NeilHB

Lovely stuff Annie, makes me think I must build a few more 3-plank opens for the ETCo!

I’ve followed your updates in the Guild Gazette for a while, so I’m glad to see you’re posting about them on here now as well. Long Mynd is truly delightful, and I adore the livery! Looking forward to reading more reports in due course.

Brilliant work Annie!

Thanks Annie. Andrew at 422 does a few interesting sets of coach parts/kits which are ideal for light railway stock.

Last night was model railway zoom night, so whilst nattering I cracked on with the West Sudrian Railway saloon centre brake. This started life as a set of 422 Modelmaking parts for a narrow gauge saloon centre brake, but with a new set of ends and underframe it does very nicely as a compact standard gauge four-wheeler. After a couple of hours modelling it was up and running in its basic format: Plenty to do still, but having the basic bodywork sorted and the chassis done is a good starting point. With the 3-compartment carriage seen a few days ago and the Milk Van it makes a nice short West Sudrian Railway train to run on Ffarquhar Road.

Sorry to hear that you're still suffering the after effects Annie, hope you are back to some semblance of normality soon.

A very productive afternoon today at the workbench, making a start on some of the kits and bits I acquired yesterday. First up the basic shell of the coal merchants office has been constructed: Not sure if it will remain in this position or move to the left of the coal staithes. I then tacked the basic shell of the replacement water tower together to see how it looked alongside the tram locos (it has my water tank on the top though rather than the one from the kit as a temporary measure): Size wise it looks good I think against the tram locos, though I’ll probably pop another layer or two of cork under it before it’s stuck down properly. The first of the WSR vans is up on its wheels: Still plenty to do, and I need to find the brake gear spares which I’ve stashed in a safe place. Then I summoned up the courage, sharpened the craft knife and chopped up the set of four-compartment carriages sides. A short while later resulted in this: Which I think looks rather cute! Size wise it’s the same length overall as the tramcars, so doesn’t dominate the layout like the larger 6-wheel stock does. It looks rather good with the new WSR van and ‘Thorkell’: All work was conducted with the assistance of the cat of works: Though not much assistance was provided!

A very good day today at the 7mmNGA Exhibition at Burton, and came home with a very good haul! I bought a few items from 422 Modelmaking, as Andrew does produce some very nice kits. First up was a set of reject side castings, to which I shall do a bit of cutting and shutting to shorten them, and make them into a 3-compartment All Third belonging to the WSR: A 7mmNG Brake Saloon, which will gain a new set of ends to become a dinky standard gauge Brake Saloon, also belonging to the WSR: A pair of grounded van bodies, which will gain running gear. Both will go into WSR dark grey, but one will carry NWR lettering: The coal merchant can finally stop complaining, as his office has now been purchased: After some deliberation, and a spot of arm twisting from Mr Young, a new water tower has been procured for the layout: And lastly, but by no means least, some rather delightful injection moulded kits for Corris Railway stock from Iconic Rail - the van and one of the Metropolitan built bogie coaches: These will be finished as Mid Sodor Railway owned examples. The kits are rather nice, and are some of the nicest injection moulded kits that I’ve seen for a very long time! Iconic Rail also offers kits for the two other types of Corris bogie stock, and will be adding further Corris rolling stock kits in due time. It’s definitely a good time to be a 7mmNG modeller.

Early NWR days at Ffarquhar Road, as ‘Gerda’ is seen with a down mixed tram: The Furness van is being sent back empty to Barrow after delivering a load of feed and seed to the farmers cooperative society. I think the GW open is perhaps a little bit far from home?!

Took the advantage of the nice weather to work outside this afternoon, watched over by the littlest assistant: Though after a while the excitement was just too much for him:

Oh no, the tramcars are breeding again! Today’s modelling has seen the NWR All Third Tramcar progress from nothing but a pair of sides to an almost complete Tramcar. Steps and seats to do tomorrow, and then I can stick a coat of paint on it whilst I wait for the wheels to arrive.

