Pannier at Pont Dulas…
I’m often glad that Pont Dulas has never sold - and when I recently completed my minor make over on this second hand Dapol 57xx that had never been more true…
Scenes created, yet evoking a sense of recreation.
This bridge never existed but it might have done, somewhere, somehow. A forgotten sleepy Welsh former GWR Branchline in mid Wales…
A note on the model, a Dapol 57xx as it comes, renumbered to a riveted tank example that worked on the Bala branch (should that become important one day). Plates from Light Railway Stores, weathering and coal by me - hauling a Dapol Collet brake composite, a copy, I’m sure, of the model I owned from Bachmann 30 odd years ago, itself lightly weathered.
This lovely composition, almost from the pages of your favourite book seen for the first time in colour is like a Time Machine, the layout itself a Tardis. Yes, it shows the lack of crew on board, something I’ll rectify next time I need to order any crew for commissions from Modelu, but that aside, it feels magical. A tiny world of miniatures to enjoy, to allow their form and my photography to wash a sense of calm over us - click these photos, marvel at them full screen, zoom in as a cruel close up and get excited, energised and enthused about the art of the possible. Model railways then, more than just craft, here elevated to a form not only immensely rewarding to create, but emotionally recharging to enjoy. Until next time, more soon…
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Lovely, James...very evocative!
ReplyDeleteI bought a 57XX in GWR black from the Dapol stand at Ally Pally a couple of years ago, for a mere £20...I suspect that both it and the green 14XX will also end up black with early BR crests as it suits my tentative late 50s era. That Collett brake compo is a nice, and very useful, model as it just about fulfils the "one coach branch train" criteria, though mine is more likely to be accompanied by my carmine and cream all-third and maroon Hawksworth brake behind the 61XX I bought on Saturday. A while ago I saw a photo on line of a Hawksworth coach with similar accommodation, hauled by a 16XX in the last days of the Aberystwyth-Carmarthen passenger service, which is probably what triggered me to buy the two brakes.
I must get on and build a diorama to display some of this stuff on...I now have most of the bits I need!
Cheers,
Simon.
Wonderful stuff, Farish 64xx would suit too, I’m sure… this one isn’t a superb runner but certainly adequate!
DeleteThe Farish 64XX is a little beauty; I'm sure the combination of one with a cascaded corridor coach must have been used somewhere...I'll have to do some research 😉
Delete64XX were used around here, but seemed to be more on the Wye Valley autos...I'm gradually reading the several local railway books, and will perhaps widen the search a bit.
Something I really like is the variety of motive power and stock in the Gloucester/Herefordshire area...
Not a massive job to make it a 74xx, remove the auto gear and modify the cab profile slightly… happy hunting, one of the unsung pleasures of model railways, digging through old photographs and enjoying books.
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