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Barry Ten

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  1. Barry Ten

    A tale of two Blandfords

    By Barry Ten,


    S&D
    It must be about twenty years since Hornby released their improved West Country/Battle of Britain pacifics, supplanting the old triang-era model. I've got four of these nice models, mostly acquired with little thought to region/period suitability. It was only when I started work on Stourpayne Marshall that I started taking a closer look at what I had, and how they might fit in with the S&D theme.
     
    Back in October, with the help of some friendly commenters, I came up with this non-exhaustive list of original condition Bulleid light pacifics as seen on the S&D prior to closure:
     
    4109 Trafford Leigh Mallory
    34040  Crewkerne
    34041 Wilton
    34042 Dorchester
    34043 Combe Martin
    34093 Saunton
    34037 Clovelly
    34044 Woolacomb
    34095 Brentor
    34107 Blandford Forum
    34110 66 Squadron
    34108 Wincanton
    34102 Lapford
    34103 Calstock
    34067 Tangmere
    34079 141 Squadron
    34051 Winston Churchill
    34105 Swanage
     
    and just before closure:
     
    34006 Bude
    34057 Biggin Hill
     
    My models in BR condition were Tangmere, and two Blandford Forums. Tangmere can stay as it is - it wasn't a "regular" on the S&D but it did traverse those hallowed metals at least once, so it gets a pass. Blandford of course suits the line even more so by dint of its name, but what to do with the two models? Ending up with two was an oversight. I'd bought and weathered my own example, then several years later, for some reason, I forgot that I had it and bought one of Lord & Butler's very fine pre-weathered models.
     
    Unfortunately the optons for renumbering Blandford were a bit limited, requiring it to be wide-cab loco with a cut-down tender. Calstock and Lapford were identified as suitable candidates, but there's a bit of a snag with the body. Those Hornby models. like Blandford or Tangmere, that have a town crest or RAF plaque, have it attached via a plastic moulding which plugs into a hole in the bodyside. Lapford and Calstock have just the name, so one is left with the problem of dealing with that hole in the side. I believe Hornby did take care of this with some of their other releases, which had a modified tooling, but I had to work with the models in my possession.
     
    One of the Blandfords would need its nameplate and plaque removed, and the safest best seemed to work with the one I'd worked on, as the weathering was much lighter than on the Lord & Butler example. The plastic mouldings were easily prised-away with the edge of a knife, leaving two holes where the nameplate clipped in, and another for the plaque. I'd ordered some Fox plates (having opted for Calstock) and the etched plate easily fitted over the two holes, meaning they could be left untreated.
     
    The small hole for the plaque posed a more serious problem. I couldn't see any plausible way to use conventional filling and sanding methods without losing both the rivet detail and having to repaint some or all of the body. I didn't fancy that at all! So I opted for a pragmatic approach, aiming to minimise the visual effect of the hole without concealing it completely. The first job was to drip glue-n-glaze into the hole until it filled the cavity, leaving a clear plug. This already looked better. Once I'd added two layers of glue-n-glaze, I then retouched the hole with Railmatch BR green. I felt that this reduced the visual impact of the hole from normal viewing:
     

     
    I felt that this worked well enough that I was happy to continue with the work on transforming Blandford Forum into Calstock. The cab numbers were removed with T-cut, a cotton bud, followed by gentle abrasion with a cocktail stick. I added replacement numbers from the Fox range. The etched plates came with a smokebox number. No other changes were necessary. I must say that these Fox plates are splendid, and the red really pops. It lifts the somewhat drab BR green quite nicely, I feel. 
     
    As for the other Blandford, I've still to add the detailing parts, as well as a decoder, but the excellent L&B weathering should be apparent below:
     

     
    Look at the subtle work around the rivets, and the pale staining between the nameplate and firebox. I find a lot of commercial weathering to be a bit meh, but Adrian seems to get a lot of tonal variety into his models, without obliterating the underlying colours. It's an effect I struggle to achieve when I do my own weathering, so I'm all the more impressed and willing to spend a little more for the quality of the work. I still think this model will benefit from some etched plates, though.
     
    Next in the renumbering queue will be a pair of rebuilt pacifics - but that's another story.
     
    Thanks for reading!
     
     
     
     
     
  2. Barry Ten
    Westward Ho, above: seemingly not a regular on the S&D.
     
    I've seen lists of the Bulleid WC and BoB classes which ran on the S&D, but I can never find them when I want them. As much for my own reference purposes as anything else, as I look to renaming some of my examples of these locos, I thought I'd have a go at compiling a non-exhaustive list.
     
    I went through all four volumes of Ivo Peters' photo albums on the S&D in the 50s and 60s and noted all the WC/BoB classes I could find, in both "unrebuilt" and rebuilt condition.
     
    The majority are the unrebuilt locos, listed here in rough order of initial appearance in the volumes:
     
    34109 Trafford Leigh Mallory
    34040  Crewkerne
    34041 Wilton
    34042 Dorchester
    34043 Combe Martin
    34093 Saunton
    34037 Clovelly
    34044 Woolacomb
    34095 Brentor
    34107 Blandford Forum
    34110 66 Squadron
    34108 Wincanton
    34102 Lapford
    34103 Calstock
    34067 Tangmere
    34079 141 Squadron
    34051 Winston Churchill * see comments
    34105 Swanage * see comments
     
     
    and just before closure:
     
    34006 Bude
    34057 Biggin Hill
     
    The Rebuilt locos that I noted were:
     
    34039 Boscastle
    34028 Eddystone
    34042 Dorchester
    34046 Braunton
    34029 Lundy
    34045 Ottery St Mary * see comments
     
    I made no distinction between locos which were regulars, and those which only showed once or twice, as any loco that ran over the S&D at any point is fair
    game to me in modelling terms. If anyone has any further observations, such as engines that didn't appear in the Peters volumes,  or which I may have missed,
    I'd be happy to add them,
     
    I have currently acquired two of Hornby's 34107, so I'm looking at carefully at renaming options based on the cab type and tender. My other unrebuilt loco
    in BR condition is Tangmere, which does appear in the list, albeit as a rare visitor. I may look at renumbering it to a more typical example. As for my three
    rebuilt members, I don't think any of them are suitable as they stand, so they'll join the queue as well.
     
