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Motive Power Ramblings

alanbuttler

Entry posted by alanbuttler

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I'm waiting on some whistles for 5726, so with a little time to spare I've been giving thought to what locomotive to detail next.

 

My original plans had been to recreate various scenes inspired by the works registers between 1954 and 1959, for an extra level of historical accuracy. However to recreate various time frames over the 5 year period would require a considerable amount of rolling stock... and time... and expense...

 

You'll probably think I'm insane adding this extra layer of complexity to the diorama, but something about handling the original documents makes it more than just a model to me somehow, more like a homage. I've no idea what I'm talking about, just rambling now... maybe because I've spent the last couple of hours hammering dates and numbers into a spreadsheet and it's sent me a bit loopy.

 

If I am going to embark on creating scenes in the works from the historical documents then it makes sense to find out which locomotive classes were represented most often. Not only that, I'd like to feature the locomotives with long standing associations with the Cambrian, such as photogenic 9017, 4-6-0's such as Bradley, Barcote and Hinton Manor, or small tanks such as 1432 which spent nearly it's whole life at Oswestry.

 

As well as including the Cambrian favourites, the work horses also need good representation, so to get an idea of what classes were repaired at the works and when I've crunched all the registers into a spreadsheet. This table shows each class, how many times it visited per year and how many individual class members there were. (Note: data for 1955 is missing)

 

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Looking at the chart it's quite obvious I'll need a good representation of Collett Goods and Ivatt 2MT's. Then a healthy measure of Dukedogs, Manors, Panniers, Moguls, 14xx's and Prairie tanks. There are some glaring gaps though, how to represent the Riddles 2MT or Hawksworth 16xx? NuCast kits for the 16xx seem pretty hard to come by and I'm no where near the skill level of attempting a DJH 78xxx. Once Bachmann get the 64xx out there that's the 54xx and 74xx covered with a little conversion work. Then there are the oddities, interlopers from other sheds such as Croes Newydd, 0-6-2T's from Stourbridge, 38xx's from Chester and Countess and Earl from the Welshpool and Llanfair to name a few.

 

Taking that a step further, a step too far no doubt, but why not, here's a snapshot of a day in December 1958:

 

blogentry-17930-0-73854500-1394922249_thumb.jpg

 

Quite a nice spread of classes there on what must have been a busy day... If this still sounds crazy or more likely completely pointless then bear with me :) there is a method in the madness, somewhere.

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Andy M

Hi Alan,

 

Not madness and certainly not pointless. I went through exactly the same process with my Newton Abbot project and derived a great deal of enjoyment along the way. Historical accuracy is something I get a real buzz from and if like you the model is of an authentic scene, then it makes total sense. I set myself the September 1958 date for the buildings and infrastructure and have on the whole refined my stock to match. There has been the odd deviation such as a '1361' and the recent Dukedog, but these were Newton visitors from earlier in the 1950's. One of the bonus aspects of modelling a 'Works' is that you can include guests not usually found on shed, such as larger prototypes and loco's from other divisions. King's, 47xx's and the big 8-coupled tanks all visited the Newton Factory for attention.

Your attention to detail so far has been top draw and if you are enjoying the journey then all is good!

 

Regards,

Andy.

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alanbuttler

Thanks Andy, it has been enjoyable and I get the same buzz from digging through all the old registers :) The scope of choice was a bit daunting, couldn't see wood for the trees as it were! But this process has helped.  

 

There's 21 locomotives in the queue for detailing and weathering at the moment, covering 1954 to 1958, but no works to put them in!  The search continues for affordable access to a large bed laser cutter... so in the mean time I'll continue with selecting the works roster.

 

Cheers

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