The body from this Accucraft Baguley diesel came here for painting in Festiniog-inspired green with red lining and black edging, and was then returned to its owner for reassembly. (Photo by Phil Roberts)

Here we see an Accucraft Baldwin 4-6-0T modified in to a representation of the Welsh Highland Railway's Baldwin 590. The changes included removal of the chimney cap and front and rear headlamps and the addition of the following:
 - Vacuum brake pipe, with "swan necks" front and rear
 - Vacuum ejector steam pipe (cab to rear of steam dome)
 - Vacuum ejector exhaust pipe (cab to smokebox)
 - "Eyebrows" on cab spectacle rings
 - Rear lamp bracket
 - Cab roof extension
 - Dummy coal load
 - 590 numbers on tank sides

All new parts were painted to match the original matt black finish. Baldwin Locomotive Works plates made by MDC Plates completed the cosmetic alterations.

Another Accucraft Baldwin 4-6-0T 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.

Another modified Accucraft Baldwin 4-6-0T which had already been converted in to a representation of an Ashover Light Railway loco before it came here. Using photographs of the full-size JOAN as a guide, some additional detailing was applied (in particular the prominent steam exhaust pipe on the front of the cab and the large water balance pipe connecting the two side tanks) and the headlamp and vacuum brake pipework were removed. This was followed by a general toning down of the rather too clean paintwork and weathering of the tank tops and smokebox. Custom name and works plates were supplied by MDC.

ARIADNE is an Accucraft model that had probably never been steamed and run before it arrived here. It came for fitting of radio control, a rear cab extension and lamp brackets, removal of the chimney cover and rear hose bracket, and a general service. Repairs were also made to a blocked pressure gauge pipe and to a burner that just would not stay lit.

To complete the job, the loco was repainted in satin black lined in the owner's standard blue and red scheme.

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

Scrabster's owner was having trouble maintaining steam pressure and a usable water level in the boiler when running, and brought it here for investigation. The problem turned out to be an issue with the boiler itself with several leaks around the backhead, and which unfortunately was not repairable. A replacement boiler in the identical green colour was obtained, and the orange lining either side of the brass boiler bands was applied before reassembly and successful steam testing.

I'm looking for a good collective noun for this lot ... a Decadence of Decauvilles maybe?

Three brand-new MBV Schug - Accucraft Europa Decauville 0-6-0Ts arrived here for attention. These are truly delightful models and I congratulate MBV Schug - Accucraft Europa for taking on the challenge of making a small locomotive in 16mm/foot scale rather than just going for the easier option of producing a larger model in ⅞ths-inch/foot scale. Small locos can be a challenge to make and operate, so it was brave decision. The level of detail and the quality of construction are both superb.

The couplings fitted to these locos are slightly odd in that the front and rear couplings are at different heights, which makes using them with anything else a bit tricky. In addition, the smokebox door fastening catches were not really up to the job, and even when supposedly closed the door was not held tightly shut and could open two or three millimetres. On all three something had to be done!

The plain black one did not change much in appearance, other than gaining a front lamp bracket in place of the dummy headlamp. The couplings were replaced with the buffer/hook type, and the gas control valve lever was replaced with a knob. The main task on this one was to fit it with on-board 2.4GHz radio control, which took some thinking to achieve.

ATHENA gained a cab back sheet, a front lamp bracket, Accucraft chopper couplings and was lined in the owner's standard blue and red scheme.













The final one had buffer/hook couplings fitted and was lined in a might-have-been Penrhyn Quarries-style.
















A few weeks later, this one came here for fitting of replacement couplings, fitting of a cab back sheet, replacement of the front lamp with a bracket and weathering to the owner's "I'd like it to look well-used but not look completely knackered" instructions.

This MBV Schug - Accucraft Europa Decauville 0-4-0T was converted to represent the full-size BARBOUILLEUR housed in the Amberley Narrow Gauge and Industrial Railway Museum in West Sussex. Conversion work included:
 - Shortening of the side tanks
 - Fitting of dummy side-mounted safety valves to dome
 - Removal of maker’s text from smokebox door
 - Shortening and reprofiling of chimney
 - Reprofiling of dome to give it a rounded top
 - Modification of cab roof
 - Repainting of bodywork, cylinder block cladding, wheels and wheel rims in to Turquoise Green
 - Repainting of motion and buffer/couplings in red
 - Repainting of boiler, cab roof, boiler bands and domes in satin black

The question is, of course, why do model and full-size not carry matching shades of green? Well, the full-size loco is currently awaiting overhaul and, the owner of the model tells me, will be repainted in the colour carried by the model. (Photo of full size loco by Simon King)

This Decauville 0-4-0T came here for fitting of radio control, fitting of a Summerlands chuffer pipe and a bit of weathering. The tank tops and cab roof were also repainted black as they would never have been blue on the full-size loco.

This Accucraft Edrig came here for repair after an accident had caused it to nose dive in to the ground. This resulted in it suffering a bent front buffer beam and some damage to the paintwork. The buffer beam was straightened out and repainted, and the body was repainted in satin green with a cream and black cab interior.

First job on this this Accucraft Excelsior was to reset the valve timing and get it running again, because it didn't. Further instructions were to do some modifications and repaint it to make it look a bit more like the full-size loco that it was meant to represent. EXCELSIOR ran at the Bowaters Paper mill in Sittingbourne and now runs on the Great Whipsnade Railway. Modifications included:
 - Shortening of chimney
 - Modification of spectacle rings
 - Fabrication and fitting of rear cab backsheet (wood)
 - Fabrication and fitting of larger sand boxes
 - Addition of dummy sliding doors on bunker sides
 - Addition of dummy access hatches on chimney
 - Fitting of headlamps and brackets
 - Fitting of modified cab handrails
Radio control installation on a loco with very little bodywork to hide things is always a challenge, especially when the use of removeable batteries is needed rather than a sealed pack. Some modifications were needed to the cab roof and the plumbing to cram it all in. Finally, it had its gas burner jet replaced with one from Chuffed2Bits and was then stripped and repainted in Light Brunswick Green, including the frames, with black/yellow lining.

The owner of this loco wanted a green one but could not find one, so bought a black one and had it repainted and lined.

This brand-new GVT tram loco had its factory lining and lettering removed and had the optional front spectacle plates supplied with the loco soldered in place. Penrhyn-style lining was then applied and the loco finished in satin black.

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.

This Lawley came here for the following work:
 - Replacement of chopper couplings with hook-and-chain type
 - Fitting of a DJB Engineering resonator whistle
 - Installation of 3-channel radio control for regulator, reverser and whistle - and with no servos in the cab!
 - Repaint of bodywork from dark green to satin blue with white and black lining
 - Repaint of smokebox and cab roof from gloss to matt black

This Accucraft Leader 0-4-2ST was finished with the intention of showing the loco as it was when it worked for Bowaters Paper in Sittingbourne during the 1960s, rather than as it is preserved now. With that in mind, the saddle tank was lightly weathered and Leader's distinctive rusty patch around the saddle tank filler was recreated. The factory green paintwork was lined in yellow with black edging and then finished in satin clear coat, with matt black smokebox and cab roof. Real coal in the bunkers completed the job.

Since completion of my work, the owner has been working hard to make his loco look even more work-worn by dirtying the frames and cylinders and by adding a wealth of extra detail, including name plates and works plates supplied by MDC. The wonderful result is shown here and looking just like The Real Thing!

The owner of this Accucraft Leader wanted it to look like the full-size loco so it was modified and repainted to do just that, including a replacement smaller diameter chimney and dummy sliding doors on the cab side.

Another Accucraft Leader 0-4-2ST, this time finished finished in Penrhyn Quarry Railway livery to represent their locomotive STANHOPE. This loco came here in factory blue and was repainted in black, lined in blue and red and then finished was a satin clear coat. Repainting the smokebox in matt black and putting real coal in the bunkers completed the job. The second picture shows the same loco with its name and works plates in place, and acquiring a nice workaday look.

And another one... This brand-new Accucraft Leader was also turned in to Penrhyn Quarry's STANHOPE with some red and blue lining, satin black bodywork, a matt black smokebox, cream and black cab interior and name plates and Kerr Stuart works plates provided by MDC. Also included in this job was the fitting of two-channel radio control (for regulator and reverser).

These photos show the lining job on Chris Bird's Accucraft Leader. As with his Roundhouse Bertie, there was little point in sending the whole loco, so Chris only sent me the body for attention. The original factory maroon paint was retained and enhanced with cream lining and black edging, followed by a satin clear coat. Also like the Bertie, Chris has written a superb step-by-step guide to the modifications he has made to this loco to produce the result shown (note the cylinder covers - very nice!) and which can be found here. (Photos by Chris Bird)

An Accucraft L&B 2-6-2T modified to reproduce the look of LYD based at the Festiniog Railway here in North Wales. The full-size LYD was completed only a few years ago and is a reproduction of the original L&B Manning Wardle locos. It was based on last-built LEW and so has a flat cab back, unlike the earlier locos which have a visible rear coal bunker, but it is not an exact copy. Accucraft themselves produced a limited run of these locos in the guise of LYD but these were simply done by changing the name and number and they did not include the modifications made to allow its use on the Festiniog, The model shown here has those modifications and reproduces the full-size LYD as closely as it has been possible to do. The modifications included:
 - Tighter radius on the cab roof edges and consequent modifications to the cab sides (to allow the loco to pass through restricted clearance tunnels).
 - Addition of steps on the tank fronts.
 - Larger coal bunkers.
 - Fitting of two dummy whistles to replace the one provided.
 - Repositioning of the rear lamp bracket.
The body was stripped and repainted in a more authentic shade of green, and was then lined in white with black edging, including the cab back (LEW's cab back was always plain green with no lining). The cab front, boiler and tank tops were repainted in satin black to match the full-size LYD. Name, number and works plates were specially made by MDC.

This Accucraft Lyn had been suffering from jerky and uneven running characteristics, particularly in reverse gear, and so needed a good sort out of its valve timing and some mechanical issues to achieve smooth running in both directions. While here it also had its single-channel (reverser only) 40MHz radio control upgraded to a 2-channel Planet 2.4GHz system operating both regulator and reverser. The 40MHz aerial wire coil had been disguised as a dummy coal load in the rear bunker so this was replaced with real coal ... because nothing else looks like coal.

This Accucraft Mortimer was repainted in to a Festiniog-inspired livery of green with red lining and black edging, and the cab roof, footplating, smokebox and other parts received a coat of satin black. While here it also had a DJB Engineering whistle fitted, its radio control upgraded from 2-channel to 3-channel (an extra servo to work the whistle) and Locoworks lamp brackets, roof gutters, coal bunkers and dummy lubricators added. Name and works plates from MDC gave the final touch.

THISBE started life as standard Accucraft Mortimer 0-4-0 saddle tank. It soon lost its rear coal bunker but the owner is a Tralee & Dingle Railway fan, so he wanted something a bit different. The inspiration was T&D No. 4 built by Hunslet in 1890 as a tram loco for use on the Castlegregory branch. A duplicate set of controls were provided at the smokebox end to give the driver a great view in both directions. I say inspiration as this is definitely not a model of The Real Thing, but hopefully it captures the essence of it.

First job was to fit 2-channel radio control. Second job was to make the loco work! A previous owner had fiddled with the valve setting, which made it run superbly forwards, but not at all backwards.

The rest was all bodywork, but how to create the second cab? Making a copy out of brass sheet was considered but it would have been a lot of work. I then put out an appeal for a spare Accucraft body. One of my other customers got in touch to say that he was about to send me his new Talgarth for conversion to coal-firing and a replacement 7/8ths body, so I could use the body off that. Great! However, on arrival I found the Talgarth body was made of Accucraft's weapons-grade steel, making it impossible to solder, rather than the brass used for the Mortimer. A bit of chopping around and the two parts were mechanically linked together. Lots of bodywork filling and flatting followed to hide the join.

All of this was followed by a strip and repaint in to the owner's colour scheme. (Second photo by Hunslet Engine Company)

An impressive model, from any angle. This NG15 has had all of its wheel rims painted black, and the rear loco buffer beam also painted black as this should never have been painted red by Accucraft. It carries a replacement set of NG 148 buffer beam number plates and number and Henschel works plates supplied by MDC on its cab sides.

Most importantly, it has had its front cow catcher raised by about 2.5mm to give greater clearance over the rail head. As supplied, the cow catcher is very close to rail level and it would strike the smallest obstruction (moss, gravel, etc.) and could cause a derailment. A dip in the track could cause the cow catcher to slide along the rail head sufficiently to lift six of the eight driving wheels off the rails, so causing a lack of traction and a sometimes spectacular bout of wheelslip. The modification raises the cow catcher to avoid this problem and without changing its appearance significantly. The picture shows the cow catcher before and after modification.

This picture shows before (left) and after (right) views through the cab after moving the gas hose, two water hoses and the radio control cables to where they should be: under the floor. This job took some thinking about, and involved drilling a lot of holes in a very expensive model.

Another impressive model. This NGG16 has received a number of modifications and details in order that it represents the full-size number 143 as running on the Welsh Highland Railway circa 2005. It has had all of its wheel rims and cylinder snifting valve covers painted black, and its smokebox and cab roof have been repainted from gloss to matt black. Detailing includes the steam sander indicator flag on the front right-hand sandbox, brass indicator plates on the lubricator reservoirs, a skull-and-crossbones warning board on the rear bunker (not shown in photo) and a dummy fuel oil tank as used on the WHR from 1997 until 2007. It carries a replacement set of number plates supplied by MDC on its cab sides.

The model is from the third batch produced by Accucraft and suffered terribly from exhaust back-pressure affecting its performance. The most important change has been complete replacement of the exhaust steam pipework using a larger diameter tube than that supplied together with removal of the exhaust pipe in the smokebox and boring out of the remaining exhaust fittings to a larger diameter. These modifications eliminate the back-pressure problem and so increase the loco's power and top speed while significantly reducing water and gas consumption and increasing its running time.

Further modifications to improve performance included replacement of the lubricator pipework to provide a bifurcated division of the supplies to the front and rear engines, and a pair of specially made replacement burners kindly supplied by Barley Pit Works.

This Accucraft NGG16 was purchased by the current owner in the particularly lurid blue/green colour scheme carried by full-size No. 138 for a short time. The owner dismantled the loco and the parts seen in the picture came here for attention. The various lumps were completely dismantled and the body components (water tank, coal bunker, cab and boiler wrapper) had their existing paint removed as required. They then received etch primer followed by black and maroon with much masking in between. Lining in yellow with black edging followed, as per full-size 138's current livery, with correct pattern and size number plates supplied by MDC. Finally, the myriad of parts were put back together in preparation for the owner to complete final assembly and a return to working order, as shown in the second picture (by Jon Carter).

This brand-new loco was sent direct to us by an Accucraft dealer for lining in this attractive red and white scheme together with a matt black smokebox. The name plates were supplied by MDC.

This Ragleth came here for the following work:
 - Chassis repairs and resetting of valve timing
 - Replacement of chopper couplings with hook-and-chain type
 - Fitting of a DJB Engineering resonator whistle
 - Installation of 3-channel radio control for regulator, reverser and whistle - and with no servos in the cab!
 - Repaint of bodywork from gloss blue to satin green with red and black lining
 - Repaint of smokebox and cab roof from gloss to matt black

Accucraft Ragleth "CARI" has been on its second visit to RHLW. It first came here a few years ago for fitting of a second channel radio control for the regulator. The most recent visit has been for fitting of a replacement DJB Model Engineering Ltd smokebox, repairs to the r/c components. fitting of vacuum pipes and various other detailing parts, including a dummy tool box over the gas filler valve. This was all followed by lining in red with black edging.

OAKSHOTT came here for lining of its original blue paintwork, plus application of satin black to the smokebox, footplating and cab roof. While here it also had its existing radio control upgraded from single servo controlling only the reverser to two servos controlling both reverser and regulator.

This Accucraft Ragleth came here very much as a kit of parts, along with the coal-firing conversion kit made by DJB Model Engineering Ltd. The kit includes a replacement boiler, water pump, boiler filling system, water tanks, smokebox and all of the other components needed. The job was completed with a repaint from dark green in to satin black with simple red lining to avoid it looking too much like a black blob.

My sincere thanks go to Mike Darby at Chuffed2Bits for the repair work needed on the chassis.

I don't venture in to the mystical world of 7/8ths (of an inch to the foot) scale very often, but here is one I've just finished. This loco has an Accucraft Talgarth chassis incorporating a DJB Model Engineering coal-fired kit (boiler, fittings, axle pump, pipework, etc.) housed in a Simply ⅞ths Baldrig body. The latter needed a lot of modifications for coal firing, in particular the building of proper water tanks to supply the axle pump and the associated pipework. The GW transfers were supplied by Fox and the number plates came from MDC. My thanks go to Paul at DJB for his assistance with this one. I doubt it will ever be this clean again!

This loco was fitted with two-channel radio control and received blue and red lining along with a significant reduction in the amount of bare metal usually exhibited by this model.

It was a few years ago that Accucraft made an 0-6-2T called Superior, supposedly based on the loco of the same name formerly based at Bowaters paper works in Sittingbourne but now to be found at Whipsnade Zoo. That they were both 0-6-2s and both had side water tanks was undeniable, but there the similarities pretty much ended. Compared to the full-size loco, the model was too long, too tall, lacked the upper cab back sheet and had the wrong chimney.

The owner of this Superior discussed with me what might be done to improve the model and make it look more like The Real Thing. We determined that there was nothing critical (driven axles, boiler, etc.) on the loco that would be affected by the changes we wished to make. Using a drawing of the full-size loco as a guide the owner produced some drawings to show the modifications that could be made, principally reducing the cab height by 6mm and the loco's length by 15mm. Once on my bench, some serious butchery followed.

The tanks were cut off the cab and 15mm was removed from the front of the cab sides and the cab roof. The cab height was reduced by removing 6mm from the top, but this also caused the existing cab roof retainers to be lost, so a new method of holding the roof in place was devised. The cab and tanks were then reattached to form one piece once again.

The loco frames are, as is usual, made from Accucraft's choice of Weapons Grade stainless steel. This stuff is hard - very hard - and so is impossible to solder, impossible to tap, almost impossible to drill and difficult to cut. In order to retain the correct cut-out shape for the pony truck I determined that the 15mm length reduction had to come out of the middle of the frames, and the cut-out for the dummy firebox sides would be the ideal place to do that. The pony truck also needed some work to cope with the shortened frames.

The main footplate was also reduced in length by 15mm, which also involved relocating the reversing lever, lubricator, boiler water drain and cab steps.

The chimney was sent off to my good friend Adrian who managed to successfully turn it in to something looking a lot more realistic.

Other detailing work included:
 - Runners on the cab sides for those very distinctive Bowaters sliding windows.
 - Addition of a upper cab back spectacle sheet.
 - Replacement of the spectacle rings with four more in keeping with The Real Thing.
 - Re-positioning of the sand domes reach rod from the right to the left side of the loco.
 - Fitting of lamp brackets, lamps and cable conduits at each end.

Finally, the whole loco, including the frames, was repainted in Bowaters green with yellow and black lining.

The full-size SIR TOM or, as the nameplate says, SIRTOM lives and operates at the Threlkeld Quarry & Mining Museum and is used on short passenger trains to and from the quarry. It is well worth a visit! Accucraft's 7/8ths-scale model of the typical Bagnall 0-4-0ST provided the basis for this model of SIR TOM, and the owner and I strove to get as close as we could to replicating the full-size loco. Lots of changes were made, some by the owner (*) before the loco came to me, and they included:
 - Fitting of a replacement chimney
 - Fabrication and fitting of front dumb buffers (*)
 - Modification of smokebox saddle front plate (*)
 - Addition of rivet detail and opening panels on cab sides
 - Addition of rivets to front of saddle tank
 - Addition of injector water pipes to rear of saddle tank
 - Fabrication of replacement cab front panel (*) with air compressor exhaust pipe
 - Fitting of a replacement reverser lever
 - Swapping of blower pipe from right side to left side
 - Fabrication and fitting of dummy whistle to cab roof
 - Addition of edge trim to rear footplate doors
 - Modification of cab roof to incorporate gutters

The third picture shows the model and full-size locos together at Threlkeld. (Photo by James Gilchrist)

Accucraft ⅞ths-scale Quarry Hunslets repainted in Penrhyn Quarries livery, including:
 - Red cranks, coupling rods and connecting rods
 - Red reverser and drain cocks reach rods
 - Matt black smokebox, chimney, couplings and wheels
 - Lining in red and blue
 - Satin black finish to saddle tank, cab sides and running plate
 - Name and works plates supplied by MDC.

