D&RGW narrow gauge: Back to scenics.

[JZ]

20 minutes ago, BernardTPM said:

They were briefly quite popular as an import in the late 1950s. Good choice and, no doubt, will be a talking point.

I have a few European vehicles, all of which were imported to the US at some point, apart from a Saab 92 and I've got to have a Saab.

[cp409067]

*

 

Please forgive the following digression.

 

The second car I ever owned was a Renault Dauphine. I bought it second hand and should have known better. A few years earlier my father had also owned one and attempted to tame it by placing a large concrete block in the boot (= just behind the headlights and ahead of the front wheels). This was in the mid-1960s.

 

I replaced it after a couple of years with one of the earliest Reanault 4 models to be imported into the UK. I was its 6th owner. On a good day it had 6 volt electrics and a 3 speed gearbox. It was eccentric with canvas slung across metal tubing deck chair style seats. In the late 1960s I drove it to Spain (Catalonia) thinking that if it broke down in France it could easily be repaired. It did indeed break down - at Sittingbourne in Kent en route to the Channel Ferry at Dover. However, after a repairs on an August Bank Holiday Saturday morning it made it all the way to Catalonia and a couple of weeks later back to the UK.

 

A few months after that the canvas seat split under my backside as I was driving up a steep hill in Hampstead.  A temproary repair involving a substantial leather luggage strap solved that problem. I remember that Renault 4 with great affection: motoring that was cheap, cheerful, unhurried and very relaxed.

 

 

CP

[JZ]

Back in September, I mentioned that I had one of these.

A bit of a 'what if', but I have now procured another two of these from Trains, Toys and Hobbies in Delaware. So far they have taken 7 days to get from the Post Office in Claymont DE to the International distribution centre in Jamaica NY, 135 miles. In the meantime, I have managed to get a very cheap Bemo baggage van to repaint into these colours from a shop in the Netherlands. This is in the process of painting as I type this. I also bought and received  a couple of other bits from Germany in this time. Aah, the joys of the dealing with the USPS.

 

 

[JZ]

This is the Bemo baggage car.

I have left the sliding doors silver and I'll leave putting the glazing back until it has had a coat of lacquer. The yellow is the closest match I could find. It's still on metre gauge/12mm wheelsets, but TT&H have sent me some in anticipation of finding it. Bemo couplers will be removed from the bogies and Kadee #705 fitted to the body.

I got it fairly cheap as the glazing was missing in one of the doors. When I dismantled it, I found it lodged in the roof.

[PaulRhB]

So a TT F unit to paint up in the matching livery?  

[alastairq]

On 17/04/2021 at 20:10, cp409067 said:

*

 

Please forgive the following digression.

 

The second car I ever owned was a Renault Dauphine. I bought it second hand and should have known better. A few years earlier my father had also owned one and attempted to tame it by placing a large concrete block in the boot (= just behind the headlights and ahead of the front wheels). This was in the mid-1960s.

 

I replaced it after a couple of years with one of the earliest Reanault 4 models to be imported into the UK. I was its 6th owner. On a good day it had 6 volt electrics and a 3 speed gearbox. It was eccentric with canvas slung across metal tubing deck chair style seats. I

 

 

 Sadly, I happen to share your experiences, and views, concerning Renault's products. My Dauphine was blue, but floaty, and full of hidden rust.  [Late 1960's]. It eventually expired [only British cars broke down!]....out on the Guildford Bypass, where it was pushed to one side of a field gatehole, and left.  I went back to sea the following day, so as far as I know, it might still be there? [Or in someone's back garden by now?}

Th Renault 4 I acquired in the 1980's, as revenge upon my family , who had prevailed upon me to give up daily motorcycling. That thing went everywhere, any time, often full of model railway stuff [the seats could be removed completely]...

It gave me a consistent 40-plus mpgs, but needed new rear shockers almost every year.

I loved it, if only because one could drive it flat out all day long.....but since it lacked any sort of real ability to increase speed from what it was doing at that moment, flat out had to be maintained, which really sharpened up my overtaking skills somewhat.

[JZ]

2 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

So a TT F unit to paint up in the matching livery?  

With a few scaling up mods.

[PaulRhB]

16 minutes ago, JZ said:

With a few scaling up mods.

Yes  I suspect they will be a bit too small compared to a Bemo coach but it would look good as a Narrow Gauge streamliner!  

[JZ]

On 17/04/2021 at 20:10, cp409067 said:

 

The second car I ever owned was a Renault Dauphine. I bought it second hand and should have known better. A few years earlier my father had also owned one and attempted to tame it by placing a large concrete block in the boot (= just behind the headlights and ahead of the front wheels). This was in the mid-1960s.

CP

Of course, Chevrolet took notice of all the handling problem of the Dauphine and put them in the Corvair.

[JZ]

Workbench pretty much complete, now let's see if I can keep it tidy.

[JZ]

First up on the new workbench was putting decals on the baggage car. Most I had to make myself. The 'Main Line Thru the Rockies' was downloaded and resized. Everything done in Microsoft Paint, you don't need a fancy program for most work.

