I have a dream...

 I just got back from a family holiday on The Mull of Galloway in Scotland which was, as ever, very relaxing. The Mull itself is like an island but is actually attached to the mainland, the scenery has been very inspiring for a future extension of the IoSR. I didn't have any modelling with me but I did ponder the next phase of construction of the layout; at the moment my music equipment is in the way but a chap can dream. After an evening of planning in my head and on paper I actually dreamt about the layout and solved a couple of problems.

This is a panoramic view of the area that the extension would/might occupy. The fiddle yard is just visible on the extreme right.

The plan is to replace the fiddle yard with a corner board where the line curves round and there is a station with passing loop, rather in the style of Tan y Bwlch and then the line would run under the window on a section of roadside tramway line before turning again into Port Lucy Station which would be where the keyboards and racks are on the left in the photo. Port Lucy is where the Main IoSR line meets the Underhill branch, being the modelled part. The mainline runs into the same station out of a tunnel, this is where the trains would disappear but I've never worked out how to have them turn round for the return into the station. I've had all sorts of fancy ideas about balloon loops on silly gradients but to no real solution. Anyway, what I'm driving at is that I dreamt all this in action and the mainline trains were PECO L&B coaches with driving trailers on both ends...

So, on my return to Wales I ordered a couple of Dundas VoR vans and a KATO 11 109 chassis to make the first of the driving trailers.

Raw ingredients

Work after the first night's efforts.

The chassis parts and the floor were put away for later use and the sides and one end stuck together as nature intended. After that I cut the other end to provide a low front and a back to the cab area. The duckets have been placed nearer the double doors creating a shorter van section and then infront of the gaurd's door is the driving compartment. Styrene strip was used to plank over where the ducket should be. I used the bonet and radiator from the trusty RAF ambulance Airfix kit to give the beast a snout.

After lowering the body slightly more and adding some detail parts here it is on test.

It will need some weight adding as it struggled to pull two carrs and the half truckle which I used to represent the other, un-powered driving trailer, as yet un-built.

Quite pleased with the look of it so far, need to build the other end now then paint them.

It's always nice to have a guest operator and visiting trains and just before we went to Scotland there was just such a visit from a rather Ffestiniog Flavoured modeller. These are his Dundas bogie coaches with a PECO bug box in green.

This is his ROCO diesel in FfR livery, loco named Barnard Castle

Here it is again with my rake of ROCO skips in tow.

These rather nice Victorian Bug Boxes came to stay also, which was nice, as they are absolute works of art. Just need a suitable loco now...

Out to lumch

Since my last ramble on here I've been quite busy on the layout and the laptray. So, not necessarily in strict chronological order... 

With Narrow Planet's etchers cautiously back in operation 'Wendy' now has her nameplates

'Dolcogh' has been weathered and has crew aboard. The are very nice 3d prints which I found on evilbay. My usual Preiser crew looked daft as the size of this loco and the size of crew are well known. I painted the crew and was surprised to find that I had inadvertently made a model of Tal y Llyn ex GM, Chris Price.

Sadly, the driver can't really be seen, but I know he's in there.

I decided that I shouldn't let the stack of rolling stock kits building up on my shelf just gather dust so I made a start and put together the pair of Tom Bell kits, a cattle wagon and another of the little brake vans. Once again they went together pretty well with a bit of cleaning up. The only difference I made to previous kits was to use the PECO NEM pockets and their couplings to suit. Quite simple but not really an advance from BEMO ones.

Also on the slightly diminished, shelf of shame were a pair of Colin Ashby four wheelers which I had acquired by asking on the NGRM forum if anyone had a couple going begging. These kits, although fairly long in the tooth, go together very well and make nice not exactly FR bug boxes. I decided that when it came to finishing, I'd do one in cream and green to go with the other one but I'd do one in unpreserved green and slightly rotten. I really like the tatty one and it has a place with a few other similar grotty vehicles.

