Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)

No apologies for borrowing Simple Mind's song title, I heard it on the radio for the first time in a while on Bank Holiday Monday whilst proving to myself that painting models was preferrable to painting rooms (especially woodwork...). With the end of August now upon us it does perhaps feel that the summer is reaching the end.

Alas there is no modelling progress to report and not a great deal of railway activity to report on at all, our holiday destination of Flamborough being a narrow gauge/miniature railway desert (we "did" Scarborough last year). There is the amusement of the model village at Sewerby and land trains that operate in a railway-like fashion with platforms, passing and turning loops, from there to Bridlington.  

Sitting looking out to sea I could quite imagine something Groudle-Glen style around the headland from the lighthouse to Thornwick Bay...

Not enough to inspire any layout ideas at this stage, I'm still stuck between concepts and spaces, having concluded that Mosslanda shelves are maybe too restrictive, and having taken down a couple of floating shelves recently they do not appeal to me as the basis for anything portable. 

Maybe a trip to the Whistlestop Valley/Kirklees Light Railway gala over the weekend of 6th/7th September might provide a boost, I'm looking forward to the chance to ride behind Bure Valley no.9 'Mark Timothy' having missed out on previous trips to Norfolk.  

Also visiting is the partnership of 'Spirit of Adventure' and 'Mr Hallworth' from the Perrygrove Railway. I think I last saw 'Sprit' at Cleethorpes 30 years ago in 1995 (I had to check that calculation twice...) and I have not yet seen the newer locomotive.

Incidentally, 'Spirit' forms the basis of a new O9 resin print from Gubbin Box Models (Facebook) which allows you to add an Exmoor tank locomotive to your fleet without any of the trouble I had scratch-building 'St Edwin'!

Colin

Back to the Drawing Board

Don't worry, I'm not about to scrap another layout project! 'Back to the Drawing Board' was the theme of the 2024 Friends of the Kirklees Light Railway gala, themed around comics and cartoons.

I arrived at Clayton West station on the Sunday in time for the 11.00 departure, with visiting locomotive 'Muffin' from the Lappa Valley Railway preparing to pilot KLR-based 'Sian'. 'Muffin' was designed by David Curwen and built by Berwyn Engineering in 1967 for Longleat, transferring to the LVR in 1976. Along with 'Dougal' she was briefly associated with Les Anderson's Axe and Lym Valley railway in 1974.

Returning on the same train from Shelley was another double-header of LVR 'Zebedee' and home loco 'Fox', two contrasting red tank locomotives. 'Zebedee' then paired up with 'Muffin' to work a shuttle to Skelmanthorpe so I couldn't resist the opportunity to travel behind the pair of them. 'Zebedee' was built by Severn Lamb to David Curwen's design in 1974, following the same outline as the aforementioned 'Dougal' as an 0-6-2T. In 1991 the cab was extended during an overhaul and she became a 0-6-4T with a very plain looking rear bogie.

There were a few issues getting the brakes set up for the shuttle service and on arrival at Cuckoo's Nest halt it was announced the train would terminate short there. Several passengers, including a contingent from Cleethorpes, jumped over to the passing train back to Clayton West, those who waited were rewarded with a change of plan and a spirited run to Skelmanthorpe after all. The Lappa Valley have a slightly smaller stone arched bridge over their line, also built on a standard gauge trackbed.

Back at Clayton West my next run was a full return trip with a locomotive that needed no further introduction, 'Bonnie Dundee' from the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway. In case you are wondering, she was representing the publishers of the several popular comics! For this trip we were honoured with a genuine Scottish driver in the form of John Kerr, who seemed very happy with her performance. Given that the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway were inspired by 'Katie' and 'Sian' during the conversion of 'Bonnie Dundee', even in tank locomotive form, it is no real surprise that she performed so well.

To finish, a view of the 7 1/4" gauge line at Clayton West, where 'Ivor' was visiting from the Pugney's Light Railway. I thought this view was quite modelable, possibly using the station canopy in the form of a half-station and hidden exit to the fiddle yard... 

Colin
 

Moor Steam - Exmoor in Yorkshire

The Kirklees Light Railway held their annual steam gala over the weekend of 8th/9th September, the theme for 2018 being 'Moor Steam', with four visiting locomotives built by the Exmoor Steam Railway workshop. As usual it was a pleasure to see the visiting locomotives run up the hill from Clayton West to Shelley and relax on the way back down.