Some good progress made today on the ex ETCo First/Third Composite Tramcar: All steps sorted, balcony railings on, seats made and fitted, and I even found enough buffers in the stash as well, so that was a win! Then a quick coat of NWR Brown (Humbrol No.62 Leather) to start to bring it all together. I’m rather pleased with how this one is turning out now, and there isn’t that much left to sort until it’s finished. I’ve got enough sides left to produce another All Third in the same livery, plus there’s a set of parts (somewhere 😬), ready cut for another luggage van to run with them.

Post-1915 formation of the NWR, ex ETCo No.3, now NWR No.3a ‘Gerda’ arrives at Ffarquhar Road with an early evening mixed train. The ex ETCo First/Third Composite Tramcar has recently been repainted into the NWR’s overall brown livery.

That really is exquisite Chris.

Has anyone running the DCC sound version of these fitted a stay alive? If so, which one did you fit, and where? Mine isn't happy on a couple of sections of the layout at slow speed, so I'm hoping that adding a stay alive may just help it when doing shunting etc.

A rather enjoyable afternoon today playing trains round at the 7mm Scale Society Treasurer’s home. He’s got a lovely garden railway, so it was a good chance for my tram locos to have a decent run and stretch their wheels. ‘Sigrid’ in the loop platform. ‘Thorkell’ on a decent sized goods train, it poddled around the circuit quite happily for a good hour of more with the longest train it’s ever hauled. Out on the main line crossing over the pond. Class 40 on a passenger heading the other way. Good fun to just sit back and watch the trains go round! The trams have escaped onto the main line! ‘Sigrid’ on the freight this time, though reduced down to 6 wagons as didn’t want to overload her. Passing ‘Godred’ on the tramcars. Comings and going’s outside the station area. Jolly good fun was had!

In the early 1920s, the NWR became aware of the limits of the ETCo fleet due to the increased volume of traffic on the the tramway. As a consequence of this they purchased an ex GER G15 and two tramcars and luggage van from the GER/WNR joint Bishops Lynn Tramway in West Norfolk: The rolling stock was swiftly repainted into NWR colours and pressed into service on the tramway, where they to be proved a valuable addition to the fleet. The G15 was considerably more powerful than the ageing coffee pot trams, and so managed the increased traffic with ease: The 1920s was a period of considerable upheaval on the tramway, with significant work taking place to enable non-skirted locomotives to be used on a more regular basis, including NWR No.1 which started to become a frequent visitor to the line in the mid-late 20s: During this time there was considerable variety of motive power being used on the line, and it became something of a paradise for fans of the weird and wonderful, as the last of the coffee pot trams saw out their final years alongside cast offs from the WSR and NWR: Coaching stock liveries changed as well, from the Blue and White of the Elsbridge Tramway Company: And the Crimson of the West Sudrian Railway: To the more austere all over brown livery of the newly formed North Western Railway, though it served to unite all of the previously disparate Sudrian Railways with a common livery: Plus I think Blue locos and Brown stock goes together pretty nicely, so basically an excuse to take a few photos and set out some of my thoughts for my version of the railways of Sodor:

I’m really liking the latest plan James, it has lots of potential and scope for a decent length of run. I would second the use of the Intentio cassettes, I’ve used his 7mm scale versions for Ffarquhar Road and they make life so much easier.

Lovely stuff Annie, lots of inspiration there for what I’d like to do eventually with my Elsbridge Tramway Company stuff in 7mm.

