Garden Railway Forum

Hello all,

It's been a while, but here's a quick update...

There's not much progress to report on the Ffestiniog brake composite, but wandering past the carriage and wagon works yesterday revealed that a second carriage project appears to be in progress - a somewhat mysterious one...


Most of the carriage was tucked in the shed, with no room to squeeze past to see the rest - and the staff were keen to send me on my way. Why the secrecy? Who knows? I looks like the beginnings of a perfectly ordinary carriage - ply, stripwood and Big Big Train bogies... We shall see...

In other rolling stock news, inspired by another thread on here I purchased a kit for the Ffestiniog one plank "beer wagon" from Phil Sharples. The main problem with his kits appears to be that they're crazily good value for money, so I found myself unable to resist purchasing two more at the same time - a flat wagon (to form the basis of the Welsh Highland drop-sided open that JMORG's also modelled recently) and a freelance brake van (because I really like brake vans). Here's progress so far:


I've changed the coupling arrangement on the beer wagon (doing a chameleon impression against the red tablecloth in this picture) and opened out some existing tabs on the other two to allow space to use 24mm wheels instead of the 20mm ones supplied. The brake van has a little added detail but is almost complete, with the flat trailing behind at the moment. We've got a busy weekend, but I hope to get time for some more progress on these next week. The kits are very well designed, and I'm surprised how much I'm enjoying working with MDF too - more may follow...

Cheers,

Andrew.

Excuse my ignorance, but what is a beer wagon? Did it carry beer, or is it the Welsh equivalent of a 'bier' - ie for carrying coffins?

Rik

The FR beer waggon is a replica of a single plank "general purpose" waggon from the old FR. Originally when the replica was built it was used a lot for carrying the Purple Moose ale in casks for Spooner's; now it's gone back to a general purpose demonstrator waggon.

Looks like you are really going to busy Andrew. Interesting build in the first photo. Can't wait to see what it turns out to be..

JMORG wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2020 6:40 pm The FR beer waggon is a replica of a single plank "general purpose" waggon from the old FR. Originally when the replica was built it was used a lot for carrying the Purple Moose ale in casks for Spooner's; now it's gone back to a general purpose demonstrator waggon.

I think Purple Moose sponsored the construction of the replica, because there's a photo of the original carrying beer barrels - they specified the livery too, but mine's going to be in traditional FR brick red.

As well as barrels, the (WH)WHR Operating Department are eying the wagon up for the annual plum trains - it should carry a fair few and the low sides will make for easy loading... The plums are ripening now, so I'd better crack on with it!

Hi all,

Sorry, haven't been terribly active on here of late - I've got lots of threads to catch up on over the weekend!

In the meantime I thought I'd share a couple of photos of the first of the Phil Sharples kits I've completed, the guards van. It's more or less a straight build, just with a little added detail. I had modified it to run on larger 24mm wheels, but it looked a bit like it was tottering about on high heels, so it's gone back to 20mm ones again - the coupling height still seems OK.

Here it is:


Pleasingly quaint, I think? I'll try to give it a test run and take a few photos over the weekend...

Cheers,

Andrew

Nice Andrew.

Neat that Andrew.

Nice looking model. The guard looks good too. He has a nautical bearing....

Rik

ge_rik wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2020 2:32 pm The guard looks good too. He has a nautical bearing....

Ah! Am I right in thinking that you've spotted the guard's origins Rik? He's a McDonald Happy Meal figure of Captain Haddock of Tintin fame. I barely had to make any mods at all apart from repositioning one arm, but he does still look like he'd be more at home on a trawler! Given that the van boasts almost no mod-cons, no glazing in the cabin door, let alone a stove, I thought a jumpered guard was quite appropriate!

I've just finished the second Phil Sharples kit, a flat wagon to which I've added a plywood body to represent a NWNGR drop-sided wagon. The idea was to use the kit as a bit of a short-cut, which worked, but at the expense of it not being a terribly faithful replica of the real thing, the proportions are all wrong. I don't mind much, I like the chunky look of the wagon, which will be used mostly to carry granite.


I've got a little stuck with the remaining Sharples kit, the Ffestiniog beer wagon. There's not much to do really, I've just lost momentum with it. I'll look down the back of the sofa, most things seem to end up there...

Cheers,

Andrew

That is one lovely paint job, Andrew, it just looks so hard worked. Well done.

philipy wrote: ↑Wed Jul 29, 2020 8:07 pm That is one lovely paint job, Andrew, it just looks so hard worked. Well done.

My thoughts exactly!

I was going to say Captain Haddock but thought you might be offended.... Actually he does look well modelled. I can't remember the last time I had a MacDonalds meal - and certainly have no legitimate reason to claim a Happy Meal figure. I wonder if there's a black market in them .....

Rik
PS Just found a set of all six figures on eBay for £5 (inc postage), so thought I'd give them a try. I can always remodel them to disguise their origins. Thanks for the heads-up.

Another superb weathering Job Andrew, I notice there's even a small cobweb on the right hand hinge strap, perfect.
Grant.

You do have a knack with weathering Andrew. I love the way you seem to have the rusty bits just right.

Maybe you could do a thread on "How to weather rolling stock"

ge_rik wrote: ↑Wed Jul 29, 2020 10:05 pm I was going to say Captain Haddock but thought you might be offended....

You'll have to try harder than that to offend me Rik!

I don't frequent McDonalds much either, but the toys do crop up in charity shops from time to time - I've got two pairs of the Thomson Twins in different vehicles. Good luck with yours.

Glad you like the wagon and its weathering everyone. My technique mostly involves attacking a new paint job with fine sandpaper, and then sloshing some dilute paint around before dry-brushing on some rust. I'll take some photos sometime...

Cheers,

Andrew

PS I think that "cobweb" is a stray strand of UHU Grant!

Beautiful as always, Andrew.

Regards,
Aaron

Hello again,

I've just finished the last of the trio of Phil Sharples wagon kits I purchased, the Ffestiniog 1 plank "beer" wagon:


It's awaiting a FR-style number plate, which I'll order in due course. The kit came with a curved wooden buffer, but the real thing sports a more conventional buffer, so I modified the ends, which, in turn, meant creating new strapping, using the original as a template. I reckon a test run is called for soon...

These inexpensive kits have are very well designed (I love how the tabs and slots of the floor and sides combine to form the plank detail, for example) and great fun to build and modify - highly recommended!

Back to carriages for a while now, I think...

Cheers,

Andrew

That looks great Andrew. I also have some Phil Sharples kits and yes they are brilliant kits for the money. I very cheap way of getting into our garden railway hobby.

Love to see some photos of a train with what you have built mate..

FWLR wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 8:02 am Love to see some photos of a train with what you have built mate..

I'll see what I can do Rod, watch this space!

Andrew wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 10:03 am

FWLR wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 8:02 am Love to see some photos of a train with what you have built mate..

I'll see what I can do Rod, watch this space!