David Holman

Never trust your pride and joy to run well first time in public, especially on someone else's tracks. I should know, with a drawer full of t-shirts to my name... Sir Henry wasn't exactly happy that day either, though (fingers crossed), after tweaking the headshunt point and levelling the track across the baseboard joint, all should now be well for both locos. We can but see. Aldershot in October, or Chatham in July, maybe? Enniskillen certainly looks at home in its namesake setting, as does coach No9. Worth investing in a couple of shuttle units, a la Tullygrainy? Or a sound system - decent speakers under the baseboard should do it. We had a little RTR early diesel mechanical shunter on the club O gauge layout on Tuesday. The sound chip even features gear change noises. Ideal for the railbus... Always been good at spending other people's money!

Worth going back to page one of this post, showing the early days, track plan and so on. Now in its 12th year, it is one of those layouts that clearly stand the test of time - and keeps getting better!

Remarkable and wonderful on so many levels. It is rare to see urban scenery like this done so well.

Early last year, Alphagraphix kindly supplied me with a range of discontinued kits and castings for Swilly and Donegal projects. Among them were two resin and white metal kits of Donegal wagons, which I've finally got around to doing more work on. I'd put the major parts together, but before I went further, it seemed a good idea to try and find out what they were representing - I know, impetuosity can be a middle name... As far as I can tell, the high sided one is a transhipment wagon, designed for easier movement of coal and minerals, with the body able to be transferred to a suitable broad gauge wagon via rollers and the mixed gauge turntable at Strabane. The one plank, dropside wagon is shown carrying an Austin Seven and as I happen to have a model of one of these, it will make a nice load. Finishing the one plank only required the addition of brake gear, but I'd made several mistakes with the transhipment wagon, not least that the wheel base should be shorter. However, getting the castings apart without damaging them looked difficult. On top of that the cast resin body is 18 inches too short. After a bit of thought, the solution has been to chop off each end of the wagon and insert two nine inch sections to make the overall length right - though the wheelbase remains too long, so I will have to live with that. After a bit of sanding and scribing in the plank lines, a spray of grey primer is all that is needed for the body livery, while lettering is the usual white gel pen. Couplings still need fitting, while I need to make some more coal dust and decide how the Austin should be secured.

First met Gordon and Maggie at the Chatham Show, sometime in the early '90s. In those days, club members were asked if they cost host a couple of exhibitors. We'd had Barry Norman a couple of years earlier, but knew little about the Gravetts. Next day, was treated to Ditchling Green and our exhibition manager commented that 'You went down well last night'. Reason? A bottle of wine was ready and open when they came through the door and have been privileged to be friends ever since! Gordon really is a master craftsman, able to turn his hand to anything, while Maggie is very talented too, some of the buildings on Pempoul are hers. Genuinely nice people too.

Yes Alan, it is on loan to a museum of model railways near Ashford in Kent - a project started by Cliff Parsons of Gresley Beat fame. Several other gems too. Gordon has since moved on to a couple of cameo projects: Arun Quay - a stunningly atmospheric shunting yard, based in Sussex and now a new Reseau Breton project which is just as good as anything he's done in the past. Makes my efforts look very ordinary, but always inspirational in everything he does.

Fabulous work, Ken. Shows what a great investment you've made in developing your CAD skills. Everything is so neat and clean - well worth the time and effort.

Many thanks folks - as ever. Gordon sent me some interesting info about the Reseau Breton - which had a single centre buffer, but with screw link coupling underneath, something which even a man of his undoubted skills was reluctant to replicate. Hence he uses Alex Jacksons on Pempoul & sent me the photos below showing how he did it. Needless to say, they are just the highest quality. Look at the third picture which shows how he fitted AJs around vacuum brake gear and other underfloor clutter. Stunning!

