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War Department First World War Narrow Gauge Layout O-16.5 WDLR

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Two Discoveries.

In a rather 'round about way I made two discoveries yesterday - one potentially more interesting than the other! Well - my little one spent he day Bell Boating with her school (why they are called 'Bell Boats', I have no idea as appeared to be two canoes roped together). All of this entailed delivering, and picking her up from the nearby town of Droitwich. Running concurrently with this I had a problem of how to couple my skips together. I had always intended to run all seven as a rake with just
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Skip bodies painted

Have been busy on the bodies (is there a joke in there somewhere?), and here they are. Was making things up a bit as I went along here but decided on this premise for finishing them. As with most things WDLR there is no definitive information for what colours things were so I decided that they were supplied in grey. But.... as this showed up rather too well at night they were hurriedly given a rough coat of black in the field. As they would have been at most two years old at this stage I didn't
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A pile of skips

You may have noticed that I have been a bit quiet - the reason - this pile of skips! When I predicted this could turn into a two week job I fear I may have been a bit conservative. They are fiddly things to make with each having twelve pieces to solder and this is just the body, I have not even started on the chassis yet!     Well here they all are, undercoated in grey and ready for a bit of rust. I know batch construction of these things makes a lot of sense but is a very long way indeed f
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Skip to it

As a bit of a change to all the scenic stuff I decided to make an inroad into the rolling stock. Some Wrightlines skips would be ideal. My first task though was to find them! I knew where 4 were but was sure that I had bought 3 more - or was I imagining it. Spent ages looking for them only to eventually find them pretty much in front of me and in a Wrightlines box which for some reason I hadn't been looking for. Just to carry this theme on, something dropped out of the box when I opened it. Iis
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Another bit finished - well almost!

I seem to have been working on this little corner for ages - guess that is because I have. Am sure there are plenty of people who will vouch for this but that last 10% really does seem to take 90% of the time. As I am not renown for finishing things this is a completely new experience! Any way here are some pics of this little corner, one of which I have superimposed my inspirational picture.   and the next bit along     Here are some slightly more unusual views taken from angles that a
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Not Missing the Point

Half term and not a lot has happened - well not on the railway anyway! Lots of entertaining little person which included Zorbing on a pond, a fruitless search for the crash site of a B17 and (although were weren't going anywhere!), a few nights in a lovely cottage right in the middle of Hay - on - Wye with all it's bookshops.   In my one chance to get anything done I am afraid I got completely bogged down with a single tarpaulin - will recount this soon. For now though I will share with you th
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Back on the wagon

That is probably what I should be doing after the weekend (apologies for the poor spelling and unintentional smiley in the last post!), but have been playing with the little cart instead and now almost finished;     I need to tone down / weather the colour on the wheels and shafts and make a tarpaulin but apart from that it's done. All I need to finish the little cart scene is another horse and some sundries such as feed bags. Here is the mule that I did last night. Again a little toning do
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A la Cart !

To anyone following the progress of this very minor part of my project the fact that I am writing about a cart means that a) I didn't go to the Shepton Mallet show, b)the weather was not perfect this morning and c) yes, I did have a hang over! That Valentine fellow has a lot to answer for! So, along with quality time with wife and child and a double gym session I have pretty much finished my little cart bar the painting. Here it is before under coat;     Very unusually for me I decided to u
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Sorry Shepton

Yes, I am afraid that it is big apology to the Shepton Mallet narrow gauge show but I think it would be the wise decision not to venture south tomorrow. The wind is still howling around our ancient chimney pots (which luckily still seem to be in place), and the rain hasn't let up for hours. Coupled with this I did create a rather good Valentines special meal (with our little girl acting as waitress!), which seems to have involved rather a lot of fine beverage. As this has been lamentably absent
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Digging Dirt and Mud Slinging!

No, I haven't turned into a News of the World reporter but have been putting down the ground cover. Firstly, I prepared some puddles by planting some microscope slides with bottom painted brown into the surface and then went to work with a mixture of plaster, PVA and paint. This was slopped around then attacked with my multi purpose coffee stirrers to make wheel tracks, hoof prints and the like. Once dry my trusty dried and sieved garden soil was sprinkled on and then Astonish floor polish dropp
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Forging ahead!

That is what my new building seems to be turning into - a forge and a French forge at that! Having finally got around to doing a mock up building, my idea of a house seemed to turn into a barn and then just to be different a smithy. This should be quite a challenge to fit out and I do think a timber framed building would add a nice contrast. It will be in a state of disrepair but needs to be pretty solid on the left hand side to hide the fiddle yard. Big doors should allow the scene with the wag
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Lots of ticks

That refers to to my very efficient to do list, which, despite having spent much of today in bed (now I don't really want to winge but seem to be getting the same cold/fluey sort of thing for the forth time, exactly the same symptoms, sore throat one day, complete lethargy the next, then few days of general yuk - does this sound familiar?), anyway, after a very long sentence, have achieved a few things. Point levers are in - KB Scale but with the arms replaced with brass and lots of fileing, a b
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1000 bricks don't add up to much....

