Take My Word For It

 

There hasn't been much modelling done here since the end of the Glasgow exhibition two and a half weeks ago.

The one small job I have done is to lightly weather the impulse buy inspection saloon.

The weathering is so light it might almost be non-existent, to the camera phone in any case.

I took it along to the the club night thinking the layout there would make a better backdrop than taking a snap on my messy workbench, but unfortunately the lighting didn't really allow what I've done to show itself.

So you'll have to take it from me that the bogies, the underframe, and the other previously shiny black parts have been given a subtle coating track grime.

The roof is also looking a bit more rain and soot streaked as well, and there's a hit of some of the dirt on the maroon tumble home.

I'm hoping it'll show up better under the lights, and looking at it with the naked eye, at the show in Porthmadog next month.

A Mickey Mouse Layout

 We're going try something daring in Glasgow next weekend - running a guest loco!

This is always fraught with risk, especially on a layout with extremely tight curves and using Kadee couplings where it pays to make sure everything is set to the same standards.

However, with the extra train capacity in the fiddle yard extensions, and with a question mark about the usefulness of the Dukedog, I thought it would be prudent to ask the Medical Director if he fancied bringing along his sound fitted Ivatt 2MT - a class sometimes nicknamed a Mickey Mouse, I know not why - because they were also to be found on the Cambrian at this time.

This particular engine 46334 did not work the Cambrian under BR ownership but is well known for doing so in preservation having been called to substitute for a failed Standard 4MT when steam first returned to the coast in the mid-1980s.

I expect the greatest challenge with this loco will be the Medical Director’ idiosyncratic technical set up.

In common with much of his fleet this loco operates in the reverse of what you might expect.

Select forward on the controller and the loco goes backwards, and vice versa.

Who is going to be the first among the crew to forget this minor detail?

This Is Spinal Tender

More fiddle yard roads on Minffordd means room for more trains, which means we need more locomotives to haul them.

Now that's the definition of a virtuous circle for a railway modeller if ever I heard one!

So for the Model Rail Scotland show in a couple of weeks we're augmenting our fleet with another Cambrian stalwart, a Standard 4MT tender.

By happy coincidence it is a loco which spent around six months based at Machynlleth between 1962-63 so it no doubt passed through Minffordd many times.

This pre-loved Bachmann model arrived in Santa's sleigh a couple of months ago and has been waiting in the queue to be chipped and speaker fitted.

And what a speaker!

I'm still a complete novice about this DCC business so I rely on some expert friends who recommended what looks like some kind of miniaturised subwoofer which just about squeezes into the tender space.

My friend said it would be loud - he wasn't exaggerating.

That's probably no bad thing.

At the first two shows we've taken Minffordd to we've been positively deafened by DCC diesels on neighbouring layouts, with owners of whistling English Electric types who like to turn to volume up to 11.

Well, now we can play them at their own game if it happens again

Go Anywhere Train

It occurred to me that despite having built up a large collection of Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland 009 stock over the last 30 years or so we have very few things which we use on all three of our layouts.

One of the exceptions is this delightful little consist.

I'm sure I'm not the only one to have long regarded Britomart as the FR's most charming locomotive.

It arrived on the FR in 1965, having been bought by a group of FR staff and volunteers (some of whom read this blog) which puts it right in the era for our new Minffordd layout.

What makes Britomart almost unique among our fleet is that it has never changed colour.

Indeed, I understand it is still wearing the original coat of paint, resembling Great Northern Railway of Ireland blue, which it received when it came to the FR more than sixty years ago.

Unlike our England engines, Fairlies and Ladies which have changed colour, or some other aspect of their appearance, over the years it is perfectly correct whether it is running on Minffordd, Dduallt or Bron Hebog.

The vintage twin set 11 and 12 (I insist on calling them by those numbers!) are among the handful of inter-operable carriages we have in our collection because they have worn the green and ivory livery - or variations of it - in the 1960s but also now in the 21st Century.

Our latest incarnation of Britomart - for we have had three - is one of the super little Bachmann models which has had a DCC chip, speaker and stay alive crammed into it.