It was interesting to see 'Monty' (the former 'Markeaton Lady) and 'Anne' (the ex- Longleat 'John Hayton') together, as they collectively provided a lot of the information and inspiration for my model 'St Edwin'.

I really must add a headlamp to my loco, they do seem all the rage on Exmoors...

The other visitors were 'St Egwin' and 'Spirit of Adventure', seen here double-heading. With home fleet locomotives 'Badger', 'Hawk', 'Owl' and 'Katie' in service, plus long-term visitor 'Sian' and extra guest 'Count Louis', it was a very busy railway, so much so that I didn't get to ride behind everything! More of my pictures can be found on my Flickr site.

Colin

Playing with Post-its (wagon painting)

A quick progress report on the Chivers 2-plank wagon conversion/slimming to O9.  Having painted the bodywork with Humbrol red/brown I realised it would look better if I could pick out the ironwork in black. I realised that picking it out would be rather time consuming and fiddly, so I came up with* an alternative....

I cut two strips 8mm wide from the sticky end of a post-it note to use as masking, it is sticky enough to hold itself in place but not affect the paint below.  The strips were cut to fit between the hinge straps and end end uprights.

Using a mix of black and beige acrylic paint, I dry-brushed the hinges and uprights to get good colour coverage - it does not have to be perfect, as weathering will add to the effect in due course.

With the masking off, the result is quite effective...

Colin

*I say came up with, but I suspect it has been tried before!

September Sunshine

The first weekend in September used to mean one thing for me, the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway's 'Models and Miniatures' Gala weekend, a mixture of model railways on display in the Griffin Hall building and usually at least one 15" gauge visitor running alongside the home fleet. It was always a very friendly event and we took 'Shifting Sands' on two occasions as it was the ideal venue to display and interpret the layout, as indeed was it's period in residence in the 'Rails to the Sands' exhibition for a couple of seasons. As one visitor commented, stepping back outside to see real 15" gauge trains at the seaside after watching 'Shifting Sands' became a little confusing!

'Shifting Sands' at Cleethorpes in 2009, the author and Spongebob-clad helper.

Alas, with the changes to Griffin Hall to accommodate much of the 'Rails to the Sands' content from the display over the road, and the tightening economics of moving 15" gauge equipment between sites, the event has not run in the last few years. As the recent 1940s-themed event featuring 'Katie' from Windmill Farm proved visiting locomotives at the railway are still popular, however it is easy to underestimate the amount of effort, careful negotiation and expenditure to bring in multiple visiting locomotives for a railway-themed gala event. It is hard to imagine now the kind of gala event that the CCLR ran in the mid-1990s being feasible in today's economic climate, with up to 6 visiting locomotives at some events. The September events usually brought some of the last summer sunshine to the coast, an added bonus!

'Synolda' from Ravenglass at Cleethorpes September 2008

At one of the last 'Models and Miniatures' events the comment was heard that the circus was about to roll on to the next town for the following weekend. Indeed it did, as the second weekend of the month is that of the Kirklees Light Railway's gala weekend and at that time some of the locomotives, and many of the visitors, would attend both events.  The photo above was taken the week before the KLR's 'Battle of the Atlantics' gala.  The last few years have been a different story, as the KLR team have been able to accommodate larger (and potentially more crowd pleasing) visitors than before. This year will see Romney, Hyth & Dumchurch 'Pacific' no.7 'Typhoon' visit alongside Bure Valley tank no.8 'Thunder'. I'm not sure how they will be able to top that next year, but I've every confidence that they will...

The author aboard BVR no. 8 'Thunder' in 2008

Colin

The Kestrel Has Landed

I'm not always sure where the inspiration for new models comes from.  If I'm building a model of something that closely resembles a prototype, of course the inspiration comes from photographs, drawings and my own observation.  However, for freelance builds the inspiration is more likely to come from a kit left-over, or in this case, several kit left-overs!

