Scrapped!

Not the layout, by the way! Today was spent building the backboards, they have all been cut, only one requires attaching, which will be done Monday. I decided that since the Ffestiniog has always had a George England engine in disuse, TMR should have one too! So I built one of them out of card. Before painting, I decided I want some patched of the smoke box and saddle tank to be rusted through (similar to Welsh Pony today) so it was poked several times with a very small needle, which I think gave a good effect. It was then sprayed matt black, then the rust was applied. Tarpaulin was then laid over the cab to offer some protection from the elements.

The tarpaulin effect is achieved by cutting a 5 thou piece of plasticard to the desired shape, then after clamping the model stuck to my bench, the plasticard was laid over the model and a heat gun was aimed at it. It then got soft enough that I could gently encourage it to the shape I required with a piece of wood. The Tarpaulin is held down by rope, which is simply sewing thread, separated to it’s individual strands and glued in place. The engine then found it’s final resting place at the end of the coal siding at the Station.

Out of curiosity, can anyone guess which George England locomotive this is?

Earl's Chassis

Over the weekend, the chassis for the Earl has been started. I've decided not to use the one that is supplied with the kit as the boiler detail inside the cab is poor. The other reason is a bit long winded so here it goes... My Earl of Merioneth has been built in current form, which has a Hunslet boiler. The Langley kit is based on the original Merddin, which had a Spooner ‘Waggontop’ boiler. There are slight differences in the shape and stay arrangement, I won't go into too much detail. But basically, the Spooner ‘Waggontop’ it higher in the cab than the new Hunslet designs. So, how have I done it? Here are some pictures, which have a thousand words…

It is made of a single piece of plasticard, with slots for the bogies. Two phosphor bronze strips are pickups, which rub on the bogies’ pickups. The chassis should be finished within the next week, and then I will start on another for Merddin Emrys which will be scratch built in 1970s style (Shorter tanks, no cab, half cab sides and black domes) Here is a picture…

If anyone has some side-on photos of the engine in this condition, or some close ups, could you send them to traeth.mawr.railway@gmail.com It would be much appreciated.

Not much to say..

I have been slowly ploddering along with the layout, should be fully operating soon. It's been set up in the garage and somewhere along the line, one of the points decided not to work! So some investigation into that is needed.

Buildings for the yard.

Over the last couple of days, i've been constructing the workshop and a 10T boxvan body 'stores'. Some whitemetal castings where bought from GEM for buckets, wheelbarrows, barrels and the general 'tat' that you'd find in the workshops and out in the yard.
I am most proud of the roof for the main workshop building. It had been made by cutting a sheet of mountboard (card) to size, then laying slate tiles over it. The tiles are made of paper. It took a good two hours to make one side, i'm now starting on the other.