. Stephens era.

As such it will make a nice wee set for the layouts running with our model of 16 and van 2 (I still call it 10).