| Workshop News |
| September the 10th marked our first 6
months in our new premises. Celebrated a few days earlier
by taking on a two year lease. While the workshop comes
with all the extra bills and expenses, the three fold
increase in work, from the same period last year, was
handled with out too much delay. It is only in the last
couple of weeks that the work load has lightened up.
Price increases - we are still
working on 2007 prices, which with our improved
productivity was giving us a fair price for our labour.
Unfortunately with some of our materials costing up to
30% more than two years ago, our margins are being
squeezed just a little too much. Prices will be going up
in the coming months but we will be happy to honour
current prices for orders placed pre price rise.
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| Engine Number 125 2008 was for us the summer of engines. No
sooner had one gone out the door, it seemed another order
came in. At one time I had four Hercules engines on the
bench. In the coming week our 125th engine is being
picked up.
We have alway struggled to work out what
people want. This year we did not sell any bogie coaches
until April, yet a couple of years a go 9 coaches were
ordered from different customers, all before Easter.
Having built engines all summer, it is nice to have a
change and return to a bit of wood work and the
completion of three panel coaches. One of these is a spec
build, so if you are after a nice maroon coach with wood
effect framing then get in touch.
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Hunslet
No. 2
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| Whilst on holiday we managed a fleeting
visit to see Hunslet No. 2 on its home line the BCLR
(Bakewell Court Light Railway). This private railway is
an amazing line, set between the house garden and an
adjacent paddock. |
 My nephew Toby with No. 2
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 Above
- unbelievably the railway twists and turns in the
landscaped paddock. Features include a true subterranian
tunnel and a bridge across a pond (more like a lake
compared with our pond).
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| No. 2 pulled nine of us on six coaches with ease. |
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The storage facilities include a ramp which allows
for stock to be loaded on to a platform lift. This lift
can then be used to load up the stacked tracks on the
left of the shed. In the shed Trojan No. 05 can be seen |
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| Vegetation on the line is well established and all
adds to the mystery of the line. |
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The line runs in a loop with lines crossing in the
middle. With trailing pionts set correctly, the whole
line is traversed in both directions before ending back
at the starting piont facing the same way. |
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:Left - while all the bogie coaches run on RoR
bogies, the owner has build some of the bodies to a
similar design to the panel coach. Eventually the plan is
to paint all the coaches similar to the front two - blue
and yellow. A big thanks to our hosts for their time .
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Summer Day
Trips
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Well it may have been a wet summer but we
still managed a few days out -
BEKONSCOT MODEL VILLAGE
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 Although
the site does have a ride on railway, it is 7.25"
gauge. Although a good example of this gauge in a tight
space, it is the gauge 1 railway which weaves itself
around the model village, leaves you in awe.
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| While the railway control has a computer
interface, it is also controlled by an old Westinghouse
lever frame, complete with relays. |
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 A little biggger than our Westinghouse
clone, but then their railway is a little bigger. There
signal box is also full sized to accommodate this frame
plus another along with all their rilling stock.
Like all railways it is not immune to the odd whoops.
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| A SMALL GARDEN RAILWAY |
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| Our visit to Bekenscot Model Village was combined
with an invite to a small railway in West London.
Although only a small set up, with some of it on
temporary laid out track, I had the pleasure of driving
the steam loco. As we were pushed for space in our
car, we took a Jasper and two wagons which sat on the
spare seat in the car. A big thanks to Richard and his
wife for letting come and play.
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| ROMNEY HYTHE AND DYMCHURCH RAILWAY |
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Our second visit of the year. This line
is simply fantastic. It ouzes with character and has
the feel of a mainline service. Our visit was on a day
with a 40 minute service, which means plenty of
opportunity to jump on and off along the line.
Time to walk on the shingle at Dungerness as well as
time for fish and chip lunch and a play on the sand at
Dymchurch.
There is plenty on the web about the RHDR so I want
waste space here. That said they have a superb fleet of
mainline steam locos pulling 10 coach trains along with
two diesels - one being "Captain Howey"
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With my two boys calling any piece of
rolling stock "Captain Howey" I decided to take
up the challenge and actually build them one. The plan is
to simply drive it using 2 motors on 12v so it will be
limited to a top speed of 6mph. The chassis is
contructed from 25mm angle iron. Disadvantage of this has
shown up when welding on strips to create a deck, the
soul bars have distorded. Two lumps of wood and jumping
up and down has got them nearly straight.
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| Open Day
- 8th September |
| Yes we did run. Yes it did rain and yes
once again I didn't take any pictures. Below are pictures
from my good friend Giles who was trying out his newly
aquired digital SLR camera. |
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 The colourful cover to the right in the
above picture, is an old wind break used to cover up
stock during the short spells of rain.
A big thanks to all those that came. It is always nice
to get all the signals up and running along with a few
new locos to the line.
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