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Following on from my completion of the Highland 0-6-0's my attention turned to a pair of engines that became a trademark of much of the Highland section in its latter days of steam- A Pickersgill 4-4-0 and a Macintosh 0-6-0, both of which proved very useful additions to the motive power department and which stayed till dieselisation.Once again, these are venerable white metal kits from Nucast and DJH respectively, and have been unavailable for some time now, but were part of my strategic reserve of models for the area in case R-T-R versions weren't released Well, it has proved a wise move and I am working through them methodically now. The double build of the previous two proved quite practical, so I decided to build these side by side as well, which seems to work for me- any hiccups with one can be puzzled over whilst attending to the other, rather than packing the problem away as was often the case before. It dawned on me that this burst of activity is the first time I have built WM kits for nearly forty years and most of them are of the same vintage, with many of the attendant quirks that characterised these releases, but different standards and expectations were the order of the day then. One great step forward though for me has been to finally master white metal soldering, and most of the construction of these two has been this way, and very enjoyable it has been too.... To the models- the 4-4-0 had been started before and packed away at least twice, wheras the 0-6-0 was a straight build from the untouched kit. A look at the boiler and footplate casting as it came- at least it is a fairly solid base to work from- the HR footplate was very flimsy and twisted at the slightest provocation. As before, R-T-R chassis were used, a T9 for the bogie and a Bachmann pannier for the 0-6-0. The T9 was almost an exact fit but the other is a bit of a compromise, and involved hefty carving away from the splashers and footplate to get the coupling rods to revolve freely. Fortunately the thickness of the castings and the generous clearance allowances for the coarser original Romfords made this possible. The pannier drivers are also a bit underscale as well, but to the eye on the layout it passes as acceptable. The 0-6-0 body ready for motor fitting- a small amount of filing and trimming back of the firebox area was needed, but compared to the amount needed on the smaller boilered HR ones this was one of the easier bits of construction. Assembly proceeded, with much perusing of images of the two types, and use of my trio of solder, superglue and 90 second epoxy can be seen in this photo. I found epoxy handy in boiler and fittings fixings- things like domes and chimneys could be tweaked into the correct position while the glue sets. However, problems soon appeared with both engines. The bogie engine turned out to be squint, with one footplate half leading the other by a mm or so, but showing up as out of squares all over the engine. Now, I don't know if it was a casting fault or a built in mistake by myself in the original gluing together, but the whole assembly had to be dismantled. I thought I might lose the whole casting, but to my relief it came apart more or less intact. It was from here on that the soldering iron became the preferred tool of choice as I discovered the hole filling properties of 70o solder and lashings of Powerflux, and the home made extractor fan started earning its keep. I managed to square up the chassis and after that there was little to note of with the 4-4-0. Everything went together with little problem apart from getting things square and in the right place, which involves studying pictures of the real thing as the instructions were of little use except to photograph WIP on Eventually body work reached a basically intact state and much buffing and cleaning was done to get rid of decades of oxidation and general grime, and then work started on the tenders. The two types had a plethora of pipes and fittings on them, esp. the bogie and I decided to make at least a representation of this on the bodies. Fortunately, both types have been well photographed in colour, so much poring over the like of Keith Pirt's Scottish volumes and others was done. It turns out that