Sleep for a while…

One of the “background” things I’ve been doing is assimilating the Patriarch’s models into the Penlowry stock. I’ve previously mentioned his Mallard Models Duke class which is a stunning bit of brass modelling and runs very well. It currently is The Lizard which was his preferred name in the nameplates that came with the kit. The Lizard got Dukedogged so won’t fit on my railway as is, but Cornubia survived as one of the curvy framed Dukes that got swept into the Dukedog class and survived to nationalisation so Cornubia it will become.

In the case of his K’s Bulldog I’m ashamed to say I’d overlooked it as I’d assumed that none survived. It’s true that most did disappear, either forming the frames of Dukedogs or being scrapped such as the Patriarch’s Tregeagle which formed a Dukedog in later life. However some made it into BR, and the last, Penzance, was not withdrawn until 1951. One even managed to have a smoke box numberplate made for it (only 1 mind you- I’d imagine if it still exists the collectors would froth and pay a small fortune for it).

So for my 1947-1949 railway, it is perfectly acceptable to have a Bulldog. My thoughts are I’ll re-chassis it with a Bachmann Dukedog chassis as the K’s chassis is the “dog” bit of Bulldog and never ran well.

As for the name, well if the Manic Street Preachers aren’t your thing and you didn’t pick up on the lyrics in the title, it’ll be 3393 Australia which survived to Nov 1949. Very apt given my recent family history.

Picture sourced from here which has a good caption.

Quiet but busy

I always know when my boys are up to no good. They go quiet. I wouldn’t say I’ve been up to no good but I have been busy – mainly because I’ve been on holiday!

T’missus, as is her way, hit the nail on the head when she said my office / railway room had descended into chaos. She was right, but I’d have labelled it a right sh!thole!

So some organisation has gone on (as well as a fantastic night away – the first without the MiniMes since they came on the scene – to celebrate 10 years of t’missus putting up with me).

Cupboard under the baseboard for the scenery materials made out of the remains of the kitchen peninsula we removed some time ago.

Organised the stock.

Went to Driffield steam fair.

Perused the Patriarch’s library.

Erected a display cabinet for those things that don’t fit the Penlowry timeframe.

And gone through a load of old memories.

Oh and done some preliminaries for another model…

Another tender story

With a break in railcar modelling I knocked up this Churchward tender using bits of Hornby tenders. It is from a 28xx and may go behind my 28xx but I also need a spare one to go behind the Mallard Models Duke that the Patriarch built which currently has one of the short tenders to fit in Cornish small turntables whereas by the time the surviving Dukes had become part of the 90xx Dukedog range on the Cambrian they had the longer tenders. The model needs some real coal on it to get rid of the plastic gloss but apart from that is looking good.

Hack-a-thon

As promised in the last post, more hacking of the bus bodies was required.

I’d always intended to get rid of the window ladder as that wasn’t part of my plans but then I realised the bodies were too tall so they have been reduced in height too. More pain for those who like die cast bus collecting!

The picture shows cunning use of a box lying around to provide a spacer.

While this picture shows the lowered bodies showing how much was cut off.