The layout has had a few bits and bobs done too, the most major thing is the relaying of some of the road surface in Underhill. It was always a bit of a rush job which I did when initially building the layout in a hurry. I ordered some embossed, printed brick paper from a bloke in Greece and eventually it arrived. It would probably make good walls but I only wanted it to use as a sort of stone sett. I also replaced the pavements with Metcalffe individual paving stones. It was a long winded job but the result is so much better.

Rock Beach now has a Fromage et Fritte van at the market which is an Oxford diecast Citroen H van. It came in a revolting shiny green colour so I dismantled it, stripped it and gave it a paint in good old, Halfords grey primer. I had intended to paint it further but realised that it was exactly the right colour as it was.

A couple of nice Eggerbahn blue clerestory coaches have joined the heritage collection, I've always liked them and now I have a pair, probably need another one to complete the train.

The restaurant car had a trip out but looked rather sad in its drab green and dust livery so I bit the bullet and dismantled it for a tart up and a repaint. Obviously based on the classic Dundas models DM40, I somehow managed to make one side shorter than it should be so it never really fitted together properly.

The interior had survived pretty well with only a shelf having come loose. I was always proud of the diners and the kitchen which is basically all made of Preiser products; I don't think my eyes would be up to it these days as there are individual cutlery pieces etc on the tables. 

I added details to the end and the roof to bring it more in line with my PECO L&B coaches and also some under floor truss rods etc.

The windows are now divided into smaller panes which is in keeping with other DM40 I have. Also replaced is the door furniture so now it has brass handrails and so on.

Something I've learned is that the detail on the roof is some of the most important as we always see the trains from above, so it gained some torpedo vents and rainstrips.

Not quite finished as it will have a brass etched 'Restaurant' sign and fleet number transfers. I think the roof could do with another coat of paint too, otherwise job done. Another useful addition to the carriage fleet.

 

I have three of the Chris Ward 'Townsend Hook' alikes and so when I saw that EDM were going to sell their 3D print in 4mm scale I had to have one. In a circuitous way it's my fault they make them at all. The EDM version is true to scale and so is slightly longer but with shorter tanks, it also isn't designed to suit any particular chassis. I may have to have a go at building one... one day.

A walk on the wild side

I've been busy doing other things lately so I haven't done much modelling in the last couple of weeks but that hasn't stopped me playing trains.

A rare outing for the IoSR restaurant carr. It has a fully detailed interior including kitchen and diners busy eating their lunch, they even have knives and forks etc, you can barely see any of this but I know it's there. 

Kitbashed from a Dundas  DM40 many years ago, it could do with a repaint into a more cheery livery but I'd have to take the roof off to remove the glazing etc etc. It's on the list...

Another small job done is the attaching of the nameplates for Wendy. Ordered before lock down, I'm pleased to see that Narrow Planet's etcher must be back in action. This means that the plates for the new Minitrains tram are not far behind too.

The other major bit of work done to the layout is the relaying of some road and pavement by the shops at Underhill. It's an area that I rushed when I initially built the layout as it needed to be ready for a show but it has always bugged me.

I ordered some textured, printed brick paper from a guy in Greece on eBay which took about a month to arrive, not a problem and the delivery date was quoted upfront. I wanted it for road surfacing even though it is brick. The print is slightly shiny but the texture is great. A subtle brush over with some weathering powder let the shine down and added some variation to the colour too.

I replaced the pavement using some more Metcalfe individual paving stones. It is a slow and fiddly process but the end result is very satisfying. They are supposedly self adhesive but I used Uhu to be on the safe side.

In addition to the shop area I also tidied up the edge of Station Road nearest to the railway. When I had to rip up the road and buildings to access the electrics the road and the fence never went back quite right, again a job that bugged me. I've laid a row of paving stones to tidy the road edge and renewed and painted the fence; to be honest it barely notices but I feel happier about it.

The view from past the Post Office and Parrot Inn.

