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.

Multi-Shade Shunter

For a humble yard shunter the Dinas-based Baguley Drewry number 9 carries an exotic mix of colours.

Himself is making solid progress adding the green and orange sections to the yellow base on the body.

The very fine band midway up the cab sheets has been covered with a waterslide transfer and will most likely be picked out in the same darker shade used on the top of the bonnet.

The orange on the rods and fly cranks certainly helps them to stand out and will look great when it's moving.

Doors Time

With the toast rack project passed over to Himself for the roofing and painting stage I've not got any excuses left for not tackling the doors on WHR diesel 9.

As you may have read in previous posts on this blog, the idea is to make this up from a test etch for a potential new kit from RT Models running on an adapted Farish 08 chassis.

Because it is a test, a few of the details will need to be altered before it goes into production, including the side doors on the bonnet which were not the same as the ones being carried by the WHR example based at Dinas.

In the kit these were meant to be metal overlays to be positioned on top of the perforated bonnet former.

I think I shall try to make a very thin masters out of styrene and attempt to cast copies. 

Keep following the blog to see how I get on....

Number Nine

With an empty work bench I find my thoughts turning to what I might get up to next?

Something that's been on the wishlist for quite a while is the Dinas-based Baguley Drewery number 9 which turned up on the Welsh Highland in 2009 after being built for work at a sugar mill in Queensland.

It has ventured down to Porthmadog at least once and I've always been drawn to the bright yellow livery (my favourite colour).

At first glance it would seem to be an ideal candidate for a Farish 08 chassis with the jackshaft drive adaptation, but it's a much bigger beast than the FR's BD 0-6-0s, as comparison to the vintage brake van behind it shows.

I have some basic measurements for the body so it might be that I'll try to work up a design and start working out how best we can scratch build it.

Plum Again

Himself is painting Welsh Pony for the second time.

Having been stripped back to brass and primed it's now been sprayed with the Lancashire and Yorkshire purple brown colour.

Now he tells me he's trying to pluck up the courage to have a second go at lining it our with the new transfers we commissioned.

Progressing Pipework

A few more parts have been added to 130 as the photo evidence emerges from Dinas.

The water injection pipes are in place on the frame below the cab, which have subtle differences to the other WHR Garratts.

The last major piece of the jigsaw before we can paint it is see for sure how exactly everything will be connected up the manifold on top of the firebox just in front of the cab.

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Crimson Sandwich

Today's update is posted a little later that I would like, time seems to be running away with me this week...

Anyway, better late than never I've got a pretty picture of progress with painting 130.

Both the front and rear bunkers and tanks are fully lined out, and you can see that Himself has had a go at creating something to represent the SAR headlights with their LED fittings.

The bogies are without their pony wheels which have been removed for painting on their own.

The boiler unit will have to wait until we see all the plumbing in place on the front of the cab on the real one, which really shouldn't be too much longer now.

There's also the question of whether the cladding on the cylinders will get painted and lined as per the published designs.

We're sticking to our rule of never second-guessing the railway so we've left ours in a neutral black for now...

Red Tanks

An exciting moment in the build of 130 as the first of coat of paint is applied to the bunker and tanks.

Trying to choose a colour for a model is always a tricky business. You have to take into account the effect of scaling, and also that people tend to see the colour as their mind's eye recalls the real one.

Thus we've opted for a BR crimson shade for 130 which by the time it's lined out won't look too far away from the real thing, I hope.

It's terrific to see yet another Garratt for Bron Hebog on the home straight. 

Another One Joins The Fleet

 I'll keep this post short and let the picture do the talking.

As you can see, Lyn is now lined, varnished and reassembled, and ready for action on Bron Hebog, whenever model railway exhibitions are allowed again.

I've written before that Lynton and Barnstaple locos are not my favourites, neither is the unsubtle Southern livery, but Lyn is the most appealing of the lot.

I think it's perhaps got the Earl of Merioneth attitude - it doesn't pretend to be pretty, it's just built to do the job.

And if you don't like that, tough!

Lining Lyn

Himself is making steady progress painting our Backwoods Baldwin Lyn.

He's reached the lining stage of the process.

Although its the white which stands out most in the picture there is also some black lining there, forming the neat edges to the green.

This was applied first and has been varnished to provide a better key for the narrow white lines.

They're a lot simpler to apply that on many of the FR locos because they have 90 degree joins instead of inverted corners which can be a real pain in the backside.

Green Agreement

It's a rare day when Himself and I are as one on the question of colours - especially greens!

But we had a rare outbreak of unity in choosing the paint shade for our Backwoods Lynton and Barnstable Lyn which is now being finished off.

Himself bought a selection of Southern shades from the Railmatch range and what we decided on was a 50/50 mix of Light Olive and Malachite Green which best seemed to marry up with the photos we took at Dinas a couple of years ago.

Himself held off with painting this loco because he was never quite satisfied with how it performed - it always had a very pronounced waddle.

The solution has been to disable the compensation on the front driving axle, locking it in place with a new bearing. 

Years ago we had to do the same on the Backwoods Ladies which we could never get to run right as the designer intended.

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.

