Some more locos

The second of the Britannias, 70004 William Shakespeare. This one was the last loco to be repaired at Darlington so I've dirtied it up a bit, though not as filthy as it was when it arrived for a bent right-hand deflector to be fixed.

A pair of new 3MT tanks by Graham Farish. 82028 is the Farish model straight out of the box apart from weathering and changing the offside lion for a heraldically incorrect one. 82027 was new as an early-crest 82016. Both of these locos were allocated to 51-group sheds for passenger service over the Stainmore line, where they replaced J21s. When these services finished they moved to the Whitby area then on to the Southern Region in 1963.

Rail-ex South West

Last weekend I have a really good excuse for not blogging- I was at Taunton all weekend. Trevor and Geoff set off at lunchtime with "Parnhams" in the back. I set off from school at 3.30 and got there at 7.45 after a reasonable run- not the best but making good time as far as Bristol.

Coming back only took about half-an-hour less, so not a bad run.

Rail-ex South West went very well. The fault on the layout we thought we'd fixed turned out not to have been, so we had a few problems finding locos that would run clockwise round the layout. Percy and Thomas put in appearances for small children, and were well received, especially by their parents.

Got a new Britannia. It will take 28 coaches on the test track- not enough track to add any more!

A very good show, and a really hospitable group of people who looked after us very well.

Two more Parnhams locos

2270 is a Plan-it kit by H.R. Mullineaux for a North Staffordshire Railway 0-6-2T, built by Simon (Mr Grumpy) on a Farish pannier tank chassis. Not too bad a runner, (it has a new chassis so should run well), it needs a deal of werathering as the real thing was out of service well before the 1939 of Parnhams.

Sir George is a repainted Dapol terrier, originally a plain SR one. It spends its life on the lower level of Parnhams, though might take a turn on the top with an brake van (going back from a repair by the LNER at Grantham).

Merry Saturday

I've actually got some modelling done this week. Not much, but every little helps. The Union Mills tender I started to convert from an LMS type into an LNER one is now finished. Results are encouraging enough for me to think seriously about doing another.

Problem with it is that the coal rails round the back should be vertical, which is not how I modelled it. Still, once coupled to a D20 it looks the part rather more than the unrebuilt version did, so I'll leave it and make the back vertical on the next one I do. There's only about a dozen or so, which means plenty of chance to get the final version right! I'll photograph it when the varnish dries and post the result later.

A pair of very old Farish J67s arrived from Alan Cummings courtesy of eBay. The better of the two was already black, so I've removed the crest and relettered it as LNER 7337, which had a spell at Peterbrough at one time.

More excuses

12th October already and little done, particularly updating this.

Quiet time in modelling as the Bingham clubroom has been temporarily cut off by roadworks and things have been busy at home getting Simon (Mr Grumpy) and his chattels off to Helsinki. Might get some modelling done shortly.

Got rid of my two kitbuilt B1s as neither was up to the standard of the new ones by Bachfar or Dapol. While feeling in the mood also got rid of the Turbomotive and a Class 52, the King Arthur, one of the 45xxs and a 57xx, together with one of my big mistakes- a DP2 converted from a Lima Deltic.

Dapol's open day was interesting. No announcements of new models following being "bounced" by BachFar. However I may have got Dave interested in a J67/69 0-6-0T. Hopefully he will bite....

Wendy duly provided a 3MT tank, a 4MT tender and a Black Five. the 4MT has had its short tender drawbar fitted. Pics later.