hardly any two had the same arrangement, so I did enough to pass muster although I basically used specific pictures of 57585 and 54491 as prototypes.The bogie engines had Westinghouse brakes, as did some 0-6-0's, but 57585 wasn't fitted as such, at least in my period.Two views of the bogie loco with pipework here. As an aside- the cab backhead casting- an example of 1970's detailing When I started the tenders it became obvious that there was something far wrong with the 0-6-0's one. Here it is as supplied and tacked together and after modification. Starting with a complete ignorance of CR locos, I soon discovered what a minefield this subject can be- lots of variations on a theme, usually blithely dismissed under the catch-all phrase of Jumbos. They seem to have had common access to tenders and fittings, and trying to pin down what went where proved too much work for a one-off job. I finally settled for 57585 which had steam and vacuum fittings and a smaller tender than that supplied. This was achieved by cutting down the existing one and using a strip of plasticard to pass as a patch repair that lots had to disguise any rough bits. The tendertop flare was sadly underdone as well, so much filing away of metal and some brutal bending of now very thin WM was needed to remedy this. Eventually, with this cured, progress was uneventful and tenders were ready for priming. I decided to model 54491 with the cab doors closed- a rarely seen feature of the real thing, but as there is a lot of chassis showing in the cab I thought this might disguise things a bit. I also added rolled up cab weathersheeting, which can just be seen in some of the layout photos. One final hiccup with the 0-6-0 showed up after priming- despite looking at dozens of images of the real thing I had glued on the chimney supplied with the kit at the start of the build, but only noticed its apalling shape at a very late date. It can be seen in this image. and in this workbench shot, where a prototype pic is in the background. Anyway, a replacement CR one was found and fitted. They had two coats of Humbrol acrylic primer and three of GW Chaos Black, with 54491 then lined out with Pressfix transfers. Weathering was confined to a dusting of well thinned Humbrol no.79 through the airbrush for this one, and 57585 received the same then about ten following coats of variations of browns, greys and black added to the basic mixture till it had a subtle mixture of shades passed over lightly to give a well worn look. At the time of writing I still have to tidy up the cab numbering of 57585- a gloss varnish adhesive base still shows up in photos, and needs some disguising. Lastly, a couple of the engines in action during their running-in turns.It was an interesting build and has given me two useful specific engines to add to a growing more accurate roster. November 2013- addendum. The Bachmann chassis as originally fitted was too far out, even for my lax approach to the odd mm or two, so has been replaced with a C class version, which is more or less the correct spacings. Additional work was also done to the body work after even more shortcomings were noticed with this kit. A copy of a booklet covering the restoration of 828 showed up errors in cab cutout shape and spectacle glasses. The attached photos show this,so a bit more filing was called for to remedy things. Replacing the chassis involved some butchery in the cab area as the motor is set further back than the pannier, so a spare T9 backplate was fitted to hide this. Brutal stuff at this stage, but its amazing what a coat of paint can disguise.... And finally, in service and looking a bit more like a 812.... Addendum Dec 2017 To bring this up to date, I eventually tired of the flaws in the 0-6-0 and with the advent of the Hornby 700 did a rebuild of this loco into a more presentable CR 812. The original 57585 had its chassis removed and the kit one built without a motor and the loco went to an elderly gentleman who had an interest in Thurso based engines to spend its retirement in a display case alongside other 60D residents. He has since died but the family are retaining the collection as a memory of their father. Here is a shot of the replacement conversion at work. It has since this photo had a replacement chimney fitted.

