Dyfrdwy Tramway: Summer steam (and diesel)...

The summer is nearly over and my youngest was heading home so it seemed a good excuse to clean up the tramway and dust off my live steam locomotive and bring the tramway back to life...

The gentle breeze and warm weather mixed to produce a long steaming but with a decent smoke trail on occassion. The little one doesn't quite smell right without coal, but nevertheless this is real, real steam. We shunted wagons from the wharf up and down the line for well over half an hour and after a few minutes both of us felt relaxed and comfortable at the controls again. Running on the tramway isn't a relaxing experience in the traditional sense, it's great fun but as driver it's a tough route with constant changes in gradient and sharp corners to factor into regulator position. 

The Barclay (live steam) ran well - a few jobs I've never done don't ever seem to get up the 'to do' list, but I must really fit the sliding doors to the back of the cab, and sort out the roof vent this winter. I'd love to get some glazing in window frames as well if possible, we shall see, I've a plan for that too!

The other job I must get on with is commissioning the driver figure for the Ruston - as I have demand for such a character from the hands of Si Harris for many of my Ruston LB customers - and the figure will also prove useful in the forthcoming larger 40/48.

The final 'to do' is to add windscreen wiper, number plates and truck sides to the Bedford - but as a supporting act, it does alright in these photos. Longer term, there are sections of the roadbed next to the lawn that need repair (I have stones for these, to build proper small walls, a la Ffestiniog), I'd love a crane for the wharf, and as the youngest pointed out, I still haven't; put a water tank in at the mill! Oh well, life is short, but trains run, and the tramway evolves and gives tremendous pleasure through all the seasons just by existing in the real sense of the word. Until next time, more soon...