    The Bulleid Society has a very useful table showing build details and modification dates for the class:
     
    https://www.bulleidsociety.org/OVS_Bulleid/OVSB_Light_Pacifics.html
     
    I'd also recommend Graham Muspratt's very handy blog pages, for the ins-and-outs on deflector types, cabs and so on, and how to model them.
     
    https://grahammuz.com/
     
     
  3. Barry Ten
    Having tackled the sides, now comes the time to assemble them into a body. First we need a couple of ends. These are an excellent design and very easy to make, being just a single etch which then folds up into a self-locating component for both the chassis and the sides.
     
    Here's one such end (they're handed, so need to be at the right end of the coach!) with two nuts soldered in place as was also done with the bogie mounts. One very nice bit of design is two small
    tabs which fold down either side of the base plate, which in turn locate into slots in the turn-under at the base of the coach side.
     

     
    These tabs help align the ends and sides very nicely:
     

     
    Ignore the fact that I've tinned the underside of the base plate: a mistake on my part and not needed.
     
    Now to begin soldering the whole lot together. There's no getting around the fact that this is slightly fiddly but there's no limit on the number of tries you can have - the worst that happens is that you clean off the solder and have another go. I find that these locating tabs are a good place to start, so with the side and end held in alignment (I go by eye, rather than using a jig) I tack solder the tab, If this is looking good, I then apply another tack at the cant-rail level, before finishing off with a strengthening fillet of solder all the way down the join.
     
    With these coaches, the ends have to tuck between the sides - other kits may vary.
     
    Here's a soldered side and end:
     

     
    Now repeat for the rest of the coach. There are several possibilities here: you could solder up a pair of side-ends and then solder them together, or an end-side-end to which a side is then fixed. I've no idea which is best, but for these kits I've had no problem making a side-end-side, and then soldering the other end in last. Check for squareness and parallel-ness as you go, but you should be fine - I found that they were a breeze, probably due to those clever alignment tabs.
     
    It's very satisfying to complete the body - suddenly what were a bunch of flat, flimsy bits of brass have structural integrity and are beginning to look vaguely like a coach! Happy days!
     

     
    In the above pic, the method of mounting the body to the chasis should be apparent. Bolts go up through the slots in the chassis, into the retained nuts in the base plates at either end of the body. Comet use an identical system and it works well since the mounting points are usually in the toilets or vestibules, well out of the way of any interior stuff you might want to add. The ionly snag I found with the Roxey arrangement, and it's a minor one, is that the slots in the chassis all needed elongating out toward the buffers.
     
    Now the body can be test-mounted to the chassis. During the chassis assembly, a few tabs and castings will have protruded up above the solebar level and may interfere with a good, snug fit of the body, so these need to be filed back to a level surface.
     
    I haven't yet bolted the body on in this shot, but I couldn't resist seeing how the corridor third will look within the formation.
     

     
    Again, I hope this has been useful and I look forward to cracking on with the remaining tasks.
     
    Cheers!
  4. Barry Ten
    I've done quite a bit more this week (thanks, all, for the kind comments - a real spur to get on with it!) so here a few more snaps. Most of the work has been at the station end of the module, but it's not easy to get my camera onto it in my train room, so I'll wait until the sun comes out. In the meantime these were taken at the other end of the layout, under room lighting this time.
     

     

     

     
    I've put a temporary sheet of white card behind the scenery to serve as a photographic background; at the moment I'm undecided as to exactly what the final painted backscene will look like, whether it'll be grey with a suggestion of cloudy hills or perhaps with a bit more "valleys" detail such as terraced houses and so on. Realistically it'll probably just be white primer by next weekend. It only seemed like yesterday that I had months of time left to finish this thing... I had all sorts of daft ideas like building a painting a complete rake of 4-wheelers, detailing a 14XX, respraying an autocoach...
  5. Barry Ten

    On Foreign metals

    By Barry Ten,

    French RTR at its exquisite best here, with this REE 231K ex-PLM pacific on "proving trials" at King's Hintock. Sound-equipped, and with pulsed steam (with emission controllable from both chimney and cylinders), it's a stunner of a model. I haven't tested the smoke yet, but it runs a treat on DCC.
     

     

     
     
    Purchased as part of the long-term plan for a larger French layout, after testing the waters with Cogirep. With the new Roco and Jouef models of both steam, diesel and electric prototypes, and lots of new rolling stock from REE, LS and others, it's a great time to be modelling French stuff. Sitting this pacific on the 4mm layout, incidentally, I'm again struck by how much bigger the layout seems with HO stock on it, as opposed to 00. Granted the prototypes were bigger as well, but that 15% size difference in scales really does seem to equate to more layout for a given area, something I was really aware of with Cogirep.
     
    By way of comparison with another French model, incidentally, here's Roco's Chapelon pacific, another very fine model from a year or two ago, if reflecting a more utilitarian design. Unlike the REE model, the Roco is tender drive, with quite an unusual arrangement - both outer axles are fixed in a rigid frame, with only the unpowered middle ones being free to swivel. It ought not to work, but somehow it does. Like the REE one, this is also sound-fitted and is an equally smooth runner, with none of the indifferent performance we've come to associate with tender drives in the UK.
     

  6. Barry Ten

    14xx upgrade

    By Barry Ten,

    My wife was unwell yesterday, so rather than retire to the railway room, I did the chivalrous thing and brought a modelling project down to the living room. While she watched tennis, I busied myself with files and drills. Several hours later, I was the happy owner of a spruced up Hornby 14xx, courtesy of a Mainly Trains detailing kit and some bits and bobs from the scrap/detailing box.
     
    The main alterations to the model concern the boiler fittings; the smokebox door is replaced, as is the chimney and safety valve. There are a number of other useful lost-wax and white metal castings in the MT kit, including cab parts, but they can't all be fitted if you retain the Hornby chassis. I added those that I could, as well as wire handrails, lamp irons and some hoops for the shunters' pole.
     

     

     
    My intention is to repaint into BR black, but I thought I'd show these in-progress shots beforehand. Also in the works is an Airfix auto-coach which will run with this loco in semi-permanent fashion.
  7. Barry Ten

    Paynestown pics

    By Barry Ten,

    With the layout set up in the conservatory, and the sun out, I thought the late afternoon light looked pretty good. Here are a few snaps of the more developed left hand side of the layout. The right side is still awaiting some remedial scenery and final detailing work after some major changes, but hopefully it should all come together in the next couple of weeks.
     

