Braking point

Since my last post I've exhibited Underhill at the Bala Lake Railway model railway show and I had a very entertaining weekend despite the lack of attendance. On the Saturday I was joined By Charlie Insley who not only operated the layout for a good long while but who also brought along a pile of his lovely locos too.

Packed in the van, ready for the off

Charlie's prototype, the straight from the box and my fiddled with Bagnalls

An Insley made CWR Fletcher Jennings

Another of Charlie's locos on a goods train

 

Also making a guest appearance on the layout were three locos built in the 1960s by Huw Jones. Lovely things they were too. The Baldwin was made from one of 10 kits produced by the London area Group of the FR society in 1966, although on a slightly more recent chassis it happily pottered up and down.

 

Two years younger than me and in better condition

 

With some of it's own wagons

 

Huw Jones

Static exhibit but actually my favourite of the three

A familiar looking loco

 

On the Sunday I was joined by Martin Hallet for a while and he took over the reins for a while while I wandered about the rest of the show trying not to spend any money... largely successfully.

 

Martin in action

That rarity - the public

Still enjoying the fiddle yard



 

After the show in Bala I realised that I needed another brake van so I had a look in the unmade kits box and found a Parkside Dundas VoR van. This is a great kit and very versatile, over the years I have used it to make all sorts of things... even brake vans. This time I thought a fairly straight build would be suitable but I also noticed that I had a slightly broken PECO GVT van to hand and that the duckets are a very nice thing. Offering them up to the kit I found that with a little trimming of the back they would fit nicely.

Finished but unpainted

 

This left me with the remains of the PECO van and the duckets from the VoR van... hmm. I'd always thought that having the duckets in the middle of the van looked odd so I decided to rearrange the PECO van.

Without ducket

With new ducket and added microstrip panel

Ready for some top coat

 

Arnold Lane Wharf had an outing at the rather good but tiny, Borth y Gest show. It behaved itself very well and fitted in the 'Up!'. It wouldn't have done with the attached proscenium arch which houses the lights so I took a saw to the uprights and made it a bolt on fitting. The whole process of setting it up still only takes about 20 minutes and it will be easier to store too.

 

I wanted to get the PECO van ready in time for this event and it was finished in the paint shop just in time. I have some transfers to add but they didn't make it.

 

 

It was a very good show with some excellent layouts, organised as ever by Paul Towers. The weather outside was awful, indeed some of it started to seep through the walls of the building but considering this and the rather obscure location there was a pretty constant stream of people. It was nice to meet up with some old friends and also to put faces to names from t'internet.

Paul with his famous smile

The whole show

A blast from the past with an excellent display of Lone Star 000 gauge