A New 15" Gauge Seaside Locomotive

An interesting new prototype for an O9 model was revealed at the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway today, on the 73rd anniversary of opening of the first miniature railway at the site.

This brand new 15" gauge diesel locomotive has been specially built by RVM Engineering of Hastings and has seemingly evaded the camera of visitors to the Hastings Miniature Railway for some time (yes, I've been searching...). I'm sure Hastings will be glad to get the shed space back! 

Photo: CCLR

At first glance it screams out to be modelled in O9 using a Farish '08' chassis, I aim to get confirmation of dimensions to see how feasible this would be. Even a version on a Kato chassis wouldn't be too much of a stretch of the imagination...

I have been aware of this build for a while, largely through a CCLR Director making a comment that my MG Models 'Classic' diesel looked rather like something else they knew of. You can see the resemblance in the lines of this new design around the bonnet and cab front windows.

Clearly like model locomotives the choice of coupling is to be determined by the purchaser and they have no doubt got an order in with a lifesize Narrow Planet for nameplates!

Colin

Reet Petite

I've been playing again with mock-ups for the Julian Andrews-inspired O9 scheme. The building represents Petite Properties 'Harpers Yard' with a little extra depth added. I've liked the look of this range of structures for some time and in particular I was impressed with the effects that Michael Campbell had achieved with them in 4mm scale on Loctern Quay.

The manufacturers website says this structure is 17.5cm wide and 20.8cm tall but I could not help feel those dimensions were transposed as it scales out the other way from the photos, and the dimensions of the 4mm version are shown wider than it is tall. Through a request on the 7mm NGA Facebook group Ian Leese kindly confirmed the dimensions as 18.5 cm wide and 15 cm tall, so I could dimension the image of the front accordingly. I must also thank Simon Andrews as he confirmed the doorway height at 49mm so there may need to be an adjustment to get some items on O9 stock through.

I think the next adjustment might be to the inner siding, bringing it closer to the inside of the curve to give more space for the tree... we shall see!

Colin

Moving on from Paper and Pencil?

It's four months (yes really) since I last posted my thoughts on the scenic treatment for my O9 interpretation of the Julian Andrews brickworks plan. Since then there has been little creative thought about the project until this week. In fact there has been more thought on alternative schemes but they have all drawn a blank...

There are a few items that I wish to use on the project and in some ways these are either driving or stopping my thoughts on how the scene should look. One of these is a photograpic backscene, and I was having a few thoughts that this could be overpowering to the scene, especially compared to my usual "restrained" style. To test how it would look I downloaded the images of it from the internet and resized them to full size and then printed in draft, temporarily mounting them on a spare piece of ply. With the addition of new dummy foreground trees, better representing the two Skale Scenics examples I wish to use on the project, this doesn't look too bad. 

My attention then turned to the grouping of buildings on the right hiding the return curve. As mocked up this is the building shown last time (based on one I built a few years ago) with a modified Airfix/Dapol water tank behind. This didn't look quite right, to me it looks too obvious that the line can curve through the structure. But what if the building moved back and the track entered a lean-to at the side? There would be enough of the main building wall visible to trick the eye, as in the first sketch.

Wishing to incorporate the water tank and break the roof line up a little I created the second sketch, turning the main building roof through 90 degrees. The lean-to would have a more varied roofline where it leant on the water tank supports (brick piers would replace the kit pillars). This would have to be one carefully planned, removable structure but I think it is a much better trick on the eye to hide the return curve.

I even have a potential prototype for part of the structure, this field shelter at Hall Farm Park in Lincolnshire. I would envisage it repurposed as a small workshop, perhaps with a Land Rover parked half in/out. 

There is something to be said for keeping the structures simple, I am yet again reminded of Neil Rushby's 'Isle of Avalon Tramway' (seen here with a later owner) - the simplicity of the structures hiding the sector plate on the left is very deceiving, there is little actual detail but interest is created by shape and colour. 

Thinking cap firmly on...

Colin

Big 'Keef at Beck Bridge

Salty Seagull looks on as the Keef K30 poses on a Kato 11-109 chassis giving an idea of how this loco could look if used in O9...