Getting closer to a Swilly mixed train, with the completion of three wagons to go with my brake 3rd coach. The open wagon is an Alphagraphix resin cast kit, the other two are my scratchbuilt 5 ton vans. Lettering is white gel pen and weathering is various powders. Couplings remain work in progress, but have been experimenting further with narrow tension locks, adapting them by joggling the hook so [because there is just a loop at the other end], it sits fairly central. In an effort to give them more of a narrow gauge 'chopper' look, have added circles of plasticard to the buffing plate, though am thinking these could be thicker. Dropper wires, so they can be worked by electro-magnets, are yet to be fitted - indeed, this will probably have to wait until Fintonagh's final outing in CVR form at the Eastleigh show in April. So, the mixed train sequence will go something like this: the Barclay, two vans and a coach arrive in the platform. The loco uncouples and then goes to the turntable. After, it picks up the open wagon [hooks both ends, just loops on the loco], from the siding, then uses this to shunt the two vans into the platform headshunt. Running round the coach, the loco and wagon can then pick up the two vans and move one of them to the loading bay, before uniting again with the coach in the platform, ready for departure. Am still to gird up my loins to get the Barclay finished, because I haven't painted the crew yet and am still waiting for the builder's plates to arrive. That, plus I really do have to be in the mood to get the air brush out!

Terry and Adrian's kits were beautifully drawn and (because of the time) am assuming they were done by hand, not CAD. Either way, the etches are superb, with the parts fitting together as well as any locos I've made - and the list is approaching 100 in both 4 and 7mm scales. Terry enlarged his 101 etches to 7mm scale for Richard Chown in 1998, a kit he never built, but which I acquired in 2018. That too went together really well, with minimal filler required - a true mark of a quality kit in my experience.

Splendid.

Beating the French at rugby is akin to an Ashes win in cricket, but rolling them over on their own patch is very special. The other four nations should be very afraid. Nice models everyone!

Thought it would be interesting to compare Clogher Valley, Swilly and Sligo stock. The first picture, below, shows a Clogher and Swilly open alongside each other. Apart from the CVR's smaller wheels, there is not a lot between them However, when we look at a van from each railway, the Swilly one certainly looks a lot bigger, while the third picture has a Sligo Leitrim 5'3 gauge van between them, which is actually about the same size as the narrow gauge Swilly van - albeit about a foot wider. Next, we have a Swilly Brake 3rd alongside a CVR 3rd class, end balcony coach. The latter's smaller wheels again mean it sits lower, though overall dimensions are about the same. Finally, we have a CVR 0-4-2T tram loco next to the Barclay 4-6-0T. The former were chunky little locos, especially with their side skirts, but the Barclay is much closer to a standard gauge loco, even though height and width are about the same. As for couplings, though I toyed with Plan C - using AJs under dummy chopper couplings, but have decided to go with modified slimline tension locks. While using AJs would have enabled delayed action uncoupling, hiding them under the choppers would not make seeing what was going on very easy, plus I can get away without the need for delayed action anyway. In addition, slimline tension locks only need a piece of paperclip soldering to the hook to make them work, whereas using AJs and dummy choppers required another half dozen bits to be fabricated, along with are the setting up and adjusting. Hopefully more pictures at the weekend.

He did Paul, and must admit I thought Reseau Breton stock had side buffers, but they did indeed work with a combined centre buffer/coupling. Hmmm! Have emailed the good Mr G to see how he made the centre buffer, though suspect something could be readily fabricated from U channel brass for the shank and sheet (with a slot in it) for buffing face. And AJs look like they should fit underneath, so thanks for the suggestion.

Remarkable. With the low viewing angle the scene is so spacious and looks far bigger than we know it actually is. The lighting works well too, while is a leaky roof responsible for that damp patch in the first picture? Really coming to life.

Thanks chaps. Must do a comparison of Swilly, Donegal and Clogher stock, though I know that Sligo wagons are not much longer than Clogher ones and only a foot or so wider. Came across the couplings idea while doing an online trawl. Paper clip wire (or something fairly fine) is important for the actuating "tail", to make sure it's overall weight doesn't permanently lift up the hook. At the moment, can't see any way of doing delayed uncoupling, as per Kadee or AJ, but hopefully the shunting moves on Fintonagh won't need this feature. That, or I'll need a lot more electro-magnets! As for Alphagraphix card kits, Alan, have never tried making one but am sure they would be pretty fiddly in 4mm scale and am convinced it would be almost impossible to make Railcar 2b in card - way too many complex curves! They make a great starting point for scratchbuilding in plastic, but worth checking dimensions as the Sligo cattle wagon is definitely on the small side.

