Claptowte Railway - Locomotive No4 'Karen'

David1226

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This is a LGB 21791 Corpet-Louvet, in black, with factory fitted decoder. The locomotive was purchased second hand on eBay.

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As the Claptowte Railway is a freelance British outline railway, there was a desire to Anglicise the appearance of the loco. The French markings and numberings were removed, with the exception of the makers plate of course. The buffer beams were painted red and the vacuum pipes and buffer heads painted. Custom made etched brass name and number plates were ordered from Light Railway Stores - Custom Nameplate Studio. These nameplates are top quality and very reasonably priced. As is the custom with Claptowte Railway locomotives, steam engines are named after the female members of my family, in this case my daughter Karen.

The cab interior was painted cream with various controls picked out in red.

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The loco came supplied with a single crewman, a figure holding a shovel (right). This figure is well moulded and painted, a great improvement on early LGB offerings. I did repaint the top of his hat which was an incongruous shade of blue. As all steam locomotives on the Claptowte Railway are double crewed with a fireman and a driver, I needed to add a second figure in the cab. I added a driver from the Bachmann Branchline G Scale range (left).

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The completed alterations

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David
 
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Lovely loco, David, and a nice subtle bit of "Anglicising" that works really well!

I think that the fireman with shovel is a Preiser figure, probably added by a previous owner in place of the original LGB driver. Even the latest LGB offerings still seem to use the same small selection of rather disappointing crew figures that they have had since the early days...

Jon.
 
A very nice loco, with subtle but effective changes.
 
'Karen' with the rest of the Claptowte Railway steam locomotives, 3.9.2023.

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David
 
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