NeilHB

Martin - correct on both counts...way out the time period for Elsbridge Wharf but as No.7 was one of my favourites growing up (and still is in all honesty) I had to have a model of him plus 'train'. Just need to get No.7 up and running properly but it's looking likely that a new chassis is in order. Hopefully Mike! Doubt the appropriate loco will be rebuilt in time but stranger things have happened! David - all I can say is wow! Hopefully my coach will look half as good as yours does fingers crossed.

Can you tell what it is yet... Don't think I've done too badly considering the last time I wielded a soldering iron in anger was the best part of four years ago...

I hope so - would be good to see it in the flesh. Thanks.

It's all coming together nicely Dave - scenic work looks good and 'Bodiam' looks right at home.

Finally made some more progress on stock for EW... The tramway coach has gained buffers (Parkside Dundas NB wagon buffers) plus some balcony railings from some Ratio 4mm GW station fencing - all it needs now are some steps and maybe some brakes too would be useful? Seen here again next to the ex WSR brake coach which has now gained one end and some buffers (Parkside Dundas LMS brake van buffers), just need to sort the other end and then decide on a suitable livery. I'm undecided about the foot boards and may replace them with suitable steps down to ground level as per the WCPR. Another dumb buffered open has (finally!) been built - bodywork is from Slaters 4mm planked plastikard stuck back to back - not sure if the sides now look too thin compared to other stock, maybe next time I'll add another layer of 20thou plastic inbetween the planked layers. I wanted a bit of variety to the stock so I've gone for a round ended version this time - this one will be in TKELR livery, however I have plans for another finished in a suitable private owner coals merchants livery...I just need to find a suitable name first. I had thought of A. W. Dry...

Sounds good to me - I eagerly await the big reveal! Black is always a good colour in my book...covers a multitude of sins (or rather it does on my locos!)

Layout looks good! Really like the look of the SDJR 2-4-0T - I don't need one but find myself really wanting one...I must resist, I must resist! Any more photos of the loco please?

Nice to see an update on Leintwardine Rich. I do like the viewpoint in the first photo - very good. There's a few differences between the MR and the LMS built versions, namely the change to left hand drive on the LMS version; different tenders as well with the MR versions having the older Johnson tender. Hope that helps.

Martin, no like most parts of the bodywork they are a separately applied part.

Andy just a thought re the wagon - what about loaded with parts for the quarry up the line (machinery/parts/supplies in crates maybe?) and then full with stone in reverse? Such a shame it's warped as it looks like it would have made a nice addition to the wagon fleet otherwise! The coach is looking good now I must say.

David thanks for the suggestion of using Ultrascale gears I will have a look and see what is suitable for the coffee pots.

Martin - I see you've had the same idea as me re use of Slaters manning Wardle wheels. I'm using a 6ft wheelbase with rods from Premier Components (LNER Y7) with a chassis built from plastic strip rather than metal as I'm more comfortable using plastic. I think 40:1 gears would be too high for the coffee pot - watching videos of Coffee Pot No.1 at Beamish it's a very lumbering slow beastie so I want the model to reflect that - I think 80:1 may be better if I can find some suitable. I hadn't thought of using S&D bits for detailing - I have a few bits upstairs so will see what is most suitable. The plan is to have some sort of basic cab - after all the roadside tramway section around the headland between Kanpford and Tidmouth was rather exposed. Though I do wonder if the management would have taken Sir Arthur Heywoods view that a stout mackintosh was more protection to the driver than a cab...

Rhys that sounds good - maybe lined black for 5741 as he was station pilot at Tidmouth for a while (this would also tie in with BRs tradition of station pilots carrying very smart liveries - look at Liverpool Street and it's Great Eastern lined blue J69s). Your idea for No.6 sounds good - I shall await with interest. Thanks for the article Martin - much appreciated.

Thanks Martin - I agree with you on that one (but then I am biased!). The red just didn't look right so black was really the only way.

Rhys true you have a point there. Which period are you modelling - was it 1950s? If so you would be right with the BR liveries, though 5741 never carried BR in the books did he so there is that as a precedent for painting them in GWR! Martin - no fixed prototype as such but more an amalgamation of prototypes - Beamish No.1, Sara & Burgess locos (South Devon Railway 'Tiny'), Fraser & Tinne loco supplied to New Zealand, Alexander Chaplin locos - they are all inside cylinder locos that are fairly rudimentary in design. The motor will definitely be in the boiler, I just need to find a suitable gearbox for 1/8" axles that doesn't cost a fortune first - once that's sorted I can work out the exact position of boiler, cylinders and valve gear etc.

Oh yes true that will be very difficult to see - a couple of squiggles on the page should be sufficient?! Thanks, I'm just hoping I can get it to work properly - I think the first coffee pot is very much going to be the guinea pig for the rest of them. True - 5741 and 1436 are in full GWR so it would make sense for the Castle to match - just an idea though to consider at some point in the future maybe? No.4 in Royal Train condition sounds very nice - true about the black - can you imagine the reaction - what colour?! That's fine I don't mind - feel free to hijack away!

Totally agree - that's probably why it appeals so much! True but I'll know it's there and hopefully with the vertical cylinders moving it will be sort of noticeable. Ooh Arlesdale - I like! Ulfstead Castle would be a good one - in full lined Great Western livery but with North Western on the tender instead? NWR wartime black sounds like a good option - Number 4 would look grand in black I think? Blue on one side and black on the other sounds like a good idea - you'll never see both sides at the same time so why not. Let me know how you get on with the lining, will look forward to seeing photos when it's finished.

