Today on the WGLR

798.03 said:
Inspirational as ever, Mel... hoping to have a decent running session on the H&DLR tomorrow...

From the photos, it looked like you had fun Bruce - and while that was all happening up in Derbyshire, me and Colin went for a day out on the Llechfan garden railway at Towyn Wharf station on the Talyllyn Railway. We'd been invited by Kes Jones, who you may know, is the daughter of the man who was my single biggest influence in building a garden railway, the late great Peter Jones.

While we were there Kes produced two big boxes of "stuff" that Peter had collected. Now this wasn't full of locos or rolling stock, to be honest 99.9% of people would have chucked it all in the bin. BUT it was all stuff that Peter had seen to have potential for use on the Compton Down Railway - and Kes said that I could help myself. Talk about a kid in a sweet shop. :bigsmile::bigsmile:

So, I came away with a bag of goodies (or tat, depending on someone's lack of vision) :rolf::rolf:
And amongst this stuff was a tiny little wagon. Goodness knows what it's been built from, one axle was missing, as was one of the very basic axle boxes, but it's spent the day in the WGLR's carriage and wagon works and has emerged with a completely new underframe and replacement wheels (plus a replacement axle box). The patched up paint is temporary until I can next get to the model shop.

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OK, it's probably the smallest, tattiest, most insignificant little wagon that's ever appeared on this forum, but it's that CDR lettering that makes it one of my most treasured possessions. :love::love:
 
Fantastic photo's Mel :thumbup:
 
I'd share your sentiment if I owned a CDR wagon, the same goes for the Wetton Gooey stock. Can I pick my piece of "tat" now? ;)
 
I'm glad you understand chaps. Looking through Peter's Practical Garden Railways book, I think it most likely came from the forest spur line as it originally looked very much like the wagons on page 99.

Anyhoo, another ex PJ item renovated today. Originally a brass (?) ornament, it will no doubt be in full service from next Monday ................ and every Monday for the forseeable future.

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Younger readers - ask your mum .......... or maybe your gran? ;)
 
I think that the influence of both the man and the railway will live on through both the aspirations and creations of those inspired for many years to come.

Now whilst the CDR was an original inspiration much like Jack Wheldons' Border Counties Railway or either of the AVRs we are lucky enough to have a number of inspirational railways on this very forum and I'd agree that the WGLR is indeed one of those.
 
mangel!! lucky ,lucky man and nice too
 
Heritage, nice work Mel ;)

Edit - somehow that didn't read right, I mean it's nice to see items with such heritage on such an inspiring railway. I'm sure Peter would be pleased. :)
 
So I was having a nice old shunt this afternoon when I began cogitating (you do and you'll clean it up eh Cyril?). Anyhoo, this was my attention turning to the new tramway. I've now decided that it runs from the WGLR's intermediate station at Cockshutt Mortimer to a small Shropshire community called Glascwm (Green Valley), a Welsh name in England, but quite common over that neck of the woods. And neck of the woods is the right expression, because looking at the map of the area where all this is supposed to happen, there is very little except Clun Forest. So, what I have in mind for the Glascym Interchange Tramway is that it's primary existence was for providing a link to the national railway system (via the standard gauge interchange at Gooey) for the local forestry industries. Of course this is what actually happened via the Kerry Tramway (Gooey is supposed to be on an extension of the Kerry Branch), although I believe that this was a horse-drawn tramway rather than a tracks in the road/verge version.

So, it was obvious that the GIT would need some timber wagons, so my attention turned to 3 LGB 4 wheelers that I've had for ages, but haven't used for some time. I've tried to back-date them a little by fitting spoked wheels and removing the steps and brake pipes. I plan to remove the modern brake gear from the underframes and fit hand brakes instead in the future.

Enough of this guff, here's some pics of a typical GIT down train entering the Narrows with a van full of chainsaw spares, the 3 empty timber wagons, a truck full of Cockshutt Coal & Coke's finest nutty slack for the residents of Glascwm and an explosives wagon to deal with the occasional stubborn stump.

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I had made arrangements for a couple of GIT coaches, but I think that passenger services will be limited to a single coach on market days in Gooey. Finally, our tram is caught shunting it's train in the tramway sidings

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Arrangements are already well under way to provide the tramway with it's own GIT branded battery/RC van and plans are also afoot for another brakevan (possibly shared with the WGLR).
 
Nice stuff Mel, keep cogitating you can't get arrested for it now
 
love it mell, keep up the hard work matey:thumbup:
 
Looking good Mel. Can't fault you for cogitating: it's a solitary vice, but we all do it from time to time. 8D
 
After a full days running, a few evenings ago I stood looking at the WGLR fleet all parked up in the engine shed area and one of them stood out like a sore thumb - the bright red Corpet. Although this has long been one of my favourite locos, I had taken the paint brush to the red valve gear a couple of months ago and now I decided was the best time to go the whole hog and give No.4 a complete re-paint ........ in black.

A trip to Halfords resulted in rattle cans of grey plastic primer and satin black. This paint is absolutely fabulous, even a ham fisted gallout like me can get a really nice finish. The loco was taken apart, masked up and painting commenced.

With everything dry, I took out the airbrush and gave her a light weathering concentrating on the area around the boiler and footplate. I had also removed the Euro style lights and made up a couple of blanking plates to hide the holes left behind.

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Still a few jobs to do such as fitting lamp irons and a couple of places to touch up. The inside of the cab is still red, which looks pretty funky, but may well be re-painted cream when I get some suitable paint. But everything must be left well alone for a few days now to allow the paint to harden properly.
 
Phwoar! :thumbup:

I think that that's your best yet Mel - and that's a tough competition! Deeply impressed. A lovely addition to the WGLR/GIT stud.
 
That is much better, I always thought the red looked too toy-like and to be honest I think your black beats the factory version. I have the green open cab but I'm always on the lookout for the grey version as it so quintessentially french (drab :rolf: ), now for your next trick how about a 'gay pride' Otto? :bigsmile:
 
That's a brave move, repainting an LGB loco!

It does look much more British though, especially without the headlamps.

Definitely wins the Gold medal....
 
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