Worsley Works retiring and closing down. Irish items apparrently out of stock.

[Colin R]

On 7/5/2026 at 12:35 PM, Mayner said:

Pete McParlin had a similar experience with disappointing sales when he introduced an extensive range of Backwoods Miniatures 4mm Irish 3' gauge locos and stock during the 1990s and later shifted to British and American outline locos and stock. Peter told me that he only sold one Clogher Valley 0-4-2T locomotive. 

Well if that is true, then it is now sitting in my green box collection, now wonder i have never been able to find a second kit then.

Colin

 

 

 

 

 

[commerlad]

2 hours ago, Colin R said:

Well if that is true, then it is now sitting in my green box collection, now wonder i have never been able to find a second kit then.

Colin

I know for a fact that P McParlin sold only 1 is false.

Bob Hughes had 1,  & I have most of 1 (Bought 2nd hand off Ebay part built {or trod on})

 

Edited June 12 by commerlad

[Basil]

I have two of them... (bought directly from Pete no less)

Edited June 12 by Basil

[Mayner]

21 hours ago, commerlad said:

I know for a fact that P McParlin sold only 1 is false.

Bob Hughes had 1,  & I have most of 1 (Bought 2nd hand off Ebay part built {or trod on})

 

Interesting; I distinctly recall Pete McParlin telling me that he had only sold 1 CVR 0-4-2T during a conversation almost 30 years ago. During our conversation Pete spoke about poor demand for his Irish 00n3 kits and used the CVR loco to reinforce his point. At the time I was a regular customer and had no reason to doubt Pete's word.

Good that Backwoods Miniatures has sold at least four of the CVR loco kits (still currently listed on the website). 

A CVR 0-4-2T has been on my to-do list for several years, have to decide whether to scratchbuild the loco, prepare a set of etched parts or trial the 3D printed route. I assembled a pair of CVR Coaches and a Horsebox from Branchlines kits about 35 years ago & need a suitable loco.

Edited June 13 by Mayner

[commerlad]

13 hours ago, Mayner said:

Interesting; I distinctly recall Pete McParlin telling me that he had only sold 1 CVR 0-4-2T during a conversation almost 30 years ago. During our conversation Pete spoke about poor demand for his Irish 00n3 kits and used the CVR loco to reinforce his point. At the time I was a regular customer and had no reason to doubt Pete's word.

Good that Backwoods Miniatures has sold at least four of the CVR loco kits (still currently listed on the website). 

A CVR 0-4-2T has been on my to-do list for several years, have to decide whether to scratchbuild the loco, prepare a set of etched parts or trial the 3D printed route. I assembled a pair of CVR Coaches and a Horsebox from Branchlines kits about 35 years ago & need a suitable loco.

The kit may stil be listed on the Backwoods miniatures site but Pete gave up the range and sold it on to Neville Kent (NDrive) 

See.

Home | N-Drive Productions for narrow gauge kits and N gauge industrial locomotive kits

[Andy Cundick]

For what its worth i,ve got three of them i acquired over the years two running and one to finish Andy

[Colin R]

On 13/6/2026 at 10:44 PM, commerlad said:

The kit may stil be listed on the Backwoods miniatures site but Pete gave up the range and sold it on to Neville Kent (NDrive) 

See.

Home | N-Drive Productions for narrow gauge kits and N gauge industrial locomotive kits

I am not sure just how far Neville has got with getting this kit back into production, but I wouldn't mind finding a second one for sale. I know that there is a 3D print version available, but for now I would prefer a brass etech version.  

[Horsetan]

On 19/6/2026 at 10:25 PM, Colin R said:

I am not sure just how far Neville has got with getting this kit back into production, but I wouldn't mind finding a second one for sale. I know that there is a 3D print version available, but for now I would prefer a brass etech version.  

Neville's big problem with all of the Backwoods kits concerns wheels, as the original maker/supplier of the mostly plastic-centred, fine-profile wheelsets no longer exists.

From the one loco kit that has been re-released, it looks like the old-style coarse profile "steamroller" wheels - inherited from N-gauge in the 1980s and earlier - are now being used, so this retrograde step is likely to find its way into all of the kits over the next decade or so. Backwoods kits are going to look a bit odd with them, given that a big selling point was the fact that the running gear didn't look prehistoric. 

[Horsetan]

3 hours ago, Horsetan said:

....From the one loco kit that has been re-released, it looks like the old-style coarse profile "steamroller" wheels - inherited from N-gauge in the 1980s and earlier - are now being used, so this retrograde step is likely to find its way into all of the kits over the next decade or so. Backwoods kits are going to look a bit odd with them, given that a big selling point was the fact that the running gear didn't look prehistoric. 

The resulting hybrid of different parts looks a bit off...

[Turin60]

This is I'm afraid the future, unless some highly skilled person want's to sink an incredible amount of money into an enterprise guaranteed to give no appreciable return. Sorry, but the emphasis of the hobby has changed and not necessarily to the kit builder (or budding kit builder) advantage I'm afraid.

John Bruce.