Dyfrdwy tramway in 7/8ths: couplings and loads...

It has been a productive week in terms of making progress with the raw castings of my Model-earth 7/8ths wagons...

I've cleaned up all four of the wagons, I need to make decisions on couplers and furthe detailing before I go too much further, however, it's been excellent to make a start and begin to get a feel for the size of these models. First up the brass Talisman couplings that came with the Welsh slab wagon have been cleaned up and blackend - they look great. I think the height works well here, as I said, I deliberately mounted them low on the Welsh wagon to match the photos I had, I wondered if they'd work on the budget range - and they might, but would probably need the centre 'pillow' blocks removing, because whilst they do 'just' clear the rail head when hanging loose, I've a feeling they look just too low mounted underneath the blocks.

Here you can see I've finished the prep work on the barrel load, these are lovely mouldings, and will look great painted and weathered - my intention is red with the centre band yellow - having researched barrels a little a few weeks ago! In terms of painting I'm not sure what I'll be doing really... I think the frames will be distressed grey paintwork, and decks will be exposed weather beaten wood. The van may be grey too as a result, we'll see... I might just go for a creosoted look to the barrel load frame?

Last shot - the final flat wagon is finished - this is likely to receive some sort of A frame in the middle - like the Corris wagons - although I'm a little worried about stability, so this may receive some smaller 24mm disc wheels. It's got a rather silly 009 load on it - the original prototype Bagnall side tank we released through Narrow Planet at ExpoNG. I've still got around to finishing the build and taking proper photos - another thing for the list in December.

Finally - a short note about the new title to these 7/8ths posts... I've decided to call my line the Dyfrdwy tramway - the Welsh name for the river Dee. I'll share more on that and start a back story another time... More soon...