Big Bonnet

We're indulging in another little fantasy - well, in fact, quite a large fantasy - with our latest loco project.

Ever since we ran one of the giant Lyd2 Polish diesels from the WHHR as a guest loco on Bron Hebog  I've fancied having one of our own.

Following an offer to build a bespoke chassis for us I've gone ahead and bought one of the Worsley Works body kits.

I warned Himself that it wouldn't be wise to build it until we receive the chassis but, as usual, he can't resist tinkering so as much of the body as he dares is already made.

There are those that say these machines would be very unkind to the permanent way on the WHR mainline, and others who declare they won't fit.

I couldn't claim to know enough about either, but just as we run Russell on Dduallt even when it would never fit just because it's fun, so we will do so with this beast on Bron Hebog.

Under Starters Orders

The day I’ve dreamed of since I was a kid is drawing near - the steaming of Welsh Pony.

I cant tell you what it means to see the loco I used to play on outside Harbour station run again - I never believed it would happen.

I’m also proud to have done my small bit to fund it through donating proceeds from sales of my resin kits.

Our own Pony has been waiting patiently for the real one to catch up.

Although we won’t paint it until the real one has received its final green livery we will at least be able to add all the missing small details.

This model is made from the ‘unbuildable’ Mercian 4mm kit.

For the full story of why it’s unbuildable, and what Himself did to overcome it, real back through the blog.

Weather Forecast

Livingston Thompson is now lined and varnished, but sadly for Himself there’s still one vital step left.

Due to the rather ropey quality of the Langley white metal castings he tells me it wasn’t the easiest lining job but it looks pretty impressive to me.

The blank space where the nameplates used to be is looking quite effective too, and even more so when it is made to look more rusty.

With the darker green and the dirty black paint it certainly looks nicely dull, but it’s just too clean.

Himself’s challenge now is to weather it so it looks suitably rusty and forgotten about.

This is not the normal look for our locos so he’s mugging up by watching a teach-yourself-weathering DVD before he starts.

Fairlie Colourful

Himself is in the early stages of painting Livingston Thompson

The challenge with this one is to make it look convincingly neglected as if it has spent 15 years in Minffordd Yard.

At the moment it has been given some initial coats of dirty black and green and posed in its train formation with Earl of Merioneth and bogie wagon 63.

This time Himself is using Railmatch standard loco green in place of our usual Humbrol number 3 and it does look a lot duller.

The nameplates are just tacked in place because the finished model won’t have any - just rusty oblong patches where they used to be - so they are just there as a marker for now.

I think it’s going to look very effective and hopefully quite a conversation starter, whenever exhibitions resume.....

Brass Bands

Garratt 130 inches forward still.

Now the cladding is being sorted out on the real one Himself has added the brass strip around the boiler tube to create the effect.

One of the biggest unknowns - to us at least - is what form the big steam pipes out of the ideas of the smoke box will take.

As far as we can tell each of the WHR Garratts is different.

Who knew?

2019 - Part 1

Every December I like to take a look back at all that we've achieved between us in the last year. (Mostly Himself, if we're being honest...)

In January of this year our 4th NGG16, 143, was on the test track still in brass.

There were more carriages on the workbench, with brass roofs being made for the second of the superbarn Observation Cars and another of the saloons.

Himself had also started assembling a Worsley Works bowsider 17, to give us a model in the current colours.

February

A few weeks later and the superbarn saloon was almost ready for varnishing.

We'd also begun putting together a Worsley Works NWNGR Gladstone Carriage as the first stage in a WHHR rake.

By this stage the Garratt was well through the painting process.

March

By the begining of the next month it was finished and taking a test run with sister 138

17 had also been varnished and is pictured on Ddaullt.

And we ended the first quarter of the year with Himself starting on the 5th Garratt, destined to be 130.

K Where?

The news that K1 is departing the Welsh Highland for an unspecified sojourn at Statfold got me thinking I should post a wee gallery of our 4mm scale version on Bron Hebog.

This development was not unexpected to those in the know, indeed we dropped a cheeky hint at the Greenock exhibition of what was coming down the line.

Call me a pessimist but I’m not expecting to see it steaming again on the WHR any time soon.....

K1 and the FR is a relationship which has blown hot and cold over the last 50 years, and this seems to be one of its chillier periods.

It was as purchased in what can only can be seen as a spasm of romantic optimism, was shipped off  -  with relief -  to York after a period languishing at Harbour station, and then picked up again in the 90s as a convenient curiosity to give the WHR project a veneer of heritage.

But I don’t think the FR’a heart was ever in it.

I well remember the nickname ‘K-when?’ during its protracted restoration.

Yes, I fully understand the commercial logic of concentrating on a core fleet of NGG16s, and that is is not kind to the track, but I cannot believe there is not some role for it.

Consider this season just gone where there have been all kind of exotic double headed combinations to keep the service going when a Garratt ‘goes tech’.

It’s not as if the FR doesn’t have other indulgences - I guess K1’s face just doesn’t fit.

The Old Ladies

Our old Blanche is back together and has had a little test run with her sister on the Bron Hebog fiddle yard.



She still needs her fly cranks painted red but it’s great to see the old girl in action again after 8 years inactivity.