With a few tweaks and extras such as the front grille, bufferbeams etc it would make a quite passable O9 loco, certainly for a modern tourist line. In freelance form, not trying to claim it as a genuine Keef product you could perhaps try a different power source, such as a Bandai short bogie chassis or even the Farish outside framed 08.

Colin

 

Big 'Keef

I received this new Alan Keef K30 print from A1 Models a week or so as John Flower felt that it might be suitable for O9 use. With a few provisos it isn't bad for a maximum-width O9 loco, 28+ mm wide and 43 mm tall when sat on a Kato 11-10. In fact I think my green Knightwing bash might have been a similar size a few years ago. 

It is difficult to see in the pictures in raw form that it is print with a rough finish (it is incredibly difficult to photograph in this form too!)

I thought I would show the stages of finishing the print to a ready-to-paint state. Firstly the raw print was bathed in white spirit to degrease, then washed, dried, and the surface sanded with 400 grit. Then washed and dried again.

(Note: All sanding used home made sanding sticks  made using wet and dry stuck to lolly sticks/coffee stirrers and was carried out wet.)

Red plastic primer was sprayed onto the model - this tends to highlight the surface and the print looks really rough and gritty.

More sanding followed, this time 800 grit sticks, then washed and dried.

A coat of yellow filler primer were applied, then another sand with 800 grit, revealing that a second coat would be beneficial. 

After the second yellow coat I sanded with 1200 grit to the state seen here. Washing and drying occurred again after each sanding session (of course!).

Finally, grey primer has been applied to my satisfaction, giving a smooth finish with only a few minor imperfections. I have managed to achieve this with no loss of detail on the print, luckily it is mostly flat surfaces and angles, with no fine detail.

In all I think about 3+ hours of work went into finishing this 3D print to this state, broken up over several evenings and waiting for paint to thoroughly dry before sanding. I ask myself if I could have built it in less time from scratch, and no, I couldn't.... at this stage I think that it may stay in grey primer, it isn't really the locomotive I need at the moment, but at least it is making me think about what is...

Colin

120 not out - Bonnie Dundee's 3rd Innings

Some positive news from the east coast, this time from the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway, who announced on Monday: 

"Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway are proud to announce the arrival today of historic locomotive ‘Bonnie Dundee’ after a complete overhaul. On long term loan to Cleethorpes from the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Co. Ltd, ‘Bonnie Dundee’ was built by Kerr Stuart in 1901 to operate at the Dundee Gasworks.

Rescued by preservationist Ian Fraser in the 1960s, the locomotive spent many years operating at Ravenglass before being taken out of use requiring extensive repairs. After negotiations between the two parties, a deal was drawn up that in return for the long term loan, CCLR would fully fund the overhaul of the locomotive. This has been undertaken by John Fowler Engineering of Bouth."

Given a tip-off that steam would be raised on Friday 30th April I re-arranged my working week and headed for the coast. The forecast was for showers... 

A superb job has been achieved by John Fowler Engineering, gone are is the somewhat "agricultural" valve gear that was there pre-rebuild and the paint finish is almost shiny enough to see your face in. Not bad for 120 years old...

I was invited to observe a test run to Kingsway and back, the power of the loco was apparent, whilst not up to full 'Ratty' strength there is certainly enough power for anything the CCLR will need, although a run up the bank on the Humberston extension (still sadly out of use at present) will be an interesting experience.

Light engine runs over, it was agreed that the next passenger departure would be steam hauled, with engineering staff observing from the train. So a few lucky members of the public got to ride the first public passenger train 'Bonnie Dundee' has hauled in may years. DA1 was included at the Lakeside end of the train in order to allow the train locomotive to be released at Lakeside loop, with DA1 drawing the train into the platform, a consequence of not running through to Humberston.

With the loco off on a second round trip I headed to the floodbank to get some shots at the lineside, it was really interesting to watch the reaction of the public on the adjacent footpath to steam being in use on a Friday afternoon.

The final turns of the day were made top-and-tail with ex-Fairbourne Railway 'Rachel', which replaced DA1 at the Lakeside end of the train, 'Bonnie Dundee' shunted DA1 into the yard and then joined the Kingsway end of the train. 