Four years ago the prototype for this conversion was given a chance to stretch its legs on Bron Hebog.

Mucking It Up

Our BR Sulzer Type 2 - or Class 24 as most of us probably call them -  is one of the staples of our Cambrian fleet on Minffordd.

It's a reliable, smooth runner, with a very nice sound file, too.

The only niggle is that until now it's been far too obviously clean.  

Too obviously 'out of the box'.

In the last few months I've been experimenting with weathering, which was quite a brave step for me because I was always fearful of ruining good models with incompetent attempts to dirty them up.

I do have access to airbrushes, but I've yet to use one, and so I've been having a go with dry brushing with acrylics instead.

I'm very aware my efforts bear no comparison whatsoever with what modellers blessed with much greater artistic talent are able to achieve, but I think I've at least succeeded in making them look as if they've got a few miles on the clock.

On the 24 I always thought the thing which really stood out like a sore thumb was that spotlessly clean, light grey roof.

From pictures I've found it seems they managed to keep the flanks looking reasonably clean most of the time.

We still have a number of locos in the steam fleet which also need some attention - in particular the Collett Goods and the Standard 2MT - but I feel they are less well suited to a dry brushing approach and it might be that I need to get some lessons in spraying, or save up to pay someone to do them properly.

Either way, it's unlikely to get done before the Glasgow show at the end of this month, so please avert your eyes if you don't care much for shiny steam engines.

Regional Identity

I recently added a page explaining more about the background to the decisions we made designing the Minffordd project - 10 Reasons Why - and one of them was about setting it in the period of the 1960s.

Mostly this was dictated by the historic availability of the locomotive fleet on the FR, but there was the happy coincidence that the decade also marked a very colourful period on the Cambrian Coast Line.

At the start of the 1960s the line was still under the control of the Western Region which, in common with others, still seemed to be a bit in denial about nationalisation.

It had conspired to bring back its beloved chocolate and cream carriage livery, at least on its headline named trains, such as the Cambrian Coast Express.

Now we've expanded the fiddle yard capacity we have the happy problem of needing more trains to fill the sidings, so we're exploiting that to justify the investment in a short rake of Bachmann Mk1 carriages which can be found for very reasonable prices on the second hand market.

It makes for quite a rainbow of train formations with other sets featuring grouping-period carriages in all-over maroon and crimson and cream livery, while the DMUs are in their classic green livery.

The chocolate and cream era didn't last long as the WR fell into line and went all-maroon after 1962, followed by the London Midland Region taking control of the Cambrian in 1963.

And, yes, we do know that Manors were only usually seen on the Aberystwyth portion of the CCE, leaving the Pwllheli section to something more mundane, but they did make appearances further up the coast from time to time, sometimes even on freight!

More to the point it's a lovely model - the Dapol version if you were curious - and I've always loved the white paint embellishments applied by Aberystwyth loco crews and cleaners.

And most importantly it's our train set!

More Wickham Trolley Testing

 Our little standard gauge curiosity has been undergoing some test running on Minffordd.

It's coming up to two weeks since our sound-fitted Wickham trolley broke cover with a little video I posted on our other social media feeds of it having an initial test run on one of the club layouts.

It's certainly attracted a lot of attention with the clip having been played more than 50 thousand times on one site alone as I type this!

Although the chip and speaker were as effective as we'd hoped it was clear there were some mechanical tweaks needed.

Traction troubles

These ingenious Bachmann models have the drive hidden in the truck behind, but only one axle - the front - is powered.

On this first test we could see it was struggling to cope with anything beyond billiard-table level track, and on rising grade, on a curve, would slow to a halt with the wheel spinning, and indeed lifting itself up off the track.

Something that tiny is never going to be very heavy so the wheels on the geared axle are fitted with traction tyres, but Himself suspected perhaps this had lost some elasticity - and grip - over time.

The excellent Bachmann Spares website doesn't list traction tyres as an item, but you can buy replacements for the complete front axle, which we did, but replacing them is quite a tricky job because the drive train is packed in there like a watch mechanism!

