North East Victoria Railway

[Tropic Blunder]

Thanks for the advice Rod! I don't think the hire car people would be particular happy about getting their hatchback full of grass

[Old Man Aaron]

Exciting! Grab us some photos along with the bargains.

[Andrew]

Looking good! Your line has a proper "real railway" feel to it, I reckon...

Talking of real railways, if you get the time to ride the Llangollen Railway while you're there, do! They've had some tough times recently, but it's a wonderful ride through glorious scenery...

[Phil.P]

How do we recognise you? - Other than the accent, I assume?

Then we can say hello..


Phil.P

[Tropic Blunder]

Thanks for the kind words gents. Its very slowly getting there although It very much is missing the people aspect along with buildings to house them. taking pictures with fences, bins and full size bins in the background isn't much fun at all!


I've got a full week in Wales so not sure which bits of the wardrobe will escape unsoaked Phil but I'm about 5' 10 , Large build with black facial hair. and I'll probably be wearing a white and black flannel shirt with a blue denim jacket and a new Statfold Barn beanie. I Imagine the Australian accent will be the easiest tell though

Had an excellent day seeing K1 and taking advantage of "driver for a fiver" today as well as the full tour of Leighton Buzzard yesterday. Its been an excellent trip so far!

[Tropic Blunder]

Few pictures from the Llangollen show, seemed to be an extremely healthy turnout with some fantastic traders. We didn't realise there was a delayed opening for purchasing tickets at the door and so waited quite a while to get in but that's alright. Would highly recommend people buy the "early bird" tickets if they're going to go in the future.

Quite a good range of traders on show and I did briefly wonder if I should have built a SM32 garden railway. Bole Laser and Plateway models had some lovely kits that I hadn't come across as did 16mills. Luckily I managed to sway myself out of any purchases other then a Phil Sharples kit for a simplex. There was a Bundaberg Fowler for 1300 pound which considering domestic prices is an absolute steal! If I'd managed to get rid of the LGB/Magnus YG before the trip I'd say there would have been potential.

Not one but two LGB NGG16's! I've never seen one in the flesh before.

\
Boston Lodge junction was another interesting shunting layout with some beautifully made locos running around.

A Scratchbuilt (?) Class A climax. Couldn't get any details about this one unfortunately but I figured it'd be of interest to some of the other Australians on here. It was quite nice to see the array of historical locos in this display. The hobby really has come in leaps and bounds since those early days.

This beautiful gauge three layout was amazing to look at.

Some of the traders on show and one of the live steam layouts in the centre.

A highlight of the show was seeing this beautiful Welsh shunting layout. Its a joy to see scale rollingstock puttering around at walking speed going about their business as opposed to seeing a rake of pristine carriages behind a live steam engine doing a narrow gauge re-enactment of an mainline express. But that's just my opinion

Apologies as always for the potato photos. There wasn't too much point taking too many as the crowds prevented being able to see too much anyway!

[Lonsdaler]

I did look (and listen!) out for you Jake with the intention of saying Hello, but I clearly missed you. As you say it was a hive of activity. You have managed to capture a photo of one of the guys I was there with though!

[FWLR]

So glad you had a fantastic day Jake.

I couldn't get there this year and you have shown us some great shots of some brilliant locos and displays. The Welsh slate works is superb.

[Old Man Aaron]

What an exhibition!
When you factor in shipping and customs fees, that Bundy would've been a thousand AUD cheaper than mine turned out!

And give yourself more credit, they're excellent photos.

[Phil.P]

I will pass on your comments, to the lads from the WHHR, who were on the slate workings layout..


Phil.P

[Tropic Blunder]

Thanks Fellas!

There was some serious contemplation and now some regret coming through about not picking the Bundy up but that's life unfortunately. There were a few other additions this holiday so the case is well and truly full.

Had an excellent day at NYMR yesterday and rode the 9F but today we missed the J27 and ended up getting stuck on the diesel for the rest of the day between Pickering and Levisham. Tonight they announced all services will be diesel hauled going forward so have missed out again Bit disappointing but looking forward to a shed tour.

I also threw this extremely rough youtube clip together while in the hotel this week. Melbournesparks had their Sentinel over and theres also some night shots etc. Will do a much better one when I get home



Cheers

[FWLR]

That happened to us too when we went 5 years ago. Still we had a great day there.

[ge_rik]

Great slow running (through the day and into the night). Really liked the clackity clack through the pointwork.
Took me a while to work out that the tram whistle was actually birdsong, though

Rik

[Andrew]

Very nice - a great variety of trains, and very different to the average British line.

I really like the brake van with the wasp striped duckets - a former passenger brake, I guess?

Bad luck re the lack of steam over the North York Moors - I hope we have a rainier summer than last year, for the sake of our steam railways' finances...

[Tropic Blunder]

The line was originally inspired by a lot of English layouts and ran a flat loop as I held ambitions of running live steam when I had enough money saved.

13 years later that ambition still hasn't been realised and trains don't really run to that section as I really hate working at ground level. The 1:30 to get it down the bottom of the garden has necessitated the big modernish diesels as well. Though there will be some exciting rollingstock updates in the next week as a simplex isn't the only thing that has been jammed in my case. If my Mabel from Accucraft ever arrives you'll hopefully see a bit more of a variety in motive power.

The whistling noise you can hear Rik is actually either burner whistling or safety valve noise but I cant remember which

The DB Vans were repainted with the duckets as their final liveries in the 70's I believe. I don't know too much about the specifics but I think passenger traffic was well and truly withdrawn by this point but the vans were still required. There was another class that later replaced them briefly but they had extremely long lives and most were bought into preservation in this livery which is why Alexander has modelled it that way.
https://flic.kr/p/9YeE1U

[Melbournesparks]

Great slow running (through the day and into the night). Really liked the clackity clack through the pointwork.
Took me a while to work out that the tram whistle was actually birdsong, though

Rik

Haha it's the steam whistle at 0:02 and a wattle bird at 0:05 that obviously felt the need to reply. Also the high pitched whine is the safety valve lifting.