I tidied up the pavement over the bridge too.

Life goes on in Underhill as if nothing had happened

Someone will always wave at a passing train

Lucy out for a run, must be a special occasion as she is quite old and fragile

One last thing, I sorted out my Minitrains Stainz too, I always wanted an LGB one of these but it would be too big for the layout.

Signals

I'm very pleased with the way Dolgoch has turned out, with some help from those who know about these things I finally got the pipework right and eventually the cylinder lubricator annoyed me enough to move it to the right place too. All there is left to do is to get a transfer of the name to add to the boiler, some crew and some weathering. I've ordered some 4mm scale people as the usual 3.5mm Preiser ones look daft on such a well known, small loco.

Having spent so long at the lap tray it felt like time to do some jobs on the layout that have been niggling for ages. First job was to reinstate the home signal which used to be just where the new brook got built. Unfortunately in removing it from the layout the mechanism got broken so my intention was to just install it as a lit up but not working unit. I carefully soldered extension wires onto the remains of the wiring, drilled a hole in the baseboard and glued the post in place. I got out a battery to test the LED but being an idiot I forgot that in the mechanism for the working signal there is a resistor to protect the LED from high voltages... like the 9v I blew up the LED with... Doh. Anyway it looks nice not lit up.

Next task was to install the wire from the signal box to work the signal and also the rodding from the box to the station king point and the yard entry point. I've had the bits for 5 or 6 years since I bought them at Warley but have never got round to it. Very fiddly little bits and bobs but worth the buggering about in the end, the rodding won't pass close inspection by anyone who knows how the real thing works but it looks good enough at usual viewing distances.

The rodding passes under the track and goes into the box under wooden walk ways.

Another small job and only a five minute job as to add a handrail to part of the steps up to the quarry from the halt, just a bent up piece of brass rod and a lick of paint. Much safer for the little chaps.

A history and guide to the Island of Stoner

What follows is the contents of a small guide book issued by the Lord Stoner and his company for the benefit of visitors to the island. It may help you to understand what you see on your visit to The Island. It may not.                    

The Isle of Stoner 

          

 A brief history of The Island, its people and its railway

The Island

The Isle of Stoner is a rocky island about 100 miles south of the coast of Cornwall. It is slightly over eight miles long and just under two miles across at its widest. It is roughly the shape of a carrot and it has numerous small islets off its coast. It now has a population, not including visitors, of 4044 souls. There are three main settlements: St Ruth, the capital on the South Eastern coast: Smallchurch, which is roughly central and Port Lucy, which is at the thinnest part of the island near the western tip; this is known as Roach End. Port Lucy has the biggest harbour on the island and virtually all imports and exports go via here. Being in the middle of busy shipping lanes the island has three lighthouses and benefits from frequent calls from cross channel traffic.

The island has a central spine of hills which rise to around 600ft high. Numerous small rivers run down to the sea. The two largest of these are The Song and The Loose, which gives its name to Port Lucy where it runs into the sea. The first section of the River Loose from the sea to Arnold Lane Wharf was canalised with a lock at each end. Being largely pointless as a means of transport neither lock sees much use anymore. At the head of the River Song is The Singing Lake, this is the only inland body of water any bigger than a village pond on the whole island. It is located on a plateau not far from Smallchurch.

The coast is a mixture of high, rocky cliffs and sandy beaches. The Eastern end of the island, known as Flame End consists of a dozen or so small islets called The Hot Rocks. Thus named because of the turbulent currents which flow this way and that between them. The largest of these small islands is linked to the main island by a rope bridge and has a small military encampment with its own 15inch gauge tramway. Originally built during the Napoleonic era it was last used during WW2 and is overlooked by a lighthouse which warns shipping of the hazards presented by the island. To the North of Underhill is Wrecker’s Bay, this has four more small islands. It gets its name from the legendary practice of setting false lights to lure unsuspecting ships to wreck on the rocks. The locals would then plunder whatever cargo they could. There is no record of this ever actually having taken place: everyone likes a good story.