The other thing we've done, taking a tip from discussion on a forum about these models, is use some lead sheet to make a 'tarpaulin cover' for the ballast load which adds a precious few grammes of mass but enough to keep that powered axle in contact with the rail.

The trolley has now run successfully around the layout, coping with the grades on the main line and also the ramp up into the exchange yard.

It's also had a Modelu crew fitted which will hopefully draw the eye and disguise where the speaker, chip and stay-alive have been hidden.

Here's a clip of it having a test run on Minffordd earlier today.

Cambrian Coast Icons - DMUs

It's well known that nostalgia is in the eye of the beholder.  

In whatever subject we are interested in there will be a period which dominates our memories, and I suspect for most of us that will have coincided with childhood, or when we first experienced whatever this thing is.

So for me, and the Cambrian Coast Line, it's the early to mid 1980s.

I don't think anyone could ever claim it was a golden age - far from it - but if you looked closely it was possible to see the relics of it, such as the last knockings of mechanical signalling.

It was, however, definitely a time when the Cambrian was on its uppers, with Barmouth Bridge closed to all except DMUs - and even then I can remember seeing them absolutely crawling across because of the severe speed restriction, probably moving not much faster than the marine worms were burrowing into the timbers!

I believe before this I can remember seeing a loco-hauled train once, or maybe twice.  A clear memory of a Class 25 with - I think - a breakdown crane at Barmouth station.

So, a young enthusiast on their summer holidays existed on a diet of DMUs, and bread and butter was definitely the Met-Cam class 101.

I always found them the most pleasing of the 1st generation designs on the eye. 

The nicely proportioned front windows in the driving cabs, no great lump of a headcode box above, the chrome window frames, and not being festooned with doors like the high-density suburban units.

So a 101 was always going to be one of the 'anchors' in our Cambrian stock list for Minffordd, and we've gone with the Bachmann version as opposed to the Lima / Hornby offering on account of their very smooth drive, although I am aware that a few proportions were overlooked when the body tooling was designed, but I can't say that I've ever really noticed.

One day I would like to find - or if I'm forced to, repaint - and example sporting the brand-new Rail Blue livery to illustrate the changing scene of our 1960s period, but they seem to be like hen's teeth to get hold of.

I do believe it is important to have variety on a layout, so much as I like the 101's I'm reluctant to run only them.

Our other DMU, then, is a Bachmann Class 108, which were less frequent on the Cambrian, although I have seen plenty of photo evidence.

Were we modelling the era of my childhood, in the 1980s, we could get away with a kaleidoscope of different units.

I can recall on summer Saturdays seeing a wide variety of units from Tyseley and Chester strung, quite often running horrendously late on account of having to pull up many times at the short halt platforms on the coast line.

The one design of unit I would really love to have for Minffordd would be the other one which really sticks in my mind from my younger years when I witnessed the last days of the Park Royal 103s.

Tim Green on Flickr

I would dearly love to see one of the manufacturers add this to their range, it's definitely top of my OO wish list!

Ladies Cosmetic Surgery

As you will know already if you follow the Bron Hebog social media posts, we have (expensively) succeeded in backdating one of the new Bachmann Blanche models to condition which is appropriate to the era we are depicting on our new Minffordd layout.

(Yes, I know that's a picture of Linda.  Read on for the full story.)

I was forewarned that Bachmann would only be producing a model of the loco as an FR machine in post-1971 condition with the pony wheel and the elegant piston valve cylinders.

But in the early days of its new life as a passenger loco, Blanche retained its original, chunky, square-topped slide valve cylinders, which sister engine Linda sports to this day.

The plan I hatched was to purchase an additional Linda - in early FR 0-4-0STT condition - with the intention of performing a cheeky chassis swap, and lend Blanche an authentic front end.

It turned out that the cosmetic surgery was not as simple as I thought it would be.

What I had imagined was that we (or to be more accurate, Himself) would be able to just undo a few screws to release the cab / saddle tank / smokebox units and mate them to the opposite chassis.

What I had forgotten about were the tenders!