     

     

     

  9. Barry Ten

    King George I

    By Barry Ten,

    Way, way back in the mists of the old forum, I posted about the return to service of a veritable Lima King which had long since been consigned to the non-runners box. The model was given a new loco and tender chassis from Comet, and much super-detailing of the plastic body. I painted the loco in BR express passenger blue and was pleased with the outcome.
     
    But - as always with a Barry Ten project - there were a few bits still to be done. The running was smooth, but there was an occasional and difficult to trace short-circuit or intermittent power pick-up issue. I tinkered with the model but never really resolved matters satisfactorily. However, sometimes it's good to put things aside for a while and after taking the model out of its box again this week, the fault was quickly traced to the loco-tender connection, which had been bodged quickly for test purposes. A new connection was fashioned, this time eliminating any possibility of an electrical path between the loco and tender, and the running was immediately improved.
     
    Since I had the model on the workbench, I thought I'd also tackle a few of those other outstanding tasks. The Lima boiler has a cut-away under it, which - especially when sitting on a scale chassis - makes the model look anaemic when seen in profile. It was too late to fashion a curved piece to replace the missing boiler section (even if I'd had the ability) but I decided a low-tech dodge would work well enough. Two pieces of black plastikard were carefully glued into position under the boiler (but tucked up into the sides) to act as light baffles, giving the model some necessary presence.
     
    I then fitted a smokebox dart, courtesy of Mainly Trains, and - with the modelling knife out - decided to hack off the cab roof ventilators, which are not correct for an early BR King. The ventilators were removed, the area sanded down, and then repainted. I then removed the red lamps which the loco had been running with (as nice as it looked, I've yet to see a red lamp on a BR loco) and replaced them with white ones. The final task was to add some sand pipes to the chassis. The model has also been lightly weathered, to reflect a loco that's in service but not long out of works.
     
    Say what you will about BR blue but I think it looked magnificent on Kings.
     

     

     

     

     
    Link back to old thread here.
  10. Barry Ten
    Bullfinch is just about done, apart from some small but enjoyable final touches such as crew, glazing and some suitable lamps. Here it faces off against City of Truro!  The plates are from 247 Developments and It's numbered for the post-1912 numbering scheme.
     
    The kit has been terrific fun and while the end result is more impressionistic than anything else, it does look different enough to the City to represent the small-drivered 4-4-0s and is certainly a nice runner.
     
    I can't remember if the City was sprayed with a rattle-can or airbrush, but it would have been done using Railmatch's later shade of GWR green, whereas for the Bird I opted for Precision's 1906-1928 shade, and applied it with an airbrush. The black bits were then brush painted with Lifecolor "weathered black" which dries quickly and is a very matt, almost dark grey shade. I've still to give the tender a good going over.
     

     

     
    There are a few things I'd do differently if I was building another one. My rivets are rubbish - must try harder - and the boiler bands are a bit on the heavy side, albeit matching the ones on the Airfix firebox. A job I might get around to sometime is moving the cranks in-board a bit as they don't need as much clearance as they've got here. However, I'd be loathe to alter the quartering so that might be a job that waits until there's some other reason to take apart the chassis - hopefully not for a while!
     
    Of course I would like a curved-frame Bulldog but I have to be realistic and say that I'm already at capacity with GWR engines - not that there aren't a few more in the kitbuilding queue, including such lovelies as a County Tank, 2021 class, Armstrong goods, a De Glehn compound and a few others. Better get cracking!
     
  11. Barry Ten

    My Bird Performs

    By Barry Ten,

    With apologies to XTC...
     

     

     
    On and off the workbench these last couple of weeks has been a new GWR outside-framed 4-4-0, following my earlier exploits with a City class.
     
    I fancied building one of the Bulldog/Bird/Fllower types with smaller drivers, so an order was placed with Branchlines for their excellent mixed-media kit (also the basis of the City), only this time specifying the 5' 8" driving wheel options. All the other variations are already catered for by the very well designed etch, including deeper frames as needed for a Bird.
     
    The chassis is nearly the same as the City, but the smaller drivers caused me to use a different motor/gearbox orientation, horizontal compared to the underslung installation on the City.  Pleasingly, there's a lot of room above this motor for weight in the firebox and boiler, so adhesion shouldn't be a problem. The City will pull six kitbuilt coaches, after a bit of prototypical wheel slip, but the Bird should be a real slogger - I hope!
     
    The main work, as it was for the City, is on the plastic body, where at the very least handrails and moulded details need to be removed and then reinstated. On the Bird and Bulldogs, the boiler band and safety valve positions are different as well. Additional work is also needed to fill in the heavy cutaways under the boiler which suit the large splasher diameter of the City, but not the much smaller ones on the Bird.
     
    All good fun, though - and very much in the comfort zone if you've done any military modelling, etc.
     
    Names? I think it's going to be a toss-up between Bullfinch, Chaffinch and Kingfisher...
  12. Barry Ten
    Ideally you'd design and install an operating level crossing at the early stages of layout construction, but things don't always work that way. When I built the boards and put in the track for the layout, I hadn't really been thinking about servo motors and so on, regarding such things as far beyond my ability to work with. Once I got further along with the model, and started gaining more experience, I began to think it would be nice to have operating gates, so while there wasn't yet a plan in mind, I was careful to keep the area under the crossing free of additional clutter.
     
    About a year ago, a model aircraft enthusiast gave me a demo of the servo system on one his planes, and it looked intuitive enough that I started looking around to see what was available. The push I needed, though, was Peco releasing their new SmartSwitch product, which includes four servos and associated electronics all in one package. I bought the kit and started playing around with simple ideas to mount the servos under the boards. Due to access issues, it would have to be done simply, and also without creating too much dust and debris, to shower down on the N scale layout underneath. In the end the only modification to the existing boards/scenery was the drilling down of a vertical hole beneath each gate post, which was accomplished without too much bother.
     
    After opening the box of parts, I cobbled together a prototype mounting bracket which could be screwed under the boards, with an operating rod pushing up through the board and through another two inches of loft insulation. Peco recommend wiring up the servos on a test bench to gain some familiarity with the control logic, and I thoroughly endorse this. Though, I have to say, the programming and operation is very straightforward, and for once the manual is actually informative. With no prior hands-on experience of servos, I found it dead easy to set start/end points and operation speed - basically, it does what it says on the tin and you don't have to be an electronics bod to get it working.
     