I had been toying with the idea of another 4w diesel loco for some time, and searching through the bits boxes revealed half an Airfix Drewery bonnet top and some Black Dog Mining axleboxes that looked promising.  However, they were eclipsed by some Dapol (Airfix) Railbus underframe parts and Knightwing shunter bonnet top sections.  Add in Dapol Drewery cab sides with added styrene sliding doors, lots of styrene sheet and section and a good headwind (OK, a Sunday afternoon), the result was this:

It is what I like to call a 'Super-Jay', as it is the size of the Kirklees Light Railway's 'Jay', but with a larger cab.  A set of A1 Models nameplates are to hand for 'Kestrel' so a bird name seems appropriate.

A little further work added a cab roof, coupler pockets and some extra features under the chassisframe tro hide the ends of the Kato chassis (the loco is a good centimetre longer than the chassis):

I've also added some extra details to the bonnet, still to come are etched grilles (also A1 Models) and a host of other metal features - lights, exhaust, door handles etc.

Rumour has it that the Somerthorpe Miniature Railway workshop crew are considering an orange paint scheme inspired by the Bure Valley Railway's no. 4:

We shall see what the management think!

Colin

The Great Barnes, Clayton and Lowke Connundrum

It may sound like a firm of solicitors caught up in a Sherlock Holmes tale, but the purpose of these scribblings is to give an idea of the dilemma I'm currently having as to what outline my embryonic 'Atlantic' will take in the future.  Given that I will probably only have one shot at building an Atlantic (donor chassis are not easy to come by at my near-Yorkshire kind of price), I want to ensure that the final choice is one that I'm happy with.

So what are the options?  Ruling out the earlier Bassett-Lowke class 10 and 20 'Little Giants' on size (I've already blown the class 30 drawings up to 7.5mm scale), there are three key options to consider in outline:

1) Bassett-Lowke Class 30 outline, - 'Synolda' or 'Count Louis'...

'Synolda' on a visit to the Kirklees Light Railway

'Count Louis' at the Evesham Vale Light Railway

The classic Greenly design of these locos is a big plus point for me, however there are many differences between the survivors (and indeed the lost machine 'Sans Pariel' had a flatter cab roof), note the different drop in the rear footplate for example, whilst 'Count Louis' retains it's later cab, possibly built by Trevor Guest.  The greatest temptation is perhaps 'Count Louis' with the larger Fairbourne tender, not one for the purist but at least a Kato bogie chassis can be secreted away in there.

2) Clayton/Cannon Iron Foundries/Hunt outline - 'Sutton Belle' or 'Sutton Flyer'...

'Belle' and 'Flyer' with authentic stock at Cleethorpes

The two Atlantics that I am most familiar with, 'Belle' is very much an "improved class 30", constructed by Douglas Clayton (and indeed originally named after him) from Bassett-Lowke castings, whilst 'Flyer' is a later, further refined design completed by Hunt's for the Sutton Miniature Railway.  They may superficially look the same, but as with the surviving class 30s, there are many differences.  Tender drive would be a Kato 4w unit disguised as a 6w tender.  My biggest problem here is which one to choose - and how to explain to people that I won't necessarily be building the other one!

3) Barnes 'Albion' outline - 'Joan', 'John' etc

'John' at the Evesham Vale Light Railway

I'll be honest, in the past I've always looked on the Greenly designed, Albert Barnes built Atlantics as inferior to the class 30s.  I am of course wrong, perhaps my view was tainted by the pictures of the Rhyl line in the 80s in a rather run down state.  However, as the picture above shows, they can scrub up rather well, also evidenced by the recent restoration of 'Michael' at Rhyl.  I'd need to drop the ex-V2 Cartazzi truck at the rear and find a suitable wheelset, but these rugged machines have an advantage over the others in that the driving wheels are spaced slight further apart.  Tender drive would be as above, the disadvantage here is a slightly more open tender frame, less easy to hide that Kato unit!

4) The outsider - the 'freelance' approach...

It isn't inconceivable that a miniature railway operator could have built a loco themselves, perhaps like Douglas Clayton they bought the castings and drawings from Bassett-Lowke and slowly built it over a period of time?  We have no idea how many other sets of 15" Atlantic castings Bassett-Lowke sold that were never built, there may have been many, or simply none.  Or perhaps a complete new build?

Austin Moss' Atlantic project at Windmill Farm

 In the world of miniature railways, almost anything is possible!

A Bouquet of Steam (or 'Black Prince' in't North...)