Or, more to the point, I hadn't appreciated how on the Bachmann models the tenders are hard wired to the locomotive chassis.

Even if we released Blanche's upper front half and put it onto Linda's chassis, it would still be attached to Linda's tender....

The only way around this was to completely dismantle the chassis - wheels out, motion disconnected, cylinders unscrewed,  the lot! - which allowed Himself to exchange the chassis frames and the cylinders between the locos, before completely rebuilding both.

I'm told it was a full day's work.

All this highlighted the lengths that Bachmann's designer went to make these models authentic.

Just like the real locos the frames on the contemporary 2-4-0 are teeny bit longer at the front where they were extended to accommodate the pony wheel.

The frames on the modern Blanche also include some very intricate red lining.

This process has left us with an intriguing bonus loco - a Linda sporting piston valve cylinders (which I think suits her very well indeed).

It's well known that at the start of the 1970s this was the plan for both the Penrhyn Ladies, but legend had it that one pair of the cylinders which were produced at BREL Crewe were faulty, and thus only Blanche had them fitted.

I found out this summer, in conversation over a pint with a respected Boston Lodge figure, that this story is false in at least two aspects.

Firstly, the piston valve cylinders were fabrications, not castings as has so often been reported.

I was also told that both sets have the same imperfection - but it's quite clearly nothing that's prevented Blanche ricketing up and down the Vale for the past half-century.

Perhaps there's more to the story about why Linda was left untouched?

Minffordd Update: Bachmann Bargain

You don't have to read much railway modelling social media to find people bemoaning the runaway inflation in the prices of toy trains and accusing the manufacturers of naked profiteering.

There’s not necessarily respite for the wallet to be found in the secondhand market with some of the big retailers selling pre-loved models at top end prices online, as well as some ambitious asking prices on the auction sites.

Recently I've found the best bargains the old-fashioned way at local model railway exhibitions, such as this Bachmann Collet Goods - one of the re-worked models with a decent chassis (not split frame) although not new enough to be dcc ready.

It wasn't so much going for a song as an entire operetta!

How much did I pay?

£25!

"I think it's priced to sell", remarked the person manning the stall at Perth as I quickly snapped it up.

As always, caveat emptor applies, but at that price I figured I wouldn't be too upset if it turned out to be a lemon.

Himself took it into works for a 'fitness to run' exam, and sure enough he found the mechanism gummed up with congealed grease, and he says it took him most of the afternoon to strip it down and clean it up, but it runs sweetly enough.

More work is required before it is suitable for use on Minffordd, however.

In the first instance, when he got it home and discovered one of the buffers on the tender is missing.

We're thinking, though, that we might have carelessly knocked this off unknowingly as we pulled it out of the box to inspect it behind the layout at the show.

So Himself has had to buy a new tender body from the Bachmann Spares site which cost almost as much as the locomotive!

The other issue is that the tender is very unhappy on anything except the widest radius curve, which is not very good in our pokey fiddle yard.

This is not the case with other six-wheel tenders in our locomotive collection, so we suspect there might be something going on with the wheelsets.

Further tinkering is required.

Minffordd Update: Flange Squeal

I wrote last week about the temptation to stretch the era on a layout - and here it is!

At the start of the project I'd only envisaged running DMUs and class 24s to fit in with the 1967-71 time frame.

But browsing the second hard stalls at an exhibition a couple of weeks ago I failed to resist the temptation of a weathered Bachmann 4MT tank at a very enticing price...

Our followers on social media will know that I was a a bit disappointed with its performance when I first ran it on our test track at home.

It wasn't the smoothest-running model, and was also very sensitive to tight radius curves  - by which I mean bends of roughly R2 dimensions - without the torque in the mechanism to overcome the resistance of the bend without slowing down markedly.

This didn't fill me with confidence for how it might perform on Minffordd where there is one bit of the curve into the storage roads just beyond the bridge which is more like R1.5, followed by a set track curved point.

I was very apprehensive when I took it over for a test run, but it was more positive that I expected.

It seems to be much happier on the finer code 75 Bullhead track, and using a different controller to the ones I have at home ran more smoothly at slow speed.

