Friday Update: Twenty-five Eight Twenty-three…

Holiday season is upon the workshop here in North Wales and the usual trip to Pembrokeshire swallows nearly a week, not that I’m complaining but time is precious and finding and writing material to share with you all becomes a treasured moment of calm amongst the otherwise busy coming and going. Thank you all…

I love tractors, although this isn’t strictly a tractor. The Massey Ferguson 50B was a purpose built backhoe loader, but doesn’t she look great. Photographed near Mathry, Pembrokeshire.

Fishguard old harbour, old and new, big and small. The fishing boat up close looks like it’s living out it’s days here whilst the large Stena Line ferry is waiting out a storm at Goodwick in the background.

Back home I’ve managed to squeeze in a little work on the current layout projects. Another step towards operation as Gerald Road has holes drilled for controller, power and turnout switches. I need to remove the control board and paint the end panel before these can be fitted and wired up but as you all know, my love of wiring means I’m stringing this out as long as I can! 

New arrivals, the Prairie Shadows Saskatchewan Pool grain car has arrived for Beaverbrook and already seen a blog post yesterday. Other new arrivals this week is this collection of ‘modern’ current day N gauge, but with no current plans for a layout what could they be for? All will be revealed soon - although don’t worry, my existing projects are all here to stay for the time being.

You may remember in a recent post about Gerald Road the 03 was lacking an exhaust? I bought one of the latest Farish models from Kernow it came with the conical exhaust. Happily friend Paul has turned me a new flower pot exhaust for and I can’t wait to get my hands on it, it looks superb! Some jobs I can do in house but on occasion it is wonderful to commission a friend to produce an item I’d struggle to recreate. Compared to the Farish effort, this is less tapered at the base, and hopefully captures the distinctive character of these diminutive shunters better - especially as 03382 is the lead actor on this enlarged stage.

03 exhaust fresh from turning, thanks Paul

This week I also managed a visit to Porthmadog and the wonderful Ffestiniog Railway, taking an afternoon trip on the Woodland Wanderer with fish and chips from Allports afterwards. We are so lucky to live close enough to visit regularly!

Wonderful magical timeless Tan-y-bwlch.

This bank holiday weekend will be a quieter one for me, so hopefully a day or so on personal projects before a busy few days catching up on commmissions. A few layout design ones have arrived which will be great fun alongside finishing off the Ruston LB and preparing them for paint. My own ‘prototype’ LB is still available after a few interested parties decided against, I am willing to consider sensible offers too so get in touch if you’re interested but felt the price beyond your means. Until next time though, more soon…

Donate

I love writing and creating material for the blog. If you enjoy what you read and engage with I would be appreciative of any donation, large or small, to help me keep it advert and restriction free.