NeilHB

Dog owners beware, there is a very nasty gastro virus going round which is serious. We nearly lost Rupert (youngest dog) last weekend as he went down hill very quickly. Thankfully with help from the Vet he pulled through but ended up back at the vets on Friday as he still wasn’t right and ended up with another overnight stay to ensure we didn’t have a repeat and to get his fluids back up. Looks like Oscar (eldest dog) has started with it today as he has started vomiting. We are keeping a very close eye on him at the moment but touch wood he seems ok. If your dogs do show any signs make sure they get plenty of water and contact your vet. https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/sickness-bug-causing-serious-problems-6517440

Lovely work Tom.

Very much so. Going to see a friend tomorrow to have a look at how he's wired his layout, which should then enable me to crack on with mine. All this electrickery is magic smoke and mirrors to me half the time!

Had fun last night just messing around with the sound fitted locos, so here's a couple of videos for your enjoyment: First up we see ETCo No.1 "Godred" departing Ffarquhar Road with the last down passenger tram of the day: Fast forwarding a few years on we see NWR Sentinel No.21 leaving Ffarquhar Road with a short goods train: It's jolly good fun just playing trains

Just a little bump to add in a couple more confirmed attendees: Port Wynnstay Quay - O-16.5 King Edward Street - O-14 Severn Mills - O-16.5 Port Wynnstay Models

Wellsworth & Suddery Railway “Edric” is now sound fitted: Lovely stuff

Tim, many thanks for letting us know about Grahame, I do hope that he is on the mend soon!

Ewe is coming along very nicely Rob. The low level shot of the 03 and brake is particularly nice, and I must try to resist doing something similar in 7mm scale!

They were left overs from Slater's kits. I don't see why they wouldn't be able to sell you the parts directly though, worth giving them a call and asking.

Not much modelling to report this week other than a couple of bits and pieces. I popped a coat of paint on the NWR version of the tramcars to see how it looked, and I think this works quite nicely: Still need to sort out the running gear etc for this one. I’ve now got a few more FY cassettes to use, thanks to Phil at Intentio (No connection other than a satisfied customer) - I’ve bought a couple of different sized ones to cater for different train lengths: I’ve also started work again on North Western No.1 (seen here keeping company with North Western No.7): You will recall that previously I’d fitted a Dapol Terrier chassis with the wheels from a Dapol Jinty, well it’s now gone back to sitting on a standard Dapol Terrier chassis. It does save me having to faff about sorting out new pickups etc, and has got me a bit more enthused about cracking on with this project. In around 1916 we see North Western No.1 arriving at Ffarquhar Road with a goods train. We must assume that the local officers of the law turned their backs when they saw the train, as the loco certainly isn’t kitted out for running on a tramway…!

The smokebox door is from Slaters (as are the metal brake shoes on all wheels), the stovepipe chimney is from S&D castings. I also replaced the safety valve with a casting from Slaters.

I spoke to Chris at Minerva about getting sound fitted to mine. You will need to send it to Chris at Minerva for him to undertake this, as there is very limited (i.e.next to no) room and the PCB will need to be cut down to fit. IIRC it wasn't expensive (approx £140 including the cost of the decoder and the postage). I am very impressed with mine:

Just a note to say that I've started to update the confirmed attendees list for the new date - those in ITALICS are confirmed. Any that definitely can't make have been crossed out.

I’d never realised before just how much of a size difference there is between them - ‘Cora’ really is dainty!

Lovely work Tom, they look very good.

Hi Christopher, Thank you. Yes, cab steps and a few other details are still very much on the 'to-do list'.

Update - we've changed the date! We feel that at the moment there are too many uncertainties with the current Covid-19 situation to allow us to go ahead safely on the 29th January. Therefore we have agreed a revised date of Saturday 9th April 2022. I've left the original list of attendees in place for the time being, and will update this as and when folks confirm if they can make the new date or not. Please watch this space for further updates. We can't wait to see you all then!

They all have brake shoes fitted, I just haven’t decided yet where to fit the brake wheel etc. The guard will travel in the tramcars with the passengers. I’m not quite sure what happened, I turned my back on the layout for five minutes earlier and another Tramcar appeared (I think they’ve started breeding 😞 That’s all the planned ETCo liveried ones completed, which will give me enough to run a pair (All Third and First/Third Composite) plus luggage van as one set, and the other All Third with some wagons as a mixed train.

An exceedingly productive day at the workbench today - I have actually completed (please don’t fall over in shock!) the first pair of ETCo tramcars and luggage van! This morning I finished off painting the interior and seating: Once that had dried, I set about adding transfers and glazing (goodness me that was flipping fiddly!!!) Thankfully no glazing required for the luggage van, so that was much quicker. The three of them do look good together on the layout: There is a further All Third to complete, but that still needs the interior painting completing before I can start on the glazing. Oh and there’s a pair of North Western Railway liveried tramcars plus matching luggage van to build in due course…

It’s at Seaham Harbour around 1890 - http://beamishtransportonline.co.uk/2020/04/shdc-no-17-a-history-and-review/. She’s now at Beamish, and there are plans to restore her to working order eventually and fit a replica cab too.

An excellent choice of railway to start the new year off with Tom! My last visit was October 2019, so I really must make amends and get there again this year for a trip.

Let’s hope that there are no encounters with recalcitrant steam rollers, though at least the vans are empty! Blein vie Noa Tom!

The final passenger tram of the year waits to depart from Ffarquhar Road: Headed by ETCo No.2 “Sigrid”, the formation includes a through coach from the neighbouring Wellsworth and Suddery Railway: The coach in question is an Ashbury Brake Third, and is from a Pre-Grouping Railways kit that I acquired secondhand some time ago at Guildex (possibly even the last one at Telford in 2019). The first job of the new year will be to paint the upper panels off white/cream. There’s also an Ashbury First/Third Composite to be painted, and the two will form a nice short W&S train which can make an appearance at Ffarquhar Road from time to time as an alternative to the usual ETCo tramcars. Happy New Year to all.

That’s wonderful news Mike, glad that all went well. The new wagon looks good so far to me.

He does various of his 1/43rd figures pre-painted - the Oh Mr Porter set is £36: https://www.acstadden.co.uk/product-page/oh-mr-porter-painted I’m tempted to get some of his pre-painted figures at some point just to give the layout some figures to start with, whilst I can summon up the courage to have a go at painting my own.