Quintessentially Scottish: a blue McRat in N…

I’m sure you have them too, those memories of railways from years ago, be they first hand or from secondary sources in childhood, these images become a distant but powerful origin story for our passion and love for trains and this wonderful hobby…

Tim and I used to sometimes sit at each others dining tables with a train book or magazine and practice drawing, copying the images we saw in pencil on paper, beginning to learn the subtle lines of the prototypes, to tell the difference between classes and even sub classes, enjoying one another’s mindful company in a time before everyone had ‘mental health’ - just two friends being. Too long ago to remember the finer details, I’d wager it was Tim’s family holidays to Orkney that led us towards Scotland and my books from the library featured blue 26 and 27 on the Highland branches. Formative shared memories, creative fuel from the start, but 30 odd years in the making here we have the (first) machine born directly from that source.

This particular Scottish machine is of course an N gauge Dapol release. BR blue (ish), Inverness based and with a short lived stag on the body sides she in reality would go on to be rebuilt and survive a few more years with air brakes hauling Railfreight and engineers trains across the country. In this guise though, she saw out the last of the class on the Far North lines to Kyle, Wick and Thurso. 

The Dapol 26 features in my collection already, the Railfreight grey example being a catalyst to my rebirth into ‘modern image’ and N gauge last year, so I was confident that this second hand example would be a reasonable performing model. The detail too is good, and despite the cab front windows reflecting a rebuild, captures the character of the prototype perfectly. Whilst the shade of BR blue is questionable I haven’t entertained a repaint, focusing on just adding DG couplings, buffer beam details and ploughs.

Although I didn’t fit my previous 26 with ploughs, this one had to wear them - they’re the Dapol originals, the edges thinned with a blade, cut down and mounted to the bottom of the DG coupling. This leaves the bogies free to swing behind them whilst the ploughs, as per reality, are fixed in place. Headcode discs are much finer than those supplied by Farish with the 24, even so I thinned them slightly before gluing in place. Weathering follows my usual methods, drawing inspiration from period photos. The biggest transformation here is the underframe and careful mixing of colours allows you to add shadow with darker shades where required, the results adding further depth to the already convincing moulded detail. The body had a roof wash and detail washes on the sides and ends, tidied up as it dried with a clean enamel thinner soaked brush. Once dry airbrushed exhaust and road dirt were added and then the step edges and buffers dry brushed with gun metal. Finally, a touch of grease on the buffer heads completes the illusion. These stages are now like a second nature, whilst I write them all out for you I feel them through my hands. I can’t easily instruct how you achieve the same results, as the actions alone don't create the artwork - it is the feeling you get that means the piece is successful. Your hand, your art.

This model is destined for a fairly static life I expect, as Lochdubh literally goes nowhere! It is however an important place marker and physical manifestation of my life through this hobby and as such a powerful and evocative fuel. This renewed enthusiasm for British modelling is what led to the recent purchase of the Farish GWR pannier, I am looking forward to embracing whaterver direction my heart takes me on this journey. Until next time, more soon…

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