It does juuust get around the tightest bend into the storage yard, but only to the outermost storage road.

The front pony truck derails if you try to keep turning hard right into the inner storage roads on the curved point straight after the bend.

So it's not as bad as I feared.

In time we'll decide whether or not it i worth investing in a chip to run it on the layout (which will cost at least twice what I bought it for) or perhaps we might splash out on a slightly smaller 3MT tank, which were a little more of a regular sight at Minffordd at the end of steam on the Cambrian.

Chuffin' 'Eck

I've quite often found myself in the situation where you end up saying: "If you can't beat them, join them."

Within my family I'm often reminded that I was the person who was quite determined never to get a mobile phone, and now - like most of us - it has to be almost surgically removed from my grasp.

So it is with DCC power and locomotive sound.

The trigger has been the arrival of 4mm RTR narrow gauge locomotives in recent years.

Himself was first to crack, chipping our Bachmann Baldwin, just to see what it's like.

Then, when the Double Fairlies were released last year, he plumped for one of the sound-fitted versions of Earl of Merioneth, and a DCC controller beneath the Christmas Tree.

A few days ago I was unable to resist placing an order for a be-chipped 'Garrarway-era' Linda.

Himself's techno enthusiasm has been encouraged by fellow modellers at the Greenock club who operate many of their 00 layouts with button-pushing handsets and a cacophony of chuffs, whistles, horns and throbbing.

So it was with much excitement at Manchester that we were able to have a play with a remarkable sound-fitted Bachmann Britomart, which had been adapted by an old friend of ours, John Gay from Digitrains.

As you can hear from the video the effect is really quite remarkable - even running on DC-only - especially considering it was something the manufacturer decided not to attempt.

To achieve it John has placed a speaker in the cab, disguised by model crew who've each had to have one of their legs amputated, and a 'stay alive' capacitor has been hidden in the cab roof.

That really is something to put on the wish list.

Review Of The Year - Part 4

And so to the final three months of 2021 as we look back on what Himself and I got up to...

October

In the first of these review posts I remarked on how there had been little progress with my prototype for a model of the FR's infrastructure well wagon.

I decided not to wait any longer for a bespoke etched brass part for the durbar plate deck and had a go at seeing if I could cast it in resin instead. 

First, I cast copies of the small piece of brass I had in stock, then placed them side by side to make a large cast sheet which I cut and shaped into pieces to fit onto the wagon, and used them as masters for a final set of castings.

Round about this time Himself was adding more finishing details to the Dinas shunter.

And in a surprise development, he announced the purchase of another Worsley Works body kit for Vale of Ffestiniog, because he'd decided to make a model in its current two-tone green livery, which will look more at home on Bron Hebog than the original National Power livery on our first model.

November

A few weeks later, and number 9 had been painted and was posed for its first pictures on the layout.
 

By this time painting was underway on the Hudson toast rack carriages which featured prominently in the previous blog post covering the summer months.

And the building and painting of Ashbury 21 was completed, too.

December

By the year end, along with apparently the majority of 009 modellers (and a lot of OO ones, too) we were taking delivery of the exquisite Bachmann Double Fairlie models, the existence of which had only just been revealed to a shocked ready-to-run market.

Our choice of a 1960s Earl of Merioneth was completely out of keeping for either Dduallt or Bron Hebog, but the way the model railway market operates these days with limited production runs it's a case of 'you snooze, you lose', so we knew this was going to be our best opportunity to get one at a 'reasonable' price, and I've always had a fascination with this engine, having never had the chance to see it running.

My childhood memories of the FR also revolve around green engines and red carriages, so it's a nice piece of nostalgia for me.

We were intrigued to find out how the a plastic RTR model - complete with coreless motor, flywheels, DCC chip and sound would compare against our kit-built, Mashima-powered, brass Backwoods Fairlies, and filmed the trials for your entertainment.

A pretty conclusive result......so don't expect to see our Backwoods models being retired any time soon.

I rounded off the year by laying the narrow gauge side of the 'test track' project at home.