This one was also fitted with a coal bunker in the left side of the cab and a replacement pressure gauge syphon pipe provided by Chuffed2Bits.

DUNKERY was later fitted with a replacement brass cab which also came here for painting and lining to match. (Photo by Chris Tilley)

The owner did a lot of work on this loco before it came here, and my task was to complete the assembly and apply the paintwork and lining, Tasks undertaken by the owner before delivery included:
 - Replacement buffer beams with dumb buffers
 - Rearrangement of pipework to allow filling of the boiler
 - Replacement of chimney
 - Addition of safety valve extension tubes

In addition, the owner also designed the replacement cab and then had this laser cut from brass sheet, including the rivet and fixing holes.

The loco then came here. The first task was to modify the saddle tank so that the water filler was positioned in the middle of the tank and not at one end. This change prevented access to the original boiler water filler valve, hence the need for a new arrangement with the filler valve positioned in the cab. Removal of the dome required a different method of fixing the tank to the boiler. The dummy rivets were removed from the tank to give the appearance of a welded tank, and the dummy lubricators were removed and replaced by brackets to give the appearance of a loco with mechanical lubrication. The next job was to build the cab from the laser-cut brass sheets supplied. This included fitting of beading strips around the upper door openings, re-use of the Accucraft sliding doors on the rear and assembly of opening and glazed spectacle rings. Finally, it was painted in Victorian Maroon and lined in cream, much like the full-size Quarry Hunslet UNA kept at the National Slate Museum in Llanberis.

A representation of the Talyllyn Railway's Edward Thomas built by Steve Acton using Roundhouse Engineering chassis components. It came here for repainting of its boiler, smokebox and cylinder covers, some attention to the existing lining, a valve timing check and servicing of the safety valve.

One of Peter's delightful creations, Lumpy Tom came here for replacement of its cylinder retaining springs and attention to a recalcitrant gas burner.

Another of Peter's delightful creations, GLYN came here for stripping, repainting and lining before shipment to its new owner in the USA.

This Peter Angus / Mike Lax Robey geared saddle tank came here for the addition of a cab back sheet followed by painting and lining. It is finished in the owner's standard satin black with blue and red lining that all of his locos carry.

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.

A Peter Angus Climax, driven by the usual Roundhouse set-up that powers a cross-shaft to which is attached a skew gear. This drives another skew gear on an end-to-end shaft fitted with universal joints and more skew gear pairs to drive the outer axles of each bogie. By consequence, it has a lot of chuffs for the distance travelled. An odd arrangement, but it works, even if not particularly mechanically efficient in my view. It came here with a litany of leaks, poor valve setting, broken pipework, and needing a smokebox repaint. One problem was with the cross shaft, which had some side-to-side movement, allowing the gears to not mesh correctly.

Another Peter Angus Climax, which came to me for an overhaul (mainly the cylinders which were showing their age) and a full strip and repaint. It is quite cleverly constructed, with the boiler cradle being nothing more than a Roundhouse Jack / Katie 0-4-0 chassis with end extensions for the power unit pivots. The cylinders are mounted in their normal position on the frames, the drive shaft is mounted in the rear axle holes and the front axle holes are unused.

This Corpet-Louvet 0-6-0T for 45mm gauge track was built by Stewart Browne of Archangel fame.

The model came here with only the frames, wheels and a few other details painted.

After dismantling, a good clean, bodywork preparation, and lots and lots of masking etch primer and two coats of satin green were applied followed by red lining and black edging, all based on the full-size loco.

It was then a case of reassembly and dealing with a myriad of the smallest of details, including the superb railway, number and works plates kindly provided by MDC.

This loco is a delightful Darjeeling 'A' Class made by Archangel. Unlike other A-Class locos that have been here it is (a) made to scale and (b) beautifully made. It arrived here in bare metal and so has received etch primer, paint and lining. .

This model of a Darjeeling C-Class Pacific was built by Stewart Browne of Archangel fame.

The model came here with only the frames, wheels and a few other details painted. My task was to apply suitable, and authentic, paintwork. Information kindly provided by David Charlesworth of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society (to whom I am very grateful) soon revealed that our choices were: DHR green with red and black lining (carried from 1914 to 1948), Indian Railways plain black (1948 to early 1970s), and black with blue cab and tender combined with red and white details (early 1970s to withdrawal). It is dubious variations of this latter livery that preserved 807 and 808 carry today. I'd never seen a black one in this scale so I suggested it to the owner, and he agreed. Like other models of a similar size, they can gain a real and purposeful workaday appearance in plain black with a few contrasting details.

There are very few pictures of these locos around, and my major source for detailing was, again, the large-format book entitled The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway - A Photographic Profile 1962-1998. It is referred to as "The Australian Book" and it includes a full-page colour photo of 807 in black in 1962.

After dismantling, a good clean, bodywork preparation, and lots and lots of masking etch primer and two coats of satin black were applied. It was then a case of reassembly and dealing with a myriad of the smallest of details. Finally, with the paintwork finished, the final task was to affix number and works plates from MDC to the cab, tender back and smokebox and NF lettering to the tender sides.

The Festiniog Railway's Single Fairlie TALIESIN is seldom modelled in other than its current form, but this one bucks that trend with the loco seen in its earlier form with lower tanks, tapered chimney and open cab. It was built by Stewart Browne of Archangel Loco Works and arrived here with only the frames painted and the rest in either bare brass or primer. It was painted and lined to the owner's specification with name and works plates supplied by MDC.

The lucky owner of this brand-new Archangel Snowdon Ranger sent his model here for lining and fitting of radio control. This locomotive uses slip-eccentric valve gear so only a single-channel radio control system was needed. The lining was applied to the matt Archangel paintwork and then given a satin clear coat. The cab interior was painted in cream and black and the tank tops were also painted black.

This loco was built in December 1978 and it was certainly showing its age when it entered my workshop for a comprehensive overhaul and repaint. The work has been done in a way that is sympathetic to its heritage and pedigree but a number of improvements have been incorporated that improve its usability and operation. The work included:
 - Replacement of all pipework, including broken main steam pipe
 - Refixing of cranks and wheels to axles to remove "wobble"
 - Removal of wear from the slide valve
 - Replacement of piston rings, gland seals and gaskets
 - Altered smokebox door so that it can be removed to allow access to interior
 - Improved floor in smokebox which can easily be made air-tight
 - Nozzle in blower pipe to improve efficiency and reduce steam usage
 - Water tanks balance pipe moved from cab to under boiler
 - Overflow pipe fitted to meths burner to avoid "floods"
 - Wicks replaced with modern wick material
 - Tanks made watertight
 - Replacement of cab with original design
 - Replacement of coal rails around meths tank top
 - Stripped to bare metal for repaint in satin dark blue edged in black and lined in white

This loco can be seen in "as received" condition as an inset on the larger picture.

Dating from the 1980s, this meths-fired Archangel loco had been bought at an auction but had not steamed for some time. The new owner asked us to do a full inspection and repair as necessary with a view to returning it to working order. A number of faults were found and corrected, including non-working pressure gauge, blocked blower, stuck clack valves and a missing cab step. The loco had its first run on a track for many years early in May 2010. A 4-page instruction booklet for the owner was also produced which explained the various controls and how to operate an internally-fired meths locomotive. Unfortunately, I was not asked to repaint the locomotive!

Certainly the oldest 16mm scale loco that has been here for work is this one ... an Archangel tram loco. When the current owner acquired it he was told that it had been built by Archangel, but there were no markings on the loco to suggest that that was the case. An email to Stewart Browne at Archangel confirmed that it had indeed been built by him. He kindly wrote, "The model is an impression of 'The Giants Causeway' tram loco. Two were built in the early seventies. The power plant is a Stuart Turner boiler and oscillating cylinder, chain drive, forward only!". Bearing in mind that it is over 40 years old I found it to be in remarkably good condition and it only needed some repairs to leaking pipework, repairs to the bodywork (which is mainly copper sheet) and a new set of wicks for the meths burner. It runs very nicely but it is fixed for 45mm gauge track. The only thing that had really suffered over the years was the paintwork so it was stripped back to bare metal and repainted in colours to match the original paintwork and lining. Hopefully it will be good for another 40 years now!

If there is a word that can be used to describe an Argyle Loco Works "Bantam" it might well be "cute". This one came here showing no signs of a lot of use, but definite signs of trauma.

The most noticeable fault was the bent frames. The loco's 0-4-0 wheelbase is only 55mm but it has an overall length of 285mm, meaning that it has a huge amount of overhang especially at the back end. Something had occurred that caused the rear of the frames to droop downwards so the loco was completely dismantled and the frames were straightened.

Another issue was that the entire gas system was missing. A new tank. control valve, burner jet and pipework were kindly supplied by Argyle.

Attention then turned to the paintwork. The original plan had been to retain the existing paint but my usual plan of a run through the dishwasher led to most of it coming off! The small remainder was stripped off and the loco was completely repainted. This included the frames, the insides of which are clearly visible, and so while the outside received a coat of black the inside received a coat of red.

Yellow lining with black edging was then applied, followed by reassembly and a steam test.

The initial email from the owner of this 16mm Assocation Victory asked me simply to repaint it from grey to satin black, and sort out the valve timing. He had bought the loco second-hand and was not responsible for its construction or choice of colour. Satin black is the colour I spray the most so it was not an issue to fit it in the other work going on at RHLW. However, I did ask the owner to strip the grey paint, which he did. When it arrived here the body was in bare brass but every piece of the etched brass detailing (rivet strips, beading, etc.) had detached and was loose in a box of bits. Enquiries with the owner revealed they had detached during the paint stripping process. I began to smell SuperGlue.

First job was to dismantle the body completely. What little solder there was - a few spot welds - was some odd stuff that my soldering iron would not melt. The rest was welded together with SuperGlue and several joints had failed. A few minutes with my big gas torch soon had the body returned to its component parts. It was then cleaned of all solder and SG residue and rebuilt from scratch using solder as the only adhesive, including for the detail parts, followed by a repaint and some simple lining.

The chassis needed more work than expected too, with various parts loose or not fixed correctly. The poor performance reported by the owner on this radio controlled loco was corrected by replacing the manual regulator for one designed for radio control.

The owner of this Victory had bought it as a kit several years ago, had assembled the chassis, but was now stuck with the rest of its construction. It arrived me with me as a complete chassis and sheets of etched brass bodywork. A number of errors were identified in the chassis and it was soon running sweetly, Although a small start had been made on the bodywork it was not to my standard so was dismantled, cleaned up, and then the whole body assembled. Two-channel radio control was also fitted.

These locos have some unusual design characteristics but they can be improved with a bit of thought, including using tapped holes or captive nuts in some of the fixing holes to avoid unnecessary fiddling about with loose nuts and bolts.

Diagram 085 Penryhn Slate Sled - Small Main Line Type
Diagram 084 Penryhn Slate Sled - Large Main Line Type

Diagram 089 Penryhn Runner Wagon - "Alan George" Type
Diagram 090 Penrhyn Coal Wagon - Early Type

Diagram 093 Penrhyn Rubbish Wagons - Splayed Sides, Wood Underframe, Early Type

Diagram 092 Penrhyn Rubbish Wagon - Parallel Sides, Wood Underframe, Early Type
Diagram 071 Penrhyn Slate Wagon - Wood Underframe

Diagram 071 Penrhyn Slate Wagons - Wood Underframe

Diagram 061 Penrhyn Fullersite Wagon - Hinged Sides
Diagram 063 Penrhyn Fullersite Wagon - Lift-Out Sides

Diagram 062 Penrhyn Fullersite Wagon – Lift-Out Sides and Ends
Diagram 091 Penrhyn Coal Wagon – Later End Door Type

Diagram 088 Penrhyn Runner Wagon – Shallow Buffer Headstock Type
Diagram 086A Penrhyn Slate Sled – Early Small Quarry Type

You can't win them all... The owner of this Bassett-Lowke Enterprise contacted me to see if I would be interested in restoring his loco to its former glory. The loco dates from the 1930s and he told me "It has had some adventures in its lifetime, but ran quite well until the meths burner leaked, and led to a fairly spectacular fire". The result of that fire is seen here. After fixing a number of leaks and refixing the cylinders to the frames, I did manage to get it running, but only eratically. I found that the safety valve threads in the brass boiler had partially stripped and so it was impossible to raise more than a few pounds of steam pressure. The wheels would rotate when the loco was suspended on blocks but it did not have enough power to drag itself along a track. The owner and I agreed that further repair was uneconomic.

Big Big Train plastic tipper wagon with slate chippings load, with steel wheels and red oxide and rust paint finish. The second photo shows a short rake of these wagons being hauled by a Saltford Models Simplex.

Binnie Engineering injection-moulded plastic Festiniog Railway wooden slate waggon with correct pattern three-hole wheels running in brass bearings. Total weight is about 112 grams. After completion they are spray painted in red oxide, either all over and numbered 475 or with a matt black underframe (as shown) and numbered 79, to represent the preserved waggons of this type.

Binnie Engineering injection-moulded plastic tipper (or skip) wagon with all joints made using Plastic Weld solvent. Correct pattern Slater's four-hole steel wheels running in brass bearings were also fitted. Total weight is about 63 grams.

The top photograph shows a red oxide skip after "rusting".

The lower photograph shows a set of five skips in pale blue with "rusting", with the nearest one being built on a GRAMODELS frame incorporating a dummy handbrake and brake gear. The appearance of these skips was based on those that were used at the Liverpool Corporation Waterworks filter beds near Oswestry.

Another kit assembly job, this time for a Bramble Line railcar. The body parts were formed to shape and soldered together, as shown here. The owner took on the task of turning it in to a fully-finished working model.

Some years later I was asked to assemble another one. However, this time the owner wanted it powered and fully-finished as part of the job. I do basic electrical work but I avoid anything to do with electronics and so assistance was sought and found. The assembled and very bare brass body was sent to Friog Railway Services who fitted it with bogies, a power unit, radio control and sound. It then came back to me for fitting of windows, removable roof, door and grab handles, roof ventilators, headlights, horns, replacement buffer beams and couplings. Finishing work included lots and lots of painting, fitting of floor coverings and installation of seats.

A Brandbright PS19 bogie carriage constructed and painted at the Rhos Helyg Locomotive Works.

These four tipper wagons were constructed from Brandbright Quality Quarry kits. They feature a white metal chassis with a brass and white metal tipping body and steel wheels.

Shown here are a pair of Burton Leech Jinties, ostensibly built for coarse scale O-gauge and which, despite their appearance, date from the 1980s. They have meths-fired pot boilers and are powered by a single cylinder and slip-eccentric valve gear between the frames. Neither had seen use for some time and one was found to be in reasonably good order after some attention to its burner wicks. The other was a different story and required attention to its piston, valve and several loose wheels to make it run. A replacement meths burner was also fabricated as its own was missing.

A bit of 16mm heritage... Mike Gaskin (Caterham Works) No. 8 ANT was here for attention after suffering from old-age and some accidental damage, including:
 - Manufacture and fitting of new coupling rods
 - Replacement of crank pins
 - Quartering and fixing of wheels
 - Valve setting
 - Replacement of meths burner wicks

The loco is powered by a single cylinder between the frames driving on to the rear crank axle. Slip-eccentic valve gear is used but it is unusual in that this is driven from the front axle.

The owner intends to deal with the bodywork repairs and a repaint.

This Mike Chaney loco was repainted from maroon in to gloss black with red lining.

Quite a rare machine this one. When comparing it with his other locos the current owner soon decided that something had to be done to reduce its overall height. We looked at dropping the boiler, smokebox and the cab down but this would have involved some difficult but not impossible major surgery to achieve due to the smokebox and plumbing arrangements on this loco. The eventual solution agreed was to remove 12mm from the height of the cab and the chimney. Fortunately the dome was already short enough to not need any modification. The original plan with the chimney had been to chop and sleeve it, retaining the original cap. However, after making the first cut the stovepipe look appealed to me and a quick check with the owner found that he agreed. A full repaint in the owner's fleet colours of satin black with red and blue lining followed along with an upgrade from 40MHz to 2.4GHz radio control using Saturn equipment. The large picture includes an inset of the loco as received here.

This Cheddar Models Samson, like the same owner's Hercules, has been lowered by about 12mm by reducing the height of the cab and chimney. The body, boiler and smokebox were repainted and lined.

Anything but tiny, Tiny Tim came here for replacement of various O-rings and adjustment of its lubricator control valves.

MAIA had been in store for a number of years before coming here for inspection and repair before being used again. A number of problems soon came to light, and all caused by use of exceptionally hard water at some point. Chalky deposits were everywhere, including the tender water tank. This had resulted in the tender hand pump, the whistle valve and the boiler filler Goodall valve all ceasing to function as they should. The bottom fitting on the boiler water gauge glass was also blocked, and so gave a false reading of the boiler water level. A thorough descale and clean improved matters, and the various fittings were individually cleaned and checked. While here it also had its regulator and reverser servos replaced (one was dead when it arrived), had a Summerlands chuffer pipe fitted and had a Yatton Models TRXS radio control system installed.

This Cheddar Models Samson came here for a general check over after purchase second-hand by its owner. All of the Cheddar Models locomotives were robustly built and beautifully engineered, although they do have their own particular quirks! It is a real shame that they are no longer manufactured. This one had a heavily scaled boiler, and the chalky deposits had blocked the passages to the water level gauge glass causing it to give a false reading. A couple of days treatment with descaler resolved that problem. It had also been fitted with a 40MHz radio control system that was prone to interference, so this was replaced with a Planet T5 2.4GHz system.

A few years later it returned for some accidental damage repairs and repainting of body, boiler and smokebox.

This is a BIG loco ... a model based on the Bowaters/Welshpool & Llanfair Bagnall 0-4-4-0T MONARCH. It came here for stripping back to bare metal and a repaint and lining in to the scheme carried by the full-size loco.

Cooper Craft injection-moulded plastic Festiniog Railway 2-ton slate waggon fitted with Brandbright steel axles and wheels and an underfloor weight to increase its weight to about 165 grams. After completion it was painted and "rusted".

Each wagon uses 100 individual copper and brass rivets in its construction, although all joints are soldered for extra strength. After completion they are painted with etch primer and then in a colour of the customer's choice, followed by weathering.

Four Penrhyn Quarry Fullersite waggons of two different designs made up from David Bailey Designs kits and then suitably aged and weathered.

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 loco came here in a non-authentic British Railways lined green livery so the bodywork was stripped back to bare metal and repainted in to the authentic Southern Railway scheme of green lined in black and white with yellow lettering (supplied David Bailey Designs) and correct pattern name and works plates (supplied by MDC). It was also converted from radio control to manual control and had a Summerlands chuffer pipe fitted.

As well as supplying their Lynton & Barnstaple 2-6-2T locos in ready-to-run form DJB Engineering also supplied them in kit form, and this loco is one of those. Cosmetically it was in rough condition when it arrived here but the paint hid a multitude of sins.

First job was to strip all of the paint, every last bit of it. Fortunately, no expense had been spared with the etch primer, in that there was no expense on etch primer and none had been used. Most of the paint had become detached from the brass and visibly moved when pressed with a thumb.

Bodywork construction was poor with many failing joints and fastenings and with some odd features which only left me thinking "Why did you do it like that?". A myriad of repairs later turned it in to a solid body that was square and not falling apart.

Painting then followed, in the rarely seen scheme used by the L&B between 1903 and 1913 and incorporating lots and lots and lots of lining.

DJB Engineering etched brass Penrhyn Quarry slate wagons featuring soldered construction for extra strength and with correct pattern curly spoked wheels running in brass axleboxes. After completion they are painted with etch primer and then in a colour of the customer's choice, followed by "rusting".

The owner of this coal-fired DJB Emma was not happy with the original cab so it was rebuilt with new sides with a Hunslet-style look. While here it also had attention to its axle-driven water pump, repair of tender and bogies, attention to valve gear and running gear and fabrication of a tender coal space that could actually be used to store coal. All of this was followed by stripping of all paint and a repaint in Deep Brunswick Green with yellow lining. My grateful thanks go to Paul Bailey at DJB Model Engineering for his assistance with the axle pump repair.

From this...

To this...

Life had not been kind or fair to this coal-fired DJB Robert. It came to me initially for some attention to the valve gear and cylinders, but subsequent discussions with the owner resulted in his agreement for a full and comprehensive rebuild of the loco in to something of which both he and I could be proud.

