Hi all,
Having completed my WHR brake van, and thus being able to run a "proper" Welsh Highland goods train (ie without pinching anything from the Ffestiniog!), I thought I ought to run a train at the weekend.
The plan was to steam a loco, but I only had limited time, and the Baldwin was temporarily inaccessible in a pile of stuff associated with a spot of home improvement, and Russell seemed to be lacking batteries in the RC, so it was a case of rostering one of the trusty RH battery electrics. Hardly an authentic WHR train then, but it looked quite nice...
Here's the train heading up the hill, with the new van at the rear:
- WHR goods 1.jpg (257.94 KiB) Viewed 3692 times
And on Penlan Bank again, with the loco passing the remains of a Ffestiniog Ashbury 4 wheeler, no longer fit to serve even as a PW hut!
- WHR goods 2.jpg (256.82 KiB) Viewed 3692 times
Arriving at Penlan:
- WHR goods 3.jpg (282.02 KiB) Viewed 3692 times
Shunting the guards van ready for the return journey:
- WHR goods 4.jpg (267.81 KiB) Viewed 3692 times
And heading back down the line again:
- WHR goods 5.jpg (348.41 KiB) Viewed 3692 times
Th photos are OK, but the whole experience highlighted some areas where I must do better! Apart from the problems with the steam locos, track, lineside and rolling stock maintenance backlogs meant there were a fair few derailments, and things weren't looking their best.
I made a start on taming the chaos that afternoon, by finally sorting out partitions for the big box that houses the WHR wagons, so now they're less likely to get damaged - which means I can carry out repairs relatively safe in the knowledge that it's not an entirely pointless task! I think a permanent home for my locos is next on the agenda - they lost their shelf when we re-decorated the living room, and have been living in odd corners (including under the sofa!) ever since...
Interestingly, this morning the subject of completely remodelling the garden came up, and instead of instinctively thinking "No! My precious railway!" I found myself pondering the improvements I could make to a future version of the line. I could
really do with some on-track stock storage, and with losing some of the harder to reach and maintain spots on the current line. I knew they were there when I designed it, but thought I could live with them - it turns out that, although I can, I'd really rather not!
Cheers,
Andrew
PS Note that, like the other five in the garden, the Box bush at Penlan has succumbed to the bloomin' Box Moth...
- or at least a season pass on the line. 