    The servos come with a set of different nylon cranks for various actions, but all I wanted was a direct drive like a slow-moving axle. However, I had my doubts about whether it was wise to simply fix a long rod directly into the centerline of the servo. In the end, I used one of the cranks, then fashioned a kind of "reverse crank" from piano wire to return the motion to the centerline - all a bit cumbersome, perhaps, and maybe not necessary, but it works. The crank passed up through a brass and plastic tube to the top of the layout, and the post of the crossing gate is then drilled to accept the last 20mm or so of the piano wire. I knocked up the mounting brackets from thick plastikard, and the tubes and wire were from my usual stocks of modelling supplies. Everything else was already in the Peco package, which comes with plenty of screws and bits of wire.
     
    My plan had been to make the gates an interference fit on the piano wire, so that they could be easily removed, and would "give" under the impact of a train, should I fail to open the gates. However, that proved unworkable - two were stiff enough that it was practical, but one ended up with too sloppy a fit, and I reluctantly decided to retain the gates with a small drop of superglue. I'll just have to take care with the gates, like on the real railway...
     
    Here's a shot of the servos in place on their brackets:
     

     
    There was a lot of adjustment needed to get the four gates opening and closing neatly, and to compensate for small errors in drilling the posts and the holes through the boards, but after some trial and error I was happy with the consistency of movement of the gates.
     
    The servos have nine speed steps, of which the default is step 5. I tried step 1, the lowest, but found it both too slow and too jerky, so in the end I settled for a compromise of 4, which seems about right for layout use. The gates are controlled by individual switches, which can be thrown as one, to open/close them in one go, or they can be worked separately.
     

     
    All in all, I am very impressed with the Peco product. Doubtless you could source the individual components more economically if you knew what you were looking for, but to have it all in one box, with good, clear instructions, makes a lot of difference. If you're like me, you'll soon start thinking of other applications for servos, such as signals, animation etc.
  14. Barry Ten
    A few more pics showing development of the station area and steps in the direction of a backscene:
     

     

     

     
    I am intending to keep the backscene quite minimalist, hoping to convey that lunar landscape look which is
    typical of so much of the valleys, but there is still work to do. The station is still rudimentary, but hopefully will
    start looking a bit more finished in coming weeks - however, I think you can get the general idea.
  15. Barry Ten
    Just a quick update from me - here are some summery snaps of a "quickie" layout I've been knocking together since Christmas. The idea was to have something other than Cogirep to exhibit this year, and to plunder the scrap box and general leftovers from my old layouts to the fullest extent. For a long while I've also wanted to create a compact, valleys-themed terminus on which 56xxs and panniers can potter about happily, and which gets away from the chocolate box look of so many GWR branch line termini.
     
    Having never built a BLT until now, it was also something new for me.
     
    Since I had a lot of perfectly good Code 100 Peco left over from the demolition job on Wyvant, when I had to relocate from Holland to the UK, I played around with points and eventually settled on a simple plan which enabled me to shoehorn in the engine shed and some small goods facilities. Obviously Code 75 or handlaid would look better, but I'm not one to get too worked up about these things.
    The plan is not very prototypical but I wanted to be use that shed! I also added a carriage shed reminiscent of the one at Porth, using the Ratio kit. It will be painted and weathered to look suitable grotty. The idea is to suggest a terminus at the end of its days, struggling to survive.
     
    The boards, which are about 3.5 foot in length, are made from extruded foam and MDF edging, with only a tiny amount of wood in each one to serve as corner reinforcing. Over the last couple of years I have been using foam more and more, and with this layout I wanted to make the leap into the unknown and abandon wood as much as possible. The boards were incredibly light, but by the time scenery had been added, the weight began to build up again. I wouldn't call them particularly light now, but they're not as hefty as if they'd been made conventionally. The downside is that they are probably more vulnerable to damage than timber boards but all that means is taking a little bit of care when moving them.
     
    The main scenic element I wished to include was the track being at a higher level than the roads and buildings. This was very easy to achieve with foam. The track is glued and pinned, and point motors are installed. The "control panel" is very small and recessed into the front. The layout is intended to be set fairly low compared to Cogirep, but with a high backscene, and to be operated from a seated position (most of the time).
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     
    Early in the construction:
     

     
     
    There is still much to be done but Paynestown will be on show in some form or another
    at the Lord and Butler open weekend in Cardiff later this month:
     
    http://www.rmweb.co....ition-any-news/
  16. Barry Ten
    Some close-ups were kindly requested, so here are a few recent shots of the Spring module.
     
     
    Tree with enclosure around base of trunk, inspired by one I saw from a train on the Severn Valley Railway:
     

     
    Close-up of the tree with Preiser horses:
     

    An attempt at tall, unruly grass in the meadow around the abandoned barn. I used Woodland Scenics long grass, glued down in clumps, then trimmed with scissors once it was dry. Finally, I hit it with some household bleach to try and tone down the gold colour a bit.
     

     
    The occupation crossing:
     

     
    The brook:
     

     
    Wider shot of the brook - the fascia keeps intruding into this type of shot so I plan to trim it a bit and bring the scenery down a bit more.
     

     
    Finally, a hint of future interests?
     

     
    cheers, and thanks for reading.
  17. Barry Ten
    I used to be a fairly disciplined modeller with an interest fixed firmly on the BR steam era, mostly the Western Region, but with a bit of LMR for good measure. To that end, when I got back into the hobby in the 90s, I went to a lot of trouble to repaint and modify most of the pre-nationalisation models that I'd acquired during my childhood, such that they fitted into the later period. However, such commitment to one period was not to last - I soon "cracked" in both directions. When Hornby bought out their Class 50 I had to have one, even though I had nothing else to run with it that was suitable for the BR blue diesel period. That was the thin end of the wedge in that direction, but around the same time I also made the mistake of building a Coopercraft Mink, which I painted GWR grey for no other reason than it seemed a nice change from finishing all my models in BR condition. Before very long I was building more GWR stock to keep the Mink company, as well as resurrecting a box full of tatty, damaged GWR wagon kits built in my teens.
     
    After that, my modelling began to diverge in three or more directions, and that's before I acquired some sectorisation stuff, some post-privatisation models, and even (thanks to the recent Bachmann limited editions) some lovely pre-grouping models. There's no hope for me, basically, but then again I am happy to consider myself as a collector as well as a modeller, enjoying a nice model for the sake of it, even if it doesn't fit into any prior modelling interest.
     
