My little line has just gained two very lovely locomotives thanks to the generosity of my old friend Colin Seymour. Back when I was a teenager it was Colin who got my unruly Mamod to run properly, helped my build my first garden line, inspired me with his scratchbuilding and generally offered huge amounts of support and guidance. We live a long way apart these days, but have stayed in touch - and yesterday I made the trip down to Kent to collect two of Colin's locos which he's decided to pass on to me for safe keeping. As he's got older he's found running trains increasingly difficult, and wanted to be able to think of a couple of his locos still hard at work. I'm very grateful.
So, here they are:
Aren't they beautiful? Both are by John Turner - on the left is the familiar Caledonia, and on the right is a freelance 0-6-0. Colin tells me that this is one of only three made, and that the design came about because he wanted something a little larger than the 0-4-0 that John was offering at the time. Both are about thirty years old and have that lovely "heritage" patina of ingrained oil and slightly chipped paint.
The Caledonia's a manually-controlled gas-fired pot-boiler. From everything I've heard and read I think she should suit my line very well - I'm already planning some Manx Northern stock to go with her. I did have a quick test run this afternoon but the combination of an unfamiliar loco, a very quiet burner and some very blustery weather made it difficult to keep sufficient pressure in the boiler - I quickly abandoned the run but am looking forward to trying again as soon as the weather's better. The loco's named Sir Donald after the original owner, the late Donald Evans, a friend of Colin's and another lovely bloke.
The tender loco's a very special beastie indeed - sprung buffers and axleboxes, working whistle and lights, oiling points for the axles on the running plate etc etc. She's a little large for my line really but it looks like it'll cope with curves and clearances OK - and she puts me in mind of the old 01s and Ilfracombe Goods engines that trundled about the old K&ESR with a single carriage and some trucks. It'll be a while before I run her, she needs some work doing on the radio control. I might also make some mods to make her able to couple with my stock better - that would entail extending the buffer beam downwards (like the Caledonia) and changing the side buffers to a centre one, don't know if I dare with such a fine old machine! She's named Joy, after Colin's wife.
So there we go, two lovely new (old) locos for the (WH)WHR, which I'm very excited about. I'll post some more photos once I've had a proper run with Sir Donald...
All the best,
Andrew.
