OK so by now most will be aware that The Earl just didn't work out for the WGLR, so he's gone off to another railway where I know he'll behave himself and be well loved. In the meantime, I followed Philips link above and ended up the (very) proud owner of a kit built GRS gauge 3/G64 pannier tank.
Obviously, this is for the interchange siding at Gooey, so it's a bit of a shelf queen, but I have got feelers out to see if there are any G3 railways around these parts where she might get the occasional run (track power).
I've been doing a bit of research lately and the voices in my head have come up with a new location for the WGLR. The standard gauge interchange was originally envisaged as being at the Wetton end of the line, but the only place I could fit it in after last year's re-build was at Gooey station. The story now is that the Abermule to Kerry branch off the Cambrian line between Montgomery and Newtown wasn't 3 3/4 miles long - it was actually a whole 4 1/2 miles long and terminated at Gooey. There it had interchange facilities for both passengers and freight with the Wetton Gooey Light Railway which runs back into Shropshire to serve both Wetton and Cockshutt Mortimer. So this also means that the branch DIDN'T close to passengers in 1931 and neither did it close completely in 1956. Instead it was kept open until 1960 when the WGLR passed into preservation. In fact there have been rumours that the branch may be re-opened at some time in the future??????????
I must point out that the fact that the Kerry Branch was the last bastion of the Dean Goods 0-6-0 and that GRS are also making a G64 model of this, is PURELY coincidence.
Anyway, enough of all this codswallop - you want to see pictures of nice shiney trains

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