Port Lucy has a small harbour just large enough to berth the smaller of the cross-channel ferries and there is also a small fleet of fishing boats resident there. Additionally, this is where any ‘new’ locomotives or rolling stock must be brought ashore. The railway station is alongside the harbour and the locomotive and carriage works are just along the mainline from here.

The Western end of the island is relatively flat and the lush green grass is ideal for the dairy herds that provide milk for the cheese industry based at Three Bridges and Creamery.

The Eastern end of the island is far rockier and the two largest quarries, Stone Farm and New Stone are both here. Town Quarry is the smallest of the three, near Underhill but has workings which date back to prehistoric times. It has a network of underground workings where bone made hand tools have been found.

A brief history of island life

The island has been inhabited at least since the Stone Age and there are various sites of archaeological interest. Near Blackhill there are a series of earth works that are believed to be the Iron and Bronze Age burial sites of the earliest ancestors of the current Lord Stoner. There are also round, flat areas which were very probably the site of round houses.

The Romans appear to have taken very little notice of Stoner, the island didn’t have anything that they couldn’t steal from somewhere else. Then they were too busy with mainland Celts to bother with the few hardy souls they would have found if they had taken the time to invade.

In 597AD, St Augustine landed at Lower Bay mistakenly believing that he had arrived in Southern England. He met Lord Stoner and convinced him that Christianity was the way forward and so pre-dating the conversion of Æthelbert in Canterbury by a couple of months. Christianity took a slender hold on the minds of the islanders and to this day the belief in a more animistic, spiritual approach is still widespread within the population.

In the late 680ADs the first record of ‘The House’ appear. ‘The House’ is the home of Lord Stoner and his family. It has been much extended and modernised over the years, the last major changes were made during the Victorian era by the same Lord who had the foresight to build the railway and much else of the infrastructure we see today.

Once the Vikings had established themselves in Britain they eventually got round to visiting The Isle of Stoner, arriving in the late 880sAD. Rather than their more famous raping and pillaging approach a few farming families settled in the far west of the island and the roots of the capital town, St Ruth were planted.

Time rolled along in an uneventful way on the island (it still does) and it wasn’t until 970AD that the Lord of Stoner swore allegiance to the English King, King Edgar. This contract was to see the island protected by and much influenced by the British way of life; it has been seen as a very shrewd move. It gave little away and gained a very powerful ally.

On September 26^th, 1066, William of Normandy passed by on his way to a certain field in Southern England and it wasn’t until the 1080s that any Normans made their way back to Stoner. The main thing that they brought with them was a love for and an ability to make cheese. This would go on to become more important as history strolled on. The Doomsday book makes no mention of the island so we can imagine that it was considered to be of no importance whatsoever.

In 1190AD Richard I visited with his knights to see if he could interest anyone in joining his crusade against the Holy Land. He found that the locals were not at all interested and they tried to explain religious tolerance to him. It did not go well. A farmer and two fishermen were executed as traitors and any gold they had was ‘taxed’.

All the comings and goings in Wales and Scotland made very little difference to Stoner and its population, which by 1321 had reached around two hundred. However, the great famine which ravaged Europe, had a terrible impact and by the time the crisis was over in 1322 there were only around 70 souls left.

The Hundred Years war, which raged on and off between Britain and France had surprisingly little effect considering the island’s position between these two great nations. When there was a pause in the fighting there was a collective sigh of relief until word reached ‘The House’ of the Black Death. Immediately, no one and nothing was allowed to come to the island. This policy worked very well in keeping the plague away; in fact, it worked so well that no one came near the place for nearly two decades. It was only when a drunken fisherman, out from St Austell wrecked his boat at Flame End that the islanders discovered the truth.