The loco was completely dismantled and returned to its component parts, including all of the bodywork. Each component was stripped of paint and repaired where necessary, including some major repairs to the cab and side tanks to make them "square" and fit for purpose.

As part of the process, a hand water pump has been placed in the left-hand side tank (accessible through the hole under the tool box), and provision has been made for full access to it in the unlikely event that the pump should fail in some way in the future.

The owner sent it back here two years later after it suffered a fall on to hard surface. It landed on the chimney, pushing it backwards and sideways, and also bending the bodywork and the frames. While the body and frames were relatively simple to correct the boiler was a different matter. The smokebox on these locos is an extension of the boiler barrel and so it was not easily removable or replaceable. On impact the chimney had collapsed the smokebox immediately in front of the boiler's front tubeplate and the copper had been stretched, preventing the chimney from being pulled back to vertical without the damage being visible. The damage also gave cause for concern as to the tubeplate's integrity. Consultation with DJB Engineering followed and it was decided that a replacement boiler was needed.

Work included straightening out the bodywork and frames, fitting the boiler and its fittings, replacing the cab roof and the dummy toolbox lid (replaced by a hinged flap) that had been lost by the owner, and all followed by a new coat of black paint.

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...

This coal-fired DJB Robert came here as a part-assembled kit, so I finished the assembly and painted it. This was followed by extensive testing and running-in before return to its owner in the USA.

An unfortunate accident befell this coal-fired DJB Robert when the front left-hand crank pin managed to unscrew itself. The loose coupling rod then caught on the track and pole-vaulted the loco off the raised trackbed on to the ground. The loco landed on the back right corner of the cab, which bent the cab but the regulator also took an impact sufficient to bend the steam turret on top of the firebox and also the regulator fitting on the turret.

The first task was to determine if the boiler damage could be repaired. RHLW does not have the facilities for such work and so the boiler was removed from the loco and sent to Shawe Steam Services for their attention. Fortunately it was possible to return the turret to vertical and make a new regulator connection. The boiler then had a hydraulic test to prove that all was well.

Knowing that all was well with the boiler work could then proceed with repairing the rest of the loco. The chassis had survived remarkably well and just needed a small twist removing and straightening of a buffer beam. The impact on the cab was sufficient to not only bend but also stretch the brass over the right-hand cab door. The existing brass was cut away and replaced with new. The bodywork was then stripped back to bare metal, minor dents were repaired and then repainted in maroon with cream lining and black edging.

The final picture shows the loco running on the track at Pecorama in Devon a few weeks later. (Photo by Paul Negus)

I don't know what it is about the DJB Model Engineering Ltd Robert, but they do seem to have a hard life. This is the third one that has been here for accident damage repair following an excess of gravity, or lack of support, in its immediate vicinity. This one looks to have landed upside down, with the the back of the cab taking the initial impact and ripping the cab roof off its hinges. The boiler also suffered, with the safety valve turret being pushed forward and to one side. On arrival here the loco was dismantled and the boiler went to Shawe Steam Services for straightening of the turret, testing and re-certification. With the bodywork I decided to try and keep as much of the original paint and lining as I could. The tanks and, surprisingly, the lower half of the cab had survived relatively unscathed so only the top half of the cab and the roof were actually stripped of the original paint. Much gentle heating, hammering and rolling later the cab and its roof were returned to their original shape and painted and lined to match the rest of the loco.

The DJB Engineering Robert is a fine kit for a coal-fired model locomotive, but my customer wanted his to be something a little different. The result is shown here.

The standard Robert model has the side tanks aligned with the front of the smokebox but a completely different look was achieved by moving them back towards the cab. The necessitated modifications to the tank undersides to accommodate the Hackworth valve gear together with different mountings and pipework arrangements. A Roundhouse George tender was added to carry coal. The loco was painted in satin finish bronze green and black.

Another variation on how to do the tanks on a DJB Robert... This one had been built from a kit and was acquired second-hand by the current owner. The first picture shows the loco in as received condition, complete with spacer blocks added between the front of the cab and the rear of the side tanks. Both the owner and I were rather taken by these but they were poorly made and had to go. They were replaced by the dummy coal bunkers shown in the later photos, firmly attached to the cab front and complete with matching rivet details.

Another change made to the tanks was removal of the fairing that encircled the smokebox front, leaving the tanks' inner edges vertical.

The original builder had made the cab back removable but this weakened the cab structure and necessitated a complicated roof hinge to allow the removal of the rear panel. Neither the owner or I could see the point of all this so it was rebuilt in standard configuration.

All of the paint was removed and the loco then received coats of etch primer, bronze green and black with orange lining.

Another Robert, built here from a kit, and again featuring the the dummy coal bunker sections between the cab front and the back of the water tanks, filling the gap nicely and changing the look significantly.

This is the fourth DJB Robert that has been here for accident repairs. They are heavy locos so when they fall on to a hard surface the damage can be severe. Despite the evidence in the first photo, this coal-fired one didn't actually suffer too badly in that no boiler damage was incurred, with only a bent blower valve spindle to deal with. The rest of the impact was absorbed by the body work, and mainly the cab. The second picture shows it after bashing back in to shape and a full strip and repaint based on the livery carried by the full-size LYN. New name plates by MDC to replace the wooden originals finished the job nicely.

Some of you may have read my "getting ready to retire" article in 16mm Today (SMT) magazine (No. 190). In it I wrote about lining locos and said "I know my skill limits and have no hesitation in recommending others to take on the job if I consider myself unworthy. Victorian Maroon Double-Fairlies spring to mind.".

This splendid model of Double-Fairlie Little Wonder was built by the very talented Graham Duncan-Smith. He sent me the bodywork which was then painted in Victorian Maroon and lined appropriately. (Photo by Graham Duncan-Smith)

The bodywork for this NGG11 Garratt was painted and lined in a scheme carried by the full-size loco. (Photo by Graham Duncan-Smith)

The Hunslet Engine Company of Leeds is well-known for its Quarry Hunslet 0-4-0 saddle tanks. Although they all looked very much the same, there were many different types of Quarry Hunslet as they varied in size, power and a whole host of detail differences. Synonymous with North Wales, large fleets of Quarry Hunslets were used in the Penrhyn slate quarries near Bethesda and at the Dinorwic slate quarries near Llanberis, with correspondingly smaller numbers to be found at the smaller quarries such as Pen-yr-Orsedd and Dorothea. However, Hunslet also produced many similar but less famous locomotives for use elsewhere in the UK and abroad. IANTHE, seen here, could be one of those.

IANTHE is a converted ELR Engineering Large Quarry Hunslet that came here direct from the builders for fitting of a cab to the owner's design followed by painting and lining. A test steaming on arrival showed that it ran very nicely but there were some assembly and alignment issues concerning the chimney, smokebox and saddle tank which, at the owner's request, I spent some time dealing with before proceeding with the work we had planned. The loco came here largely unpainted, and the few parts that had been painted were stripped and then primed and painted along with all of the unpainted parts. Lining in blue and red followed to match the several other locos in the owner's fleet that carry this scheme.

Like IANTHE, the owner of this one also wanted a cab on his loco but in the traditional style used by Hunslet and some tourist railways. The cab is a completely new fabrication but incorporates the lower rear panel and sliding doors originally supplied with the loco. Also like IANTHE, this loco had some unfortunate construction and alignment issues concerning the chimney, boiler and saddle tank which, at the owner's request, I corrected before proceeding with the rest of the work we had planned. Again, many nuts and bolts were replaced with tapped holes or captive nuts, especially the ones that secure the saddle tank in place which, combined with the new cab and a few adjustments, give a much stronger fastening. The loco came here already painted black with Penrhyn-style lining but due to the nature and extent of the work involved it was necessary to strip the bodywork and footplating back to bare metal, repaint in satin black and apply new lining.

This was the third ELR Engineering Quarry Hunslet to come here for attention. Unfortunately it needed the same rectification and modification work as the other two but a cab was not fitted this time. Working under specific instructions from the owner, this work included:
 - Straightening of the chimney to make it vertical
 - Modified saddle tank fixings to allow it to sit level
 - Replacement of most loose nuts with tapped holes or captive nuts
 - Fixing of chimney cap and safety valve collar with solder instead of glue
 - Stripping of flaking paint
 - Replacement of broken/missing/misaligned boiler fixing stud
 - Modification to rear doors to avoid them falling off the loco when picked up
 - Modification to safety valve turret
 - Replacement of lubricator filler cap with Roundhouse Engineering equivalent

It was then repainted in to a Dinorwic Quarry-style livery of maroon with red lining.

Another ELR Engineering Quarry Hunslet has been on my bench for attention. Others that have been here have run very well, despite their many shortcomings in other areas, but this one was reported by the owner to be off-beat. After checking that the slip-eccentrics were not the cause of the problem my diagnosis was that a valve head was in need of repositioning on its spindle. Unfortunately with these particular models there is no easy way to achieve this without completely dismantling the locomotive. Removing the bodywork, boiler and footplating allowed access to the valve chests and after half a turn of one valve buckle perfect running was restored. The time then came to reassemble it...

You can read above about the issues that I have found with other locos of the same type, and this one exhibited much the same, along with a saddle tank which was coming apart at the seams. With the owner's consent it then went through the normal programme of bodywork modifications and adjustments followed by stripping of all paint, repainting and lining in the earlier Penrhyn Quarries scheme.

A representation of a Darjeeling Himalaya Railway A-Class built by Elstow Engineering.

The eight A-Class (formerly No. 2 Class) locos were delivered by Sharp Stuart (and Hunslet) to the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in 1879 and 1880. They were the forerunners to the larger, more familiar and much-loved B-Class.

The third and fourth pictures show the model as it was delivered. lt came here for testing, extensive modifications and repainting at the request of the owner.

My sincere thanks go to Shawe Steeam Services for their considerable help with this project.

And that is all I have to say.

The bodywork from this Essel Engineering model of the Festiniog Railway's diesel locomotive came here for repainting.

The second picture shows the loco after reassembly by its owner. (Photo by Robert Chisholm)

ELR Engineering converted this standard Roundhouse "Jack" 0-4-0ST to coal-firing. It came here for a check-over, service and repaint. As is usual with these things, the job list grew a little and ended up looking something like this:
 - Restoration of axle water pump to working order.
 - Modification of the saddle tank filler cap to give a positive fixing, rather than depending on gravity.
 - Fitting of Swift Sixteen buffer beam overlays.
 - Modification of the cab roof to prevent scratching of paint on cab front.
 - Unblocking of boiler water gauge glass bottom pipe.
 - Descale of the boiler.
 - Recalibration of safety valve for 60psi operation.
 - Various modifications to ease future disassembly and maintenance.
 - Fixing of a water leak from the saddle tank.
 - Stripping of paint from body, roof, smokebox, etc.
 - Application of etch primer, satin black, Victorian Maroon and red/black lining.

All of this was followed by a thorough testing session to make sure all was well.

For those that wish to economise on the running of their passenger services, here is a possible alternative to steam power. This battery-powered unit is made up of three Faller railcars mounted on Lima bogies.

Control originally was a simple Forwards-Off-Reverse switch but this was soon replaced with radio control taken from a toy car. This has since been replaced with an Mtroniks Viper electronic speed control coupled to a Planet radio control receiver.

Sometimes it is an absolute pleasure to do work on a loco, and those produced by Finescale Engineering definitely fall in to that category. LEAMINGTON SPA is a Finescale Peckett 0-4-0ST and it came here for remedying of its poor performance issues. Worn piston rings, a stuck slide valve head and a faulty safety valve all contributed, and normal sewing machine-type performance was restored after correcting these issues. Just lovely...

This 20-year old locomotive was showing its age and was looking a little scruffy. The owner specified that it was to be restored to its original as-new condition, so it was stripped back to bare metal and repainted in gloss blue with cream lining, but with blue cylinder covers instead of black.

This Finescale Engineering Quarry Hunslet had suffered some impact damage to its rear end, causing the cab back sheet to part company with the footplate and the paintwork to be scratched. This cab back was repaired and the cab, footplate and saddle tank were then stripped back to bare metal and repainted in satin black with Penrhyn-style lining. Doing this allowed me to make a couple of changes to the loco as supplied in that I added lining to the cab front panels and also positioned the name plates in the slightly odd positions in which they were and are carried by the full-size loco (GWYNEDD, for example, has them higher up the tank side and further towards the front).

This loco was completely dismantled and stripped back to bare metal. It was then resprayed with etch primer and satin black. followed by lining in the Penrhyn Quarry Railway's scheme.

This delightful Finescale Engineering Quarry Hunslet had not been used for a few years so it came here for some attention. Included in this work was freeing and repair of the regulator handle which was seized solid in its housing, unblocking of the pressure gauge syphon pipe and adjustment of the valve timing to improve backwards running. The first two issues were caused by deposits from hard water, and so the boiler had a descale too.

After 20-odd years of use, this Finescale Engineering Quarry Hunslet had lost its usual impeccable performance and was struggling to pull a train. Examination revealed that the slip-eccentric valve gear had worn out and was preventing the cylinder steam valves from opening fully. Repair work included fitting of new slip-eccentrics, coupling and connecting rods, axles and crank pins. It also received a respray in satin black of the smokebox, boilere, footplating and cylinder covers. Gorgeous...

Lady Madcap came here for application of satin black to the smokebox, footplating, boiler and firebox, and the addition of a spacer between the rear of the smokebox and the front of the saddle tank that fills an unsightly gap.

WINIFRED is a Finescale Engineering Quarry Hunslet and came here in as-new gloss black with blue and red lining. It received a coat of satin clear to the tank and cab panels, a coat of satin black to smokebox, footplating, chimney cap and handrails, and a coat of red on the cranks and rods. It looks a bit more quarry-like now...

This loco came here for repainting from black in to blue with red and black lining.

This delightful model of a Glyn Valley Tramway loco was built by Finescale Engineering in the early 1990s and came here for a number of repairs, including:
 - Leaking meths burner
 - Leaking lubricator
 - Pressure gauge not working correctly
 - Reversing lever jamming
 - Safety valve unreliable

The meths burner was also serviced and modified so that the boiler could supply enough steam for the 2-cylinder power unit as a second cylinder had been added to improve its performance.

The three main body parts for this diesel loco were sent here by Friog Railway Services for painting in green and lining in red with black edging.

The second picture shows the loco after completion. (Photo by Rob Brown)

Another Friog Punch, painted in green and lined in red with black edging. (Photo by Phil Roberts)

An unusual machine, VICTORIA is meths-fired and is powered by a 2-cylinder oscillating engine driving a gear on the front jackshaft. It was purchased by the current owner at the 1988 16mm Association AGM. The works plates read GREEN / 1987 / ENGINEERS and the plate on the front reads NERRISGECH SLATE QUARRY, so not giving any huge clues as to who built it. However, an appeal for information on Facebook soon found the builder: Chris Green. Chris kindly wrote, "I built it in 1987. The oscillating engine was as built for me by Dave Baker, who is better known for Gauge 1 locos. It's very roughly based on a Sentinel quarry loco. I sold it to Tennents Model Shop in Halesowen, who then sold it on at the AGM. I used the funds to purchase my first lathe. As for Nerrisgech Slate quarry, you will have difficulty finding it in any books, but take a little look at the letters in my name. Glad to see it is still running after 30 years.". It came to me for a full strip and repaint, an overhaul of the steam engine to improve its running and prevent leaks, and replacement of the burner wicks.

Repainted, lined and fitted with Accucraft couplings...

David Hick made a number of these gas-fired Peckett 0-4-0ST locos in the 1980s and this one was bought on behalf of a model locomotive collector in the USA and shipped to him shortly afterwards. It changed ownership in 2012, but when the new owner tried to run it he found a few problems after its years of storage, and the plain pea green paintwork was looking very tired. After going through the process of registering Rhos Helyg Loco Works as an authorised temporary importer of goods for repair (and the acquisition of an EORI number from HM Revenue & Customs) the owner and I made the necessary arrangements for it to cross the Atlantic once again. I found and corrected problems with the valve timing and the safety valve, and followed this by a full repaint and lining in the scheme shown here. The job was completed with the name and works plates supplied by MDC. Gorgeous!

This loco came here as the proverbial box of bits, with a request that it was assembled and tested in steam. The task included supplying the many missing components (gaskets, O-rings, screws, gauge glass) and some modifications to the cab layout to accomodate a gas fuel tank.

This carriage is one of three identical models built from I P Engineering's Festiniog Railway No. 15/16 kits and painted in a livery based on that used on some carriages at the Markeaton Park Light Railway in Derby.

These two carriages were built for a customer in Australia from I P Engineering kits. The roofs were deliberately not fixed on before shipping so that the customer could add internal detailing.

The second picture shows them after completion at their home in Australia. (Photo by Julia Bell)

The first picture shows an I P Engineering cattle wagon which was built here and then painted and weathered. The second picture shows a cattle wagon that was built to 45mm gauge for a customer who wanted it to match his Accucraft Welshpool & Llanfair wagons in Great Western livery and so it was painted to match. It features Accucraft chopper couplings and opening side doors hinged at the bottom and held closed by chained pins.

I P Engineering MOD Low Loader constructed, painted and weathered.

My first ever 16mm/foot scale loco was a Brian Clarke / Saltford Models Simplex battery diesel. For the few pounds they cost Saltford sent a motor, wheels, axles, a switch, a selection of whitemetal castings and comprehensive instructions. The bodywork was made from styrene sheet (not provided in the kit) and it was a couple of evening's work to cut out all the bits, glue them together and end up with a working loco. Other locos featured in the Saltford range and I am sure I am not alone in following that introductory route to modelling in our scale.

My Saltford Simplex lasted me well but various impacts (one caused by a cat flicking it off a shelf on to the floor) had caused much damage to the bodywork and so it was retired for a major repair a few years ago. Subsequent investigation revealed that it was slowly returning to its component parts and so I decided to rebuild it completely, but this time in brass rather than styrene. As a wet North Walian Sunday afternoon job I made a start but other projects came along and it got forgotten.

And then I P Engineering announced their Leighton Buzzard sand quarry Simplex diesel kit and I thought it looked so much nicer than anything I could be bothered to make, so I bought and built the one shown here. The kit is almost entirely made of whitemetal and features a wealth of detail, such as rivets and the emergency door handle. I chose to solder the parts together for extra strength, and I also incorporated some of the whitemetal castings from my original Saltford loco, such as the starting handle and the diesel engine details.

Being a loco built for myself, of course I was always going to make some changes to the kit as supplied. The engine bonnet had rounded edges front and back (as used on a cabless Simplex) and so it was squared-off at its back end, as most of the Leighton Buzzard locos seem to have that arrangement. I also added the protective mesh on the front right. I turned the radiator around so that the cores are on the left of the loco and the fan is in the middle, again as that seems to be common at Leighton Buzzard. The window on the left cab side is unusual but I decided to leave it in place. I also replaced the switches either side (one for off/on, one for forward/reverse) with a single centre-off slide switch.

There were two quarry operators at Leighton Buzzard: Garside's and Arnold's. Although the liveries were similar (green with white details) I chose the Garside livery for my model and in keeping with their policy of naming locos after famous horses I applied an appropriate name.

Kestrel plastic tipper wagon with steel wheels and red oxide and rust paint finish.

A few repairs and modifications were made to this Locobox Afrikaans Garratt. The main change was to the front and rear pony trucks which now sport dummy axle box details, instead of the "naked wheel" arrangement that they used to have. The dummy axleboxes fitted to this loco are designed to cope with regauging from 32mm to 45mm, and vice versa. The repairs included remaking some of the soldered joints on the cab and tanks which had failed due to flexing of the bodywork.

A few years later the bodywork components of this locomotive returned here for repainting in satin black. The second photo shows it after reassembly by its owner. (Photo by Richard Hay)

Imagine if the Penrhyn slate quarries had flourished beyond everybody's wildest dreams, they might have ended up with one of these for working trains on the Main Line to Porth Penrhyn. Well, maybe. This is a Locobox Garratt that came here for conversion from radio to manual control, a few changes to its appearance including a proper smokebox door and the rear headlight moved from cab roof to the coal bunker, and a repaint in to Penrhyn livery. The repaint proved rather problematic as the original thick coat of green paint returned to a semi-liquid state when the black was first applied, and then set solid again. Needless to say, this did not give an acceptable finish and so the whole green and black sticky mess had to be completely removed - a filthy and very time-consuming job. Worth the effort though...

The owner of this fine machine sent it here for a service, some minor repairs and some attention to its paintwork. The original couplings were also replaced with I P Engineering centre buffer/hook type on specially-made mounting plates.