Thanks - I just hope I can make it work. The trick is getting it all to move as it should do. Aye, that's the plan. All future layouts are planned to follow the same theme or variations of it. Haha - I don't know about regular law breaker that might tax my painting skills, could always print it out I guess? I didn't really have suitable stock before I started Elsbridge Wharf, I'm just building it up as I go along so no excuse not to model the tramway Rhys! Go on, you know you want to...go on go on go on go on! Castle wise you've got a couple to choose from - Ulfstead, Suddery and Rolfs Castle for a start. There may be more so I'll have to dig out my copy of Sodor: It's People, History and Places and check. Looking forward to seeing the photos of No.1 when it's finished. I'm of the same opinion as you - it's not Sodor Rail it's the North Western Railway! Love the livery on the standard 4 tank - it looks great! Agree re the black wheels, but the blue wheels do look nice.

I thought about 00 but I want to attempt (or rather I've been persuaded to attempt!) working valve gear for the coffee pots and I can't see myself managing that in 00 - plus I really like the chunkiness of 0 gauge. Besides, I've got no 00 left now! Definitely needs to be a constable - shoe in one hand notebook in the other? I like the idea of the tram road running through the town - it would probably make a good micro layout, or a series of small scenes arranged on a roundy roundy layout perhaps? Even a circular layout of scenes would work...note to self must NOT start planning another layout... Hurrah, glad someone else agrees with my idea - thanks! That was my thought re the livery, must state that I do love the crimson red livery though so I think two different bodies are a must; at least the red livery has black wheels which makes it easier. The tender could also be two different bodies on a common chassis - one L&Y and one Fowler style. Ooh that sounds good - pictures please! The NWR purist in me says short NWR number please - after all the different regions had different numbering styles and as STH I was ex Swindon I think follow GWR practice and be different. After all the NWR did become the North Western Region of BR so needs a separate numbering scheme I think. Agree re transfer of standard locos before the end of steam, plus a few of the BR built pre nationalisation designs too for good measure. What's your opinion on NWR lettering on the locomotives? I know it never appeared in the books but I think in real life it might have made an appearance, or rather variations of it may have appeared overs the years.

I agree with you Rhys - at some point in the future I want to make a model of the tram road - I just need a lot more space than I have now in order to do justice the sinuous nature of the route - I envisaged wide baseboards with sweeping curves on a steep gradient. I'd originally planned an N gauge model of the tram road before deciding that N gauge wouldn't work as I couldn't model the coffee pots! i thought the best bit to model would be the stretch up near the crossroads effectively where the lines doubles back on itself - this way you could get away with having the fiddle yards for each end at the same end of the layout, plus an excuse for lots of wild, moorland scenery. Motive power wise - No.1 and the coffee pots until the arrival of No.7 (Awdry states the coffee pots where scrapped when No.7 arrived, but in my slightly altered Sodor-verse, the best parts of the two remaining coffee pots were combined into one and sold to the Ffarquhar Quarry Company as their dedicated shunter, which survived in service until the arrival of the Drewry shunter in the early 70's...) Agree re the use of No.2 in periods 2 and 3, plus No.5 in the later part of period 3, but the question the becomes - what livery? Original black, or post accident red?! Or one chassis, and two differently painted bodies to cover both periods?

You are right Martin - it is very early days before the North Western Railway was formed. I will admit that I have three distinct operating periods in mind for the layout: 1) 1906-1910 - layout operated solely by the 4 coffee pot locomotives, tramway passenger coaches plus the dumb buffered goods stock 2) 1912-1920 - layout operated by the coffee pots and the 4 Wellsworth & Suddery Railway locos, plus stock from the W&S. 3) 1920-1925 - layout operated by the coffee pots plus the addition of North Western Railway No.1...post 1925 is when the extension to Ffarquhar opened to the layout of Elsbridge would have changed significantly to allow through running to Ffarquhar and the quarry at Anopha. I will admit that I am hoping that Dapol sells certain parts of the Terriers separately as I would like to change the wooden brakes for the cast iron versions - much more suitable!

Sounds like they need a bit more colour variation to me...! Will bring it along anyway and will keep my fingers crossed! See you later!

Attached is a photo of my repainted Terrier - part of the fleet of my Elsbridge Wharf layout: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/97585-elsbridge-wharf-1906-neilhbs-layout Further details can be found in my layout thread - needless to say I am very impressed with my Terrier - I don't need another one but I fear I may cave soon...

Thanks for the offer Hesperus - that would be great thanks! Managed to do a bit more work on the stock for the layout - did anyone order a pot of coffee...? Very much a work in progress, but say hello to Tidmouth, Knapford and Elsbridge Light Railway coffee pot number 1. Slaters MW 2'8" wheels, Premier Components side rods and plenty of plastic strip. There's a long way to go yet and then a further 3 to build. Wellsworth and Suddery Railway No.3 'Crosby' is now finished (bar a bit of touching up here and there and some proper transfers for the name and number) and ready for a hopeful spin tomorrow at the Mickleover Model Railway Group show. If you see me at the show come and say hello!

Thanks Martin. I will admit I too had thought about using the San Juan coach parts - I may still do at some point in the future to create something similar to what the Weston, Cleveland and Portishead Railway owned originally - perhaps the company a pair new when the line was converted to steam power?