History and various Kings and Queens came and went on the mainland; the island gradually regained its population who continued farming and fishing. It was around this time that the various excellent cheeses of the island started to be sold, off island. Henry VIII formed the Church of England and some of his administrators arrived in 1535AD to make sure that everyone was saying the right prayers. They left after a couple of weeks, more confused than when they arrived. There weren’t any monasteries to destroy and no one seemed to know if they were Catholics or something else anyway.

In 1577, Sir Francis Drake dropped by to say that he was off round the world and that he would be back in a while to tell everyone how it was going. The islanders sniggered and shrugged and forgot all about him. Then in mid-September 1580, Sir Francis pulled into the harbour at Port Lucy and spent a couple of days explaining how marvellous the rest of the world was. He left a sack of potatoes and set off for Plymouth and fame and glory.

Potatoes were a big hit with the islanders and various pleasant cheese and potato recipes became famous from end to end of Stoner.

In 1604 when King James said he was now King of Great Britain, fortunately he forgot to mention that this included The Isle of Stoner and so Stoner maintained its independence. This blissful state continued throughout the Civil War. The only thing of any great consequence to happen during this time of unrest was the arrival of tea in 1652AD. Interestingly, this was not the only herb of note to arrive on the island around this time.

With the Great Plague laying waste to London in 1664 and then most of it being destroyed in the Great Fire; the only thing of interest to scholars of island history in all of that, is a mention in the Diary of Samuel Pepys. He wrote that among the other cheeses which he buried to protect them from the fire, was half a truckle of Stoner White. The first written mention of this now famous delicacy.

In the 1750s the age of the canal began. Lord Stoner was visiting relatives in the Midlands of Britain and was taken for an instructive trip on a boat on the Trent and Mersey Canal; he was transfixed by this smooth and speedy means of travel. He knew that The Isle of Stoner must have a network of them, and thus to join the modern world. He was introduced to canal engineer, James Brindley and the two men agreed that they would build a first ‘cut’ as soon as possible. The Isle of Stoner is very hilly and not at all suited to canal building, it had even less need for them. However, Mr Brindley was offered a large sum of money to convert the first half mile of the River Loose into a canal, complete with a lock and a wharf at Arnold Lane. And so, the modern world came to the Isle of Stoner.

In the 1870s the island had only rudimentary roads and a population of around two hundred and fifty, but in the 1880s when the railway was built (See separate chapter for more details.) it enabled the island’s economy and population to grow considerably. The Lord of Stoner and his family own the island and everything on it; he and his descendants have run the island as a benign autocracy since time immemorial. As we have seen ‘The Family’ live in the ancient ancestral seat known as ‘The House’ and have made their fortune from the island. They have also spent it there and they are very well respected and loved by the population; in a recent poll it was found that only thirty three of the citizens thought that their lives would be better if the island was run by an overseas government. The Lord of Stoner still swears allegiance to the British crown, but the island’s laws are made by ‘The Family’ and a small elected chamber of representatives who sit twice weekly in the town hall of St Ruth. These good burgers also act as the judge and jury should any crime be committed. This is a rare event and is usually dealt with equitably. There are two constables and a police dog (Bacon) on the whole island.

The currency of Stoner is pounds, shillings and pence; there is no exchange rate as money cannot be imported or exported from Stoner. Any offshore spending is taken care of by ‘The Family’ or by straight swapping with Island produce.

The three stone quarries that give their name to the island are all served by the railway and Stoner granite is much sought after as building stone on the mainland. The island also boasts a slate quarry which really only supplies new roofing slates for local use and a small amount to make into souvenirs. There is subsistence fishing and farming, and also a dairy herd and creamery that makes the island’s famous herbily infused blue cheese known as ‘Stoner White’. This, along with tourism and granite exports are the main businesses of the island.

