Friday Update: Sixteen Twelve Twenty-two…

And that's a wrap, so to speak - the last Friday Update of 2022 this morning, and we've just about survived the deep freeze in the valley, temperatures dropped to -10degC on Thursday night, it has been bitterly cold and hard on the heating bill, even then my workshop is like a fridge!

Just as well that most of the work for 2022 has been finished off, with just the large Class 91 diesel still ticking along this week - everything else has been tidying up, writing proposals for work in 2023 and planning what I'll start in January. 

I mentioned this week I'd made a start on my Proto2000 GP7 that will become a Bay Colony example. I have been working slowly on this in the evenings and you can see above that it now has the prototype details at each end (MU stands, ditch lights etc) as well as a new bell and new horn. Still to come are runners for the sun-shades and then I can get a bit of primer on and see how she looks. This will be a nice little project for the Christmas break. I love working on models like this, determining what aspects of the prototype need to be captured to create a model with real character. I will be applying a full weathered, patched and tired Bay Colony finish, but patched with HMLX reporting marks as if she is now a lease unit to explain her appearance on Beaverbrook (and perhaps other projects in time). Sat on my book shelf, I posed her with my first proper 'new' H0 scale model, the Athearn Genesis GP15 (a Norfolk Southern model I patched and weathered for the HSWR). The prototype was EMDs answer to the 1970s rebuild market and is basically the mechanical components of a GP9 combined with a new 645 engine - so similar in size, weight and performance of the GP9 but with updated engine and controls (for the time). The GP7 here has been upgraded as a GP8 with some minor rebuild but retains her 1500hp, perfect for a short line. The models make an interesting comparison of their prototypes, the later 'phase 2' EMD locomotives rode on higher frames making their bodies appear taller (although the GP35 was lower). However, the GP15 car body is longer, so visually, on their own, they're quite similar. There is something quite 'classic' about a high hood GP7/9 though, they were the one that started it all, and their longevity proves how much of a useful and well designed locomotive they were when conceived nearly 70 years ago!

Rather than a proper small layout I thought I might build (mentioned last week) I've decided instead to use these IKEA 500mm (ish) shelves I have here and do a small diorama. The idea will be to build something I could potentially re-use in a larger layout - in that aim I've settled on a bridge scene based upon Ynyslas. My thought being there same basic design was used elsewhere on the coast, so I can be 'artistic' with it's recreation. It will form a fun little diorama and when I'm 'done' with it, I could cut it out and use it on the exhibition layout I have floating around in my mind.

500mm is actually quite a decent length, the same shelf could definitely be used for a display track in O or OO, but in N a small layout is almost possible. It's the same length as Paxton Road, and if used the other way up the scenic depth would be deep enough for something that would fit in even the most space starved home! It will be fun putting this together, with the added bonus that I can work on the kitchen table in the warm!

I did take advantage of the Twelveheads publishing closing down sale. This small Cornish publisher is sadly calling time, they have produced some real classic over the years and I have plenty of their titles in my library. However, two that until now hadn't featured found their way into my shopping basket and both look excellent. The Caradon and Looe will build on my knowledge go the line I aquired from the Wild Swan book earlier in the year and the photos in Steam South and West are wonderful. Especially a full page spread of a scene at Wenford dries, this alone is worth the £10 price. Grab something before it's all gone, as it's a publisher we will miss (I can recommend: Caradon and Looe / North Devon Clay / The Pentewan Railway / The Redlake Tramway and China Clay Works / Steam South and West). I look forward to reading these properly over the holidays.

So what about the blog over the festive season? Well my intention is to post every other day (or so) to keep content fresh for you all - but give me a bit of a break from writing every day. In the past I've done a sort of 'review' of previous content, and I'm sure to do more of that this year too - a sort of 'year in view' if you like. I hope they prove interesting and entertaining if and when you need a break from the seasons usual activities. I will be enjoying family time, personal modelling time and hoping to make the most of the cold crisp weather with plenty of walking too - I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season wherever you are, whatever you do, whatever your beliefs. This for me is a time for family and friends. Until next time more soon...

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