Wagons Roll

I haven't really got a great deal recently, hence the lack of blog activity. I have been tinkering away with some small bits though.

The above 2 pictures are Avalon Lines models. Nice little wagons. The flat wagon in the foreground is a KBScale re-gauged to 9mm.

This is a little scene from diorama I've been slowly working on. More news on that another time.

A Hero comes along...

Smallbrook Studios Hero that is.

A nice resin kit to put together. It runs on a slightly modified and chipped Hornby 0-4-0 chassis. A couple more photos can be found here.

Taking Stock

Here are a few pictures of completed stock for the DLR. Some have already been mentioned.

Peco van and Smallbrook Flat

Peco coach. The tension lock is for the middle of the train, the other end has a Kadee.

Hacked about NSE Mk2 Chasis. This will form the basis of a tool/mess van. A similar example will be a bogie coach.

Denslow Light Railway

Finally I've cobbled together a layout in 0-16.5. The premise is a small preservation/tourism affair, partly built on the old (and fictional) Denslow Quarry narrow gauge branch line. The 3 1/4 mile line was used to transport chalk to the mainline railhead at Conch St. Graham. When the quarry closed in the 1960s the narrow gauge line had already been closed 12 years.

Upon closure of the quarry the locomotives and rolling stock were purchased by Colin Bottle, a local 'self made' millionaire and industry buff. He promptly formed an ad hoc preservation society and fronted the money and influence to purchase the p-way and lease the land. By the late 1970s the society was running small trains on public holidays from the terminus at Conch St. Graham up to the quarry loop and back. This continued sporadically for 10 years. When Colin Bottle died in 1989 he left a sizable chunk of his estate to the society, with the wish that the money be spent on extending the line as the quarry was too dangerous and had also been earmarked for use as a landfill.

The line now runs from Conch St. Graham to the new terminus at Cow Lane with two intermediate stops at Cod Hill and Stone Brook - both popular with walkers. The line hosts a yearly World War II weekend featuring period military vehicles and a beer tent.

Rolling stock is mostly of an industrial nature.

Obviously this is all fictional...

Track plan

Current development

Broad horizons, narrow gauge.

I've been dabbling in narrow gauge recently. It's pretty liberating to not worry about things being strictly prototype.

I've got a germ of an idea for an O-16.5 layout in my head, so watch this space. Meanwhile, some pictures.

This an etch made by A1 models to modify the Bachmann Junior shunter. This was my first brass kit so it's a bit patchy here and there, but I'm quite pleased with it.

Our next victim is a Peco O-16.5 open wagon. This goes together very nicely.

And last on the slab is a Smallbrook machinery wagon. It's a cast resin kit so feels nice and robust.

I just need to decide on a colour scheme, then maybe my light railway ambitions will move forward.

All In The Detail

It struck me that I've not actually listed any details about Spatch.

The overall size is 60" x 18".

The plain line track is C&L code 75 bullhead, the S&C is Peco code 75 short radius electrofrog.

Well that's all there is to say really. Best have some pictures.

A brake van on some plain line.

Some plain line close up.

Some early ground cover.

Ghosts of layouts past. Part 1.

Perusing my hard drive today turned up some images of my past endeavours, some have appeared elsewhere on the web.

Furthest back we have this layout. I don't think it ever had a name and I'm not totally convinced it even had a premise. It was a small shunting layout for shuffling about engineers wagons. Some scrap wagons showed up to.

Needless to say, a very simple track plan.