Having watched another journey depart and return, I realised that it was time to head home. I took quite a few photos, the full album is in Flickr - Bonnie Dundee Returns! You may have noticed that the weather held out, it was a real shame not to be able to enjoy a pint in the Signal Box Inn, but that can wait for another day. I didn't see any rainfall until I was reaching the top of the Wolds on my way home and then a deluge as I crossed back into Nottinghamshire.

Colin

Alas Wells Harbour

The future of the Wells Harbour Railway has come into the spotlight this week, and it looks as though we may lose another classic seaside 10 1/4" gauge railway, hot on the heels of the loss in 2020 of Kerr's Miniature Railway in Arbroath. The reasons for concern at Wells are very different to those at Arbroath. This statement has appeared on the website of landowners Holkham estate:

"The current operator of The Wells Harbour Railway notified Holkham in Autumn 2020 that he wanted to stop running the railway service in the next year or two. He asked Holkham to give him a new 10-year lease so he could sell the equipment and the lease to a new operator."

"The current railway was designed to help holidaymakers at Pinewoods get into town and back to the site in the evening. Today the need is different, to help day-visitors get from their parked car or from the town as close as possible to Wells Beach."

"Over the next 12 months we will involve Wells Town Council and other stakeholders in Wells in discussions about this opportunity to improve the visitor experience. That may involve altering how, where or when the railway runs, or replacing it with other ways for visitors to move to and from the beach and enjoy the best of what the Wells and Holkham area offers."

The railway's current owners, Gary and Alison Bracknell, have responded as follows on the Facebook 10 1/4" gauge group:

"We are the current owners of the Wells Harbour Railway and asked Holkham in October last year to enquire about getting a new 10 year lease on the Railway.

We were told that the lease was NOT GOING to be renewed at the end of its term and subsequently then told by Holkham that they also had no intention of buying the Railway from us."

Reading between the lines, I get the distinct impression that the Holkham estate have the impression that a land train between the town/car park and the beach would be cheaper to run than taking on the railway. No doubt they also feel the cost attraction of avoiding more specialist skills required for track and rolling stock maintenance compared to rubber tyres on a road that someone else maintains... Maybe they also think it is somehow "classier"? But it has no soul, no history, no real sense of adventure. It certainly wouldn't make me want to visit the town.

I first saw the WHR in September 1996, it wasn't operating on that occasion but my notes show that we travelled on the nearly Wells and Walsingham Railway that same day. It was nearly a year later, in June 1997 that I did get to travel on the WHR, behind 'Edmund Hannay' (D. King, 1971).

By 2010 'Edmund Hannay' was out of use, replaced by Alan Keef steam outline locomotives delivered in 1998 and 2005. The Miniature Railway Museum Trust were able to borrow the locomotive for display at the 'Rails to the Sands' exhibition at Cleethorpes, where it sat alongside 15" gauge 'Blacolvesley' and opposite my own 'Shifting Sands'. As Trust secretary I prepared, mailed out and filed the loan agreement. Whilst here the locomotive changed hands, eventually being sold again to the Hastings Miniature Railway.

'Edmund Hannay' had been built for the original owner of the WHR, Commander Roy Francis, who later went on to create the longer W&WLR the other side of town. The original back-up locomotive had been 'Weasel', a simple 4w internal combustion machine (D. King, 1980) that I later saw in the hands of MRW Railways in 2016, before being sold on.

I finally returned to Wells in August 2019, to ride behind 'Howard' (Alan Keef 74, 2005). By this time the railway had three Alan Keef machines plus coaching stock renewed by the same builder. The true transport function of the railway was apparent, when we asked for a return ticket we found they didn't sell them as most passengers did not make a there and back trip in one go! I had questioned why they needed three locomotives but the intensity of the operation was soon apparent.

What may now be my last look at the railway was from the floodbank, looking down at the town end station. From here the basis of the estate's "issue" can be identified, the new town car park is off shot to the right in the distance, the infrastructure changes to move the railway to run there make any change unlikely compared to using rubber tyre on tarmac.

If the end does come I'll be incredibly sad to see the WHR go, a classic seaside line, so simple in it's execution and despite what the land owners think, still doing to job of moving people from A to B, as it has done since 1976.

Colin