Somewhat surprised that this hasn’t appeared on here yet, but the 7mmNGA’s 2022 exhibition is only a few weeks away now on the 11th June! https://7mmnga.org.uk/AGM.php Burton-upon-Trent Town Hall, King Edward Place, Burton-upon-Trent, DE14 2EB 10.30am - 4.30pm. Entrance is £5 for adults, £3 for Assocation members, Partners and Children are free. Layouts: Atlantic Cable Mine - On30 (William Longley-Cook) Calstock Riverside - O-16.5 (Chris Peacock) Goraf Maes-Y-Gôf - O-16.5 (Patrick Browne) Habbaniya, Iraq 1941 - 1:32 (Anthony Bennett) Hadley, Stoneybrook & Swale - O-16.5 (Arline & Peter Wilson) Mill Lane - O-16.5 (David Holmes) Oh Guano - O-16.5 (Noel Davies) Lindsay Joint Railway Part 2 - O-16.5 (Ron Houghton and the Lincolnshire Area Group) Pipe yard 2 - O-16.5 (David Lenton) Snowdon - 8mm:ft (Peter Booth) Tramway de Balaigne - Oe (John Green) Willoughby's Garden - O-16.5 (Bob Cope) Society stands: Corris Railway Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway Traders: 422 Modelmaking A1 Models Andrew Neale Books Avalon Line EDM Models Five79 GLR Bespoke Services Iconic Rail Locos n Stuff Mannin Models Association Modelling Goods and Publications Look forward to seeing you all there.

Manning Wardle K class locos are indeed very suitable for freelance pre-grouping! Here is West Sudrian Railway No.1 “Thorkell”:

Those Sharp Stewart 0-4-2's really are quite delightful. I can see the West Sudrian Railway acquiring a couple of them in its future! The Belfast and County Down Railway had five similar ones, all of which ended up converted to tank engines by 1902. They make for rather attractive tank locos, and the last one didn't succumb until 1948 (though she had been out of service for a couple of years prior).

Now that it’s getting warmer (thank goodness) it means allotment time! The first few items have now gone out, with broad beans, sugar snap peas and some rainbow chard all planted out earlier this week. I’ve also been busy in the back garden sowing salad seeds, and they are starting to appear now which is wonderful: Lots of radishes and rather a lot of salad leaves all coming along nicely. Plus enjoying my lovely tulips now that they are flowering: They really are stunning. Modelling work has also progressed, with a pair of Ffarquhar Quarry Company wagons in progress at the moment: A three-plank dropside for cut stone, and a rather dainty little hopper for crushed stone. I’ve repainted my WSR 6-wheel Brake Third, to remove the last vestiges of the previous Green and White livery: Shades of Easingwold at Ffarquhar Road tonight with WSR Hudswell Clarke ‘Ogmund’ in charge of a short through train from Tidmouth. Really must sort out and get the HC sound fitted in due course and then finish off detailing it and line out the far side too!

A few bits to report on from the last couple of days of modelling. I’ve made some modifications to the tramcars and the luggage van, namely replacing their buffers, and adding lamps to the rooves: First/Third Composite and luggage van pictured here were the first to be completed, alongside the ETCo van which has had its running gear replaced and now runs much better. All of the tramcars have now been modified, although the All Thirds only have one lamp per Tramcar, rather than one per compartment as per the First/Third composite. I dug out a very old kit that was probably one of the first buildings I purchased when I started off in 7mm scale, and have now actually got round to doing something with it. It’s one of Mr Traxson’s delightful kits from his Port Wynnstay range, and known in our group as a ‘Henmore Hut’, originally being developed for our group layout: I’ve made a couple of modifications, the main one being to remove one end window: It’ll get painted in tramway company colours and will do nicely as a small hut on the layout. A few more views from the last couple of days to end with: Rush hour at Ffarquhar Road in 1906 - ‘Thorkell’ waits to depart with a down goods tram, whilst ‘Sigrid’ has just arrived with a very lightly loaded up passenger tram. ‘Godred’ has arrived with an up goods tram. ‘Sigrid’ has arrived with an up mixed tram.

The light railway ones are rather delightful, and quite tempting to model, not that Ffarquhar Road needs any more balconied stock at the moment! Thanks Northroader for sharing.