The Ruabon Brook Tramway micro...

The collection of OO projects on my workbench at the moment, along with the Lightmoor Press book on the Ruabon to Barmouth railway has led to the collection of a number of Parkside kits, a Bachmann 64xx and plans for a small micro layout inspired by Chris Nevard's Brew Street...

I've put together a 21T mineral wagon, a diagram 1/050 shock absorber wagon, diagram 1/108 16T mineral and a diagram 1/1208 wooden 12T van - these all have been fitted with Smiths 3 link 'instanter' couplers as well as lovely sprung buffers from Accurascale.

It's been sometime since I put together plastic kits like this and it's been a lot of fun. The parts are cleanly moulded and fit together well - the detail is nice and clean and sharp, and I'm looking forward to painting and weathering them. I'm slightly less impressed with the Romford wheels, and will look to replace these in the near future. I believe the 1/050 needs to be fitted with screw couplings and vacuum pipes - something I will confirm prior to painting.

The 64xx is destined to be converted to a 74xx in the coming weeks, and I've also got a Palbrick wagon to build, an Oxford 16t Toad to convert and a Comet non-corridor 57ft GWR brake coach to build - both etched kits. The longer term goal of building Arenig or Frongoch will mean the stock has a purpose, and in the meantime, a micro layout will suffice for 'playing' and practicing working in standard gauge, yet without the constraints of signalling and the like.

The Ruabon Brook Tramway was a short branchline with a long history. By the 1950s it had been cut back and to just serve the Hughes and Lancaster works, Acrefair low level goods, Monsanto and J C Edwards brick works - accessed from a line out of Trevor goods yard. The Roberts and Maginnis brick works at Trevor was also rail served - and it's these industries that have inspired a micro layout.

The basic premise is locos arrive from the mainline, brakevan on the back, leave the brake and any wagons not needed on the main, and shunt into the works at the top of the plan and leave wagons in the brick works headshunt. The brickworks will have it's own small loco to shuttle out and remove empties and replace with loaded wagons. The branch stub will just be a single line off scene, the mainline end may have cassettes. The plan may well evolve, it was just a start, and uses a Peco Code 75 3 way point and short Y turnout mated with their lovely bull head track. More soon..