This is a Peter Angus / Mike Lax model of the Darjeeling & Himalaya Railway's Garratt. It uses Roundhouse Engineering running gear and is very similar to Roundhouse's model of the same loco. The major difference is that this model has a ceramic gas burner in a tubed boiler and so needs an electric blower to raise steam and then uses its steam blower to maintain a draught through the fire.

It carried rather garish Darjeeling blue when the owner acquired it, but the full-size loco was scrapped in the mid-1950s, many years before the blue livery first appeared, so a more suitable colour scheme was required. The owner then suggested returning it to the condition of the loco shown in the Beyer Peacock works photos, which show a number of differences from later photos. To achieve this the changes included removal of the headlights, removal of the flared top from the coal bunker, shortening the front tank filler and addition of a rear spectacle plate.

Other changes made to the model were moving the front spectacle rings upwards to a more prototypical position and conversion from radio to manual control.

All of this was followed by repainting in Deep Brunswick Green with orange lining and black edging.

The photos show the model after completion of my work, the model as it arrived here and two Beyer Peacock works photos of the Darjeeling's Garratt in original condition.

The model depicts Taliesin in its original open-cab form. It came here for replacement of its interference-prone 40MHz radio control with an Ikonnik KA-6 2.4GHz system, and a repaint of its boiler. The paint on the boiler was going soft when the boiler was hot, which had resulted in it being covered in finger prints, rag marks and fluff.

This brand-new Roundhouse Charles received the Penrhyn Quarry treatment with red and blue lining, satin black bodywork, cream and black cab interior and brass chimney ring.

An unusual livery of grey lined in white with graphite grey edging applied to a coal-fired DJB Engineering Robert built from a kit. This loco was purchased by the current owner in working order but with only the frames, boiler and smokebox painted. It came here for painting and lining but it soon became apparent that some of the soldering was not the best and various joints were repaired and/or strengthened before painting commenced. Included in this work was pressure testing of the two water tanks to check for leaks - they did! I feel sure the owner will have hours of fun trying to keep this one clean...

Another Accucraft Baldwin 4-6-0T, this time in the guise of Welsh Highland Railway No. 590. The loco was purchased second-hand by the current owner, and in its previous life it had had a replacement chimney cap fitted, had lost its front lamp bracket, and the front life guard had become detached - all rectified. The valve setting was also attended to as its operation was very erratic. Other work included adding:
 - DJB Engineering resonator whistle.
 - 3-channel (regulator, reverser, whistle) radio control.
 - Spectacle ring "eyebrows".
 - Cab back with wood-effect planking on rear sheet.
 - Rear lamp bracket.
 - Additional pipework for vacuum brakes, vacuum ejector steam supply and exhaust.
 - Summerlands chuffer pipe.
 - Coal load in bunker.

2017 not only marks the 15th year of Rhos Helyg Loco Works, it also marks my 30th anniversary of becoming involved with 16mm/foot-scale garden railways. This all happened on the Paddock Railway at Hampton Loade station on the Severn Valley Railway where I was introduced to the delights of meths-fired live steam by two chaps who were soon to become good friends. I have a lot to be grateful for to them! In 1988 one of those friends sold me my first steam loco (which I still have), and recently it was an absolute delight for me to do some work on one his locos for him. His Roundhouse Pooter came here for some bodywork repairs and, in a homage to its original livery, a full repaint in to Bronze Green with orange lining and black detailing.

This Roundhouse Engineering Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes No. 24 is a Mark 1 variant and was starting to show its age. The paintwork was worn and scratched and the rings and glands in the cylinders were not at their best. The loco was completely dismantled, had many years of accumulated muck removed, received an overhaul to cylinders and valves and was then partially stripped of its old and all-over gloss black paint. A repaint in to satin black with graphite smokebox, red oxide cab roof and green cab interior (a very common feature on American steam locomotives) followed. Although I've had several gas- and coal-fired Mark 2 No. 24s here, this was the first Mark 1 to come here for work. The change from Mark 1 to Mark 2 production occurred in 2003 with the major alterations being a completely different method of boiler cladding and cab construction, removal of the tender water tank and hand pump and introduction of sprung driving axles.

Another Accucraft Baldwin, fitted with 2-channel radio control and given a dose of weathering.

Named after the owners' granddaughter, ISOBEL is a Roundhouse "Linda" finished in Festiniog Railway-style of green with red lining and black edging. This work has been deliberately completed with the future in mind as it would only take a few minutes to replace the name plates and apply a pair of FR crests to the tender, but not at the moment and rightly so. The loco also had its 40MHz radio control replaced with a Peter Spoerer OMNI Tx-3.0 STEAM 2.4GHz system while it was here.

This Accucraft Joan came here in citrus-inspired gloss black. It had a repaint in to maroon with black detailing and at the same time lost the excess red (edge of footplating, backs of buffer beams, firebox/ashpan, etc.) in order for it to resemble as closely as possible the full-size Joan based on the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway here in Wales.