And ever again in the blink of an eye, a year on the Misbourne Valley Railway whistles by...as Robert Louis Stevenson might have put it. Alas, 2015 has slipped away from me all too quickly, but the Christmas holiday period gave me the opportunity for just a little more garden railway activity to see out the year.
In December, Russell finally returned to Buckinghamshire after her "Grand Tour" of Wales and the South of England. On 28th December, she paid another visit to our old friends, the Woodrow Light Railway; this being her first appearance on 45mm metals since she departed for Llechfan in July. Unfortunately, our normally-reliable flagship blotted her copybook on this occasion; her first running session had to be aborted after one of her wheelsets tried to return itself to 32mm gauge, causing a derailment! A few minutes' work with an Allen key solved the problem and she reappeared later in the day.
Nevertheless, Russell was well and truly upstaged on this occasion by another big British tank engine. The WLR's latest acquisition, No. 16, is a Roundhouse Leek & Manifold 2-6-4T. I have to confess, this extremely handsome and detailed model left me feeling very jealous! Sadly though, this is one engine which will never be able to run on the MVR, because she is too big for our curves (even after our work in recent years to ease some of the sharpest!).
In December, Russell finally returned to Buckinghamshire after her "Grand Tour" of Wales and the South of England. On 28th December, she paid another visit to our old friends, the Woodrow Light Railway; this being her first appearance on 45mm metals since she departed for Llechfan in July. Unfortunately, our normally-reliable flagship blotted her copybook on this occasion; her first running session had to be aborted after one of her wheelsets tried to return itself to 32mm gauge, causing a derailment! A few minutes' work with an Allen key solved the problem and she reappeared later in the day.
Nevertheless, Russell was well and truly upstaged on this occasion by another big British tank engine. The WLR's latest acquisition, No. 16, is a Roundhouse Leek & Manifold 2-6-4T. I have to confess, this extremely handsome and detailed model left me feeling very jealous! Sadly though, this is one engine which will never be able to run on the MVR, because she is too big for our curves (even after our work in recent years to ease some of the sharpest!).
Russell also had time for a New Year's Eve running session on the MVR to see out 2015.
Soon afterwards I had to return to my current abode in the South of England. Nevertheless, I started 2016 as I mean to go on by attending a local G Scale Society open day. Unfortunately, I was only able to accept the invitation at relatively short notice, so I had not thought to bring Russell down from Buckinghamshire with me. Very generously, our host let me have a go at driving his Roundhouse Sandy River & Rangely Lakes 2-6-2 No. 24. This is not only a beautiful model, but a very smooth-running one; her owner obviously keeps her in fine fettle. For the second time in a month, I went home feeling green with envy!
Two other live steamers also made an appearance, one being an Aristocraft Mikado which had been modified by her owner to represent a White Pass & Yukon locomotive. Another visiting loco which caught my eye was an example of Piko's new DR V36 0-6-0 diesel. This is modelled on a standard gauge prototype. but I think that with some subtle modifications, she could be turned into a very handsome large narrow-gauge diesel; something in the mould of the Polish LyD2s. That will have to be a project for someone else to try, though; the state of the MVR's finances mean that further motive power acquisitions are out of the question at present!
Two other live steamers also made an appearance, one being an Aristocraft Mikado which had been modified by her owner to represent a White Pass & Yukon locomotive. Another visiting loco which caught my eye was an example of Piko's new DR V36 0-6-0 diesel. This is modelled on a standard gauge prototype. but I think that with some subtle modifications, she could be turned into a very handsome large narrow-gauge diesel; something in the mould of the Polish LyD2s. That will have to be a project for someone else to try, though; the state of the MVR's finances mean that further motive power acquisitions are out of the question at present!
Sadly, I have no further news to report on my W&L flat wagon project. I have had too much else going on over the Christmas period, and I am still slightly hampered by lack of proper workshop facilities in my current "digs" in the South. My diary for the Spring is also filling up rapidly, so I fear this will turn into another long-drawn-out project, but I am determined to get there in the end...!