The Isle of Stoner Railway

The Isle of Stoner Railway was built in 1883 to connect Port Lucy to St Ruth. There is also a ‘Northern Line’, which runs from Port Lucy to Underhill that was added in 1897. The railway also boasts three short branches. Two are in the south, one connects Port Lucy with the lighthouse at Roach End and the other runs to Arnold Lane wharf on the canalised River Loose. The third is a short but steep line ascending from St Ruth to the local beauty spot known as ‘Lovers Leap’ and to the lighthouse at Flame End. This branch has overhead electrical traction which was installed as an experiment.

The Lords Stoner always were, and remain to this day, transport enthusiasts as we have seen with the pointless canal building episode. Having been invited to the 1870 locomotive trials on the Festiniog Railway, Lord Stoner was singularly impressed and saw that the future of his island domain would be bright if only a narrow gauge railway could be constructed there. An over optimistic venture from the start, the railway was underfunded and badly built. Being in the middle of the sea made bringing rolling stock to the line prohibitively expensive. Initially the railway had built a small fleet of carriages and a pair of tiny locomotives; one a vertical boiler by DeWinton and the other a more conventional looking unit. These locomotives were very soon overwhelmed and replaced with three Fletcher Jennings saddle tanks. As time wore on and locos wore out an odd collection of second hand locomotives and an assortment of hand me down carriages, being selected more by weight than suitability, arrived to keep the railway working.

By the 1920s the railway was in a poor state of repair but a hero, in the unlikely person of one Holman F Stephens, came to the rescue and the railway was saved... after a fashion. The first thing Colonel Stephens did was to close the Northern line. He mothballed everything and concentrated on reviving the main line. He imported locos and coaches from the auction of no longer needed Lynton & Barnstaple Railway items. The Manning Wardle locomotive Yeo was purchased and renamed Song after a local river. It did not prove to be of use on the heavily graded and poorly built railway and so is now in the museum at Port Lucy. He also had built a two carriage steam powered multiple unit to take care of the out of season passenger traffic. This proved to be a success and a single car unit and a larger diesel electric two car unit were also brought into service. All three units were converted from earlier carriage stock in the railway’s own workshops at Port Lucy. Along with a pair of ancient and peculiar, island built, steam powered trams; these DMUs became the backbone of the passenger services until the outbreak of World War 2. The steam locomotives which remained serviceable were mainly used for freight trains although some internal combustion engines also joined the fleet.

The rest of the 1930s passed tolerably pleasantly and the railway limped along in a relatively stable way until the outbreak of the Second World War. The Isle of Stoner was overrun by the Germans in the early weeks of 1940 and only liberated again towards the end of the war. It was a dark time for the island and the resistance, known locally as ‘The Cheesemen’ put up a good fight of continual small-scale destruction which got right up the noses of the Germans. The railway which was commandeered by the axis forces was as truculent as the population which resulted in the importing of a substantial quantity of elderly German rolling stock and locomotives; a small amount of which can still be seen at work on the railway today having been left behind by the retreating Nazis. Most was gas axed and put to the torch as a symbol of the contempt the freedom loving, peaceful islanders had for Hitler’s disgusting ideas.

After the war, the railway and the island as a whole was in a parlous state but with help from the British government and with the burgeoning tourist industry the Isle of Stoner Railway was given a new lease of life. In 1960 the Northern line was dusted down and restored to action by the Preserved Railway Association and Trust of Stoner. Several, extremely rich, railway enthusiasts are resident on Stoner and have seen their way clear to make some large donations to the P.R.A.T.S. and as a result the line has more locomotives and rolling stock than it knows what to do with. The Lord of Stoner and his council will only allow ‘incomers’ to join the population if they are prepared to invest in the island in some way which enriches life on Stoner. As a result, there are numerous artists and musicians living a very happy life along with the old families and as some of these ‘incomers’ are wealthy railway enthusiasts, the railway has benefited enormously.

The government of Stoner still runs the IoSR but with a shrewd eye towards tourism and an economy on the up, the future of the railway now looks certain.