Waiting for the black stripe decal to arrive from Germany, no UK supplier had any in the correct width. Still waiting for the wheels, 2 days after they arrived at the USPS distribution Centre, they are now making their way to JFK.

[JZ]

After doing the decals. i went for a well deserved pint.

Butcombe Best at the Queen Victoria in Priddy. Boy, it tasted good.

[JZ]

My coaches turned up today. 14 days from Delaware, 12 of which were covering the 135 miles from the shop to JFK and two days for the 3600 miles from JFK to my door, via Heathrow and customs.

 

Not happy with the colour match, I took the plunge and repainted the band on the original coach and will do the same with the new ones. Wheelsets dropped into the Bemo baggage car, but still waiting for the black strips.

[JZ]

Meant to add this to yesterday's post.

Made enquiries about these two loco bodies.

These both match the height and width of the new carriages. They are resin bodies from a company in Brasil. Suitable N gauge mechanisms would have to be sourced that are ripe for gauge widening. The top one for passenger service and painted in the 'Ski Train' livery, though probably with silver upper parts.

The lower one for freight and in the Rio Grande livery from about 1960.

[JZ]

Black stripe decals arrived today.

. I'll leave them until after work tomorrow before giving it a final coat of satin varnish. I've fitted the HOn3 wheelsets to the bogies. I have some gangways from either Hornby Stanier or Hawksworth coaches in my spares box and they are just about a good match to the ones on the D+R coaches, so will be added to this. After that it's just checking the height for fitting the couplings.

[JZ]

Now back together and with one of the repainted D+R coaches.

While it's now quite as tall as the coach, which needs a bit more touching up, I feel that consistency in the livery was most important. I considered painting the doors to match the rest of the coach, but in the end decided to leave them all silver. I've also painted the gangways on the D+R coach black, from the original silver. Next job is to fit Kadee #705 couplings.

[JZ]

The full rake of 'modern' coaches.

While a longer train would certainly look good, this is the longest combination, with a loco, that will fit my loops. It's about equal to five standard coaches.

Tempted to now do one of my Rail-Line boxcars in this livery.

And as I picked a couple more caboose kits in a job lot, maybe a matching one.

[Nile]

Yes, go for it.

[JZ]

Finally heard back from the chap in Brazil. The two loco bodies will be posted an Friday. Once in my hands, I will start the search for suitable chassis. Decals have been ordered from Microscale, so we have a race on our hands. Who will be quickest, USPS or Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos (ECT)?

 

And just picked up a never run Blackstone K-27 for the price of a Bachmann or Hornby DCC sound loco.

Edited May 11, 2021 by JZ

[JZ]

Today's acquisition is a Iron Horse Model-PSC Pagosa combine 212 in post 1941 condition.

GW Jim was kind enough to meet me at Nailsea & Backwell on one of my trips to Weston super mare today. So pleased was I at getting it, that I forgot to release the doors on the train for a minute or so.

It is still in service today, albeit much modified.

[pH]

On 10/04/2021 at 02:34, JZ said:

This arrived today. 130 pages and around 200 pictures from the 675 miles of D&RGW and RGS narrow gauge that formed the Narrow Gauge Circle and it's branch lines.

A bargain £6.59 with free postage from Dallas, TX.

Great pictures, but it really could do with an index !

[rockershovel]

On 23/04/2021 at 19:50, JZ said:

After doing the decals. i went for a well deserved pint.

Butcombe Best at the Queen Victoria in Priddy. Boy, it tasted good.

 

A pub I last visited in the 1970s, I think! From (distant) memory, it was the smarter of the two pubs in Priddy, the other (Hunter? Huntsman? Hunters Lodge?) being favoured by grubby cavers .... 

Edited May 28, 2021 by rockershovel

[JZ]

23 hours ago, rockershovel said:

 

A pub I last visited in the 1970s, I think! From (distant) memory, it was the smarter of the two pubs in Priddy, the other (Hunter? Huntsman? Hunters Lodge?) being favoured by grubby cavers .... 

Hunter's Lodge. Back in the 70's and 80's, I would have been one of those grubby cavers. Still visit when I can, the menu has hardly changed, always a great drop of ale. It has been in the same family since 1851. There is another pub in Priddy, on the Green, the New Inn. It has been closed for a few years now, but the present owner has been refurbishing it since 2018, but still we wait. The Queen Vic was also a cavers pub, a couple of caving clubs have their headquarters in Priddy.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

On 16/05/2021 at 16:52, JZ said:

Today's acquisition is a Iron Horse Model-PSC Pagosa combine 212 in post 1941 condition.

GW Jim was kind enough to meet me at Nailsea & Backwell on one of my trips to Weston super mare today. So pleased was I at getting it, that I forgot to release the doors on the train for a minute or so.

It is still in service today, albeit much modified.

Possibly the most awesome model I think I’ve ever seen!  Quite fantastic @GW Jim!  Not sure I’d dare try and paint it though.

[JZ]

One feature of D&RGW narrow gauge coaches is the handrails at each end. The plastic ones supplied with kits are rather flimsy, so I managed to get 5 sets of cast brass ones from Narrow Gauge Colorado.

I will get them tidied up and painted on my next rest day and get them fitted.