This particular model of Cackler by Locomotion was being a bit of a problem child and so it came here for some attention. The main problems concerned the pistons and valves, with the former so tight in their bores that it was almost impossible to rotate the wheels and the latter having a propensity to dismantle themselves at every opportunity. These issues were corrected, but still the problems continued with a steam leak in the smokebox, a blocked boiler water gauge, faulty gas burner and a safety valve that was anything but safe. The safety valves on these locos are unusual in that they rely on a spring under tension (rather than compression) for their operation, and the spring on this one "let go" of its top fitting in spectacular style during a bench test run. Fortunately it was working on compressed air at the time and there was no hot water or steam involved! The safety valve was successfully rebuilt and recalibrated by Shawe Steam Services.

Two more Locomotion Cacklers came here for similar repairs. It seems that once they get to a certain age they seem to have similar problems involving degradation of the O-rings used on the live steam supply to the valve chests and of the piston rings. This degradation then causes steam leaks under the smokebox and "blow by" of steam to the pistons, so causing poor performance. They had all of these O-rings replaced with modern equivalents and the performance returned to how it should be.

While here the top one also had its red lining re-applied as the original lining had worn or faded so much that it was almost invisible.

The bottom one proved to be even more troublesome in that it needed some modifications to the slidebar brackets to make the chassis run freely. The gas burner also received attention to make it work better and quieter than it did, including the removal of an ageing in-line filter that was causing more gas jet blockages than it was meant to prevent. Repairs to the smokebox door, cab handrails and the roof hinges were meant to complete the job. However, after leaving the gas tank full one evening and then finding it completely empty the next morning some remedial action was needed to the tank and two separate leaks were repaired with silver solder.

This loco first came here a few years ago for attention to the poor running characteristics unfortunately common in these locos. The usual battle with the cylinder end covers and their steel 10BA screws snapping when unscrewed followed. Fitting a new set of the correct type of piston O-rings soon had the loco running again as it should, and that was about all I did. Four years later, and the same loco was back on my bench having changed owners in the meantime. The new owner wanted it to be fitted with single-channel (regulator only) radio control, more detailing (lubricators, pipework, cab vents, etc.) and a repaint in to the maroon lined in red scheme that the full-size loco carried while at Dinorwic Quarry in North Wales.

The bodywork for this loco came here for a repaint in to the maroon lined in red scheme that the full-size loco carried while at Dinorwic Quarry in North Wales. (Photo by Gareth Jones)

The proverbial Box Of Bits can always be a challenge, especially when there are no instructions, few others around of the same type to copy and the box contains bits from more than one kit. Such was the case with this one, which eventually turned in to a model of Penrhyn Quarry's Avonside 0-4-0T MARCHLYN.

I've had a couple of the similar Maxwell Hemmens Ogwen/Marchlyn locos here, but this one was made by Roger Marsh so there are a few differences. I started by finishing assembly of the chassis and running it on compressed air. I then put enough bits on to get it running on steam. The chassis ran nicely but the boiler was not so good. The pressure gauge pipe was fractured where it was soldered directly in to the boiler, and the backhead water gauge glass was also leaking. Not something I can fix, so the boiler went off to Shawe Steam Services for repair. The pressure gauge pipe can now be easily removed from the boiler should the need arise, and a different and better method of retaining the backhead in place has also been used.

Meanwhile, I removed the poorly applied paint and applied etch primer, black with Penrhyn lining and red detailing, all followed by reassembly to give the result shown.

The body (only) of this loco came here for repainting in satin black with the smokebox, cab roof and tank tops finished in matt black. (Photo by Dave Billmore)

The bodywork parts for this Merlin Major were sent here for painting and lining in the colour and style carried by the Rudyard Lake Railway's locomotive KING ARTHUR. The owner then completed the assembly of his locomotive and the superb result is shown here. The lower picture shows the painted and lined parts. (Photo by Keith Greenwood)

The bodywork parts for this Merlin Mayflower were sent here for painting in Victorian Maroon and lining in cream. The owner then completed the assembly of his locomotive and the superb result is shown here. The lower picture shows the painted and lined parts. (Photo by Keith Greenwood)

This Merlin Midas came here for a replacement pressure gauge syphon pipe and a repaint from chipped and scratched maroon into pristine maroon, complete with black tank tops.

This Merlin Minstrel came here for stripping and repainting of the boiler and bodywork in to the Great Eastern Railway-inspired scheme of dark satin blue with red and black lining shown here, along with the obligatory white cab roof. The side tanks are made of tinplate and the cab from brass, and it also has a brass boiler. The paintwork on the frames was left for the owner's attention, at his request.

The owner of this Merlin Minstrel had decided to replace the original gas tank and burner with replacement items from Roundhouse Engineering, and to upgrade the radio control system. Unfortunately circumstances then prevented him from finishing the job, so he sent it here. Various brackets were made to fix the gas tank and the burner firmly in place, a single-channel 2.4GHz radio control system was installed, the now unused holes in the cab roof were filled and the roof was repainted.

The owner of this 1980s Merlin Monarch reported it to be "a bit wobbly" when running. Investigation revealed that the axles and their frame holes were badly worn so new inner axleboxes were made and fitted. It was found that the valve timing was out and this was corrected by making a replacement valve rod for one side. Brass pistons with O-ring seals replaced the original worn plastic pistons. Attention to the gas filler valve, pressure gauge and safety valve made it usable once more.

This delightful model of the WHR's Russell was built by Paul Millington in 1997 and came here for a number of repairs, including:
 - One tank filler lid missing (copy made)
 - Loose cylinders
 - Leaking valve chest
 - Pressure gauge not working
 - Axle pump not working
 - Boiler clack valve not seating
 - Boiler gauge glass giving false readings

All of these issues were corrected and it was returned to the sewing machine-like performance for which Paul's locos are renowned. Lovely!

Morgan Locomotive Works Garratt No. 15 had a more substantial cab fitted before being repainted in to green with white lining and black edging.

Garratts have a reputation for being big and long locos, but not this one as it is barely 15 inches long. It is powered by a 2-cylinder oscillator steam motor mounted under the boiler, with power provided to each end by drive shafts and universal joints. It is beautifully made and a credit to its builder. It came here for a repaint in to green with yellow and black lining.

The bodywork for a Morgan Garratt painted and lined in a Great Eastern Railway scheme.

VICTOR was repainted in "Improved Engine Green" (yellow ochre), lined in white with black edging, and finished off with a satin clear coat.

A number of repairs were performed on this exquisite machine, including:
 - Replacment of piston O-rings
 - Resetting of valve timing
 - Replacement of boiler water gauge seals
 - Servicing and recalibration of pressure gauge

A few years later another one came here for much the same attention.

This Garratt runs on 45mm gauge track and uses two Accucraft Dora chassis as power units. It came to me initially for repainting and lining but, as usual, it turned in to a bigger project.

Unusually, only the front power unit actually worked. The rear unit was a stripped Dora chassis that consisted of not much more than frame, wheels, axles and rods. The current owner sourced another complete Dora chassis and that was then modified using parts from the unpowered unit and fitted to the loco, together with the necessary live and exhaust steam pipework. It was also found that the front unit was extremely sluggish when running and some modifications were made to the existing exhaust pipework to eliminate the back pressure that was causing the slow running.

The cab roof was modified to ensure a better fit, and a couple of additional boiler bands were fitted to break up an otherwise long and plain boiler.

Finally, the paint was removed from the cab, bunker, tank, frame, boiler and smokebox and then repainted in blue with red lining and black edging.

This Pearse Genesis 0-6-0T came to me for some repairs, enhancements, a radio control upgrade and a complete repaint from black to the blue scheme seen here.

A very sought after machine, this model of Leeds No. 1 came here for a service and some minor repairs. Unfortunately the owner wanted it back...

The bodywork and boiler from this Pearse Welshpool & Llanfair Railway No. 14 came here for repainting and lining. The parts were finished in the blue scheme with orange and red lining and carried by No. 14 a few years ago. (Photos by Simon Whenmouth and Rob Griffiths)

This one is a few years old and came with a litany of faults, including a broken gauge glass joint, blocked boiler gauge glass, detached main steam pipe, missing cosmetic details and a non-functioning safety valve. While testing the latter I turned the fire off when it reached 80+ psi. Dismantling revealed a completely corroded internal spring, so the valve was functioning as a plug and nothing more.

About 30 years ago, on a Friday evening during the summer you would invariably find me playing trains at my good friend Edward Hodson's line in Staffordshire. On occasions we would also be joined by the late John Prescott, and John would usually bring his latest creation for a run. I remember when he brought early builds of his Robin 0-4-0 side tanks and saddle tanks along, which I admired greatly, and especially the way he had managed to cram clunky 1980s radio control in to such a small loco. Sadly, a Robin of either kind has never come my way but it was still nice to have one here for a short period for some work. This one came here for conversion from radio to manual control and a full repaint. Absolutely delightful!

It is always nice to work on something a bit special, a bit unusual, and John Prescott's locos definitely meet that criteria. This Robin came here for conversion to manual control, a repaint, lining and addition of a scratch-built tender.

PUFFLING was built by the late John Prescott in 1993 and is a fine example of his Robin type. John made several model loco types but this one (also available with a saddle tank instead of side tanks) and Wagtail (with a small tender) are perhaps the most common of some not very common models. PUFFLING came here for a general check over which included attention to its safety valve to stop it blowing "light", unblocking of the pressure gauge syphon pipe and a boiler descale. As is usual for John's locos it ran like the proverbial sewing machine. Absolutely gorgeous, but unfortunately the owner asked for it to be returned to him...

Festiniog Railway 3-ton slate waggons using a 3D-printed body from PVMR Engineering and Slater's axle boxes and wheels.

The owner of this Regner Willi had had problems with keeping the gas burner alight. It worked fine when first lit but soon started to splutter and would eventually go out. He also reported seeing water leaking from around the burner housing once the loco got warm. After examination here it turned out these two events were not unconnected. The boiler used on Willi is a remarkably complicated fabrication, bearing in mind the simplicity of the loco it powers. It has seven bushes, four vertical tubes and a burner flue that is blocked at one end. The latter is soldered to the inside of the boiler barrel at its blocked end. Removal of the boiler from the loco allowed me to do a pressure test and that soon revealed that all was not well with that flue joint, allowing water in to the flue which extinguished the burner. A call to John at Shawe Steam Services confirmed what I thought already: The boiler was not repairable. Options for a new boiler were explored and fortunately Regner dealers Garden Railways Limited in Bishops Stortford had one available for immediate purchase at a very reasonable price. Immediate purchase followed, and it arrived here the next day. It was then a case of swapping the wooden boiler cladding and all the fittings from the old boiler to the new to return the loco to full working order.

A much-modified Regner Konrad: A previous owner removed the flywheel and replaced it with a second cylinder. My task was to build a new cab for it, followed by a full strip and repaint in to maroon lined in yellow and black. The current owner had thought that the rather nice tender was no longer needed but I persuaded him to keep it with the loco. However, it has been coupled in such a way that the loco can be used with or without it.

This Regner Konrad was modified for 7/8ths-scale by Harvey Watkins. It had its bodywork stripped and repainted in to blue with red and black lining.

This Regner Vincent had a Hunslet-inspired cab fitted and was repainted in Penrhyn-style black with blue and red lining.

This Regner Vincent was rebuilt and painted by Dampfatelier in Switzerland before coming here for lining in a Penrhyn-style scheme.

The owner of this Regner Willi had had problems with keeping the gas burner alight. It worked fine when first lit but soon started to splutter and would eventually go out. He also reported seeing water leaking from around the burner housing once the loco got warm. After examination here it turned out these two events were not unconnected. The boiler used on Willi is a remarkably complicated fabrication, bearing in mind the simplicity of the loco it powers. It has seven bushes, four vertical tubes and a burner flue that is blocked at one end. The latter is soldered to the inside of the boiler barrel at its blocked end. Removal of the boiler from the loco allowed me to do a pressure test and that soon revealed that all was not well with that flue joint, allowing water in to the flue which extinguished the burner. A call to John at Shawe Steam Services confirmed what I thought already: The boiler was not repairable. Options for a new boiler were explored and fortunately Regner dealers Garden Railways Limited in Bishops Stortford had one available for immediate purchase at a very reasonable price. Immediate purchase followed, and it arrived here the next day. It was then a case of swapping the wooden boiler cladding and all the fittings from the old boiler to the new to return the loco to full working order.

This Regner Wilma came here in red with a brown boiler. It was repainted in blue lined in red to match other locos in the owner's collection.

This loco started life as a Sabre Steam UK coal-fired Annette, based on the successful Roundhouse Lady Anne chassis and bodywork. It was sent brand-new and direct from Sabre Steam for lining and a few other cosmetic jobs. A photo of it in its finished condition can be found in the elsewhere in this section.

While it was here, the owner asked for it to be tested in steam just to make sure that all was well. It wasn't. The loco would hardly move itself before running out of steam pressure as the fire died, and it was forever fighting steam and water leaks.

It was returned to Sabre for 2 months who then sent it direct to its owner, where it was found to still exhibit most of the same faults that I had found, plus one or two new ones. By this time Sabre Steam were starting to go out of business, and so the loco came back here for whatever attention was needed to make it work reliably.

After much thought and discussion, and with the boiler (an item bought-in by Sabre) appearing to be sound, a complete rebuild was found to be the only way forward for this particular loco. Anything less would always have been a compromise. The work included:
 - Smokebox blast pipe/blower pipe arrangements re-designed to improve draughting.
 - Fire grate replaced with improved design to avoid clogging with ash.
 - Steam blower valve mounting on turret improved to give stronger fixing.
 - Steam pipe connections remade with silver (hard) solder instead of soft solder.
 - Axle-driven water pump replaced with pump supplied by DJB Engineering.
 - All water circuit pipework checked for leaks and repaired where necessary.
 - All silicone water circuit pipework replaced with copper tube.
 - Scoring damage repaired on cylinder slide valves surfaces.
 - Valve setting adjusted for optimum performance in both directions.
 - Water tanks rebuilt to give capacity increase and to stop leaks when full.
 - Stay added across top of side tanks to increase rigidity of bodywork.
 - Bodywork and boiler stripped to bare metal and repainted.
 - Roundhouse George tender supplied, built and painted to match loco.

There is very little left of the original Sabre workmanship and so this locomotive now carries Rhos Helyg Loco Works - Rebuilt 2011 works plates.

This is an example of Riverdale's coal-fired Elke model, which is based on the Roundhouse Billy, and combined with a Roundhouse George tender. The owner was struggling to get it finished due to lack of time and other issues so the unfinished kit was sent to me for assembly, painting and testing. Included in this work was the assembly of the cylinders and mechanical parts, fitting of three-channel radio control, a whistle, uprated safety valve from Shawe Steam Services, a tender fall plate and Locoworks footplate sections. It was painted in satin finish Darjeeling blue with cream lining and grey roof, and the only gloss paint used on the whole loco was the red on the axle cranks! Name, number and works plates were provided by MDC.

The chassis and a few other components from a Riverdale coal-fired Irene came to me as a box of bits, so the chassis (a Roundhouse Katie chassis with a few modifications) was assembled and tested and the boiler wrapper was reduced in length and had an additional hole cut to suit the Riverdale boiler. These and the other bits were then etch-primed and painted.

MOUNTAINEER has long been a favourite loco at the Festiniog Railway, and it was certainly one of my favourites to drive when I worked there. Its appearance has changed significantly over the years, particularly with regards to the cab. From the late 1960s until 1983 it carried a cab with sloping upper sides but there were some issues with this design so the upper cab was replaced with one having a narrower profile and based loosely on those used on the Double Fairlies.

Roundhouse Engineering introduced a superb model of the loco in 2012 depicting it in its post-1983 form with the narrower cab but the owner of this particular Roundhouse model wanted his to have the earlier cab design. The model has a boiler and extended smokebox that are based on Mountaineer's superheated boiler fitted in May 1982 so this provided a very specific time frame for the modifications to the model: 1982. This was the only year that the full-size loco operated with the new superheated boiler (indicated by extended smokebox), oil firing (tank in bunker), big name plates (it had much smaller ones before) and the slope-sided cab.

Models of Mountaineer in this form are common in the larger scales (3½ inch and 5 inch gauges in particular) but there seem to be relatively few in 16mm/foot scale. Many years ago Steamcraft made a model based very loosely on Mountaineer and there are some built-to-order models around that pre-date the Roundhouse model.

For those of you who are considering making a similar modification to your own loco the instructions start like this: Take one Roundhouse Mountaineer, apply hacksaw...

It can, and sometimes is, argued that green Festiniog Railway locomotives are not green at all: they are black with green panels edged in red. This Roundhouse Mountaineer is owned by a former FR footplate colleague and so both he and I know the full-size Mountaineer very well. I certainly have many happy memories of this fine loco ... 8 well-loaded carriages, off the spiral, round Dragon Curve, give it some regulator, and oh, the wondrous racket it made! Before it came to me for paintwork attention the owner of the model added some nice extra details, such as correct pattern front cylinder covers with pressure relief valves, a beautifully made reproduction of the chime whistle on front of the cab, correct layout of lids and handrails on the sand domes, and with more to come in due course. The loco came to me in basic factory-finish green (with a black boiler) but, and referring to my opening comment, there was just too much green. To produce a model based on Mountaineer's condition in the early-1990s required application of black paint to the upper cab and cab front, tank tops and backs and side footplates. A bit of additional green was also needed as the cylinder covers were supplied black. Lining in red and an all-over satin clear coat followed, finished off by a cream and black cab interior, red cranks and, of course, black wheels. Beast...

Sent here direct from the Roundhouse Engineering factory, this model of MOUNTAINEER arrived in plain gloss black livery. The simple red lining scheme that the full-size locomotive received in 1998 was applied together with Festiniog Railway crests. The wheels were painted black and the cranks were painted red to complete the cosmetic make-over, and a Summerlands chuffer pipe was fitted before sending on to its owner.

Always nice to help out when I can...

DRAGONFLY is a 10-year old Roundhouse "Mountaineer" and is used mainly by children and residents of a care home for people with brain injuries and learning difficulties. It was having a few issues simply caused by ageing. Haulage power had dropped off considerably, causing it to have the performance of "an arthritic Mamod", according to its keeper. A new set of piston rings soon had it "running like a Roundhouse" again. While here I also found a leak from the gas tank filler valve and an incorrectly assembled and calibrated safety valve.

It was pleasure and a privilege to repair this loco at no cost to its keeper.

While sorting out return delivery details I had this message from its keeper: Picture is me lighting up Dragonfly as some apprentice drivers waited their turns. I particularly remember a child who was non-verbal autistic - until being handed the controller. I then had to deal with sobbing mother and grandmother as they heard in perfect speech, "Mummy, look, I'm driving the train!" I don't know if you can get two such moments in life but having Dragonfly back in working order will improve the odds!". I think I've got some dust in my eye.

This brand-new Roundhouse Alco will be going in to the same fleet as AURORA, LUCIUS and CHATSWORTH and so is painted in the same and very smart house style of satin black with blue and red lining and a matt black smokebox. Painting the wheels and cranks in black and adding a real coal load to the bunker completed the job.

For nearly 40 years I have been involved with and supported railway preservation projects, and so it was a pleasure to be able to assist in this particular, if rather unfortunate, task. The Roundhouse Engineering Argyll shown in the pictures is owned by the Donegal Railway Heritage Centre in Donegal, Republic of Ireland. It forms a significant part of their public displays that help to keep the history of the County Donegal Railways system alive in what is now an area of the country devoid of railways.

It suffered an accident that resulted in an impact to the rear of the cab and also to the front of the frames, the latter pushing the right-hand cylinder out of alignment. The DRHC contacted me and asked if I could repair it, which I could.

Straightening of the frames was the first task, and the chassis was soon running again as it should. Battering the bodywork back in to shape took a little longer, but started with stripping the paint and then some careful work to restore the shape. In this kind of impact as well as bending the brass will often stretch, as it did in this case. A full repaint in County Donegal red lined in cream followed.

I was anxious not to place too much of a financial burden on the Heritage Centre for the repairs needed as it would divert funds away from their other work. However, another regular Rhos Helyg Loco Works customer is a Life Member of DRHC and so, between us, we covered the cost of the repair and I was delighted to be able to return the loco to the owners at no cost.

