The Westwood & Loscoe Light Railway

[Narrow Minded]

No.11 Ogwen about to head off and start P.Way duties down at Codnor Castle.

[dougrail]

That nameplate seems to end up on a lot of ex-Doug locos...!

[Narrow Minded]

That nameplate seems to end up on a lot of ex-Doug locos...!  :mrgreen:

Wherever possible, I do try and maintain some level of consistancy!
I think the shorter nameplates look a lot better don't you? (No points for guessing where the previous one's ended up )

[Narrow Minded]

Oh, what's this?



There's a platform appeared by Codnor wood with a couple of buildings.......

Thanks to some brief breaks in the rain, Codnor Castle is open for business!!







And that concludes the civil engineering for 2012!

[Narrow Minded]

Just to round things off for the year, here's the final output from Pentrich Sidings for the year!

[Lner fan Sam]

What material is that inside the side tank body greg?

[Narrow Minded]

What material is that inside the side tank body greg?

It's insulating matting as used in "Hot-Hatch" engine compartments around turbo's - one of the excellent tips from Peter Jones (Superbikeruk)

[Steven.T]

Do you find the insulation makes a difference? Or have you not tried it yet?

[Narrow Minded]

Do you find the insulation makes a difference? Or have you not tried it yet?  :lol:

I'll be re-assembling "Marion" shortly and of course testing it asap

BTW, the reason I'm fitting it is that I had an "incident" where the gas had been turned up to compensate for the cold weather, and the loco stalled with its load on a curve - the resulting heat build-up melted the Araldite holding the name and number plates on the "down wind" side tank
Since I had to dismantle the engine to strip and re-paint the tank, I thought I'd add the insulation during the re-build.
"Mary" will have the insulation fitted as part of the build project

[Narrow Minded]

Managed to grab a quick "work in progress" photo of the quarry loco's Marion and Mary while no-one was about down at Pentrich Sidings

[Chris Cairns]

A very nice 'work in progress' diorama Greg.

Interesting to see how the coal doors look being painted the same colour as the cab back. I had been considering painting mine black for a visible contrast.

Would it be prototypical to have some form of handle fitted to the coal doors?

Chris Cairns.

[Narrow Minded]

Thanks Chris - I thought about going for a contrasting colour, but went for the "subdued" look. Once the loco's are finished, they'll be weathered so that should bring the details out

Handles of some sort would probably be prototypical, I haven't decided which type to fit to the outsides yet (Of course, there's handles on the inside;) )

[Narrow Minded]

I decided to chance my arm and sneak through the hole in the fence to get into Pentrich Sidings again tonight
I'd heard a rumour that the plumbing was finished on MARY and she'd be off for a steam test tomorrow!

[Sir haydn]

They look brilliant, look forward to photos of the steam test!

[Narrow Minded]

They look brilliant, look forward to photos of the steam test!

The first steam test of a freshly rebuilt Mamod is very rarely a pretty sight

[Lner fan Sam]

Very nice Greg. Good luck on the steam test!!

[Chris Cairns]

The first steam test of a freshly rebuilt Mamod is very rarely a pretty sight

Depends if you like to see steam coming out the right or the wrong place!

Have you fitted new mesh to your Merlin gas burner to turn it into an efficient radiant burner, or does it work OK in its original condition?

Chris Cairns.

[Narrow Minded]

The way things have gone on this build, anything can happen

[Sean Connery accent]But yesh, we're all "meshed up" on the burner shir. Any more questionsh before the tesht beginsh?[/Sean Connery accent]  ;)

[Narrow Minded]

Well, the steam test went rather well - just the usual "nipping up" to do on a couple of joints, so she's now just waiting to be partially dismantled again for some further mod's (thanks Laurence ) before running-in can start.

In the meantime, here's the official ex-works photo for the "Family Album" (ie the Traction Department page on the web site!)

MARY (ex-OGWEN) in her natural environment



and a "period" photo of the Quarry Twins,



The steam test was delayed due to me taking advantage of the exceptionally good weather yesterday and getting some jobs done out in the garden.
First off I needed a paving slab for foot access into the new loop, which I've now disguised with a cottage scene.



and the new turnout is being installed off the main line for Brinsley Lodge. This is going to mean a completely new layout for the shed and yard.

Work In Progress



Just to close this post, while I had the camera down the bottom of the garden for the quarry and cottage shots, I spotted one of the joys of having a garden railway!
No trains running, no posing or preparation, just a mundane view of the frozen reservoir - out of scale leaves and all

[hussra]

Just to close this post, while I had the camera down the bottom of the garden for the quarry and cottage shots, I spotted one of the joys of having a garden railway!
No trains running, no posing or preparation, just a mundane view of the frozen reservoir - out of scale leaves and all

I think the out of scale leaves may be excused on this occasion! Fantastic shot, thanks.