'Katie's Return to Cleethorpes

It was a perfectly normal Facebook conversation with a member of the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway engineering team... until...

"Will be worth your time coming to the 1940s weekend to see the guest engine at Cleethorpes for the weekend."
Me: "Is guest engine literal in both senses?" 
"Bring your camera. As it will be a blast from the past."
Me (tongue firmly in cheek): "Very nice of Austin to lend you Konigswinter back..."

Many locomotive names were discussed in jest,  but one was missing and I knew (and I think he knew that I knew) that it could only be Trevor Guest's 'Katie' returning to the railway for the first time since she was resident on the railway prior to being sold to Austin Moss at the Windmill Farm Railway for restoration.

'Katie' has always been a favourite of mine, ever since a visit to the Fairbourne railway in the early 1980s, when she pulled our train to Penrhyn Point:

Katie's re-appearance at the Cleethorpes 'Little Unusual Steam Gala' in September 1994 was both a joy to see but heartbreaking that she wasn't working.  Imagine my surprise to find in February 1995 that she was still at Cleethorpes and in the process of being restored to use!  Several happy years of use were enjoyed by both railway and enthusiasts before her owners, Wigan Council, sold the locomotive to Austin Moss and she left Cleethorpes for restoration.  The last time I had seen 'Katie' was back on 12th April 2008 in the workshop at Windmill Farm:

By Wednesday 7th August it was confirmed, 'Katie' was pictured outside Lakeside shed on both Facebook and the Miniature Railway World forum. Travel plans were in place, so off to Cleethorpes we headed on Saturday 10th August. Arriving at Lakeside station, 'Katie' was ready in the shed area coupled to the Alan Keef 'council' coaching rake, ready for the off. There was only one problem, the timetable was running behind and we had to wait for two trains to head off to North Sea Lane before Katie moved off the shed and into platform 3 at Lakeside.

I stayed with 'Katie' for the full round trip, enjoying every moment of the journey. In may ways it was like the old days at Cleethorpes, other than the fact the the line to North Sea Lane was only a dream when 'Katie' left the railway, and that locos used to face the other way around, oh, and the shade of green is now darker....

Later in the day I took a nostalgic trip to the flood bank by the workshop area, to capture Katie heading along the line from Kingsway station (itself changed in location since 'Katie's departure).

Here's the same view on 8th July 1997, when you could see the Pier and leisure centre from here (and the sun shone brighter!).

All in all a very enjoyable day, thanks to Austin and the CCLR volunteers.  There's only one downside, a model of 'Katie' remains a dream, my skills don't extend to Twining valve gear and outside frames!

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!