September steam...

It's been far too long, life, work and holidays have all been excuses, then I ran out of gas. A trip into Llangollen with Janey to get the van MOT'd meant a spare hour so after a nice coffee we nipped to the local hardware store...

Excuses no more... following refurbishment of the safety valve by Dave Mees she ran beautifully, and I enjoyed the late afternoon sun, running gently around shuttling gunpowder, slate wagons and fuel to and from the wharf, mill and quarry... it really was a transformation, a much smoother runner again now.

The line has matured so well in all this time, and talking with Steve Milner the other day I reflected I'd really like to add some structures but need a more cost effective way than dolls house bricks! However, I don't want to 'model' them in traditional indoor methods, the scale rewards the haphazard look from separate pieces, even these wagons above, although carved from styrene are separate planks glued together.

In the meantime, as work on the Ruston LBU is underway, the quarry will soon have a loco suitable for it's new (well not even built yet) adit, and I must get a few more slab wagons from Si at Model-earth too. Until next time, more soon...