Rebirth of a Railway By Peter D Spencer Professor of Gnomolige June 2011 It’s been 2 years now, since fingers and keyboard cametogether to record the continuing saga of the GVR. (Gnome Valley Railway) owingto personal illness problems that left me mentally and physically unfit tocarry on as the Chief Engineer and Chairman of the GVR. It became apparent thata change from house to a bungalow was now a necessity. It was agreed that myson Christopher and partner take over the house and business (Tuxcraft) andMargaret and I would look for a bungalow. Luck was on our side, the bungalowright next door came onto the market, so a deal was struck. StoryLine of the GVR. Following the increase in the demand, and the decreasein the amount of Barley Sugar ore being mined local, Barley Sugar Puddingbecame a very valuable export product. The by-product of this production,Gnomezade, was also very sort after and soon became a delicacy in the nextgarden which was in fact against the consumption of such liquids. Gnomezade wassoon being smuggled through the hedge to be consumed in small underground hideouts. This illicit operation was being organised by the notorious, AlkiGnome,who was sort after by the Gnome Valley security force after the discovery of anillegal drain pipe on one of the settling ponds at the Barley Sugar Factory.Tracing the exit of this pipe uncovered the large production of Gnomezade justthrough the hedge in the next garden. TheGVR. expansion programme was to extendits workings into this new garden, but AlkiGnome was thought to be supplyingthe workforce with illicit Gnomezade as a growing number of the railway’s staffwere unable to attend working owing to drink related problems. The youngergeneration of Gnomes were fast becoming unsociable, unruly and were to be foundin hidden locations binge drinking. This change in the Gnomes society causedsubstantial disruption to the development of the GVR’s plans. Land clearanceand the preparation of the track bed were taking considerably longer thanplanned. With the chairman of the railway having to take a forced break fromhis duties, the Valley constabulary were able to use this period of time to getthe situation back into some sort of control. This was achieved by a highreward being posted for information leading to the arrest and conviction ofAlkiGnome and his gang, and the clamp down on all the known drinking dens. Thisslowly bought the situation back under control, just in time for the return to workof the MD and chief engineer. So here we go again, as the management had just beeninformed that the next door establishment had advertised and arranged an openday for the shop, and required the GVR. to be available for visitors to see. Asthe date of the open day was to be at the beginning of December it left only 3months to lay track bed, track and get something running. Sub contractors werecalled in, namely big Mick, John D and Ken Radcliff. Armed the tools, lengthsof fibreglass track bed salvaged from the previous layout and supplied withplenty of liquid refreshments, proceeded to dig out old plants and weeds. The building of the retaining walls came next; thiswas a night mare as the weather had turned rather foul. The track bed soonfollowed and was surprisingly ease to reassemble considering how long it hadbeen down at the previous site. Ruff and ready as it was we just had enoughtime to get some power to it all and test run a few train, when, time ran out. The day came, bright sunshine and a small breeze. Clubmembers started to arrive around 11’ am, this was very helpful as we were outof steam from all the construction work. Visiting locos numbered some 9 unitsof all breads, sizes, shapes and power. We had a few that ran ob Analogy, aswell as those that required DCC. This was not a problem as we had wired thewhole layout for Analogy as we expected some to be present. As for the DCCrequirements, it was only a case of switching all switches to the on positionand swooping a couple of wires. So with all this in place every one got achance to run. At one point we had 5 trains (all DCC) running at once as wellas a battery radio controlled train all running at the same time. The weatherchanged dramatically in the afternoon as rain threatened to stop play, but wewhere able to continue through the showers. It was the wind that coursed thetrouble with locos and rolling stock being blown of the track. We were amplysupplied with liquid refreshments and being as it was near Christmas, a wellstocked plate of mince pies. Every thing seemed to go well and from thefeedback it was a very successful day. Since this event we have decided that wecould also hold an open day for G Scale Society members. This will be on BankHoliday Monday the 5th May. All are welcome, and we plan on astarting time of 2, pm and hopefully running on until 5, pm. If you could phoneto let me know you are coming it would help, and also tell me what you willbring, i.e. Analogy or DCC or both we can then sort out a running order. A start was made first in the old garage (now calledthe train room, posh or what) A rough diagram is shown here, As you will seefrom the accompanying photos the Gnomezade Bottling Plant is in the cornersharing a spur with R. SOLES Boot and Shoe importers, as well as the bulkGnomezade storage facility. More next time.