A quick lining job on one of these popular locomotives. There seemed little point in sending the whole loco to me, so owner Chris Bird only sent the body for attention. The original factory paint was retained and enhanced with red lining and black edging, followed by a satin clear coat. Chris has written a complete step-by-step guide to the many modifications he has made to this loco to produce the superb result shown. His guide can be found here. (Photos by Chris Bird)

The main components of this Roundhouse Bertie had been stripped of paint by the owner and sent to me for repainting in satin black with Penrhyn Quarry Railway lining. The parts were then returned to the owner for reassembly and the finished loco is seen here. (Photo by Luke Petch)

MACARONI came here direct from Roundhouse in Bronze Green and had a Tallylyn-inspired lining scheme applied with the green toned down from gloss to satin finish. Various upgrades from Roundhouse (pressure gauge, water filler, crossheads, gauge glass) and Locoworks (lubricators, sand boxes, rear lamp bracket, springs, firing irons and brackets) were fitted together with some additional paintwork (wheels, rods, cab interior).

Roundhouse Engineering change their paint colour range from time to time, and a colour that used to be available was RAL8001 Tan. This Bertie is the first loco in this colour that has been here for attention. It came here for a repair to the body fixing screw, fitting of Locoworks dummy axlebox springs, a Locoworks cab rear door and a Train Department regulator valve spindle. The original intention had been to apply white lining with black edging to the original factory paint, but this proved impossible due to damage caused by fitting and subsequent removal of name and works plates held in place with epoxy and SuperGlue. The easiest way to repair the paint damage was to strip and repaint the loco, and this also guaranteed that the rear cab door's colour matched the rest of the body perfectly. Black wheels and valve rods completed the job.

This Roundhouse Bertie came here for fitting of a number of Roundhouse (crossheads, water top-up system, pressure gauge, buffer beam overlays) and Locoworks (lubricators, sand boxes, rear cab door) detail upgrades, followed by stripping of its horrible "rattle can" paintwork and repainting in to satin black with red lining.

The bodywork parts from this kit-built Roundhouse Billy and its tender came here for painting in satin finish maroon and black. The owner then completed the assembly of his loco, and the finished model is shown here.

Not every loco leaves here looking immaculate, but for good reason! This Roundhouse Billy was built from a kit by its owner some time ago. Years of reliable running had taken their toll and it came here for some repairs, including:
 - Cleaning of the gas burner jet to improve burner performance
 - Recalibration of the safety valve, including new O-rings
 - Replacement of the regulator O-ring, because it wouldn't stop!
 - Boiler descale
 - Unblocking of pressure gauge syphon tube, which caused the pressure gauge to not function
 - Replacement of a faulty reverser radio control servo
 - Replacement of cylinders, axles, rods, crank pins, etc. with new components

The lower picture shows typical wear to an axle bearing as received on the loco (left) and a new one (right).

With its running restored to "as new" condition it was returned to its owner for a repaint.

A change from the usual black, blues, greens and reds, this yellow Billy received red and white lining edged in black, an all-over satin finish and name and number plates from MDC. While it was in bits the smokebox dart was changed from the wheel type to the two-handle type.

HEDGEWITCH is a kit-built Roundhouse Billy. It had been very nicely constructed by somebody who was obviously a talented model engineer but who made a few questionable decisions along the way, for reasons best known to themselves. For example, those spectacle rings. Eschewing the normal bent-over tabs they are instead each held in place by four 12BA nuts and bolts. They look nice, but why use nuts? It would have been far easier, and cheaper, to just tap 12BA holes in the brass spectacle plate. Doing it that way would have made it far easier and less fiddly to assemble, and reassemble. The cab roof hinge was another example, very clever but it broke and was nowhere as near reliable as two 8BA screws.

Despite the quality engineering, paintwork was apparently not in their skill set. It had been painted (green with red frames) using some horrible "rattle can" stuff that if scaled to full-size would have been several inches thick in places. It all had to come off. One of three things happens when chemical paint stripper is applied:
1) Absolutely nothing. Grrr...
2) It crinkles and peels for easy removal. Yay!
3) It returns to a liquid state, making a mess, and setting rock hard if left unstripped. Grrr... again.
Option 3 was the case here and so paint stripping was even more unpleasant than usual. A full repaint in maroon with cream lining and black edging followed.

Other work included construction of a Roundhouse George tender, and fitting of several Locoworks detailing pieces.

The bodywork parts for this Billy were sent here for painting and lining and then returned to the loco's owner. The owner then completed the assembly of his locomotive and the superb result is shown here. The lower picture shows the painted and lined parts. (Photo by Nigel Hobson)

The owner of this Roundhouse Billy asked me to paint the major parts of the kit he was building and kindly sent me a picture once he had finished assembly of the loco. (Photo by Colin Last)

Many of you will know that, with the possible exception of Matt Black, my view is and continues to be that "no decent paint ever came out of a rattle-can". MONARCH here is a case in point. Repainted using a rattle-can, the paint went soft when the loco was steamed and then turned in to the finish shown in the first photo. It came here for stripping and a repaint in to Victorian Maroon with yellow lining and black edging. I don't know what it is about Billy owners and Victorian Maroon, but this must be the fourth one I've done in this colour.

TUSKER was a standard factory-built Roundhouse loco that was modified to look as much like the real 788 TUSKER as possible. The changes included:
 - Weathered/dirty frames, footplating, motion and wheels
 - Satin finish blue paint
 - Matt black smokebox and door
 - White stripes around cab base
 - White ring on smokebox front
 - Black boiler jacket
 - Black tool boxes under saddle tank
 - Black tank filler lid
 - Black couplings
 - Black cab interior
 - Black support poles and rails at rear of cab
 - Red cab steps
 - Red frame edging
 - Red coupling safety chains
 - Red injector overflow pipes
 - Red cross-heads
 - Silver inlay to front cylinder covers
 - Silver band around dynamo body
 - Silver chimney cap
 - Silver headlight guards
 - Grey cab roof
 - Copper finish saddle tank balance pipes
 - Last repair/overhaul date stencil on tank sides
 - Working headlights
 - Real coal load
 - Brass band around smokebox
 - Removeable canvas cab backsheet
 - Brass NF and Hindu lettering
 - Custom-made 788 numberplates
 - TUSKER name
 - Bent steam dynamo exhaust pipe
 - Brackets for fire irons on right side
 - Replacement whistle
 - No rerailing pole!

(Photo G Rushton)

The Roundhouse Engineering model of the Darjeeling B-Class is a fine representation of an iconic prototype. For good reason though the paintwork is a bit plain on an out-of-the-box model but a few apocryphal flicks of the proverbial paint brush coupled with some etched brass plates can turn them in to something quite special.

Both of these loco had been in store for some time and so they came here for a check of their mechanical parts, boiler and gauge glass cleaning, fitting of upgraded radio control and some paintwork attention. For the latter, the main task was to dismantle both locos sufficiently to have their boilers resprayed from incorrect blue to correct black. As far as I can determine, no blue DHR B-Class in India has ever had a blue boiler. Why the myth that they do continues in model form is a mystery to me. The black boiler was then followed with the usual red, silver and white detailing, grey cab roof, copper balance pipes and an all-over satin finish. DHR locos are not shiny! Both received a brass band around the smokebox and 804 also gained a cab back sheet, courtesy of my mother-in-law.

This Roundhouse Darjeeling 'B' Class came here for attention, including:
 - Bodywork repairs following impact damage
 - Lining in black and yellow
 - Changing of the existing green paint from gloss to satin finish
 - Repainting of the boiler from incorrect green to correct black
 - Various other bits of painting (wheels, cab roof, footplate edging, etc.)
 - Fitting of a cab back sheet
 - Upgrade of the radio control system from 40MHz to 2.4GHz

Three coal-fired Darjeeling 'B' Class locos showing three authentic liveries that these locos can carry. Note that the blue and green locos have black boilers!

This Roundhouse Darjeeling 'B' Class came here for attention, including:
 - Radio control upgrade from 40MHz to 2.4GHz
 - Satin finish blue paint
 - White stripes around cab base
 - Black boiler jacket
 - Black tank filler lid
 - Black support poles and rails at rear of cab
 - Red cross-heads
 - Copper finish saddle tank balance pipes
 - Working headlights
 - Summerlands chuffer pipe
 - Removeable canvas cab backsheet
 - Brass NF and Hindu lettering
 - Brackets for fire irons on right side

Darjeeling loco 779 carried the name MOUNTAINEER in the 1970s and was later renamed HIMALAYAN BIRD.

Some of you may be lucky enough to possess a large-format book entitled The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway - A Photographic Profile 1962-1998. It is referred to as "The Australian Book" and it is certainly a thing of beauty containing, as it does, about 50 full-page full-colour photos of the DHR between those years. On the rear cover is a photo of 'B' Class 804 QUEEN OF THE HILLS taken in 1998 and the instruction I had was to turn this almost-new Roundhouse Engineering 'B' Class in to a representation of 804 as it appears in the photo. Lots and lots of painting later (including the obligatory repainting of the boiler from blue to black as blue locos have black boilers), the result is shown here.

Another Roundhouse Darjeeling 'B' Class that came here for the usual red and white paintwork details, a black boiler (just like the full-size blue locos have), an all-over satin finish and working headlights...

This Roundhouse Darjeeling 'B' Class came here for fitting of a cab back sheet, working lights and blackening of the rods and valve gear.

The loco has been finished to represent a loco that has been repatriated and preserved in the UK, hence the MAID OF KENT nameplates.

Modifications included:
 - Real coal in the bunker
 - Removeable canvas cab backsheet
 - A brass band around the smokebox
 - Brackets on the right-hand tank side for the firing irons.

Paintwork included:
 - White stripes around the cab base and on the smokebox front
 - Black boiler and cab interior
 - Red firebox surround, brake handle, crossheads, cab steps and injector pipes
 - Silver cylinder cover details, headlamp guards and chimney cap
 - Grey cab roof
 - Copper finish saddle tank balance pipes.

It also had a Summerlands chuffer pipe fitted, and its 40MHz radio control replaced with a 2.4GHz system.

The photographs alongside show the final result of an unusual project and commission that some may not recognise. This collaborative project between Rhos Helyg Loco Works, model owner Adrian Moore, John Shawe of Shawe Steam Services and inspired by the help of David Charlesworth of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society has been many weeks in the workshop of Rhos Helyg Loco Works.

For those of you who do not recognise what it is please allow me to explain…

In 1970 the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway sold four of their iconic ‘B’ Class 0-4-0ST steam locomotives to a coal mine at Tipong in Assam, about 630 miles from Darjeeling. The locos concerned were numbers 781, 784, 789 and 796. To say they had a hard life at Tipong is an under-statement. They were worked hard, abused and were extensively modified to cope with the local conditions, and all with the absolute minimum of maintenance. Modifications included a fatter chimney (the reasons for which we have so far failed to find), replacement safety valves on the dome of a type usually found on static industrial boilers, and some very prominent pipe work over the coal bunker for the boiler injectors and steam blower.

Various videos of the full-size locos at work, along with Bagnall 0-4-0STs that also work there, can be found on YouTube by searching for “Tipong colliery”.

I have always had a very short list of models that I would really like to make, and this one was in the top three on that list. I first saw pictures of the Tipong ‘B’s in the late Terry Martin’s superb book Halfway To Heaven, and I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing! Could somebody really do that to a ‘B’ Class? Well yes, they could, and they did.

One day while chatting to Adrian, who is a good friend and customer of mine, he mentioned that he was on the lookout for another loco and that he quite fancied the Roundhouse Engineering ‘B’ Class, but was reticent to get one as there are loads of them around and he wanted something a bit different. I tentatively suggested a Tipong version but he, understandably, had no knowledge of these engines until I sent him some pictures. His almost immediate and enthusiastic response was “Yes, let’s do it”. Based on the availability of high-quality photographs our choice was 789 as it appeared in the mid-2000s.

Adrian and I then started a fascinating dialogue as to what would be possible, and we drew up an extensive list of requirements and guidelines of what would be possible and what would be compromises.

At the top of the list would be that this unusual model would be based on a standard Roundhouse Engineering ‘B’ Class loco and no attempt would be made to alter the basic Roundhouse running gear.

We fired the starting pistol and Adrian purchased a good second-hand Roundhouse Engineering ‘B’ Class loco in DHR blue as the basis of the new project. It was soon dismantled and had its paint removed. Work then started in earnest, and the modifications included:

 - Removal of headlamps, dome cover, buffer beams, dummy pipework, clack valves, front handrails, front steps, cab steps, hand brake handle and couplings.
 - Replacement buffer beams front and rear incorporating wooden dumb buffers and simple loop couplings.
 - Removal of the front sandbox, handrails, steps and apron to be replaced by a smaller apron, a different arrangement of handrails and steps and completely exposing the saddle tank balance pipe where it joins with the well tank between the frames.
 - Addition of valve chest and cylinder lubricators on the cylinders.
 - Removal of the smokebox door and replacement by the flat door used on the Tipong locos with crude hinges and fastenings and a patch repair plate at the bottom. The lighter colour around its rim is fire clay, used to keep the door air-tight.
 - Replacement of the standard chimney with the much fatter and tapered version used on all the Tipong locos.
 - Addition of a dummy steam blower pipe running between the coal bunker and saddle tank and then in to the smokebox.
 - Addition of patch repair plates to the lower edges of the saddle tank and the front and left side of the coal bunker. The tank was also attacked with a ball-peen hammer to give it some character.
 - Addition of a dummy sliding door on the lower right of the coal bunker, used on the full-size loco for clearing out the bunker.
 - Addition of dummy welds on the left side of the coal bunker to represent the replacement platework fitted to the full-size loco.
 - Addition of a dummy industrial safety valve on the dome. This fits over the standard Roundhouse safety valve and vents through the angled pipe. It was made by owner Adrian and is a triumph of design and machining. Making it vent properly was one of our design criteria, and Adrian succeeded with that considerable challenge!
 - Addition of dummy pipework, manifold, valves and clacks running over the top of the coal bunker. The manifold runs across the bunker just in front of the cab. Connected to it are three steam valves, accessed on the full-size locos through the front spectacle windows, with one on the left and two on the right. Two control the boiler water injectors (right and one on left) and the other on the left controls the steam blower. The clack valves either side of the boiler were also replaced with representations of those carried by the Tipong locos. Again, Adrian made the manifold, miniature valves, clacks and pipe flanges.
 - Replacement of the normal curved cab roof with a flat roof.
 - Rearrangement and selective removal of the handrails on the cab back, along with the addition of a cage just above the cab floor to retain coal on the footplate.

On completion of the metal work the loco was painted in filthy black and grubby green, with basic red lining and a few yellow highlights.

It may look worn-out, poorly maintained and generally knackered but as stated above no mechanical work was done on the original model at all so, unlike the full-size locos, it still "Runs like a Roundhouse". We always knew that some aspects of the conversion were going to be a compromise but both Adrian and I feel that the character of the full-size locos has been encapsulated in the model. Apart from the pleasure of creating this much-abused locomotive, we spent a lot of time discovering more and more about these locomotives and have discovered much information about some of the minute detail.

Thanks are due to several people:

This project would probably not have even started without the help of David Charlesworth of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society and editor of their newsletter Darjeeling Mail. David very kindly sent us the pictures of the full-size locos seen here that showed various details that Adrian and I had been unable to see clearly in other photographs. Our sincere thanks go to Peter K Jordan (Fuzz) of Darjeeling Tours Ltd for the photographs themselves.

Our sincere thanks also go to John Shawe of Shawe Steam Services for machining the dome cover, dome ring and new chimney, for supplying the steam valve and clack handwheels and for machining work on the smokebox door, and to MDC for supplying the custom-made 789 number plates.

We must also thank David Churchill who has written the wonderful book The Incredible Darjeeling ‘B’ Class for various extra information, in particular further details about the strange safety valve arrangement on the loco. We do know a bit about these locomotives now…!

And finally, my thanks go to Adrian not only for his machining work described above, but also for his faith in me that this project could be achieved. After all, once it was started there was no turning back! He accepted without question my suggestion in allowing me to produce this model. It has taken a considerable time to complete, mainly due to the “How are we going to do that?” emails and discussions, but I have thoroughly enjoyed working on it and both Adrian and I are absolutely delighted with the final result.

We just hope Roundhouse forgive us...!

There is nothing I like more than using photos of full-size locos and creating a model representation from them. Such was the case with this one but in this case an extremely unusual prototype was chosen: Darjeeling & Himalayan Railway B-Class No. 1001.

1001? But surely the highest numbered B-Class is 806, isn't it? Well, yes, that is correct. The original batch ended with a former Raipur Forest Tramway loco which was numbered 806 when transferred to the DHR in 1943. I knew of 1001's existence but information about it is scant, to say the least. I have yet to find a picture of it on the internet. Fortunately I have David Churchill's excellent book The Incredible Darjeeling 'B' Class to hand and there is a picture of 1001 on page 18. In addition, the owner very kindly lent me his treasured copies of Terry Martin's Iron Sherpa books and the ultra-rare Volume 2 contains much useful information.

1001, and sister 1002, was assembled (I am reluctant to use the word "built") at the Golden Rock Works (GOC) in Tiruchchirappalli in 2004. That it was built on new frames with a new boiler, tank and body is not in doubt, but opinion seems to be that the rest of the working parts were sourced from the stores and wrecks at Tindharia Works. It was oil-fired from new using the tried and tested system used by the Festiniog Railway but GOC managed to not make it work. David Charlesworth of the DHRS tells me "As far as we know 1001 never made it beyond Sukna or even New Jalpaiguri, and 1002 did not even manage that. 1002 disappeared very quickly, never to be seen again - we think it was eventually used to create a new plinthed model.". This and the various other incantations of oil-firing all failed and the project was abandoned. 1001 was converted to coal and renumbered 01. In this form it seems to have at least worked: there is video of it working on YouTube!

The owner of this model wanted something different from a normal B-Class and chose 1001 as it does look quite different from the earlier locos. The basis was, of course, a Roundhouse Engineering model and the modifications included:
 - Piston rod tail pipes (thanks Adrian!)
 - Larger steps by front handrails
 - Smokebox door dog catches instead of dart
 - Smokebox door handle
 - Smokebox steam pipe covers
 - Balance pipes in smaller size
 - Larger and taller saddle tank
 - Main body with smooth sides (no ribbing, few rivets)
 - Wider spectacle rings
 - Smaller cab roof
 - Reprofiled dome
 - Replacement headlights
 - Replacement dummy Whistle
 - Oil tank in bunker with lifting eyes
 - Oil gauge on tank front
 - New handrails
 - Cab coal retainer removed

It was also converted from manual to radio control.

The dome on the full-size loco is an interesting thing. Rather than being spun and formed as is the usual practice, this one appears to have been made from a cone with the point removed for the top and a cylinder for the main section with a strip welded around its base.

The plain welded main body does not do much for the loco's looks and it is sad to see that some of the older locos are now receiving bodywork of this type.

Paintwork and lining is as per the full-size loco with, of course, a black boiler.

This was an interesting project and I am grateful for the opportunity the owner gave me to do it. There is every chance that his model will, in time, cover more real miles than the full-size loco ever did!

This loco came here primarily for conversion from radio control to fully manual, an option not offered by Roundhouse themselves. It also had some minor cosmetic work including painting of the wheels and axle cranks, making it look so much better.

Another 'C' Class, this one came here for de-glossing, weathering and fitting of appropriate works and number plates (from MDC) and tender lettering (from Roundhouse), all intended to recreate the kind of look these locos had at the end of their careers.
(Picture of full-size 808 taken in 1970 by Bob Francis of DHRS)

An impressive loco, this Roundhouse Darjeeling Garratt came here direct from the factory and got the full and thorough RHLW treatment! As per the full-size loco, the cylinder covers were repainted from black to green. The buffer beams had a large amount of red replaced with black and the remaining red panels were lined in cream. More black was applied to the insides and inner ends of the water tank and coal bunker, the cab interior, washout plugs, front cylinder covers, couplings, tool box lid, gas control valve knob, axle ends and, of course, the wheels. The bodywork was lined with red/black/red panels. Finally, the lifting jacks on the rear of the loco were suitably painted and the whole loco received a coat of satin clear to protect the lining and remove the gloss finish.

Another Roundhouse Darjeeling Garratt came here for some body repairs, de-glossing of its paintwork and lining with a single red line. It also received the usual application of black to the insides and inner ends of the water tank and coal bunker, the cab interior, washout plugs, tool box lid, gas control valve knob and wheels.

A Roundhouse Double Fairlie carrying a lining scheme based on that carried by the old (proper!) Earl of Merioneth prior to its withdrawal from traffic in 1971. Name and patent plates were supplied by MDC.

