Monday, April 11, 2011

errrr…what?!

On my recent visit to site (aka Rhyd Ddu station), I inspected the changes that had been written but not really shown in pictures on the various WHR websites.

There has been a major change to the ‘bus turning area’ as shown below:

Firstly though the tamper shed is gone (!) and a new tarmac path has been created out of the NP car park…

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This leads to a newly tarmaced bus lay-by…

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and a newly erected shelter is prominent…

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the path continues up towards the water tower and through a small gate…

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and then across a new foot crossing and onto the platform.

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This is a MAJOR change. 

Here a shot of Rhyd Ddu for comparison – you can see the white van parked on what was rough ground… This would need a new tarmac surafce, kerbs, the extra foot crossing, more gates, the shelter etc. adding and of course I’d have to leave the tamper shed out too.

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Thus it has been decided to freeze the layout at 2010.  Now I might bend this somewhat to allow for other locos and stock to appear (e.g. the other NGG16 kit I have in stock) but this is generally the rule – 2010 it is. 

Sunday, April 10, 2011

A hairy moment

Yesterday further progress was made on the extension. The modroc was painted brown and once dry covered in thick PVA and clumps of hairy underlay were added. Once dry they will be trimmed back and then painted with the usual LNER Doncaster green. A couple of random rocks were added from my box of spare pieces, these will be coloured too of course.

The hidden sidings board has also been cleared of track, rubbed down, bleached and now painted black to protect it from the damp induced mould it suffered this winter.



Saturday, April 09, 2011

Lady in red…

Well here are the promised pictures of our ‘Lady in red’ aka WHR Beyer-Garratt NGG16 No. 138.

A few pointers to areas that have been changed from the kit to make the loco less SAR more WHR:

- Addition of custom plates courtesy of narrow planet
- Sun visors on side of cab left off, roof opening altered completely to create one larger opening rather than two smaller ones with curved covers
- Addition of extra detail to cab including gauges and all windows glazed
- Completely different arrangement of boiler fittings including safety valves on a small plinth.  There remains some additional small bore pipework to add. 
- Major changes to pipework runs and addition of extra ejector on firebox wrapper
- Steam pipe covers on smokebox sides and D handles
- WHR pattern lights on tank/bunker ends and sand fill level indicators
- Oil tank in bunker with vent, the top of which was made from a wheel bearing!
- Differences in cut outs of bunker/tank bottoms
- Washout plugs added to boiler in correct positions (markits)
- Mudhole door covers added using small LEDs (yes really) poked into holes and painted over – the little domes of the LEDs are the perfect size
- Differences to handrails including bend in driver’s side cab side handle
- Extra tank side rivets created with small wire poked into small holes.  The kit has a SAR pattern rivetted version of the tank/bunker and all those rivets were filed off to represent the welded tanks. 
- Markits wakefield lubricators (heavily modified) added to the running plates (not shown below), vac pipes different pattern to standard SAR.
- Silver boiler bands were applied using 1mm strips of 'bare-metal' wafer thin self adhesive foil.  This is made in the USA and is commonly used by car and truck modellers - www.bare-metal.com 

and the beast has been finished with etching primer, then 2 coats of Railmatch EARLY BR(M) crimson lake, lined in straw (acrylic) using a bowpen and size 0 sable brush, Floquil 'engine black' added to corners and tank backs etc.  Finally, 2 coats of Precision Paints Satin Varnish was applied to boiler/firebox and cab only. Smokebox area painted with Humbrol 'gunmetal' enamel and left unvarnished.

138 in 1 piece 001 138 in 1 piece 002

Garratt 138 Painted 119 Garratt 138 Painted 120Garratt 138 Painted 121 Garratt 138 Painted 123 Garratt 138 Painted 114 Garratt 138 Painted 115 Garratt 138 Painted 116 Garratt 138 Painted 117

Thursday, April 07, 2011

New leader

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Following my trip on the final bit of the WHR recently, I have updated my table of NG railway ratings and, by 1 point, there is a new leader (mainly as the line gains a cafe (at harbour) that it had not before). 

Note: for those unfamiliar with this system my ratings take into account 17 factors from locos in steam and timetables through the year, parking, cafes/shops, publicity, views, carriage comfort, child friendliness etc.  The list is only for lines I have travelled on, so the following railways are not yet included…Brecon Mountain, West Lancs, Teifi Valley, Sittingbourne and Kemsley, South Tynedale, Seaton Tramway, Hollycombe Steam Collection, Isle of Man railways (all)

rank TOTAL
1 Rh Eryri (WHR) 91 PREMIER
2 Ffestiniog 90
3 Talyllyn 76
4 Vale of Rheidol 63
5 Snowdon Mountain 63
6 Bure Valley 62
7 Welshpool and Llanfair 62
8 Llanberis Lake 60 1ST DIV
9 Fairbourne 56
10 WHR Porthmadog 56
11 Bala Lake 54
12 Bressingham 54
13 Kirklees 54
14 Launceston 52
15 Evesham country park 51
16 Rudyard Lake 48 2ND DIV
17 Corris 47
18 Great Orme 45
19 Wells and Wals 43
20 Amerton 43
21 Llechwedd 42
22 Leighton Buzzard 42
23 Lynton and Barnstaple 41
24 Golden Valley 27 3RD DIV
25 North Glos 27
26 Steeple Grange 21
27 Derbys Dales 11 NL

comments welcome…

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

138 progress

I had some wonderful images sent me last night from Dad showing 138's body lined out.  I'll post some shots here asap and explain some of the changes made to the base kit to accommodate the WHR changes to the SAR design - there are quite a few!

watch this space.