Meanwhile, On The Back Burner

I've got a number of what you might call 'long term projects'.

Models that I tell myself that one day I will get around to building.

And I will.

One day.

Among those is an ambition to build a model of the Statfold Barn Railway's Jung Mallet which visited the Welsh Highland a few years ago.

In a fit of enthusiasm for this project I went so far as to obtain what I hoped would be a suitable chassis from a Minitrix German N gauge locomotive.

Previously I'd only been able to test this on a 1 foot long length of track on the workbench and its performance seemed a little hesitant.

Not a dud, but perhaps needing some tender ministrations from someone a little more mechanically minded than myself - ie. Himself.

So last weekend while carrying out more clearance tests with 150 on Dduallt it occurred to me that it wouldn't do any harm to get this thing out of its box and let it stretch its legs properly.

On a proper run I was pleasantly surprised with how smoothly it ran.

In fact it has prodded me into thinking about whether I should bump the project up the 'To Do' list a little?

The difficulty is that I have yet to discover any drawings or obtain any information about the basic dimensions of the loco.

What's more, whereas previously the SBR was only an hour's drive from where one of us lived, now we are both 300 miles away from it so arranging a visit to run a tape measure over the real thing is a lot more of an undertaking.

This is probably the biggest obstacle to ever getting this off the wish list and onto the layout.

Peckett Purchase

Himself was splashing the cash at Dinas last weekend inspired by one of the visiting engines at the Super Power event - the Harrogate Peckett.

He's bought the RT Models whitemetal & brass kit for the locomotive - which now belongs to the Statfold Barn Railway - and the Farish 08 outside frame chassis to go with it

For those that don't know the story of the locomotive I'll give you a quick recap.

It was built during WW2 to work at the Harrogate Gas Works in Yorkshire and was bought by the FR in 1957 in the early years of its revival when there was a desperate need for something - anything - to keep the trains running with only the ancient Prince and Double Fairlie Taliesin to haul trains.

The short version of the story is that Linda and Blanche turned up to save the day before anything was done about getting it into service and it spent 30 years tucked away at the back of Boston Lodge until it was finally stripped down and the chassis hauled up the line, which only confirmed the initial impressions in the 50's that it was never realistically going to make a useful mainline FR machine.

It was sold on in part exchange for a useful P Way diesel loco - which became Harlech Castle - and later on found a home at the SBR where the owners established a friendly relationship with the FR bringing a number of their locomotives to come and play on the line.

The Peckett - which was once going to be named Volunteer on the FR - appeared last year for some shuttle runs between Blaenau and Tanygrisiau and has spent much of this year lodging on the WHR where it turned a wheel for the first time last weekend double heading with Prince on a shuttle service to Waunfawr.

I've seen quite a few of these kits made up - there was one running as the present day Harrogate on Clydach which was also on show at Dinas - so I fully expect it to turn into a nice little model.

It has run all the way up the FR so we've got a justification for running it on Dduallt and although it arrived at Dinas by road - and so has yet to appear at Beddgelert - I'm hoping the temptation to take it for a spin all the way to Boston Lodge will prove too hard to resist for the powers-that-be at Porthmadog before it returns home to Staffordshire.