Friday Update: Thirteen Eleven Twenty-six…

I’ve taken a quieter approach to work this week - and feeling better for it. That however means slightly less variety to share today - never the less, the usual variety abounds…

We’ll open with a trio of Isle of Wight O2 here for reworking as mentioned, I think, last Friday. I’ve removed the lining from one and modified the boiler to represent a Drummond example - now in green. A second has been selected for lining from plain black - both have has a coat of gloss lacquer - but further research has led my customer and I to realise the black one needs the lion and wheel removing too… back to the bench once more! 

A pair of tiny kits this week - a Narrow Planet Keef K12, sadly not available at present. It’s a lovely piece of etch origami… alongside an old Mosskito Ruston - again a neat piece of etch design but an incredibly tight fit for the mechanism. A slight change of plan means I’ll be reworking this to open cab next week.

Beyond the physical bench I’ve been making a start with the CAD for a pair of Welsh Highland coaches in 009. These are custom kits I suppose, designing 2D and 3D parts that allow a consistent and quality result that stands against modern ready to run. These ‘interiors’ carry the trucks. The etched bodies will be glazed and the interior will push in from underneath. If you have a prototype that is not a currently available get in touch to discuss if I can help it become a reality through traditional or modern scratch building.

What’s this? Not more American N? All will become clear soon enough - but intention here is to create a second version of Canadian National 35 but a little smaller. What is interesting, is that this seems to be a scaled reduction of the HO model rather than a new model in its own right. The truck frames for example, I’ve rescaled my HO replacements and they just measure up as the N ones… anyhow, the model is now in pieces and I’ve for a list of small jobs to do before the 3D parts arrive.

The other job this week has been finishing scanning my 9 (!) slide films. I had a nice SLR in the late 90s and used it on trips to Canada in 1999 and 2001. Later in 2001 I got a digital camera, and the 9 films I used weee pretty much my last hurrah on traditional format cameras. There are a few lovely landscapes, plenty of memories and a smattering of rail interest - most of which has been shared here previously. My slide scanner is pretty rubbish, but this was more about being able to see and enjoy the pictures than having print quality scans. Here, taken on Wednesday 12th September 2001, is the Via Bras D’Or heading from Sydney back to Halifax crossing the Canso causeway, taken from the Nova Scotia side of the strait. Google tells me the train ran 2000-2003 in the summer months using equipment from the Ocean, excluding the sleepers. It ran to Sydney on the Tuesday, returning on the Wednesday. Journey was around 10 hours, food served from the dome usually, unless the diner was also in the formation. Crap film scanner and taken into the sun, there isn’t much to see, but for me, it was the first rail sighting of the trip - shortly afterwards iirc, a trio of ex BN GP50s came through on a freight - but for some reason, I didn’t take a a photo!

The morning here is cold and there is a proper frost, the first white one of the season. I’m sat with two sleepy dogs after their breakfast and the sun is creeping along the sides of the valley distant, as it rises low in the sky. It’s going to be chilly in the workshop but I’ll be back there later - for now I’ll take a moment to muse on the day ahead, until next time more soon…

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