As part of my backwards motive power movement my attention turned to the Highland 0-6-0 "Barney" class- very similar to those other Drummond locos on the CR and their Southern cousins, the 700 class. These engines were part of the Highland scene for the first half of the last century, but suffered from a mass transfer of the last survivors to the Glasgow area in 1946, in exchange for the Caley version that saw out steam here. So, another bit of modellers licence involved here again, I'm afraid. I had originally started one of these kits about twenty five years ago, and made a complete mess of it, but fortunately it was my sole attempt at WM soldering, so it proved salvageable, much to my suprise. I had been looking out for another one of these over the years, and a couple of months ago one appeared here in classifieds, and was promptly snatched up. My delight at securing such a supposed rarity was tempered when I discovered a 2003 date inside it and a visit to the DJH site showed that it was still available , but nevertheless it was enough to get me going after my Ben alterations. What follows proves I am not an engineer and in fact perhaps shoudn't be shown to the world at all but it has enabled me to get another two engines going.I have built chassis for engines before through necessity, but the current R-T-R releases are far better than my abilities to match, so Bachmann pannier ones were used as the driving force. They have dimensional differences but I am going to live with that, as I have stopped fretting about the odd mm or two in the wrong place. In my searches for a lost something I came across one of my builds- most of the four or five others were disposed of, but I kept this one for sentiment- the Mainline original that created such a stir when it first appeared. It has a compensated beam chassis and watching the wheels adjust to any track irregularitaries still gives me pleasure at my efforts. When I got the new kit I delved into the the recesses and dug out my previous effort- it was badly built and had suffered somewhat in kicking around the cupboard, and my original plan was to scavenge it for fittings for the Ben, which then turned into a rebuild with a plasticard footplate, but after a good soak in boiling water most of it came apart and I realised that the model was in fact still buildable, at least to my standards The following pictures will show what ensued. As it was found, after soaking, and with the footplate resoldered. A rough trial to see if the chassis would fit inside the body- it did by turning the motor vertically and much filing and widening of the firebox, but it isn't obvious in the finished state. After that work was straightforward, assembly a mix of solder, superglue and epoxy, with most of the effort going into filling and smoothing, until they reached a more or less satisfactory state. A good scrub with Jif and a coat or two of GamesWorkshop Black spray saw them ready for the finishing touches. The original tender was made up with the end bearing Romfords in place so I left it as was, and it runs OK, but the newer one had a Comet sub chassis fitted. As of now, I have broken the habit of many years and not fitted tender pickups, but this may yet be done. A crew was added to both engines- the one shown is, IIR, an American white metal pair that have been lying around for years. The tender was coaled on both with a lump of Das clay as a former and then covered with coal Alterations to the chassis- motor turned in its cradle, thanks to a topic in forum that alerted me to the possibilities of this chassis, and the outside brake rods removed with a hint of cross rods and some crudely shaped guard irons to finish it off. I didn't take any shots of them in plain black, but hereis one of 54398 to give an idea of before. Weathering was the usual drybrushing of underframe grime colours and various shades of grey on the footplate, smokebox and cab roof and tender top, folowed by airbrushing of layers of diluted acrylics in different mixes to try and give an unkempt look. My start point is Humbrol no.79 followed by about ten or so variations on the original by adding a selection of browns and greys to it and lightly brushing over. This is done with very light coats and can be seen in this shot of a trial burst on a newspaper. There you have it, a photo of watching paint dry Anyway, to finish, a couple of pictures of the running engines. 57695 is the battered original and 57697 is the later one- it has a Caley stovepipe chimney as per the prototype, but none of these engines made it to a crest, and the tenders are wrong for the period- the box at the rear was done away with, but as I've said before, this is Kylesku, not Kyle of Lochalsh, and things turned out differently here. Well, another collection of compromises, with more to follow, but it has been for me an achievement to at last have smooth running appropriate motive power for the layout after years of taking boxes out of cupboards and putting them back again. These kits may be crude by current standards but we must be grateful for them at all- I have waited in vain for decades for Scottish engines from the R-T-R's, and without these kits I could never have had Highland locos for my layout.

According to a list prepared by Stuart Brasier for the N Gauge Society, this a Great Northern Rly fish van. Based on diagrams 34 & 49, the prototype was 17'6" over headstocks with a vacuum fitted 10'WB underframe. I'm not sure of a source of drawings or photos. Regards Michael