    The downside to all this is cupboards full of models, far too many to ever run on the layout at any one time. What happens is that I'll get stuck running one era, often for more than a year, before I get the impulse to pack it all away and get out some different stock. Sometimes the push can come from a new model which demands more than just a test run, or the desire to see some older stock out of their boxes. Personally I find the BR era more easy to relate to, as although I have no memories of steam, I can connect to the atmosphere in photos from the 50s and 60s, perhaps because so many parts of the country still looked that way even well into the 70s. The pre-nationalisation period seems more remote to me, mostly glimpsed in B&W, and of course much of the photography from that era concentrates on the locomotives more than the "bigger picture", which to me is far more interesting. I also find myself dwelling on the political factors which were at large before and after the first world war - the shadows of conflict seem unavoidable. The men and women of the Edwardian period could have had little idea of the horrors to come in 1914, while the "roaring twenties" were soon to come to an abrupt crash with the great depression ...
     
    Of course, the fifties and sixties had the spectre of global nuclear war, so I suppose things were no more rosy then. Ah well, it's just a hobby - but am I alone in thinking of these larger issues when considering the wider lives of our model citizens?
     
    On a more cheerful tack, the pre-nationalisation period certainly seems to offer more colour the BR steam era, especially where goods stock is concerned, and I'm a sucker for GWR brown and grey vehicles, as well as private owner wagons. So just for a change, I've swapped the layout's stock back a decade or two from the usual formations, which is a good incentive to fiddle around and weather some pristine locos and goods stock, as well as attach couplings, and so on.
     
    Hornby's Grange is a terriric model, in my view. I've two of them, both getting on for a decade old, and they hold up as well as any new models, as well as running superbly. This one was DCC fitted for many years, but since I'm trying to standardise on pure DC for my GWR models, I've now removed the decoder and put the blanking plate back in. The horseboxes are Parkside and Hornby.
     

     
    Still waiting for the road. More brown stock behind the loco, almost all kit-built, but all needing some gentle weathering.
     

     
    Later, after the Grange has cleared the single line section, a 72xx plods onto the up road with a ridiculously colourful train of private owners. Over a period of years I built about 20 Welsh-themed PO wagons from Slaters and Powside kits, which are great fun to make and can be done and dusted in an evening while sitting in front of the television. This Hornby 72xx couldn't be more out of the box if it tried; I think all I've done so far is remove the tension lock couplings. However, it will get a smidge of detailing and weathering in due course. Like the Grange, it's running on plain DC and (after a little initial roughness) is now a very smooth performer. There's been some criticism of the lack of axle bearings on these models, but my take is let's wait and see - my 42xx is still sweet as a nut after a year of moderate running. Of course, if the chassis starts wearing out in a few years, the doubters will have a good case for complaint, especially as they can point to models like the Grange as a proven, durable design.
     
    I decided to standardise on DC, incidentally, because the majority of my difficult cases - in terms of DCC conversion - were pre-nationalisation models. Those that have already had decoders installed are getting them swapped out, which frees up the decoders for the later models. I could only do this if the layout had been wired to allow DC as well as DCC running, of course, but being very simple it only needs a few isolating sections and only one loco moves at a time. The switch from DCC to DC is via a single DPDT switch on the console and in five years of operation I've yet to suffer any mishaps to locos or controllers, despite some of the fear-mongering you read about in some quarters...
     

     
    A little later, an Aberdare comes through on the down line with a goods train. This is one of three kit-built GWR models that I bought four years ago - the others are an 0-6-0 Beyer goods and a Taff Vale A class. I don't know too much about them, except that they are built and painted to a high standard, although the detailing is fairly sparse, perhaps reflecting the kits from which they were derived. The Aberdare needs a little attention to the pickups, but is otherwise a fine performer, and a model we're unlikely to see in RTR form, given the fact that none of them survived into BR days or are represented in preservation or planned as a new-build. All three models were boxed and named for a Mr "D N Payne", incidentally, which is part of the reason Paynestown was given the name it had ... but my family also has a Payne connection, which is why the name also shows up on my American layout as "Paynesville". I don't know if Mr Payne was the owner or the builder of the locos. All these kits have a rather high current draw, the Beyer being the worst offender of the three, so I may look at remotoring one or more of them at some point.
     

     
    Close-up on the Aberdare - sparse but nicely built and painted.
     

     
    Hope this little trip back to GWR days has been enjoyable, and thanks for reading.
  18. Barry Ten

    The Wright Stuff

    By Barry Ten,

    Apologies for yet another picture of my beloved blue King, but I couldn't resist. I thought it might also be worth mentioning that this is partly a Tony Wright build, for it was with Tony's tuition that I put together the Comet chassis during a very enjoyable Missenden Abbey weekend back in - I think - 2006.
     
    Tony must have seen thousands of chassis being built by now, by him or under his supervision, but he might remember that I managed to solder in the axle bearings on the same side of both frames, effectively creating two identical frames rather than a left and right pair. This would have been a plonker enough thing to do under any circumstances, but I also managed to do exactly the same thing with my earlier kit built loco, the DJH C2X. With the King, Tony was able to help get the bearings de-soldered and cleaned up, and by the end of the weekend I had completed a basic rolling chassis and begun to solder up the double-thickness connecting and coupling rods.
     
    Once I got the model home, it took quite a bit more work to progress to a proper working chassis with reliable pickups and so on, but I got there in the end and the rest of the work was in the cosmetic department of restoring the old Lima body, repainting and relining and so on. Since then the model has had a few additional tweaks and has now gained a DCC decoder. The King runs very smoothly and powerfully, with the only nagging issue being a very occasional short that I haven't yet rectified, but which I hope to eventually eliminate through patient detective work.
     

     
    Anyway, here's to Tony, and to the many other helpful people willing to give of their time and expertise to help the less experienced of us.
  19. Barry Ten
    Self-explanatory, really! Two coats of Precision GWR green brushed painted on an undercoat of Games Workshop Chaos Black, and I may add a third layer.
    Hopefully the worst of the pitting has been taken care of; there are still a few blemishes visible in the photo but they're not so apparent in real life, and I think
    once the model is finished and decorated, there'll be enough "bling" to take the eye away from the remaining imperfections.
     
    Next I'll order some plates and see if I can get "Great Western" lettering small enough to fit onto the side-tanks.
     