The early weeks of 2022 will, hopefully, see us getting this wired up and ready to start, ahem, 'testing' things on....

Best wishes to everyone who drops by this blog for the new modelling year. 

1870 And All That

The arrival of a radical new locomotive in the top left hand corner of Wales always brings the irresistable urge to put it to the test and see what it's capable of.

In 1870 it was the FR's pioneer Double Fairlie Little Wonder and in 2021 it's the Bachmann 009 version which I suspect will be as much of a game-changer for the scale as the real locomotives were for the FR and for narrow gauge railways in general.

This time we didn't bring along Russian Imperial observers - just me with my iphone - but the principle was the same: find a hill and hang the longest train you can on the back and see what it can do.

150 years ago the newcomer Little Wonder was up against the incumbant in the form of Large England Welsh Pony.

For our version we pitted the DCC sound fitted Earl of Merioneth against the eldest of our fleet of Backwoods Miniatures Fairlies, Merddin Emrys.

The results were obvious enough if you watch the video, so I won't explain it all here, but a little bit of background context will be helpful.

The Bachmann model has been pulled apart and some extra weight added in the empty space in the tanks, but unfortunately I forgot to bring along my digital scales for the test so I can't tell you how much was added, or how the RTR model compares to the Backwoods which is 100% brass construction.

What I can say is that despite the alterations it wasn't able to haul much more than the Bachmann model of Livingston Thompson which has not been touched - and will probably be left alone as a result of these tests. 

So are we disappointed?  Not really.

It would have been nice if it could have handled a rake of six, but I'm not sure that the real locomotive - which by the end of its working life was beginning to struggle by all accounts - could take many more than four of the current FR super saloon carriages up the 1:40 grade.

The capablity of the Backwoods models on our layout far exceeds the prototype, indeed, our Merddin was limited only by the output of the motor in this test, requiring full power and feeling distinctly warm to the touch afterwards.

It's more than 25 years old now, and such is the design of the Backwoods kit it's impossible to get the motor out to replace it, so we need to take care of the old girl.

What's more, nether of the models we have bought should ever run on either Bron Hebog or Dduallt if we're being prototypical, so they're strictly for Rule 1 specials.

The green Earl looked very nice on a set of 4 carriages in red livery, and I suspect once we've given the carriage bogies an overhaul it could handle 5 quite comfortably, and LT will look good on a vintage freight or a short Victorian set running a short service from Port to Beddgelert.

What is sure is that as gorgeous as the Bachman models look, the Backwoods Fairlies aren't going to be retired from mainline duties on our layouts any time soon!

 

 

 

Younger Brother

I'm sure you're probably heartily sick of pictures of proudly purchased Bachmann Double Fairlies by now, but if you've come to this post by clicking on our social media I suppose you must still have a smidgen of interest left to want to know what I'm saying about them.

The first of our pair has arrived direct from Bachmann HQ, the model of Livingston Thompson in peak-Spooner condition, and looking just like it does today in the NRM at York.

Himself posed it next to our eldest Backwoods Miniatures Fairlie, which was also designed as LT but doctored as best we could to represent Merddin Emrys as it emerged from its re-Spoonering overhaul in 1988.

Of course, the Backwoods model is not to scale. 

The real loco is much longer and taller now, but it's pleasing to see that our one still sits a little higher than the Bachmann version, which at least gives some of the effect of what the brothers looked like when Merddin dragged LT to Tan y Bwlch for the official handover ceremony to the NRM.

Our LT has already had a short light engine test run on Bron Hebog.

However, I'm looking forward to putting this pair up against each other in a 'King of the Hill' challenge.

We already know our brass Backwoods Fairlies can handle a longer FR rake than the real locos do around the  S-bend out of Beddgelert.

The big question is whether the relatively featherweight RTR version will be able to haul an authentic number of carriages up the grade?

Watch this space...

Two Can Play At That Game

The secret is out - and what a secret!

Bachmann has pulled off quite a coup with its 009 Double Fairlies revealed today.

Bachmann

 

They have raised the bar in ready to run narrow gauge yet again with what appear to be a collection of exquisite models.

