Peckett Assembled

There's steady progress with our Peckett, Harrogate.

Here are a couple of snaps with the cab and saddle tank units in position although they have not been soldered together yet.

It's looking quite purposeful from the front.

There are lots of detailing bits and bobs, such as the cab roof, handrails and the couplings to be added but this RT Models kit is coming together really nicely.

Wheeled Pony

Our work-in-progress Welsh Pony was on display on Bron Hebog at Dinas earlier this month.

It was left in a typical position for an out of service FR England engine - dumped at the end of siding.

Himself has not done a lot more to it since the last post about it on the blog, due to the motorising issues previously described, but it at least now it is sitting on its wheels.

As it happened the real Welsh Pony was in a similar situation during the Super Power weekend, shunted to the end of the short siding at Porthmadog Harbour station soliciting donations to the restoration fund.

Our Pony is one stage ahead of the real loco in that she does at least have a tender, although she did not bring it to Wales.

Doubling Up

I thought you might like to see some more pictures of the layout on show at Dinas.

Over the three days of Super Power we had a lot of fun running various combinations of double-headed trains on Bron Hebog.

Some couplings are more common that others, such as this snap of our two NGG16's together at Beddgelert..

 

Our Backwoods kit built locos generally run very well together considering the differences in their chassis and drive arrangements. Here is Taliesin and Lyd combining on a southbound service.

Linda & Blanche, have made a couple of trips up the WHR now and our ladies spent most of the weekend in each other's company.

Plenty of coupling rod action in this unusual mixed train formation with Moelwyn and Criccieth Castle.

Prince & Palmerston make a more conventional pairing running together on the layout as they did in real life during Super Power.

Finally, a glimpse of a Triple Fairlie as Taliesin and Merddin Emrys head for Porthmadog.

More On The Peckett

Himself is continuing to make rapid progress with our RT Models kit of the Statfold Barn Railway - ex FR, ex Harrogate Gas Works - Peckett.

I mentioned previously that this is a mixed media white metal and brass kit and the cab is one of the main brass components.

Himself has pressed out the rivets, as you can see, and soldered it together, as is his way.

It's worth mentioning that this cab is a recent addition to the locomotive. When it was bought, and then sold on by the FR, it had a very squat and round-topped design which was required to fit the loading gauge at the gas works. It made the footplate accommodation on the England Engines look positively palatial.

This more typical Peckett design was added by the Bredgar and Wormshill Railway, who first restored it to steam, and it was interesting to note when I saw Harrogate at Dinas this month that even with this taller cab it still sits lower than that of Prince.

There would have been scope the FR to have fitted an even larger cab had they concluded that the rest of the locomotive - its chassis and boiler / firebox in particular - was ever a realistic proposition for adapting into a mainline machine.

Cab Ride

I had a wonderful surprise lined up for me at the Welsh Highland Super Power event a fortnight ago. Himself had arranged a footplate pass for me all the way from Dinas to Porthmadog on the Saturday afternoon.

I had yet to travel on any part of the WHR south of Rhyd Ddu, even though it's been reopened for a few years now, so to do so for the first time in the cab of one of the mighty NGG16's was an incredible privilege.

Our loco for the trip was 87.

I had previously travelled in the cab of Garratt 143 to Waunfawr when it was oil fired but being on board one of these giants running on coal was a new experience.

The crew certainly need a lot more room to work to feed that fire and I soon discovered that the best method for keeping out of the way of Steve's swinging shovel was to stand right in the doorway half in, half out, enjoying a fantastic forward view along the boiler in the process.

It had been wet all day in that corner of North Wales and - not unexpectedly - she was a little light-footed for much of the climb out of Dinas towards Tryfan Junction. The addition of sanding gear on these machines can only achieve so much it seems.

Although I had been told in advance I was surprised how rough the Garratts are to ride on for a large articulated machine, especially compared to a Double Fairlie on which I have also be fortunate enough to travel. At one point when the rear unit joined in a particularly enthusiastic bout of slipping you could feel the whole engine pogo-ing up and down beneath your feet.

As it was a special event there was an untypically intensive service on the line and we passed K1 heading north on a demonstration freight at Waunfawr.

One of my favourite parts of the journey was the sinuous section from Bryn Gloch to Plas y Nant where you could look out of the cab and see the front and rear of the engine bending this way and that.

At Rhyd Ddu we passed 138 heading north with the final train of the day in that direction and where we took water.

Carrying on south we were soon breasting the summit at Pitt's Head and the fireman, Steve, told me to keep a close eye on the gauge glass showing the water level in the boiler. It was quite remarkable to watch it drop at least an inch or so within a split second  as 87 pointed her nose down the slope towards Beddgelert.