The Island in recent years

It was noticed in the early 1960s that the essential character of the island was starting to be eroded by modern life, more and more cars were being imported and new-fangled inventions like television were starting to destroy the very way of life that made living on Stoner the enviable thing that it was. The Council set down ‘An Act of Stone’, as a Stoner law is known, to the effect that no new cars were to be imported to the island without the express permission of the governing body and that TV aerials were to be concealed; also new building was to be in a style ‘suitable and harmonious’ with island traditions. It has been easy to enforce these regulations as anyone who did not enjoy the Island and its peculiar ways would move away. The younger generation sometimes rail against the ancient and traditional but this is as it should be. The education system teaches the values of island life and so a peaceful and tranquil life can be maintained most of the time.

You are welcome to visit the island and as the locals often say, ‘Eat the cheese and relax.’

By John Wooden – Agent for Lord Stoner

Don't it make my blue Hunslet browny red?

I'm acutely aware that there has been a lot of froth on the internet this week about the announcement that KATO and PECO have teamed up to bring us a ready to run England and even more surprisingly a double Fairlie. I knew about this for some while with my work hat on and indeed know some other things that would create even more froth, however mum's the word. But all this got me thinking about my Brian Madge 'Britomart', it has been looking pretty tatty for a while and the cab had broken loose too. I'd never been happy with the paintwork as the real one has intricate lining which I am not able to even contemplate reproducing.

So... I decided that a repaint and a rebuild were in order. The chassis is a good, smooth runner now it is run in so I didn't mess with that, except to replace the couplers with RT models lost brass PQR ones. They are a big improvement and really look the part.

The loco came apart very easily into three major sections, i.e. the chassis, the boiler assembly and the cab. Once in pieces the cleaning up started, I removed the name and works plates and the handrails came off along with the chimney and the safety valve casting.

The plan was to conceal the identity of the original and to rename it 'Daisy', I'd been planning on doing this for a while so had the Narrow Planet plates to hand. The major difference that I could come up with for an Alice class was to add a dome to the boiler. I don't think any were originally built with them but 'Velinheli' now sports one; although I believe that the boiler is originally from 'Maid Marian'. I'm not about to get into the lineage of quarry Hunslets though. I had a dome made by N brass in my loco fittings box which looks about right and with a little fettling up it worked fine. Initially I made a mistake and drilled a hole centrally for the dome. This left the tank filler out of whack so a second attempt moved it forward a little. It also left a hole in the tank top needing to be filled.



The other additions to the boiler were a new cast chimney and turned brass smokebox door darts. The door furniture was a big improvement but the chimney was just too small. It looked OK without the cab on but was evidently wrong once all was re assembled. I think it is an RT models Waril one. Nice but wrong.

With new handrails fitted, this time not with the loop round the chimney as another difference I painted her. I tried a variety of colours but none looked right, I wanted that faded Dinorwic sort of look so I ended up blending a scarlet and a brown to make my own colour. It still isn't quite right but it's closer than anything I could find in a paint and look very not blue. I will add some weathering once all is settled and dried hard and I get the nerve to spoil a pretty reasonable paint job. I'd like to add lining but as mentioned before I don't have the nerve.

Meet Daisy

I've also been adding some detail to the 3D print on a Fleischmann chassis loco I built a while ago. I'm waiting for name plates from Narrow Planet but it will be called 'Lucy B'. I wasn't quite happy with the look of the loco and couldn't quite pin it down so I've added a handrail on the front of the smokebox and a turned brass whistle. Both have just added a little detail and I've cheered up about it. Plates will be the finishing touch.

Meet Lucy B. next to the lighter green Lucy

It's a bit tricky adding crew to locos with the Fleischmann 7000 chassis as the motor takes up all of the cab below window level. The way I've got round this is by gluing pieces of styrene to the tops of the motor magnets and then a sheet of black card on top of that. The moving bit of the motor protrudes just higher than the magnets as I've found out before. Crew are the cruelly chopped at the waste and stuck on top of the card. Needs windows glazing too.