The firm has blindsided the 009 community which has been sitting drumming its fingers ever-more impatiently for the Quarry Hunslets to be released, only for these Spooner masterpieces to come steaming down the tracks.

I can imagine there is consternation - and that's putting it mildly - in the boardrooms in Devon and Japan today.

Bachmann 

 

You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to work out what's going on here.  

This is Bachmann striking back at Peco and Kato parking their tanks on its lawn with their England and Fairlie projects a couple of years ago.

They say don't get mad, get even, and I think that's just what's happened here.

What astonishes me is how Bachman has managed to keep it under wraps for so long?

It takes years to develop a model like this, especially when you set out to do it with this level of authenticity and fidelity.

To make models like these, showing Livingston Thompson and Merddin Emrys in various historic conditions, plus the Collectors Club special edition DLG,   takes a lot of research, and making contact with the people who know these engines inside out.

 

Bachmann

 

 

 

These are a very different concept to the England engines we saw previewed a few weeks back.

There are no compromises here.

There is no turning a blind eye to differences to save on tooling.

It's clear the team behind this project have set out to make a point and demonstrate how they think it should be done.

Now, it's up to us, 009 modellers, to vote with our wallets. Which approach do we prefer?

It will also be fascinating to see how Peco and Kato respond.

Will they dump their Double Fairlie project?

I don't know how far down the development path it is because all we've ever been shown is an extremely rough 3D print of the body, and nothing about the chassis.

Do they still believe that there's a different market to be exploited - one that demands Japanese norms like traction tyres and doesn't bother about added extras like DCC sockets and sound - to carry on developing it and go head-to-head?

What is clear is that Bachmann has made a big statement of intent here.

They weren't dabbling in 009, this is now a serious part of their strategy and we can only wait and see how their rivals will respond.

Review Of The Year - Part 3

July

And so to the second half of 2018 where there was much excitement at the arrival of our first ready-to-run model, the Bachmann 590 Baldwin.

I've never made any secret of my enthusiasm for the mainstream manufacturers discovering 009.

The intensity of the debate online around this has been second only to Brexit, but unlike the latter subject I can see only positives in this development for our scale.

I'm hugely excited about the next project in the pipeline, the small quarry Hunslets (especially the cab-less versions) and for what this innovative firm might decide to do next.

In this month I began work on a project which had been on the back burner for a while, to make models of the hybrid BZ wagons made at Boston Lodge for infrastructure trains on the FR.

I decided to make masters and cast them in resin, even though only two have been produced so far and they are far from identical.

July was also the month where, quite by chance, I discovered that the last two Backwoods NGG16 kits produced were available to buy.

We had to dig deep to avert the possibility of them being offered for sale in an online auction, but we'd been looking for a number of years for the opportunity to complete our Garratt fleet and it was too good an opportunity to miss.

August

The first of the BZ wagons had been cast and was being put together.

The fold-flat end doors are a right pain because I had to scratch build the triangular support brackets in styrene, which was a very fiddly job.

Himself had been putting together a Chivers kit of a tiny Hunslet diesel to replace our model of Harold, the Boston Lodge shunter, which had been stolen when we were exhibiting Dduallt in Leeds a number of years ago.

And to have a bit of fun for when we took Bron Hebog to show at the Welsh Highland 'Super Power' weekend I decided to add a very contemporary scenic feature - a reminder of the day when a driver tried his luck racing a Garratt to Bron Hebog crossing - and the Garratt won!

September

Himself had taken an executive decision to invest in panoramic photographic backscenes for the show at Dinas.

The result was very effective indeed!

We had a fabulous time - as we always do - showing Bron Hebog in the goods shed, this time in its finished state.

The Lynton and Barnstaple Baldwin Lyn was the star attraction on the railway and Himself pulled out the stops to get the Backwoods kit we had been given running.

Once again we couldn't resist being cheeky and double-heading it with Lyd knowing that the real locomotives were not being allowed anywhere near each other that weekend.

Back home the production line of superbarns continued with a start being made on assembling number 120.