Naturally this was a very interesting part of the journey for me, my first chance to travel around the S bends above Beddgelert that we have spent so long studying and attempting to recreate in miniature.

Where the tracks come closest in the centre of the S the height differential is very apparent...

Cutting Mawr was immensely impressive..

And the big 180 degree bend on the embankment is too..

Until finally we rolled into Beddgelert station.

Looking through the cab window it is hard to believe that the Garratt is going to fit through Goat Tunnel.

The pass of Aberglaslyn is the most famous section of the WHR with good reason - it is a truly spectacular section of railway line - and travelling through the long tunnel on board 87 is an experience I will remember for a very long time, although I can only wonder what it must be like on the uphill climb.

On the Cross Town Link through the streets of Porthmadog my admiration of the crew rose even further.

I was struck all through the two hour journey how closely they have to work together to watch the line ahead. It's hard enough to see the road with the big fat boiler and water tank in they way on a straight stretch of line, but the bends are completely blind and they truly have to act as each other's eyes.

Nowhere was this more apparent that when we approached the first tramway section across Snowdon Street.

I spotted a gang of teenagers hanging around the crossing and sensed trouble.

Sure enough, as we steamed nearer the crossing they began playing 'chicken' running across the road in front of the locomotive. The line here is on a curve and as they played silly beggers they were momentarily completely out of view of both the driver and firemen, hidden by that great big water tank at the front.

I could feel the anxiety this must have caused our driver, Aled, at this moment. Steam engines, even narrow gauge ones, take a while to stop and there comes a point of no return where the driver is committed to taking his train over the crossing and is left to hope that some idiot kid doesn't choose to attempt one final dart in front of his engine.

No wonder he leaned out of the cab and gave them a piece of his mind as we passed.

After a pause to start the crossing lights we rolled across Britannia Bridge and onto The Cob and the connection with the FR.

It is a somewhat surreal moment as the NGG16 appears to drive down the Queen's Highway.

After being pulled back into the platform we were soon unhooked and charged light engine across The Cob to Boston Lodge Works. I don't mind admitting that the burst of acceleration after we cleared the last point had me rocking on my heels into the cab backsheet. Quite nippy these Garratts...

While I left the engine here and prepared to repair to the pub there was plenty of work left for the crew to put 87 to bed.

Steve had a hard job clearing out the fire which was an almost solid bed of clinker. It was a good job it was the last trip of the day because he reckoned there would have been no chance of making it up the hill if 87 had needed to take another train to Caernarfon.

Before wrapping up this rather lengthy post I must express my thanks to my driver Aled Lloyd and fireman Steve Holland for being such excellent company and allowing me to share their engine for a truly unforgettable trip.

Diolch yn fawr.

And heartfelt thanks too to Himself for arranging this wonderful surprise for me just days before my 40th birthday.

Peckett Progress

Himself has been fired with enthusiasm following the show at Dinas, so he says, so I'm not surprised that he has wasted no time in cracking on with the RT Models Harrogate Peckett kit.

He's started with the chassis. You get a considerable head start with this kit because it uses the latest Farish 08 chassis which comes with outside frames, or to me more accurate, a handy set of cranks already on the end of the axles.

Onto these you attach new coupling rods from a fret supplied with the kit before making up the cylinders, slide bars and fitting the connecting rods.

This chassis then fits up into the base of the locomotive which, as you can see below, includes new false frames in brass.

The kit is a mix of whitemetal and brass and Himself reports that is it not necessarily the easiest to put together, although he admits he is complicating matters by soldering the kit together as opposed to gluing it as the manufacturer recommends in the instructions.

This entails quite a lot of messing about adjusting the temperature of the iron.

This next pic shows it with the saddle tank casting in place.

From this angle you can see how much overhang there is in the 0-6-0 design and perhaps understand why there was such concern when the loco first arrived on the FR about the damage it might cause to the track which was most certainly not in the best of condition back in the late 1950's.

K1 Freight

Part of the fun of exhibiting Bron Hebog at the WHR at an event like Super Power is we had to chance to replicate what we saw happening on the real railway outside the goods shed doors on the layout.

The first train I saw when I drove into the yard on the Friday was the long mixed train made up of B and DZ wagons with the South African guard's van and carriage 23 hauled by one of the NGG16's, so after we'd set the layout up and were putting out the stock we promptly recreated this using out latest rake of Boston Largs Works wagon kits.

For the rest of the weekend the carriage was removed and it ran as a freight train hauled by K1 which was making its long awaiting return to action.

Here are a few shots of our recreation of it on Bron Hebog.