A welcome break from the tedium of "having the builders in" was a trip to the Kirklees Light Railway's annual steam gala on Sunday 11th September.  Over the past few years the Kirklees supporters group has managed to pull together a star-studded line up of locomotives from many other 15" gauge lines, such as Cleethorpes, Windmill Farm, Rhyl, Ravenglass, Evesham and New Romney.  Last year the RH&DR's 'The Bug' made the trip from Kent and left several people wondering whether the holy grail of 15" gauge visitors, a Romney Pacific, would be next... after all, Cleethorpes borrowed 'Typhoon'....

I was informed some time ago that 'Black Prince' was the most likely candidate due to the slightly more tolerant wheelbase this machine has, being built for the German exhibition railways of the 1930s rather than the Romney main line.  Around the exhibition theme the Kirklees gala grew to include two examples of the pioneering 'Cagney' American 4-4-0 locomotives and the rather unusual (and something of a first) inclusion of the two RH&DR permanent way internal combustion locos.

The star attraction - RH&DR no. 11 'Black Prince'

'Black Prince' is a much rebuilt machine, one of three built by Krupp, Essen, in 1937.  Krupp only built these three 15" gauge locomotives, others for the German exhibition circuit being built by rivals Krauss, an example of which has yet to visit the UK.  By contrast all three Krupp locomotives are in the UK and the other two can be found at Bressingham steam museum.  Imported in 1976, here is a view of 'Black Prince' in the early 1980s to show just how much the loco has changed.

'Black Prince' at Hythe in the early 1980s. (C) Richard Peake

Although both of the 'Cagney' visitors, no. 44 from Rhyl and the "Peruvian Cagney", privately owned, had made trips to the far end of the line, we had to be content with a "Cagney Cannonball Express" shuttle as far as Cuckoo's Nest, which on a sunny day has a pleasant feel far away from the madding crowd, reminiscent of another age, perhaps a 15" gauge Surrey Border and Camberley?

Cagneys at Cuckoo's Nest.

Cagneys running around.

'Redgauntlet' and the 'Scooter' were busily occupied at the Shelley end of the line operating a shuttle service 'top and tailed' with resident loco 'Badger'.  Both of these vintage machines have a tale to tell and we will revisit them in detail in future blog entries, especially as both form the basis to kits in the MG Models range.

Redgauntlet and the Scooter at Shelley.

'Black Prince' is the largest loco to have visited the Kirklees line, so large in fact that an event usually reserved for visits to the Ravenglass and Eskdale was recreated in West Yorkshire.... the splitting of a Romney loco for turning.

Black Prince being turned at Shelley.

Driving without the tender!

I've only ever been to a Kirklees gala on a Saturday before,which despite the attraction of the 'late night' departure and return in the dark, has stopped me from travelling on the legendary "Shelley or Bust" 5.00pm train with all available motive power.  Although only featuring four machines this year (there were fears of a flattened 'Cagney' in front of 'Black Prince'!) this was certainly worth the wait.  On the return the two RH&DR internal combustion machines were added to the back, adding to the cacophony of sound in the tunnel, 'Redgauntlet' has at least five horns...

"Shelley or Bust" awaits return departure.

All in all a very entertaining day in the company of fellow miniature railway enthusiasts.  A huge 'well done' to the Kirklees staff and volunteers!

and it's good night from him....

The ones that got away... No. 1: 'Badger'

Looking back through some old pictures the other day (when I say old I mean from the digital camera before the present one), I found a picture of an O9 loco that I started and never finished in the way intended.

This was to be a representation of the Kirklees Light Railway's 0-6-4ST 'Badger', based on the Bachmann 0-6-0 chassis with a suitably 'bodged' rear bogie.  It almost worked, however I became frustrated with the model after I had to raise the cab side sheets (really should have replaced them) and add another layer to the saddle tank, which incidentally started life as half a well known brand of glue-stick:

I was also becoming concerned by the way I would treat the bottom of the firebox and disguise the fact that it was sat outside the frames rather than just between them.  Maybe I should have built 'Fox' instead?!

What did eventually happen is after some dark thoughts of building it as a (hush) 009 loco to sell, the project transmogrified into an almost Frankenstein like creation that incorporated elements of Kirklees, Exmoor and Ravenglass ('Bonnie Dundee') design, mixed with a little Haldane Place magic to become... 'Pandora':

Coming up next in this series, a contender for 'worst steam outline loco ever'....