An interesting and unusual job was the regauging of a 30+ years old meths-fired Roundhouse Dylan 0-4-0ST from 45mm to 32mm, the One True Gauge. These locos were not built to be adjustable for track gauge and some considerable dismantling was needed to remove the wheelsets from the frames. Unlike the current Roundhouse products, the cranks and axles on these older locos are held together with grub screws and roll pins. The first picture shows the two wheelsets with the front one awaiting regauging and the back one completed, along with the slip-eccentric valve gear and modified rocker arms. It is always a pleasure to work on these old Roundhouse locos, there is just something about them.

Another repaint, this time on an early 1980s Roundhouse Dylan. This loco has the original ½ inch diameter cylinders and steel bodywork and was showing every one of its 30-year life when it arrived. It was repainted in a representation of its original scheme: gloss maroon with yellow lining, with the smokebox, cab roof, frames and boiler finished in satin black. The whistle, name and number plates were fitted by the owner after it left here. (Photo by S Herring)

These two Roundhouse Dylans were converted to gas-firing by using their original pot boilers in conjunction with a burner and a gas tank from a Roundhouse Millie. The tenders are the same as those used on the Roundhouse George.

No. 5 was built from a Roundhouse kit purchased in the late 1980s and stored until construction started here in 2011. Perhaps this was the last Dylan ever to be built?

No. 6 was purchased second-hand and fully refurbished as part of its rebuild in to a gas-fired loco.

After completion of the mechanical work, both were painted in satin black and lined in red and blue.

The bodywork for this Roundhouse Dylan came here for repainting in a Festiniog-inspired scheme of green with red lining and black edging. Once completed the parts were returned to the loco's owner for reassembly. (Photo by Simon Sparkes)

It was back in 1987 that I first encountered 16mm/foot live steam garden railways. This was at the renowned Paddock Railway at Hampton Loade station on the Severn Valley Railway. I was an SVR volunteer at Bridgnorth back then and it became a nice Sunday afternoon diversion to travel down to Hampton Loade and run my O-Gauge stock after the 16millers had finished their session. I'd not seen anything in this scale before, and I was hooked immediately. My good friend Paul would let me run his meths-fired Roundhouse Dylan, called ODIE and named after the dog in the Garfield cartoon strip. The loco's nickname was Bill, for reasons I am sure I do not need to explain.

Hankering after my own loco, my desire was sated when I purchased my own Dylan from good friend Tim.

All three of us drifted away from Hampton Loade over time, and my contact with ODIE ended. Paul converted it from a pot boiler to internally-fired meths, and then rebuilt it with a Shawe Steam Services coal-fired boiler and repainted it blue. Some years ago Paul drifted away from 16mm and sold a lot of his rolling stock to Tim, including ODIE.

It was an absolute delight to be asked recently by still good friend Tim to repaint ODIE in to his standard bronze green with orange lining livery. Tim stripped the blue paint so all I had to do was apply the new colours. Opening the box was like meeting an old friend again ... after a 25 year gap I reckon.

The pictures show ODIE in its new paint, outside the loco shed at Hampton Loade in 1989 (in green on the right, with my red Dylan on the left ... no shelter in those days, we just got wet) and at the late Eric Skinner's line in Solihull with Paul's carriages around the same time.

VENTNOR started life as a meths-fired Roundhouse Dylan and at some point in the past has had its bodywork modified to make it in to a 7/8ths-inch/foot scale loco. It came here for a chassis rebuild that incorporated new slip-eccentric valve gear, meths burner, axles, bearings, cranks and wheels. This has given the capability of running the loco on either 32mm or 45mm gauge track, rather then being fixed for 32mm as it was previously. While here it also had its cylinders overhauled and had its bodywork repainted.

In 1990 Roundhouse produced the Elsa 0-6-0ST as a limited edition for one of their UK dealers. It was based on the existing Jack design but used the 6-wheel chassis from their William model and was supplied with a bogie tender.

ACANTHA started life as an Elsa, but the current owner wanted to use it without the tender. This involved installation of the radio control receiver and batteries on to the loco. At the same time it received some mechanical and body repairs, and a full strip, repaint and lining.

ALTHEIA started life as a standard 0-4-0ST Jack, but the owner wished it to be an 0-6-0ST to match ACANTHA. The loco was completely dismantled and the Jack chassis was removed. A new 0-6-0 chassis was built using a much-modified and shortened Lady Anne chassis kit and the original boiler, smokebox, gas tank and other components were mounted on the new chassis. It was also converted to radio control operation and stripped and repainted.

Both locos had the large gap in their lower cab backs filled with a pair of dummy sliding doors. The upper cab back was fitted with a removable fabric backsheet, expertly made by my mother-in-law.

It did not take long for a new Roundhouse England to arrive here for some attention. The owner already has a maroon England from a different manufacturer so he decided that he would like a green one. To the best of my knowledge the full-size Palmerston has never carried the Festiniog's green livery so we had some latitude as to which scheme we went with. The original plan had been to apply the scheme carried by PRINCE in the 1960s, with the black tank top, tank front and cab front but we decided it was a bit austere and to go with the scheme applied to WELSH PONY just before its recent return to traffic. This meant the loco has two lining panels on the tanks sides, instead of one, green tank top and front and green cab.

This is not so much a "might have been", more of a "might be one day". Who knows?

(Photo of WP from Ffestiniog Railway Society web site)

Another Roundhouse England, appearing in the guise of PRINCE this time. Festiniog locos in this livery are very much black locos with green panels, and that is exactly how the full-size ones were / are painted. This model was delivered in all-over green so had black added to the tank front, tank top, cab front, cab back and tender front (and interior) followed by lining in red with black edging. Name and four works plates provided by MDC, of course.

Built for 32mm gauge track, this is possibly one of the rarest Roundhouse locomotives that has been here. Repairs and modifications to this Roundhouse Forney included:
 - Resetting of piston valve timing
 - Replacement of 40MHz radio control with 2.4GHz system
 - Replacement of dummy coal in bunker with real coal
 - Fitting of a weathered bucket over the gas control valve
 - Repainting of cab roof in satin black
 - Repainting of smokebox in matt black
 - Fitting of lamp bracket to rear of bunker
 - Fitting of Summerlands chuffer pipe

The modified cab, footplating either side of the boiler and removal of the sand domes give this Fowler a very different appearance.

OSPREY had been involved in an unfortunate derailment that resulted in it striking something very hard. The front right corner took the impact and it was sufficient to put a significant dent in the corner of the tank, move the smokebox, distort the bodywork and twist the loco's frames while also leaving the right side covered in dents and scratches. The first job on arrival here was to remove the bodywork and straighten the frames to confirm that there was no mechanical damage, which fortunately there was not. The bodywork was then straightened out and the dents and scratches were filled and smoothed. Despite having paint mixed to the same BS number, there was a minuscule shade difference between the paint that I had and that carried by the loco, so the whole loco (body, boiler and tender) were repainted to guarantee a consistent colour on all of the green surfaces. Reassembly and a successful steam test followed, and OSPREY was returned to "like new" condition.

The owner of this Roundhouse Engineering Harlech Castle / Castell Harlech used to drive the full-size loco at the Festiniog Railway so he knows it well. Following the recent visible modifications (full-width bonnet and vacuum brakes) and repaint he asked me to make his model look "like INA used to look". INA is the loco's nickname and is derived from the initials of its originally intended owner, Mozambique's Instituto Nacional do Acucar (National Sugar Institute), the initials of which were on the cab sides when it first arrived in Wales.

Work on the model included:
 - Addition of fuel filler and exhaust strengthening strut/angle.
 - Fabrication and fitting of cab door handles.
 - Application of FR PW, NET (Nottingham Express Transit) and other transfers and decals.
 - Painting:
   * Black : Rod ends, cab front/rear around bonnets, exhaust, wheels, handrails, window rubbers,
      couplings, radiator grille, base of body.
   * Yellow : Front and rear of footsteps, crank pins.
   * Cream : Cab interior and desk.
   * Grey : Air filter and horn.
 - Black lining around panels gaps and lock holes, on fuel gauge and axle cranks.
 - Application of all-over matt finish clear coat.
 - Weathering of frames, body and cab roof.

A first for me in a couple of ways... The first Roundhouse Engineering "Harrogate" I have seen, and the first loco I have ever lined without taking it apart. With lots of well-hidden fixings, I just could not work out how the loco came apart, so I spoke to the lovely people at Roundhouse. Their first reaction was "Do you really need to take it apart? Not recommended" followed by the extensive instructions on how to do so. I decided that there really was no need to take it apart and so I lined it "in one piece", the first time I have ever done that.

Another off my "I'd like to do one of those" list has recently been completed: A Roundhouse Lilla in the condition that it ran when new at Cilgwyn Quarry in the Nantlle Valley here in North Wales.

Photos of Lilla in its pre-Penrhyn Quarry days (i.e. before 1928) are hard to come by and I only know of two: A Hunslet works photo of the loco brand-new, and a single image of the loco at work at Cilgwyn. Interpretation of the photos is very subjective but until more photos appear in the public domain nobody can be absolutely certain how the loco looked at that time. However, the photos do show the hardware changes that have occurred during the loco's existence, mainly after it moved to Penrhyn, and they are distinctive enough to reproduce in model form.

The most noticeable difference concerns getting water from the saddle tank in to the boiler. At this time Lilla only had one injector fitted, which was on the left side of the loco. A water pump driven from the crosshead was provided on the right side. The pump has been reproduced, together with the associated pipework. On the full-size loco the holes in the cab front and footplating were re-used when the pump was removed and a second injector fitted, hence why the two sides do not match.

Other changes included:
 - Sheathed wood dumb buffers.
 - Lamp support arm on front and rear lamp brackets.
 - Whistle on the cab roof instead of on the cab front.
 - Additional handrail knob on chimney front.
 - Sandboxes alongside the smokebox and associated operating linkage.

The full-size loco retains the stub of the saddle tank support for the sanders reach rod to this day.

The brand-new model also received the following modifications:
 - Removal of preservation-era tool box and vacuum brake piping.
 - Fitting of left-hand injector water valve handle.
 - Fitting of additional blower and lubrication pipework.
 - Removal of derailment bars and mountings.
 - Fitting of reverser and drain cocks reach rods.

Finally, it was painted and lined in the known Cilgwyn colour scheme.

The Roundhouse Engineering model gives a good representation of Lilla as it appeared in 2016, but there is always more that can be done to make a model look as close to The Real Thing as it is possible to do. The owner of this model Lilla had “had a go” with Lilla in 2011 so my instructions were to turn the model in to the loco as it appeared then.

There is always something rather special for me when taking an expensive brand-new model, never even seen by its owner, dismantling it and then attacking it with paint stripper, drills and grinding and cutting tools. Such was the case with this Lilla, and this is what I did:
 - The tool box on the running plate in front of the cab first appeared on the full-size loco around 2012, so after my target date. The box is very much a preservation-era item and not a permanent fixture, so it had to go. This involved replacing the reverser reach rod, which is part of the tool box on the model.
 - Another preservation-era item that needed attention was the vacuum brake pipes. Prior to 2000 the only brake available on the full-size loco was the handbrake. Vacuum brake equipment was installed for the first time in 2000 without dismantling the loco to do so. This meant that some of the pipe runs were not as neat or invisible as we would have liked. A later overhaul allowed the pipes to be relocated and hidden, as represented on the model as supplied. Back-dating to 2011 required removing the vacuum brake “swan neck” from the left side (as viewed from the front of the loco) footplate to the right side of the smokebox door. A representation of the vacuum ejector exhaust pipe was also added to the left of the smokebox, running along the footplate.
 - Lilla was built in 1891 and still carries its original saddle tanks. But rust never sleeps, and large patches were added to tank sides while the loco was at Penrhyn Quarry. There is a picture of Lilla at the quarry which shows the patches to have originally been riveted on and the name plates spanning the top joint, but these were replaced later by welded patches with the name plates below the top joint. These distinctive patches were added to the model, along with a single rivet above and to the left of the right side name plate. This rivet represents the sawn-off stump of a bracket that used to support a reach rod for the sanding gear, removed many years ago.
 - Various extra bits not supplied with the model were made and fitted, including boiler injector water valve control handles (either side of the tank in front of cab) and the steam chest drain cocks reach rod (right side footplate).
 - Various extra bits of dummy pipework were also added, including displacement lubricator outlet and drain pipes (on front of saddle tank) and the blower pipe (running from cab to smokebox on right side of loco).

On completion of the metalwork the body received new coats of etch primer and black, and was then lined in the familiar blue and red scheme used at Penrhyn and carried by Lilla in 2011.

A Roundhouse Lilla with blower pipe, injector water handles, lubricator drain pipe and Penrhyn-style lining with satin finish. (Photo by James Trebinski)

A factory-painted Roundhouse Blanche in full Penrhyn Quarry Railway livery, complete with matt black smokebox, silver rings on the cylinder covers, red cranks, black wheels and a satin finish to the black bodywork.

This standard Roundhouse Linda came here in factory finish green paint, with a request to repaint it in to Penrhyn Quarry Railway livery. The green paint was left in place but thoroughly cleaned and prepared for over-spraying in black. Red and blue lining was then applied with a satin clear coat for protection and to improve the appearance. The smokebox was repainted in matt black, the axle cranks were painted red and the wheels were painted black.

BLANCHE (Hunslet Engine Company No. 589) and LINDA (HE 590) are world-famous but this model represents their might-have-been sister LOUISE, complete with HE 591 works plates. The Hunslet-style name plates were provided by MDC.

Another repaint of a brand-new Roundhouse loco, this time one of the new batch of Charles. Red and blue lining based on the scheme applied to the full-size CHARLES (preserved at Penrhyn Castle) was then applied to the factory black paint with a satin clear coat for protection and to improve the appearance. The smokebox was repainted in matt black, the injectors, axle cranks and springs were painted red, the wheels were painted black and the front cylinder covers received some silver. A brass ring was also added below the chimney cap. The Hunslet-style name plates were provided by MDC.

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.

Dating from 2006, this Roundhouse Charles was from the first batch of these locos built. Back then if radio control was wanted the equipment had to go in a coal wagon, so the owner chose to have this loco fitted for manual control. Technology has moved on since then and with the lure of radio control becoming ever greater it was fitted with a 2.4GHz system while it was here. It was then finished in satin black with Penrhyn-style lining in blue and red complete with brass ring around the chimney cap.

This Charles is finished in the pre-1936 (according to J I C Boyd) Penrhyn livery of brown and red. It was only later that the more familiar blue and red livery was used. Finishing touches included the brass ring under the chimney cap and a pair of new name plates by MDC.

Another Roundhouse Penrhyn Hunslet done... Charles again, with lined frames, chimney ring and, unusually, converted from radio to manual control...

Another Penrhyn-style repaint, this time from well-worn blue, and with full lining on the loco's frames.

Production of Roundhouse Engineering's model of the Festiniog Railway's Hunslet Linda was discontinued a few years ago. Roundhouse did not offer a Festiniog Blanche in their range and so a few Lindas have been converted to represent Festiniog sister loco Blanche by other modellers.

However, the model of Blanche shown here started life as a brand-new Roundhouse Charles from the last batch made.

The full-size Charles, Linda and Blanche all started work on the Penrhyn Quarry railway in North Wales. Charles was the first arrival, in 1882, and was followed by Blanche and Linda in 1893. The latter two incorporated some changes to the original design. In the early 1960s the Festiniog Railway took the opportunity to purchase both Blanche and Linda and put them to use on passenger trains. A number of changes were made over the following years, such as reducing the cab height at its outer edges, fitting with vacuum brakes, moving the driver from the right-hand side of the cab to the left and building tenders to carry fuel and additional water.

The Festiniog's Linda and Blanche may be sisters but twins they are most certainly not. A cursory glance of both locos shows they look very similar, but the keener eye will spot the differences that have been introduced over the years, such as:
 - Linda's tender has a modified George England body with a flared top rail and a removable tender cab.
 - Blanche's tender was built new in the 1960s, has flat sides and a built-in tender cab.
 - Linda retains original Hunslet cab sides, although reduced in height, with their distinctive curved cut-outs.
 - Blanche has replacement cab sides with squarer cut-outs and rounded corners.
 - Linda retains original slide-valve cylinders topped by a rectangular valve chest.
 - Blanche has replacement piston-valve cylinders with no discernible valve chest.
 - Blanche has cab side handrails, Linda does not.

My work on the model can be nicely divided in to two phases. The first phase involved converting Charles to represent a Festiniog loco and included the following tasks:
 - Removal of all Charles-specific items.
 - Patching of the cab front to replace square spectacles with circular and to provide the cut-down
    Festiniog roof profile.
 - Replacement of the cab roof to fit the new profile.
 - Filling and making good of various unused bodywork holes.
 - Fitting of replacement sand boxes on the saddle tank front.
 - Fabrication and fitting of sand box operating linkage, vacuum ejector exhaust pipe and cab steps.
 - Rearrangement of dummy injector pipework.
 - Transfer of reversing lever from right side to left side.
 - Fitting of dummy vacuum pipes.

The second stage was to turn the model in to a representation of Blanche and this included:
 - Fabrication and fitting of replacement cab sides to Blanche’s profile.
 - Construction of tender to Blanche’s design (with oil tank).
 - Fabrication and fitting of replacement cylinder covers (to make them look like piston-valve cylinders).
 - Replacement of as-supplied dummy whistle.
 - Fabrication and fitting of second dummy whistle.
 - Fitting of cab side handrails and cab roof rear extension.
 - Provision of name and works plates by MDC.
 - Provision of those exquisite front cylinder cover cocks (manufactured and fitted by Shawe Steam Services).

Once all the metalwork was completed the parts were stripped and repainted in Festiniog green with black/red lining.

I would like to thank my friends at Roundhouse Engineering and Shawe Steam Services for their assistance with this project.

My second Blanche. After completion of the first one I said "Never again" but that one was converted from a Charles, this one was converted from a Roundhouse Festiniog Linda with tender, so much simpler to do. It only (!) needed new cab sides and a new tender body, re-using the Linda tender's floor. The owner decided to have it in mid-1960s coal-fired condition too, making it even easier, as that pre-dates the piston valve cylinders with their different shape.

Hunslet 0-4-0ST LINDA arrived from the Penrhyn Quarry Railway (PQR) at the Festiniog Railway (FR) in July 1962. At first it ran in pure PQR form, but it was inevitable that the FR would make some alterations to improve its usability on their railway. Oddly, one of the first alterations was to the cab back with the upper half being removed completely, presumably to ensure that the loco crew always got a good soaking when running in reverse. The well-worn PQR livery of black with blue and red lining remained for a while.

The model loco shown here, called LINDA, started life as a Roundhouse Engineering CHARLES but it was modified to look like its younger sibling. First thing to go was the upper half of the cab back. Next thing to happen was the changing of the cab front spectacles from square to circular. You can be assured, dear reader, that the first of those two events enabled the second to happen. Next job was to replace the rectangular sand pots and their operating levers with cylindrical equivalents, kindly supplied by Roundhouse. Finally, the fire iron brackets were moved from the left side to the right side of the saddle tank.

All of this was followed by a repaint in to PQR livery and some weathering to represent the loco as it appeared all those years ago.

Following some additional work by the owner, and the addition of a tender, this loco went on to win The Geoff Munday Trophy and also be awarded a Highly Commended in The Roudhouse Trophy at the 2023 National Garden Railway Show. The Rhos Helyg Locomotive Works is proud to have played a part in this project. (Photo by Roundhouse Engineering Ltd.)

I have lined a number of brand-new factory-painted Roundhouse Linda locomotives in the style applied to the Festiniog Railway locomotive on which this model is based. This included red lining with black edging, black wheels and boiler cladding and red axle cranks. FR crests (supplied by DJB Engineering) were applied to the tender sides, and the cranks were replaced with items made by Chuffed2Bits. The paintwork on the body and tender was protected and given a satin finish by spraying with lacquer. The cab interior was painted cream and black.

This Roundhouse Linda was finished in satin black with white and red lining.

This loco arrived with me in scruffy condition with the intention of doing a repaint and lining in Festiniog Railway condition but it soon became clear that all was not well.

The brown boiler and missing smokebox door were a puzzle when it first arrived but dismantling soon revealed the extent of the abuse it had suffered in the hands of a previous owner, all caused by having no water in the boiler when lit and being left for a l-o-n-g time in that condition. It must have got extremely hot! And then somebody added some cold water! All the signs are that this loco had been either lit up or left lit without any water in the boiler for a long, long time. Doing this usually results first in blue smoke as the paint gently scorches. It would only be sometime later that the paint would start to discolour, name plates fall off and things start to melt - the smokebox door in this case.