    One thing I forgot to mention - and I saw a similar problem referenced on the web - is that the chassis, as designed, doesn't allow the gearbox to fit, even
    though the kit is supposedly supplied as a package. Since I didn't have any chassis instructions I can't tell if this would have been covered otherwise, but
    I didn't realise the issue until the chassis was fully assembled. The problem is due to the central frame spacer which, if fitted as intended, gets in the
    way of the gearbox. Luckily I was able to remove part of the frame spacer from the assembled chassis, by gently bending and fatiguing the metal until
    it gave way, which then allowed the gearbox to be fitted - just - without any obstructions, but it's something to watch (and which I should have checked
    beforehand, but why would you?). I must also unsolder and reattach the rear steps, which are located incorrectly - the perils of relying on instructions,
    or your interpretation of them, rather than looking at a photo of the real thing.
     
    Has this been fun? Sort of, and I'm pleased with the final outcome, but one shouldn't have so much work to do to get an acceptable result with the
    bodywork.
  20. Barry Ten
    This week's project has been this Maudslay ML3 bus from the very old Peco kit.
     
    I built one of these for my old layout back in the 80s, but for some mysterious reason it never resurfaced when my train stuff finally came out of storage a decade
    and a half later. Everything else did, but not the bus, which was always considered a bit of a shame as I was fond of the model and reckoned I'd done not too bad
    a job on it considering my teenage modelling abilities.
     
     
     
    It's still not turned up (I'm starting to suspect it may be lost!) so I decided to build another one. I can't remember if I glazed the original model - there's no glazing
    material in the kit - but whatever the case, I thought I'd try flush-glazing it this time, so once the basic shell was assembled, I spent a couple of evenings cutting
    and test-fitting small rectangles of clear plastic, and securing them with Glue-and-Glaze. Once I was reasonably satisfied with the windows, I completed the
    painting in my approximation of the Western National colours, and the next job will be to apply the decals and see if my general stash of transfers has any plain
    gold lining for the division between the cream and green.
     
    The roof is only attached loosely at this point as I intend to put one or two passengers into the model.
     
    This is a really nice little kit which adds a touch of period elegance to our station forecourts, and it was enjoyable to revisit it after so many years.
     
    Edit- the original photos were lost, so here are some new ones including the underside with rocking suspension on the rear axle.
     

     

     

     
     
    In other modelling news, but vaguely connected in terms of period and regional subject, my Hornby T9 spent a few hours on the workbench last week. There were two issues with my model, which was from the original batch: some of the details had been misapplied in the factory, and the model had also suffered some damage at my own hands, not too long after purchase. Some of the damage had been fixed a few years ago, but one of the lamp irons needed replacing, a split in the footplate and buffer beam still had to be addressed, and some of the boiler details had come loose. These items were attended to, and then I turned to the things Hornby got wrong. The copper pipework between the driving wheels was fixed the wrong way around on these models, so the moulding was removed, swapped around and re-fitted - a small detail, and not really noticeable, but nice to have it right. The more annoying issue was that the tender frames were also the wrong way round, and this required some more brutal dismantling and surgery, due to the originals being glued in place.
     
    Once the model was repaired and its errors rectified, I set about weathering it, something I'd never got around to before because I always meant to fix the faults first. The look I was after was one of a loco that was showing signs of hard work, but where the attractive elements of the livery still came through, so it was mainly a question of applying various weathering hues and then taking off what I didn't need, until I felt that the effect was getting near what I wanted. I found the white boiler lining hard to tone down to my satisfaction - it was a very fine balance between too subdued, and too garish. I find that going back over the boiler work with a clean cotton bud produces a semi-gloss burnished look which begins to get away from the plastic look, and more in the direction of oily/metallic.
     
    This model still runs absolutely superbly, I''m pleased to say.
     

     
     


  21. Barry Ten

    Fancy a pint?

    By Barry Ten,

    The last week has seen some relaxing, low-stress scenic modelling around the area of the level crossing. After fiddling around with
    loco chassis and so on, it's nice to cut loose and just hack away some polystyrene with a kichen knife.
     
    Perhaps the most obvious development here is the sudden arrival of a pub, where previously there was just a steeply sloping hillside.
    This has caused no end of comment in the King's Hintock parish newspaper, but since the establlshment apparently serves a wide
    range of ales, the pub's arrival has been quietly accepted by the majority of local patrons. Many of them have remarked on the fitting
    name of the pub, "The Swan", given its location overlooking the three resident swans behind the signal box.
     
    In reality, this is the pub (very obviously the venerable Superquick "Swan") that used to reside on the winter module, and so needed a new
    home following last year's redevelopment. I held it against the green hill, squinted a bit, and was struck that it looked immediately at home
    there, with the white sitting very comfortably against the green. A pub-shaped recess was then hacked away into the hillside; all very unlikely
    but I wanted it to sit tucked away as it is, and be screened from various sightlines. Eventually more trees will crowd in around the pub, as
    well one or two smaller ones between the pub and the signal box, further helping to push it back. The model is in fact very old (easily more
    than 40 years) and has been on every layout I've had, so it had to have a place on this one. It's had a fair bit of refurbishment and detailing
    over the years, and the white walls (which had turned grubby with age) were carefully brush painted with Petit Properties "top of the milk",
    which is a very subtle off-white. The roof of that Maudslay bus has also been done in the same shade. It's a bit less in-your-face than pure
    white,
     
    I don't know what others think, but my suspicion is that large single-pane window and those half-glazed doors are a bit modern for the
    steam era, so they may be tastefully backdated to something a bit more between-the-wars, without being too much of a stickler.
     

     
    The frustrating prospect of closed crossing gates, when a tasty pint awaits at The Swan. Never mind, they won't be closed long.
     

     
    Here's a shot from a different angle showing how the pub sits in the scene, partly screened by trees from some sightlines.
     

     
    Much more to be done, but it's the journey, not the destination. Thanks for reading!
     
  22. Barry Ten
    Over the last few years I've dipped in and out of a very long-term project to create an 8-car Western Pullman set. As the model is now close to completion, and there is interest in the 6-car WR sets due to Bachmann's new version of their original Midland Pullman, I thought it wouldn't hurt to do a bit of a recap of the story so far.
     
    Back in 2007 there wasn't any hint of an RTR Blue Pullman on the horizon from any of the manufacturers, with most commentators of the view that it would be too expensive a project to be feasible. There was supposedly a kit in development, but that never came to anything, leaving only two real options for creating a realistic consist; either hunt down the rare Kitmaster models, or adapt the Tri-ang mouldings. I don't know how easy it is to get hold of the Kitmaster versions, either unassembled or assembled, but I've certainly not seen them come up on ebay in any great quantity, if at all. whereas the Tri-ang bits are (or at least were) a little easier to obtain, especially if one wasn't fussy about the condition. As is well known, the motor cars were made in greater quantities than the parlour firsts, but I still found that I could hunt down enough parlour cars to make my conversion feasible. I also noticed that, once the Bachmann models came out, I started seeing parlour cars pop up at more affordable prices in swapmeets, although by then I had enough for my purposes - in fact, more than enough.
     
