Post Warley come down

Before I took 'Bont' or strictly speaking 'Pen y Bont' to the Warley MRC show at the NEC in Birmingham I had one last part to make. I'd been putting it off because I had made a measuring error when constructing the baseboard which was impossible to rectify by the time I noticed. Fundamentally I hadn't left a big enough hole to allow the incline cage to fit; it took me ages to come to the conclusion that if I just made the cage as it should be and then suspended it part way up the incline it probably wouldn't be noticed.

Here you can see the unpainted cage demonstrating the problem.

And here it is painted and suspended, No one mentioned it not fitting at the show so I guess I got away with it.

Port Lucy hasn't had much attention recently what with Warley and it being blooming cold out in the garage. However I have cut some platforms out of plywood and given myself a sense of what the station end of things will look like.

I fell in love with a new loco from Fourdees and had to have it ready for Warley. It is a 'Windle' class Hunslet style loco which I think is particularly handsome. It is an excellent 3D print which fits on a Bachmann Quarry Hunslet chassis with the addition of a pony truck.

The kit comes with a dummy chassis so that the donor loco can still pose in a siding, here they are together.

The backhead is a separate part so it is a simple matter to paint it before fitting into the cab. Very nice it is too.

Here is the bulk of the stock I took to the show.

I was part of the 009 Society village helping to celebrate the 50th year of the society. I was very proud to be invited and was in illustrious company.

Fiddle yard view

I was also part of the F&WHR team and here we all are eating curry.

'Dennis' the railbus - Sunday afternoon service probably

Unusually for a show I went home with more working locos that I went with including getting 'Ned' to behave himself.

All went well on Saturday and then first thing on Sunday morning my controller went pop and would only output a full 12v output. Fortunately the Gaugemaster stand wasn't far away so a replacement was purchased and installed fairly quickly. Ironically I had had a Facebook conversation about not taking a spare controller because they never go wrong... 

The whole of the 009 gang with me acting the arse as usual.

Hmm, I don't think this one is going to bring me happiness.

After Warley was all done and dusted James Hilton and I finally managed to get together on The Isle of Stoner; as ever he brought some of his lovely models with him including a Bachmann 'Linda' with a KATO tender representing how it looked when it first ran on the FR having transferred from the Penrhyn. It came for a trip on the island with a couple of beautifully finished Dundas FR style coaches.

The train looked very good and was quite at home

He also brought a nicely finished 'Prince'

I've also acquired a set of three Dinorwic slate wagons from Bachmann. They are very lovely little things and they go very well 'Alice'. Here they are as they come out of the box...

...and here they are weathered. They do them in a grey finish too which is not that unrealistic for wagons left to bleach and rot in the Welsh weather but they don't have the numbers printed on like the red lead ones.

It has been an expensive couple of months for 009 stock as the much awaited PECO FR Bowsiders have arrived. I had to add one to my FR train and very lovely it is too.

Oh, and one more thing. I have another Fourdees/Bachmann loco ready to go onto the lap tray, this one is the Little Issac which is again an 0-4-2 much as you might expect. Based on the Bagnall Issac and Gelert. It looks like a lovely print and I can't wait to get it finished. More next time probably.