Then, somebody has realised what was happening. Rather than turn off the gas and let it cool down they have decided to squirt some cold water in to the very hot boiler. The water turned instantly in to steam (known as flash steam) at an immense pressure. The safety valve cannot cope with this sudden increase and so the boiler is pressurised way beyond its design parameters until the safety valve deals with it. It is this instant pressurisation that has caused the normally circular burner flue tube to collapse.

The third picture shows the standard Roundhouse gas burner, which has deformed under the effects of heat and gravity either side of its mounting plate.

The fourth picture shows the view through the flue tube, showing it to be partially blocked.

The fifth shows the boiler after sectioning, showing the thickness of the deformed tube.

There was no way I could countenance further use of the boiler in that condition so a new one was kindly supplied by Shawe Steam Services.

As well as the collapsed boiler flue and bent burner, every single O-ring in the chassis had been "cooked" in to a brittle state and needed replacement, and the insulated wheels with their plastic bosses no longer ran true. New wheels and connecting rods provided by Roundhouse were needed.

A chassis rebuild later saw it running again very nicely, which was followed by attention to the scruffy paintwork and new name and works plates provided by MDC.

The owner of this loco asked me to modify and paint it as Linda appeared from its 2001 repaint until 2004 when it was taken out of traffic for boiler repairs. Having been heavily involved with the 2001 repaint myself made it a bit easier! Modifications included adding the front frame extension, a representation of the front pony truck (Linda has been a 2-4-0 since the early 1970s), an oil fuel tank in the tender and moving the smokebox handrail from the front to the top. All of this was followed by addition of Penrhyn-style blue and red lining.

A Roundhouse Jack repainted from maroon to black and then lined in Penrhyn style.

This Roundhouse Jack had a cab back (upper and lower) added, various detailing parts applied, was repainted from blue to black and lined in brown and red.

This Roundhouse Jack came here for some body repairs, fitting of Swift Sixteen opening spectacle windows and a smokebox lamp bracket. This was followed by a new coat of satin green paint and lining in cream with black edging. The smokebox, cab roof and footplating were also repainted in satin black. Additional footplating from Locoworks and name and number plates from MDC completed the job.

Jack's got a tender behind... Adding a Roundhouse Fowler tender turns a Jack in to a large loco. It also gives an operational benefit in that the radio control equipment can be relocated to the tender, so avoiding the need to remove the body to change the batteries. The tender is coupled to the loco using a replacement rear buffer beam and with a fall-plate to bridge the gap, just like The Real Thing.

BONIFACE is a first-edition Roundhouse Jack that had been in storage for many years. With the owner's new garden railway under construction the time came for it to be revived and updated. The following happened while it was here:
 - Fitting of SSP SloMo device.
 - Modification of valve chest covers to allow fitting of cylinder covers.
 - Modification of smokebox to allow easier removal.
 - Fitting of Summerlands FX chuffer pipe.
 - Replacement of gas tank and burner with current design to allow use of butane/propane mixed gas.
 - Construction of a “George” tender kit.
 - Manufacture and fitting of loco to tender fall plate.
 - Relocation of radio control from loco to tender.
 - Replacement of 40MHz radio control with 2.4GHz.
 - Stripping of paint from loco body.
 - Repaint in Sapphire Blue with red/black lining.

A "Special Edition" Jack which came for lining in red and white and other additional paintwork.

MAMMOTH is a Shawe Steam Services coal-fired Roundhouse Jack. It was painted and assembled here back in 2003 but 12 years later the owner decided to part with it. It was returned to Shawe Steam Services where it received various repairs and then re-sale to its second owner. The new owner decided he would like radio control fitted, but this would have been impossible to install with little available space on the loco in its original configuration. The answer was to fit a tender that could carry the radio equipment and a larger water supply. For ease of use, the hand pump was moved from the cab to the tender tank, with the loco now taking the supply for its axle pump from the tender and the saddle tank now used to top-up the tender tank. The owner built the Roundhouse George tender and my work then involved almost complete replacement of the loco's pipework in order to provide the three tender water connections (axle pump supply, bypass return and feed from saddle tank). The loco body was then stripped of its old paint and it and the tender received a coat of satin Victorian Maroon lined in cream with black edging.

This pair of Jacks were modified for use on a ⅞ths-scale railway by lengthening the chimney, raising the cab roof and by adding a very short extension to the rear of the cab floor.

A brand-new Shawe Steam Services/Roundhouse Jack which came here for painting, lining and assembly. This loco was something of a landmark for me as it was the fiftieth coal-fired loco that I had worked on for John Shawe. I wonder where the other 49 are now...?

The bodywork parts from this Roundhouse Katie kit were sent here for painting in black with lining in red and white. The owner then completed the assembly of his locomotive and the superb result is shown here. The lower picture shows the painted and lined parts. (Photo by Adrian Moore)

This locomotive and tender were dismantled and had the bodywork stripped back to bare metal. The bodywork was then repainted using etch primer and black top-coat, followed by lining in blue and red. The paintwork was protected and given a satin finish by spraying with lacquer. The smokebox received coats of etch-primer and High Temperature matt black paint, the cab interior was painted cream and the axle cranks were painted red.

Work on this Roundhouse Katie included the fabrication of new buffer beams (including fitting of vacuum pipes and Accucraft couplings) and a sliding panel on the rear of the cab, replacement of the cylinder cover screws with hexagon head bolts, repairs to a radio servo and fitting of spectacle glasses. The loco was then stripped back to bare metal and repainted in a livery inspired by the Southern Railway's ownership of the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway.

This Roundhouse Katie came here in factory green and was repainted in satin black with Talyllyn No. 1/BR Mixed Traffic-style lining of grey, cream and red.

This Roundhouse Katie was converted from an 0-4-0 to an 0-6-0, giving it a very chunky and workmanlike appearance. It was also fitted with upgraded radio control, lamp brackets, Accucraft couplings, doors on the lower half of the cab back and a canvas back sheet on the upper half. All of this was followed by a strip and repaint in the customer's stealth livery of satin black with blue and red lining.

The bodywork on this Katie was stripped, repainted and lined in blue and red.

Sir Bobby is a lovely old Roundhouse pot boiler Lady Anne and came here, originally, for the manufacture and fitting of a meths tank and burner. However, seeing the loco was fitted with defunct gas firing I suggested to the owner that it might be easier, and better, to get that working properly again, and that was the course we ended up taking. The old gas control valve had seen better days so that was binned and replaced with a new one, with some new pipework to make it fit inside the cab, rather than outside. A problem with the gas tank was then found, in that it was almost impossible to get any gas in to it. The problem was the old Calibri filler valve. The tank made a quick visit to Shawe Steam Services where the valve mounting bush was replaced with one holding a "standard" Ronson valve, much better. I've seen a few of these gas-fired pot boiler Lady Annes. Roundhouse did offer gas firing on the early models, Lady Anne, Dylan and Charles Pooter. The mounting holes for the gas burner and tank were added to the etches so were on all the models even though very few were gas fired. The burners and tanks were made by Gratech and it wasn't long before Roundhouse stopped offering it as a factory option and left Gratech to sell them as an aftermarket add on. The gas burner was inserted through the hole in the back of the inner firebox and had a 4BA thread on the front end that poked through a hole in the front of the firebox and was fixed by a brass nut. The system worked well, but the Calibri filler valves used in the tank were problematic (as above) and it was often difficult to refill when hot. (Photo by J Mayo)

This pair of meths-fired Roundhouse locos have spent most of their time together with the same owner since the late 1980s. Both have given sterling service over the years, but with the apparent reduction in the quality of methylated spirits and the scarcity of spare parts for the slip-eccentric valve gear they now only see occasional use.

The Dylan is the slightly older of the two having been built from a Roundhouse kit and carries a brass boiler. It had a major overhaul around 1990 which included fitting of the current style of Roundhouse square-ended axles with cranks to suit.

The Lady Anne was built from various spare parts acquired new and second hand and completed with a bodywork kit.

Both locomotives have recently had their bodywork repainted with a satin finish and lined as shown. The Dylan in particular shows how even the simplest lining scheme can lift a loco's appearance from mundane to something special without the need for fancy corners and multiple colours. Sometimes less really is more!

The owner of this loco sent the bodywork and the chassis to me for attention. The chassis received replacement axle bearings. The body was converted in to an oil-fired configuration with a dummy oil tank in the back bunker and removal of the tank top coal baskets. It was then repainted in Penrhyn-style livery. The bits then went back to the owner for final assembly. (Photo by James Trebinski)

This Lady Anne came here for a few repairs including replacement of coupling, connecting and eccentric rods and rebuilding of the dummy sliding doors on the cab back for which a previous owner considered plastic sheet to be the best material to use. My paint stripper thought otherwise. Once stripped, it was repainted in a Festiniog-inspired livery.

Now this was an interesting one. The owner of this Roundhouse Lady Anne contacted me and asked me to give it a full service / repair and then repaint and line it. He also kindly sent me a picture of the loco which, to be honest, I did not study in any detail - I'd seen a Lady Anne before!

The loco arrived and I started taking it apart, in preparation for a full strip and repaint. This found me one day holding the loco body in one hand, and a brush loaded with paint stripper in the other, but the more I looked at the existing paintwork I thought to myself "It is too nice, I can't do this". People pay me a lot of money to replicate the patina and weathering that this loco has, it would have been a shame to destroy it.

I called the owner to see whether he really really wanted it repainted and was surprised to hear him say "I bought it in 1995 and I've barely cleaned it since. (Meaning the weathering is "real", not applied). No, I'd like it left as it is. It is my wife who thinks it needs painting. You'd better speak to her.". The phone was passed over and I spoke to Margaret. I made my case and she said "But when I go to steam railways all of the locos are polished and shiny, that one looks a mess". That probably says a lot about steam railways and their obsession of polishing everything to within an inch of its life but, as we know, that was not always the case. One only has to look at, say, the Quarry Hunslets of North Wales in the 1950s and 1960s to see that they were clean but they were not polished and shiny. I made this point, explained that this look was difficult and expensive to recreate, that the loco was one of the best looking I had ever seen, and eventually it was begrudgingly accepted.

No repaint then. I just did myself out of a few quid.

As for the rest of the loco, it was well worn after nearly 30 years of use. The usual process of new rods, axles, bearings, pins, O-rings, etc.., followed along with a string of other repairs. It now runs as well as it looks.

This Roundhouse gas-fired Lady Anne came here as a very poorly-constructed kit. It had been found for sale in a shop where nobody knew what it was, and was purchased by the owner for less than £100. It is seen here after receiving a full mechanical overhaul, radio control and then repainted in satin red lined in black and yellow.

A dear old Lady Anne dating from 1983, or thereabouts. DEFIANT features tinplate bodywork, ½-inch diameter cylinders and the original form of meths burner with two separate tanks. Unfortunately at some point during the past 30 years its cab back sheet had been lost, so it came here for a replacement to be made to the original design. The new back sheet was finished in etch primer so that it could be painted to match the rest of the loco by its owner, as shown in the second picture (by Steve Drew).

The body of this lovely vintage meths-fired Lady Anne came here for a couple of minor repairs and a repaint in to plain satin black. The owner reassembled the loco and the finished result is seen here. (Photo by Jeremy Mayo)

This loco had been lined when new by LightLine, but the owner now wished to run it without the rear coal bunker, and so revealing the unlined rear of the cab. Rhos Helyg Locomotive Works lined the back of the cab to match the rest of the loco's lining. Two lamp brackets were also supplied, fitted and painted to match the body colour. The rear coal bunker can be put back on the loco at any time and will fit over these new lamp brackets.

Another Roundhouse Lady Anne, this time a vintage meths-fired 0-4-0 dating from the mid-1980s. This loco had a full repaint, including a strip back to bare metal of the bodywork and boiler, followed by coats of etch primer and gloss black, finished off with red lining and a cream cab interior.

This kit-built Lady Anne had been purchased second-hand by its new owner, and was sent here for a comprehensive overhaul and repaint. The work included:
 - Summerlands chuffer pipe fitted.
 - Roundhouse crosshead/combination lever set fitted.
 - Planet T5 2.4GHz radio control system installed.
 - Lamp bracket attached to top of smokebox.
 - “In steam” water top-up facility installed.
 - Lubricator moved from cab to left-hand doorway.
 - Cylinder O-rings and gaskets replaced as required.
 - Slide valves lapped and modified to improve performance.
 - Cylinder exhaust pipes replaced.
 - Valve timing adjusted and set.
 - Dummy air pump attached to right-hand tank front.
 - Bodywork repaired as required.
 - Dummy tank fillers replaced with Silver Lady type.
 - Rear lamp brackets replaced.
 - All bodywork, boiler, parts and frames stripped to bare metal.
 - All bodywork, boiler, parts and frames painted with etch primer.
 - Smokebox painted matt black.
 - Frames, wheels, cab floor and other parts painted in satin black.
 - Bodywork, dome and boiler wrapper painted satin bronze green.
 - Single yellow lining applied to tank and bunker sides.
 - Cranks and buffer beam bolts painted red.
 - Dummy coal loads replaced with real coal.
 - “Sir Davy Armstrong” name plates supplied and fitted.

This loco can be seen in "as received" condition as an inset on the larger picture.

This factory-built Lady Anne was sent here for a comprehensive overhaul and repaint after seeing a photo of similar loco Y DDRAIG GOCH on this web site (shown above). The work included:
 - Summerlands chuffer pipe fitted.
 - Planet T5 2.4GHz radio control system installed.
 - Original "smooth" smokebox replaced with cast brass "rivetted" type.
 - Lamp bracket attached to top of smokebox.
 - Cylinder O-rings replaced.
 - Dummy tank fillers replaced with Silver Lady type.
 - All bodywork, smokebox and boiler stripped to bare metal.
 - All bodywork, smokebox and boiler painted with etch primer.
 - Smokebox painted matt black.
 - Wheels, cab floor, cab roof and other parts painted satin black.
 - Bodywork and boiler wrapper painted satin red with black edging and yellow lining.
 - Original dome replaced with larger Russell type.
 - Axle cranks and painted red.
 - Dummy coal loads replaced with real coal.
 - “Carnethy” name plates supplied and fitted.

The second picture shows Carnethy and Y Ddraig Goch together.

Originally maroon, this Lady Anne was repainted in to the same red lined in yellow and black scheme carried and inspired by Y DDRAIG GOCH and CARNETHY but with a few minor differences as KESTREL has the later Lady Anne body style. Other work included a boiler descale, some bodywork repairs and the fitting of new piston rings, coupling rods, crank pins and Accucraft chopper couplings.

People have some strange ideas that never cease to puzzle me. Lady Alda is a manual control gas-fired Roundhouse Lady Anne built from a kit. It arrived here in a shade of blue that gave it more than a passing resemblance Thomas The Tank Engine, so the current owner asked me to repaint it and repair the running gear, which was showing its age. It was time that had affected the latter rather than mechanical wear, and so all six cylinder O-rings (valve spindle, piston rod and piston x 2) had gone hard and brittle and were replaced with new items. ` Repainting and the simple red lining were easy enough but I found some strange things when stripping it. It was missing the cab back, fair enough, but it also had a battery box installed under the cab roof. On a manual loco? Why? There was no sign of any of the other parts needed for radio control, so I doubt if it was a "might do one day" thing. Roundhouse supply as part of the kit a very nice hinge bracket for the cab roof, but there was no sign of that either, just two bits of rough brass angle instead. Again, why? Normal practice is to put the lubricator in a cab doorway allowing for easy access, but no, on this one it is in the middle of the cab floor with a bloomin' great hole cut in the back of the bunker to allow very fiddly access to the drain. It is as if the builder took one look at the parts and instructions provided and thought "I can do better than that" and then couldn't. Anyway, all sorted out now and running very nicely...

This loco was purchased from an internet auction site by the current owner, who also owns the two Dylans AURORA and LUCIUS shown on this page. It came here for an overhaul and repaint with a desire for it to match the appearance of the Dylans as much as possible. Like the Dylans, this loco is gas-fired using a ceramic burner and its original pot boiler. The overhaul included:
 - Replacement cylinders (changed from ½ inch to 9/16 inch)
 - Replacement of worn crank pins and other mechanical parts
 - Repairs and modifications to the bodywork
 - Manufacture and fitting of new buffer beams
 - Construction of a Roundhouse George tender
 - Stripping of all paint and repainting in satin and matt black
 - Lining in red and blue

This loco can be seen in "as received" condition as an inset on the larger picture.

This meths-fired Lady Anne dates from 1984 and the owner had noticed its performance was not quite as good as it was or how it should be. Fortunately it was found to be in good mechanical condition and was not afflicted by the problem of worn valve gear that has reduced a number of these fine locos in to static Shelf Queens. To improve its performance it received a new set of wicks made from modern material and had adjustments made to the safety valve and slide valve timing. The performance was transformed from a loco that struggled to make enough steam to move itself to one that comfortably hauled six bogie wagons around my test track without having to stop to raise steam.

Here is Roundhouse Lady Anne LIGNITE, a real Old Lady. Meths-fired with tinplate (not brass) bodywork and half-inch cylinders, it must date from the earlier half of the 1980s. It came here for a repaint and a general check over, but there was nothing wrong with it!

This Roundhouse Lady Anne had a respray in the same green as used on the owner's Roundhouse Russell LADY EMILY and was then lined in yellow and black. Other work included the upgrading of the radio control from 40MHz to a Planet 2.4GHz system, moving of the radio control power switch from under the cab roof to below the cab floor and fitting of a Summerlands chuffer pipe which was lengthened to match the short exhaust pipes on this loco. The name plates and "Roundhouse Engineering - Doncaster 1992" works plates were supplied by MDC.

Lady Olivia came here for for fitting of new coupling, connecting and eccentric rods, a radio control upgrade from 40MHz to 2.4GHz, fitting of various Locoworks detailing parts and a repaint from dark blue in to satin black with blue and red lining.

A brand-new loco, SHANKLIN came here for lining in a Southern Railway Lynton & Barnstaple-inspired scheme along with the fitting of some Locoworks detailing parts and de-glossing.

MAN OF KENT received one of my personal favourite lining schemes: British Railways Mixed Traffic. The lining is in three colours: grey, cream and red. It was derived, I think, from a much earlier London & North Western Railway scheme and was used by BR on thousands of locomotives during the 1950s and 1960s, but this is only the second model to which I have applied it.




However, during my volunteer days at the Severn Valley Railway I played a part in its application to several full-size loco, including the one shown in the second picture.

The bodywork parts for this Lady Anne were sent here for painting and lining in the colour and style carried by the Rudyard Lake Railway's locomotive PENDRAGON. The owner then completed the assembly of his locomotive and the superb result is shown here. The middle picture shows the model sitting on the full-size PENDRAGON, and the lower picture shows the painted and lined parts. (Photos by Keith Greenwood)

PUFFIN, a Roundhouse Lady Anne has been here for fitting of a DJB Model Engineering Ltd steam whistle and associated radio control, new rods, lining and de-glossing.

TAROO USHTEY is a Roundhouse Lady Anne chassis with a home-made body constructed by its owner about 16 years ago. It came to me for fitting of radio control, made slightly more complicated by the non-standard body and the gas tank being exactly in the place where the regulator servo had to be positioned. While here it also gained a strengthening piece at the front of the side tanks to make the body less flimsy.

The bodywork parts for this Lady Anne were sent here for painting and lining and then returned to the loco's owner. The owner then completed the assembly of his locomotive which incorporated many additional detailing parts and the superb result is shown here. The lower picture shows the painted and lined parts. (Photos by Steve Thornhill)

An article about the construction of this loco appeared in the November 2015 issue (no. 156) of 16mm Today magazine.

TILLY was built by its owner from a set of Roundhouse Lady Anne kits (chassis, boiler and body) and came here fully assembled but unpainted and unsteamed. It also has some Locoworks detailing parts. Setting the valve timing soon had the chassis running nicely and allowed the return cranks to be pinned in place. The whole loco was then returned to its component parts and thoroughly cleaned before receiving coats of etch primer and black and blue top coat. Although not visible in the photo it has also had the insides of its frames painted red, like many full-size locos. It then received cream lining with black edging inspired by Lady Anne THORNHILL which received a similar scheme here and was featured in the November 2015 issue (no. 156) of 16mm Today magazine.