    The key to the creating an 8-car rake is the use of Southern Pride etched window inserts, which are an excellent product. They just fit into the existing window recess left behind by the removal of the flush glazing/window part on the Tri-ang cars. There's a minor catch: when Tri-ang did the BP in the reversed blue grey livery, they altered the mouldings so that the windows were no longer a separate part. I didn't realise that at the time and ended up with a couple of the reversed livery coaches which initially looked as if they would not be suitable for the project.
     
    Here's a shot from earlier in the build (although still many years after I started acquiring the bits) showing how the etched window parts drop into the recesses very neatly, helping to create one of the parlour seconds which go immediately behind the power car on the WR rake. A similar etch goes into the power car.
     

     
     
    In addition to the etched windows, the model also needs new bogies and replacement ends to rectify the deficiencies in the shape of the Tri-ang car.
    Here, I was very lucky to be able to order a complete set of castings from Chris Leigh, to whom many thanks are due. As it happened, I did eventually
    substitute a Genesis casting for the nose, feeling it was slightly cleaner than the Chris Leigh one, but I was very pleased to be able to pass on the
    two Leigh ends to another modeller who was also doing a BP, so they have been put to good use.
     
    What else? Two black beetles power bogies in the motor car, and fingers crossed that it would be sufficient to shift the whole rake! 
     

     
    I just kept adding cars and seeing how it ran. As it turned out, there seemed to be ample adhesion for the whole rake, so that was one less thing to worry about.
     
    Once the basic conversions were done, work moved onto the painting - by far the most fraught part of the whole job, and an exercise in tedium if ever one were invented. My initial plan had
    been to do the whole model in original Nanking blue, which is by far the easiest option, as the white bits follow the etched parts exactly. However, once the Bachmann model was out, I decided
    I'd move the model forward and do it in reverse blue and grey livery so that it would look a bit different. The catch, which I didn't properly appreciate at the time, is that the blue part has to wrap around the whole coach, so the left and right edges of the etches need to be disguised. This necessitated a lot of filling and sanding - a lot- followed by much grumbling as cracks and iimperfections kept appearing.
     
    It looks pretty smart in just grey, but as this shot shows, there was still a great deal of work ahead of me to get ride of seams and transitions between the etched areas and the rest of the coach.
     

     
    Gradually the major issues were resolved, though, and I could move onto the application of blue:
     

     
    Followed by yellow for the ends, the addition of glazing, and the start of the roofs being painted:
     

     
    I was glad when I got the glazing in as I found that this helped stabilise the whole assembly of the etched parts and coach sides, limiting a tendency for them to flex and crack around
    the filled areas and paint seams. Nonetheless, much touching in still needed to be done to get a reasonably crisp finish. It's at this point that you start appreciating the finish on the
    Bachmann model.
     
    In the last few weeks I've had the models back on the workbench with the intention of moving them to completion, or as near to complete as I can get them at the time. My objectives
    this time were to add DCC to the power car, and some form of internal lighting for the whole rake. Along the way I also looked closely at reliability of running, adjusting all wheel
    back-to-backs and moving to the use of Kadees for the couplings between vehicles, instead of the crude method I'd bodged for the initial testing. I found that body mounted Kadees
    were easily able to cope with 36 inch radius curves (possibly tighter in places) and close-coupling can be easily achieved since there are no buffers between the vehicles.
     
    For DCC, I hardwired in an 8-pin socket so that various decoders can be easily swapped in and out, as well as a blanking plug. At the moment there's no sound but I'm intending to add this feature in due course, perhaps using suitable Hornby TTS decoders to provide a generic diesel sound and two-tone horn, without getting too bogged down in high-end sound. After all,
    no one can go out and record a Blue Pullman now, so any sound is going to involve an element of interpretation and compromise.
     
    The interior lights were slightly more problematic. I didn't want to be reliant on on-board batteries so some form of reliable pickup was going to be essential, yet at the same time it couldn't be
    too draggy. I settled on ESU digital light bars which are easy to install and cut to length. Since I'd already built the bogies, I couldn't use any fancy pickup system such as the DCC Concepts wheels. so I had to make do with my own wiper pickups. I formed these out of .33mm wire which is springy enough to do the job, but doesn't impart too much friction. Each car has pickup from all eight wheels, but it still needed careful adjustment to get the necessary reliability, at the same as not impeding free-running. I did a half-rake with no problems, but as I started on the second half of the unit, the drag factor began to rear its head. However, after some careful adjustment and lubrication (the wheels, not me) matters were eventually resolved to the point where the rake could be moved easily and the lights remained flicker-free.
     

     
    Still to be added are front and rear lights which will again be decoder controlled.
     
    I ran into a problem trying to find suitable decals for the Pullman branding - perhaps the situation is easier now. Luckily, though, I found a supplier on ebay who provides replacement decals
    for the Tri-ang units and these proved ideal:
     

     
    There's still a few jobs to be done. The roof of the restaurant cars need extra details, for which Southern Pride offer some mouldings which I hope to be able to order. The tri-ang models all use the same underframe moulding which is fine for the power cars, not obviously terrible for the kitchen cars or parlour seconds, but far too busy for the parlour firsts. I made a start on "remixing" the Tri-ang parts (cutting away and relocating) to approximate the parlour first details but this has only been completed on one of the two coaches. It's not intended to be accurate but does help convey a sense of non-uniformity in the rake. The interiors also need further attention. All seats have been added (tedious) but the kitchen cars still need the "cooking" areas built up to some degree. I also evolved my way to a neater arrangement of internal wiring as I did each coach, so the earlier ones are due to be tidied up, followed by the addition of passengers.
     
    In the longer run, to get to the complete rake, I've "cheated"  and used the unmodified parlour firsts with their non-flush glazing. I have two of the earlier cars being repainted to provide a better appearance, but to be honest it's not the lack of flush glazing that jumps out at me so much as the variation between the Railmatch colours and tri-ang's versions of them. So perhaps the existing cars will continue to be used, after a gentle respray... or I'll pull my finger out and finish the others. 
     
