C2 in 009: A miniature 1960s reality...

European narrow gauge locomotives have always been larger and heavier than we're used to here in the UK. As children many of us experienced North Wales narrow gauge and it's compact nature etched in our minds has formed what we think narrow gauge is across the continent...

Across the channel though where the usual gauge was not 2ft (or thereabouts) rather between 750 and 1000mm and the sizes of both rolling stock and motive power collectively increased. My re-birth into narrow gauge modelling about 12 or so years ago was largely due to my childhood friend Tim's 009 collection. I had been working in the garden with LGB, initially with my Dad before he passed away. Tim popped round to see the railway being built at Mum's house when he was back visiting his Mum, and my G-scale models encouraged him to build some of his own - likewise his 009 creations encouraged my own foray into the scale. It was the bruising, ugly utilatereran designs of Eastern Europe that appealed most. The Polish 750mm lines in particular with their Px48 and Lxd2 diesels (the latter finding it's way into my G-scale collection), but through those early journeys into Keith Chester's books I stumbled upon the story of what eventually results in the Chinese C2. A seed was sewn but didn't germinate right away. Other projects came and went, but a Polish published book (above) ensured that the dream of a C2 in 009 would one day be realised, who could resist the prototype on the cover, a Polish built example. 

What is it about these prototypes? The child inside of me is fascinated by the pipework, what does it all do, where does it go? Even our ugliest brutes often had Victorian elegance in mind somewhere - here though were machines hewn from the rawest of ingredients with only one job in mind. Add to that engineering engagement with wonderfully evocative photographs of the 1960s and 1970s with their fashions contrasting with a railway that was straight out of our 1940s and 50s and something clicks. For me, a lot of my modelling is driven from some strange connection to a photograph. I can't explain why, but something about a scene will drive me to recreate it in miniature. It must be a curious combination of subject and photograph composition, including the light and atmosphere, but whatever drives it that first photograph will send me down a rabbit hole. This same pattern can be used to explain much of my modelling, and it is a technique I use on commission models too, it helps imbue them with a certain character, fuelled by something unsaid, unwritten... a passion of sorts that lives inside of me.

Sharing the journey with my good friend Chris, he put it so well…

Somewhere between small driving wheels and that it seems these are only ever photographed on cold days when there’s more steam visible in the sky these engines always seem so alive.

It's funny, Chris's words show what he finds about the prototype so fascinating and it certainly resonates with me - but it isn't quite the same energy. We all bring our own life story to this wonderful hobby, and sharing our models, and why we make them really adds to the richness of the experience. I won't recount the story of how this model was created - it has been done before on the blog if you search for C2 you will find it all, in summary a mix of modern and traditional scratch building (my signature I suppose) on a Fleischmann BR81 N gauge chassis. Recently shown in primer, the renewed focus of recent weeks has seen the model painted, decal'd, detailed and weathered.

Today I will be taking her on a journey to visit a good friend and let her stretch her legs on his layout. I'm sure more photos will follow, but for now, I hope you've enjoyed a bit more about what formed the genesis of this model. In the coming months I intend to try and explain why I model the way I do, and how this impacts the product. I hope you will join me in the practice, until next time, more soon...