Sugar cane project planning...

Charlie popped round this evening and we spent a very pleasant few hours drinking beer and pondering how to start our sugar cane project...

If this is the first I've mentioned of this mad idea, it isn't as mad as it sounds. Tim, Charlie and I are planning a sugar beet layout in the near future - a quite ambitious plan - so we wanted something smaller to practice on and see how we got on working together.

So here we have some of Charlie's engines - the top is a Fowler (built by Paul Windle) on an old Arnold (IIRC) chassis. Charlie intends to rebuild the tender and repaint with a single yellow line for the lining. Above is a Narrow Planet Bagnall finished rather nicely in green and yellow. What I really love is the attention to detail - Charlie's return cranks are superb - and look even better moving. Great piece of modelling - can't wait to see how get gets on weathering it!

Now finally a pair of Hudswells - deliberately similar but different. Charlie has finished his in a darker green then I plan on using and has lovely fine yellow lining, and different cab and side tank shapes! However, there is a family likeness (perfect), and mine will be finished to represent a much later period with wasp striped buffer beams, plain green lining and a fully black boiler.

We have agreed the track plan and dimensions so will purchasing a Tim Horn baseboard very soon!