    For now, here's a shot of the complete rake showing how long it is, and perhaps demonstrating why an RTR version will always be unlikely:
     

     
    And here's a (very!) short clip of the complete rake running through the above scene:
     
     
    Thanks for reading, and hope this has been of interest - and of course, happy new year to all.
  23. Barry Ten
    Another brief offering of blue diesel action, since the first seemed to go down well.
     

    Heljan Hymek D7036 on the parcels service, which has gained a bit of weathering since the last set of shots. Blue sits well on Hymeks, doesn't it, especially with the white window surrounds. What fine looking diesels these were.
     

     
    Meanwhile the 08 potters about in the yard with a pair of conflats. I've no idea if these containers persisted into the blue diesel era, never mind the TOPs era, so happy to be told if they're a bit too old. for the setting.
     
     

     
    Finally, Western Ranger sweeps into King's Hintock with a rake of Bachmann Mk1s, close-coupled using Keen system couplers. The Heljan Westerns are good, reliable models in my view. I've modified the brow shape on one, but not this example, but it'll get the treatment eventually. Also still to be fitted are the brake gear, which does make a difference. The garish backscene is in the early stages of being worked on - it'll get a bit less vibrant in due course.
     
    The etched greenhouse and associated potting shelves is by Severn Models and is a very nice kt.
     
    Hope this has been of interest, more to follow soon.
  24. Barry Ten

    Meltdown

    By Barry Ten,

    Viewers of a nervous disposition, look away now...
     
    Long-time followers of the blog may remember my 28xx, which was a detailed and repainted Hornby model:
     

     

     
    The model has always been a favorite of mine, not only because of the work invested in it, but also because it was a birthday present from my wife and therefore had a bit more significance than just any old model bought by me. It has also always run well, in fact it is probably the best of the traditional Hornby tender drive locos I've owned.
     
    The model was given a good outing a couple of years ago but has been in a box since then, while I've mainly been concentrating on running DCC equipped models. Over the last year, however, I've gradually been getting more confident with doing my own decoder installations and after fitting decoders into some fairly awkward models, it looked as if the tender drive 28xx would be a doddle, with a simple soldering job and plenty of room for a standard Hornby chip. Given that the slow speed running on DC was good, I anticipated that it would be even better on DCC.
     
    Can you tell where this is heading?
     
    In the end the decoder installation turned out to be relatively pain-free and I completed the job in about half an hour, taking my time and using plenty of heat-shrink insulation. I hooked up the loco and tender and gave it a test. As always the decoder was wired backwards, but a quick reset of CV#29 took care of that. As anticipated, the slow running was very satisfactory and I spent an enjoyable few minutes running the loco up and down a stretch of track. It looked great. I have one of the newer 28xx models but this old one can still hold its own and on my small layout there are no question marks over haulage. I looked forward to changing the tender coupling to a 3-link hook so that I could load up a long-ish train of South Wales mineral wagons.
     
    The next evening I came back and ran it again - still good. But I got on with other stuff and only gave it a short run. The next evening again, I couldn't resist calling up the loco and giving it another spin. As before, the slow running was great. BUT - something was a bit strange.
    The loco looked different. I was only watching it from a distance, but there was something about it ... something near the front. I peered closer and had a bit of a shock. The smokebox had melted.
     
    Yes, somehow I'd forgotten that there was a smoke unit in this model - a smoke unit which had been quietly receiving full DCC voltage and current the entire time I'd been testing my lovely engine. Of course I had never made much use of the smoke generator so it had dropped off my things to think about when chipping the loco.
     
    But here, for your edification, are the sad results:
     

     

     
    Close inspection revealed that the melting had begun to deform not only the smokebox/chimney, but also the boiler barrel. So any hope of simply grafting a new smokebox into place were dashed. It looked as if I had two options - bin the model, or source a new body and perform either a complete body transplant or the whole boiler/smokebox. Obviously at this point I was pretty heartbroken - in fact, in a week that had seen some other cockups, I came closer to thinking about chucking in the hobby than at any time in years.
     
    As it happened, sourcing a body turned out to be not as straightforward as I'd imagined. I drew a blank on ebay - I guess people tended to keep the bodies and dispose of the chassis, not the other way round. I also couldn't locate one from a spares dealer. The guy at the Cardoiff show, who turns up with lots of Hornby loco bodies, also couldn't help - he seemed to have everything but a 28xx.
     
    My wife suggested I put out an appeal on the forum but I wasn't hopeful that it would do much good. However, I did it anyway. And within a day I had an extremely pleasing response from forum member Richard (RCAR6015) who, it turned out, had acquired a 28xx body some years ago for a project that had not come to fruition. With the new model out, Richard now had no use for the body and was happy to let me have it. After a quick phone call it became clear that Richard would not even accept payment, even to cover postage costs. I was genuinely touched by Richard's kindness and think it says something very positive about the best aspects of a forum like this.
     
    Richard was quick off the mark and within a couple of days of our phone call, I had another 28xx body. After deliberating, I've decided that the best thing is to leave the body intact, and simply transplant all the extra detail from the melted one onto the new carcass - that it will be a lot cleaner than attempting a cut and shut, and in any case I'd have to redo the handrails if I went down that route.
     
    So the 28xx lives on, or will live on, after some surgery, and I get to keep on playing with my present, all thanks to the kindness of an Rmwebber. Thanks, Richard!
  25. Barry Ten
    Following high level discussions with PMP, there's a chance these two cheeky chappies may make an appearance on Albion Yard during its Railex showing. Both are suitable for the Forest of Dean although I make no claims for appropriate loco shed allocations, etc.
     
    The 94XX has featured on my blog in the past but it has now received a little more work and a touch of light weathering, hopefully to suggest a loco that could plausibly be running in early BR days, despite retaining GWR colours. I wasn't happy with the Gibson GWR straight pattern buffers as originally fitted - not only were they, in my eye, somewhat underscale in diameter, but they caused acute buffer locking on part of Paynestown - so I removed them and fitted some larger white metal examples which will do in the interim.
     

     

     
    The 4575 is a typically smooth running Bachmann example which has been running on my layouts since these models were introduced. I have to say, I am smitten with Bachmann's prairies and own more of them than I strictly need. But they are such sweeties. I have done very little with this model other than to renumber, add some crew, coal and lamp irons, and a smidgeon of weathering.
     

     

     
    Unfortunately I have lost/run out of appropriate vacuum and train heating gear for these locos.
     
    Cheers!
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