Fab and, for obvious reasons, I also feel your pain!

Such a great idea. At its most basic level, there is surely nothing to stop anyone fixing a metre or so of track to a bit of wood, then wiring in a shuttle unit, so you can enjoy your loco of choice running back and forth. You can buy shuttle units that will slow down before stopping and reversing, but looks like Alan has used simple stop/start modules, with this bit being hidden off scene. It is very much a high end model, fully scenic, with multiple tracks [which is wonderful], but don't see why with a bit of ballasting, basic scenics and a printed back scene couldn't make a simple but nonetheless satisfying back drop to enjoys your models, while all manner of other options are surely possible. I think we should all have at least one of these!

Currently awaiting a few things to finish off the Barclay [eg crew, builder's plates] & don't want to do the weathering just yet either. However, have added some coal to the bunker, plus the ever present jack and toolbox on the front footplate. Therefore felt it worth posing the loco with my Swilly coach and wagon on Fintonagh, as shown below. This week, attention has turned to providing the rest of the mixed train that will go with the Barclay, along with trying to address the thorny topic of which couplings to use. Alphagraphix were able to supply me with the Swilly open wagon kit in the picture above, along with half a dozen Donegal 9' wagon chassis and a card kit of a Swilly 'large van'. However, Swilly wagons all seem to be on 8' wheel bases, so a bit of adapting has been required. Decided I wanted two large vans to go with the open [& brake coach], so as I've been doing for several years now, used the card kit as a basis for making body sides and ends from plastic sheet. For anyone who has never scratch built stock before, a van is a good place to start. The sides are just two rectangles; the ends the same, but with curved tops. I've used 40thou plastic sheet, marked & then scribed to represent the planking. Wagon doors are two more rectangles done the same way, then the various different bits of strapping are made from 40x40/60/80 thou strip. The floor is a rectangle of 80thou sheet. The various stages are shown below., though only one side and end [of one van] has been done so far. The white metal chassis has had a scale foot cut from the middle and six inches from each end to fit the Swilly vans; brake gear is yet to be fitted. The question of which couplings to use has caused much head scratching over the last few weeks. Have been using Kadees on Fintonagh [ok, but not perfect] but the change to 2'7 wheels compared to the Clogher's 2' diameter have needed a change of plan. Tried 0 gauge Kadees, but they look too big and the in track uncoupling magnets are grabbing at the steel wheels. Did consider using Kadee S scale couplings, because size wise they look better, but the magnet problem remains, while they only seem available direct from the USA, with high postage costs... Plan B was to use Zamzoodleds, which are correct profile, narrow gauge 'chopper' couplings. However, these are currently not available, plus they are relatively expensive too. So to Plan C. Looking at the chopper couplings, it seemed to me that they are not a million miles from a bog standard 'tension lock', especially in slimline form. A bit of research on the web suggested that it should be possible to make them uncouple with electromagnets, while they are much cheaper than Kaydees or Zamzoodleds. Would have happily used Alex Jacksons, now I've got used to them, but these need standard buffers on all stock which don't exist on narrow gauge. Nevertheless the AJ concept helps, because, by soldering a piece of steel wire [paper clip] to the hinged coupling hook, facing backwards into the wagon chassis, this can then be acted on by a below track electro-magnet [Dingham type from the Gauge 0 Guild], enabling remote uncoupling. A basic set up is shown below. Still work in progress, but the principle seems ok. A further issue with all types of 'hook and bar' type couplings is that they are 'handed' with a hook and loop one end and just a loop at the other. When your layout has both a loco turntable and a turntable fiddle yard, this really causes problems as you soon find you have two hooks [or two loops], face to face. However, have now managed to solve this, as if you have just loops at each end of all locos, then all that is needed is a 'barrier wagon', with hooks at both ends, for those times when two loops are facing each other. To go through an entire sequence, would take far too long to explain, but over 3-4 sequences the Barclay, with the two vans I'm building, plus the open wagon [which will have hooks at both ends] can arrive, swap one van/wagon with one from a siding, turn the engine and depart. No doubt it will give operators [me included] a bit of brain ache, but with just these vehicles to worry about, shouldn't be too complex. Hopefully. The other Swilly train I want to build will just involve one of the Kerr Stuart pacific tanks and two coaches, so hooks at each end of these and just loop on the loco is all that is needed. Cunning plan, Baldrick... Also have to mention the small matter of Ipswich 1, Maidstone United 2. The Stones are 4 leagues and 96 places below Ipswich in the football pyramid, but despite the latter have 38 shots on target to Maidstone's two, my local team prevailed and are now through to the 5th round of the FA Cup! Magic.