.....not when they are 1:48 scale! I should have known this really from my adventures in building a real extension and the unfeasibly large quantity of bricks this too. Anyway I have some scale enough bricks now from a German company called Juweela who make an eclectic range of scenic products which are worth a look although getting hold of then is a bit of a challenge. Well I bought a bag of 1000 but now wish I had gone for the 4000 bag.     These will be used for making jagged edges to th
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Something I should have done a long time ago!

And should have chosen a day which wasn't the rainiest, windiest and stormiest day for ages. The act in question was actually trying to fit the completed boards into the back of the car. Quite why I have gone this far without doing this just re enforces the fact that I am inherently stupid at times! I did do a lot of planning and even made up card board mock ups of the boards so they should fit....... and they did! Not a lot to spare but they did. I must now turn my attention to working out a wa
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Getting carried away

You may remember that a couple of days ago I said that I seemed to have spent a lot of time being busy but not actually managing to really do anything - well, things don't seem to have improved much! One reason that I can firmly point a finger at though is that the new issue of Narrow Gauge and Industrial Review popped through the letter box. Amongst other things there was an article on a rather lovely Baldwin entirely scratch built with milled frames and split axle pickups - both of which I asp
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Looking at peoples legs!

I have spent a lot of today looking at peoples legs - yes my alternative view of the Stafford show! It is really surprising how many different ways people manage to put together a few pieces of 2x1. Although many of my observations were made from afar not one of my requests to go delving under particularly interesting examples was denied or even considered strange - perhaps it is not such an unusual pass time! You will have guessed by now that I have been thinking again about to how to display l
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It works - sort of!

Yes the new Dick Kerr has worked splendidly around an extensive (8 year old got involved!), temporary test track around the living room floor in true train set fashion. It coped with four of the quite weighty Wrightlines class D and E bogie wagons. Am sure it would have pulled more but what with couplings, bogies and wheels falling off this was all I could muster at the moment. Unfortunately part two of the plan was not quite so successful. Here is a picture of what my double header set up shoul
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Waiting for glue to dry

Having spent the last few days being very busy but not actually sure with what, the Dick Kerr has not come along quite as quickly as I would have hopped. I rescued the motors from my previous chassis which was condemned due to a dodgy gearbox and fitted new Markits 50:1 boxes. Then I found these wouldn't fit the chassis. Managed to remedy this by milling out a portion at the top but got abit carried away on side. Will be hidden though so only we know! I have wired it up directly to a power suppl
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Revisiting the Dick Kerr

Having temporarily put the big building on the layout for some pictures I found that I couldn't summon up the energy or will to rescue it from the rather cold studio last night so looked around for something to finish off. I considered one of the Wrightlines Baldwins but settled on the Dick Kerr petrol electric that I had started a few months ago. Just to recap, I had soldered up the body and had cut some chassis frames but got no further. I turned my attention to the frames and finished them o
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Soldering Iron Tip!

This may be of interest. I have made quite a few references to the Maplin variable power soldering iron in posts and comments but have just noticed that it has got even cheaper;   http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/50-w-solder-station-n78ar     I will freely admit that it is not the best iron in the world but for £10.99 it has to be useful especially to someone who just wants to try one, possibly for soldering white metal for the first time. Do keep the receipt though as they do tend to go wrong.
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More on the big buiding

Have been chipping away (literally!), at the big building. One side of the railings are finished, although not permanently fixed or painting completed yet. Will have to do a couple of bits for the other side and, rather frustratingly, the missing bits as am assuming they wouldn't have gone far so will have to contribute to the heap of junk and rubble that will occupy the front garden.     There is now some basic dirt and remains of flower beds in the front and a couple of detail bits such a
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Not sitting on the fence.

Have now given up sitting on the fence (too painful!), and am getting on with the railings for the big building which has been on hold since Christmas. Yes, that does mean that the Simplex is on hold in a semi working state but think I need a bit of a change. I am working from a couple of original pictures for this building so have a general look for the railings but do not feel obliged to copy them completely, which would be pretty difficult anyway from a couple of grainy pics. So to get someth
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Getting somewhere!

Thanks for all the suggestions regarding springs and things (and sorry, I the depths of my despair I didn't manage to take any pics of the chassis!), but have got somewhere. In fact I haven't really gone anywhere but the little Simplex has gone around my loop of Hornby set track on the living room floor (in true train set style!), completely unaided and with three hefty white metal D class wagons. I persevered with the pick ups and the real break through came when I had the brainwave of bending
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Dejection.

I think the body language of the driver says it all;     You see, he has a brand new and rather smart looking Simplex;     But guess what? It doesn't work!   The problem is solely down to the pick ups, I just can't seem to get them right. Have been messing around with this for two days now and really have had enough. the recommended position is to have them on the inside of the frames working on the backs of the wheels. I have tried the Phospher bronze strip supplied, heftier P.B. ,
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A Grand Day Out - part 2 - Guess where?

This could start to get a bit repetitive but I was in St Albans as well! This show has become a bit of a tradition now and an excuse to come over to one of my old stamping grounds, meet friends, drink wine and eat lots! Am sure there is looking at trains in there somewhere as well! Unfortunately due to our rather complex travel arrangements this weekend, we did not have as long as I would have liked at the show as had to get several full sized trains back to Worcestershire. A really nice show ag
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