What other gems do you have lurking away, unseen? Love the idea of a scenic shuttle to test stuff and as an antidote to construction woes. Am already wondering what I might do with a 5'3 and 3' diorama. Broad and narrow gauge transfer sidings perhaps? A simple, but inspirational concept. Those of you with lots of model locos but no layout to run them on take note.

Still work in progress, single lines aren't too bad. Rathbone's book is full of helpful information and in many ways, lining with a pen can take less time than using transfers. Have managed to get rid of most of the marks made by Decalfix in the same way as cutting back paint blobs. However, thinners will not remove white gel pen (dots to mark the corners), so these have been carefully covered with matt black and a fine brush - one to remember... Still not sure about the lettering, which may be too big, so am hoping a light weathering will help tone it all down. Locos rarely look good to me in solid black, probably because a couple days out the paint shop they no longer were.

Can only concur with all the above. How many individual pieces are there? No, don't!! Beautiful.

A real blast from the past. A group of us were discussing MTK kits at the club only last week. Pretty good for their day, though also known for the El Crappo range of 7mmNG kits. The models have turned out rather well, methinks!

Great to see more views of this remarkable railway!

Red primer, followed by 'go faster' matt black rattle can, then the order from Laurie Griffin Miniatures arrived, enabling me to do most of the cab detailing, though it still needs the reversing lever, crew, glazing and so on. This gave time for the top coats to harden & then it was a case of girding up the loins to do lettering and numbering. Quite high up on my list of things I don't like much - mainly because it is so easy to spoil all the previous hard work... Anyway, managed to find some nice HMRS pressfix transfers for the buffer beam numbers [L&SWR shaded], while a set of waterslide letters & numbers provided most of the L&BER [Letterkenny and Burtonport Extension Railway] that the Barclays seemed to carry for much of their existence. Unfortunately, couldn't find an 'ampersand' on any of my transfer sheets, so have cobbled two together from a couple of '3's. Annoyingly, the lettering transfers have a very noticeable carrier film on them & though I've managed to cut most of this away, only time [& some weathering] will tell if the appearance is acceptable. And then there was the lining! Wasted an hour or so this morning with some nice looking lining from a Fox Transfer sheet, but this must have been sitting around for a while as it broke up into [very] short pieces, every time I tried to apply it. Better luck with the inverted corner pieces, though again, turned out there were not enough on the sheet to do the corners of the bunker. Such is life - so it was a case of out with the bow pen & some suitable enamel paint. Swilly loco lining seemed to vary quite a lot over the years, particularly the Barclays. At various time they had none, a double yellow line with rounded corners, or a single yellow line with inverted corners, the latter being what I've done. A VERY useful tip from Ian Rathbone's book on the subject is that, by using a very fine brush, moistened with enamel thinners, any imperfections can be [fairly] easily removed. Took a while [because there were quite few], but so far, so good. It hasn't turned out too badly and [fingers crossed], a bit of light weathering will hide the worst of the blemishes. Still a fair bit to do mind, not least making sure the chassis works well when mated with the body, but the photos hopefully give a reasonable impression of what the finished loco might look like. The smokebox handrails need straightening though!