This Roundhouse Lady Anne arrived in poor condition and received the following attention:
 - Stripping of paint from bodywork, boiler, smokebox, etc.
 - Repairs/resoldering of bodywork
 - Descale of boiler
 - Full check and repair of mechanical parts, including valve timing
 - Modification to the dome to improve its position on the boiler band
 - Fitting of retaining roll pins in valve gear return cranks
 - Fitting of modified Summerlands chuffer pipe
 - Fitting of lamp bracket on smokebox
 - Repainting in etch primer, gloss Crimson Lake and satin black with yellow lining
 - Upgrade of radio control from 40MHz to 2.4GHz

This loco can be seen in "as received" condition as an inset on the larger picture.

This Roundhouse Lady Anne was built from a kit by a former owner. The current owner sent it here for a repaint, lining, upgrading of the 40MHz radio control to 2.4GHz and fitting of Locoworks detailing parts. The original paint was stripped and it soon became obvious that it had been used to hide a multitude of sins, including glued or poorly soldered joints in the bodywork many of which had failed. All of these joints were cleaned up and re-soldered and other repairs made as needed. The chassis had also been painted in a colour other than black, so this was dismantled, stripped, repainted and reassembled with some new mechanical parts. A Yatton Model Engineering TRXYS radio control system was fitted. The whole thing was repainted in satin black with cream lining, and real coal added to the coal bunkers.

WILLIAM ARMSTRONG is an interesting variation of the Roundhouse Lady Anne. It was built by the owner using kits supplied by Roundhouse but with modified bodywork and the addition of a tender. The bodywork parts were sent to me for painting in a specific colour: Muscat Green. This is the colour used on the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway's loco NORTHERN ROCK. My paint supplier and all other usual sources could not get even close to what was required, so a bit of research was needed. Fortunately a good friend works for the R&ER and he came to the rescue with a colour sample taken from the tin of paint applied to the full-size loco. I passed this on to my paint supplier, who scanned it and mixed the paint to match. Maroon lining and the usual cream/black cab interior completed my part of the job, and the parts were then returned to the owner for assembly. (Photo by Paul Humphries)

An old meths-fired Roundhouse loco has been on the bench, this time a Lady Anne 0-4-0. This one had been converted to gas firing at some point but the current owner wanted it converting back to meths. The burner was in a sorry leaky state so some re-soldering was followed by a new set of wicks. It also needed attention to its safety valve that lifted at about 5psi and a few other minor repairs, including replacement of the boiler filling system using components provided by DJB Engineering. Subsequent testing under steam showed that all was not well, and the cause of the poor performance reported by the owner lay very firmly elsewhere. Basically, the poor thing was mechanically worn out. Such was the wear to the slip-eccentric valve gear that the slide valves barely opened and were preventing steam from entering the cylinders. It would run in one direction, but not the other. As the loco has sentimental value to the owner he decided that it should have a full and proper repair. New wheels, axles, bearings and, most-importantly, slip-eccentric valve gear were provided by Roundhouse Engineering and fitted. Both cylinders received overhauls, including replacement of all O-rings, gaskets and re-facing of the slide valves and their faces. All of this returned the loco to full working order. The owner and his grandson would be dealing with its bodywork and paintwork issues.

This loco arrived carrying the first version of the L&B lining scheme (simple orange and black lines). This lining was carefully removed, leaving the original Roundhouse factory paint intact, and then re-lined in the later "intermediate" scheme of black edging with orange lining. The frames were repainted in Indian Red and the smokebox was repainted in matt black, with the rest of the loco having a satin finish.

Sir Christopher came here in its basic factory-finished form but was soon enhanced with the addition of an overall cab, piston cross-heads and one of my Millie tenders, together with simple yellow lining and a matt black smoke box.

This loco's paintwork had been badly scratched in a derailment and so it was repainted to look as good as new once again. Also, the wheels were painted black and cylinder covers were fitted.

Alterations to this Roundhouse Millie included:
 - Fitting of a ½ inch pressure gauge
 - Fitting of a Summerlands chuffer
 - Paintwork repairs to deep scratches on the left-hand side tank
 - Lining in red and white
 - Painting of wheels and valve rods in black
 - Painting of inside of cab spectacle plate in cream

The lining is simple, but effective.

This Roundhouse Millie came here in plain blue and with an open cab. The work included:
 - Boiler descale
 - Replacement piston rings
 - Fitting of Summerlands chuffer pipe
 - Repairs to deep scratches in paintwork on side tanks
 - Addition of an overall cab with a doorway to the RHLW tender
 - Repaint in to red lined in yellow with black edging
 - Fitting of Accucraft couplings
 - Installation of 2.4GHz radio control (receiver and batteries in tender)

This Roundhouse Millie was fitted with a tender and an overall cab featuring a doorway to the tender. Radio control was installed, with the receiver and batteries in the tender. It was then repainted and lined.

Roundhouse Millie MIKASA lives in Japan but was shipped back to the UK so that I could apply yellow lining with black edging to its maroon paintwork, paint its wheels and valve rods black, repaint its smokebox and footplating in satin black and fit a Summerlands chuffer pipe and MDC name plates.

Three little maids... I'm not sure what the collective noun for Millies might be, but here are HEBE, HERA and HERO. These arrived here as factory-fresh models and each then received the following changes:
 - Rhos Helyg Loco Works tender.
 - Re-siting of gas tank from cab to tender.
 - New cab inspired by the Isle of Man Steam Railway locos.
 - Re-siting of lubricator to improve access.
 - Chimney extension.
 - Smokebox handrail.
 - Door opening in cab back.
 - Fall plate (footplate) between cab back and tender front.
 - Fitting of Accucraft chopper couplings.
 - Installation of single-channel radio control.

A number of Roundhouse components were also fitted, including slide bars, crossheads, safety valve bonnet, front sand boxes, water top up system, boiler water gauge glass, pressure gauge, dummy whistle, water tank filler caps and screw jacks.

All of this was followed by a repaint in to the owner's standard stealth black lined in blue and red. Name and number plates were provided by MDC.

The first picture shows this 20-year old Roundhouse Millie in as-received condition. I think the word "forlorn" accurately describes it. My work consisted of straightening out the smokebox and cab and then replacing its axles, bearings, eccentrics and rods, all of which were well worn. All of the old paint was then removed and it received etch primer, bronze green, black and the simplest of orange lining: just one panel each side but enough to "lift" its appearance and showing, once again, that sometimes less is more.

Could this be the rarest Roundhouse Engineering loco type...? It was back in 1986 that this model first appeared, but only a very limited number were made. It is a Mr. Merlin's Pooter. I can find very little about these on the internet, with the prime source being Roundhouse's own "History & Museum" page and which includes the only picture I could find of one.

From the Roundhouse History & Museum page: "Tom Cooper, formerly of Merlin Locomotives commissioned Roundhouse to produce locomotives for him when he parted company with Merlin. Tom advertised this under his Steamlines Models and Publications banner as Mr. Merlin's Pooter though it was known as Thomas's Tank Engine at the factory. Not many were produced before Tom moved onto fresh pastures and the model was withdrawn early 1987.".

After a few modifications, including to the boiler steam turrets, it reappeared a year or so later as a very European-looking model called Erica.

The model uses the standard Charles Pooter chassis with a new body and a one-piece cast smoke box. The meths-fired boiler, in common with other Roundhouse locos of this time, is made of brass. It is fitted with radio control on both regulator and reverser. A nice touch is the engraving on the bracket that holds the radio equipment in place.

This one came here in a sorry state and mechanically completely worn out. Both cylinders received full overhauls, all rods were replaced and new wheels, cranks, axles and bearings were fitted. It was then a case of going through the whole thing and correcting the many issues that it had.

I took the view that this was a restoration rather than a rebuild and hence the 6BA cheese-head bolts remain on the buffer beams. The paintwork is based on that shown in the Roundhouse museum picture but with the addition of black tank tops and extra lining. (Additional photos by Paul Sonnemans)

PANGUR BÁN is another of those rarest of Roundhouse Engineering locos: a Mr Merlin’s Pooter.

The owner had managed to obtain a bare Pooter chassis, the vibrating levers and slide blocks for the Hackworth valve gear and, most importantly, a brand-new body and cab roof from a Mr Merlin’s Pooter or Roundhouse Erica (they are identical). With these few components to hand the challenge then was to turn them in to a fully working loco and the hunt began for the parts needed to do so…

A trawl through our respective Bits Boxes produced more useful parts: Safety valve, dome (modified from a Roundhouse Tom Rolt), regulator, smokebox dart, meths tank (from a Lady Anne), meths burner, dummy tank fillers, chimney cap and whistle from the owner's, and dome retaining clip, boiler retaining band, chimney base, cylinder covers and a few other smaller components from mine. Old-style rectangular valve chest cylinders were needed and so a pair of those were removed from my own Lady Anne (and replaced with lovely new current-style ones!) and overhauled.

Roundhouse provided a host of new parts, including wheels, axles, bearings, cranks, coupling and connecting rods (same as Katie / Billy / George, etc.), centre-pivot reversing lever (from an Alco), bottom-drain lubricator and superheater tee.

That left the difficult bits to find. I took on the task of supplying the missing valve gear parts. I made the return cranks and valve rods, but making the slide balls was not something I could do so my good friend Adrian was asked if he would do so, and he did! They are a difficult thing to produce and wear on the slide balls is often the cause of Pooters becoming unused Shelf Queens. Once the chassis was running we knew we could finish the loco.

The owner took on the task of finding a Pooter boiler, which took a while but eventually he was successful. Once I had the boiler to hand, I made the inner firebox that supports it and allows it to be fixed to the frames.

It was then a case of doing the plumbing, making a new chimney, fitting some of the decorative body components and painting in bronze green with orange lining.

Could this be the last new Pooter…?

One of the rarer Roundhouse models was their Michael. Basically, it was a Lady Anne chassis with a Dylan cab and a Fowler smokebox. Only a few were made, exclusively for SMD Models in 1991.

When I look at a model, one of the first things I ask myself is "Would that work in full-size?" and when I first saw a Michael my answer was "No". It has coal bunkers, but where would it hold a supply of water for the boiler? So...

This one (No. 6) came here for modifications at the request of its owner. Included were dummy well tanks between the frames (solving the water supply problem), replacement smokebox and dome, Accucraft couplings, upgraded radio control and a repaint in to the owners stealthy black scheme lined in blue and red.

An interesting ⅞ths-scale conversion, this loco started life as a Roundhouse Old Colonial and was converted by the owner from 16mm/foot to ⅞ths-inch/foot by increasing the height of the chimney and cab. It is meths-fired and gave many years of use until the slip-eccentric valve gear wore out to such an extent that it became unusable.

It came here for repairs, including a complete rebuild of its chassis, repairs and modifications to the bodywork, a replacement for the original and broken whitemetal lamp bracket and a repaint from Roundhouse's original and well-worn Baby Poo Brown in to the Festiniog Railway-inspired scheme shown here of green with red lining and black edging.

This Mark 3 Pooter came to me for some body repair work and a repaint in to satin black with blue lining. Very kindly the owner had removed the old paint, saving me time and him money! Its meths tank had returned to its component parts so that was rebuilt while it was here, together with the fitting of "current" cylinder covers to its old-style rectangular valve chest cylinders.

Here we see a Roundhouse meths-fired Pooter dating from the mid-1980s. I was asked to find a buyer for this locomotive by an existing customer, and a fortuitous visit by another existing customer soon found a new owner for this locomotive. A full and comprehensive cosmetic overhaul followed, including:
 - Bodywork strengthened by addition of a stay across the two side tanks
 - Missing cab steps replaced with whitemetal steps
 - Buffer beam overlays with rivet detail fitted using hexagon head bolts
 - Summerlands chuffer fitted
 - All parts stripped back to bare metal
 - Full repaint in gloss black with red lining, cream cab interior and matt black smokebox

This 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.

The body and boiler wrapper (only) of this Russell came to me for repainting from maroon in to satin green and lining in yellow with black edging. New name and works plates from MDC were also supplied and fitted, and real coal was added to the bunkers.

Lots of small jobs were carried out on this loco, including:
 - Accucraft chopper couplings
 - Additional handrails on tank tops
 - New piston rings
 - Adjustments to valve timing
 - Planet T5 2.4GHz radio control
 - Lamp bracket on smokebox
 - Boiler de-scale

As shown in the first picture this Roundhouse Russell body had suffered some paintwork damage around the name plates on both sides. The owner asked me to repair the paintwork, and the result is shown in the second picture. My work was restricted to the tank sides only, not the cab sides, using the horizontal black lining band to hide the join between old and new paint. The tank side required filling and sanding of the surface to make it flat again, repainting in matching maroon and reapplication of the black and yellow lining.

The same loco is seen here after reassembly by the owner. (Photo by Luke Petch)

This coal-fired Roundhouse Russell was painted and assembled for Shawe Steam Services - the 51st loco that I have worked on for SSS. This is only the second coal-fired Russell of this type. The first was built by John Shawe about 12 years ago and was fitted with radio control. The one seen here has manual control and so some redesign work was required to increase the size of the water tanks in order to make use of the space that would have been occupied by the radio equipment.

This locomotive was constructed using Roundhouse components for 45mm gauge track and includes the following features:
 - Water tank and hand water pump in tender allowing water to be fed to the boiler while the locomotive is
       stationary or not in steam.
 - Axle-driven water pump with manual by-pass allowing water to be fed to the boiler while the locomotive is
       in motion.
 - Custom-built gas-fired boiler incorporating water gauge glass.
 - Working front headlight.
 - Working steam whistle built in to dummy air reservoir on right-hand side of locomotive.
 - 2.4GHz radio control, allowing control of regulator, reverser and whistle.
 - Satin black paint finish.
 - Real coal load in tender.




Six years after construction, and it is developing a beautiful patina...

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.

"I am very keen that you will be able to undertake a full service of my 29-year-old Mark 1 Roundhouse SR&RL loco" the owner's email said. Now, I've done lots of "servicing" over the last 20 years but I think this one was the most comprehensive I have ever undertaken. The loco had been running fine, until one of the expansion links made a bid for freedom and parted company with its pivot pin. Once it arrived here a full inspection revealed that this loco had had a tough life and most definitely in need of a service. Worn-out running gear was the main problem (see rear crank pin in first picture) so it ended up being completely dismantled and having new axles, bearings, rods, expansion links and crank pins fitted, as well as a full cylinder overhaul involving new O-rings throughout and refacing of the slide valves. Also done:
 - Cleaning of the boiler gauge glass
 - Fitting of radio control
 - Rearrangement of lubricator and gas pipework to avoid servos.
 - Attention to a leaking clack valve (to stop the water in the tender from being boiled!)
 - Replacement of the slotted cylinder fixing screws with cap screws (easier to tighten and keep tight)
 - Fitting of working front headlamp
 - Refixing of boiler handrail knobs
 - Modification of smokebox struts (from push-fit to mechanical fixing)
 - Repainting of smokebox, cab roof, cab interior, running board edges
Hopefully, now, it will give the owner another 30+ years of use.

The owner of this Silver Lady sent the body, dome, cylinder covers and boiler wrapper here for respraying in Somerset & Dorset Railway blue. The parts were then returned to the owner who reassembled the loco. (Photo by Steve Jackson)

This Roundhouse Silver Lady came here in its original Roundhouse green paint. A single orange line on tank and coal bunker sides was added to the existing paintwork, together with black tank tops, coal bunkers, wheels and cranks. The body and boiler were then given a protective coat of satin clear. The final touches were the tank inners (not visible in the photo), step overlays and front footplating from Locoworks, and real coal in the bunkers.

LADY OF LAVAN was followed by LADY KATHARINE which came here for much the same treatment.

Accidents are part of life, unfortunately. The owner of this Roundhouse Silver Lady found it laying on the floor having fallen from the desk on which it was displayed. The only witness to the accident was his cat who, if anything like ours, will probably have brought the matter to his attention in a nothing-do-to-with-me "I'm doing you a favour so you'd better come and see what has happened in here" manner. Damage included a less than vertical chimney, a corresponding dent in the smokebox, boiler pushed to one side and rotated in its now damaged fastenings, cab roof hinges pulled out of shape and a crease in the roof itself. Fortunately there was no paintwork damage as it landed on a carpeted floor. The loco was dismantled, straightened out, had its cab roof and smokebox repainted (original paint marked during straightening), reassembled and tested.

A brand-new Roundhouse Silver Lady finished in crimson lake with double yellow lining, black tank tops and a plethora of Locoworks detailing enhancements.

GLASLYN came here for the addition of white lining with black edging to its factory paintwork. While here I also filled an unwanted hole in the cab front, upgraded the radio control system and added a servo to control the whistle.

A Roundhouse Stanley from the latest batch which came here for lining in cream with black edging, and a satin finish to all of its paintwork.

This brand-new loco came here for lining in the style that the full-size loco carried when it first entered service at the Talyllyn Railway, and before the air pump was fitted to the right-hand side tank. The job included fitting of TR crests, respraying of the cab roof, boiler, smokebox and tank tops in satin black, and painting the wheels in green. A satin clear coat then reduced the factory gloss finish to a more prototypical shine.

The first Welsh narrow gauge steam locomotives I ever saw were OWAIN GLYNDWR and PRINCE OF WALES at the Vale of Rheidol railway in 1968. They had just been repainted in to BR's plain corporate blue livery and, although it may not be to everybody's taste, I have always really liked it. Never having seen a model in this scheme, I have wanted to recreate the look on a 16mm/ft scale model for some time and I was delighted when an opportunity to do so came my way. I was asked by the owner of brand-new gloss black Roundhouse loco for my suggestions as to how the look of his loco could be improved by alterations to the paintwork and/or the addition of lining. We agreed that BR green ones and post-1977 lined-out blue ones were really common, the 1980s "heritage" liveries were not to his taste, and that he really wanted something a bit different. I then mentioned my memories of Aberystwyth and Devil's Bridge from all those years ago. The owner had also visited around that time and remembered the locos in BR blue well, and to my surprise accepted my suggestion of a repaint in to this scheme. The result is seen here.

This loco came here in well-worn lined maroon livery with a request to repaint it in gloss bronze green. The maroon paint was in such a state that it had to be removed but on doing so I found that this loco started life in gloss black. Fortunately the maroon paint detached from the black very easily, leaving me with a loco with perfect paintwork over which the green could be applied and avoiding the need to strip to bare brass and reapply etch primer.

The livery is that carried by the VofR locos in the late 1940s / early 1950s, immediately prior to British Railways giving them names.

Originally green, this Roundhouse William was repainted in to red and lined in yellow and black. Other work included a boiler descale and the fitting of new piston rings, coupling rods, crank pins, Accucraft chopper couplings and a Summerlands chuffer.

This Roundhouse William came here for repainting from green to satin finish dark blue with ` cream lining.

GWILYM later returned for a full mechanical overhaul. During this visit it had its original old-style (rectangular valve chests) cylinders fully over-hauled which included restoring the slide valves and their faces, replacement of all O-rings (pistons, piston rod glands, valve spindle glands and live steam connections) and fitting of new gaskets (valve chests and cylinder covers). It was also fitted with new axle bearings, axles, crank pins and coupling, connecting and eccentric rods.

This Roundhouse William lost its tender, the dummy doors on the cab sides and the intermediate boiler bands. Losing the tender meant that there was no water supply for the loco so a dummy well tank has been fitted between the frames with its filler in front of the smokebox. It was also fitted with upgraded radio control, lamp brackets, Accucraft couplings, doors on the lower half of the cab back and a canvas back sheet on the upper half. All of this was followed by a strip and repaint in the customer's stealth livery of satin black with blue and red lining.

The cab, tanks and bunker for this Roy Wood Models Janet came here for priming, painting and lining in a yellow and red scheme inspired by the livery of SNCF's Le Petit Train Jaune in the Pyrenees. On completion the parts then went back to RWM for final assembly. (Photo by Roy Wood)

The cab, tanks and Swift Sixteen tender for this Roy Wood Models Janet came here for priming, painting and lining in a scheme based on that used by the Talyllyn Railway. On completion the parts then went back to RWM for final assembly. (Photo by Roy Wood)

Another set of bodywork parts lined here, but unlike with other locos if this type the lining was applied to the powdercoat finish normally supplied, rather than being painted here first. On completion the parts then went back to RWM for final assembly. (Photo by Roy Wood)

This brand-new locomotive came to us direct from the builder for some paintwork modifications. Yellow lining was applied to the side tanks, the wheels, tank bases and cab steps were painted in satin black, the axle cranks were painted red and the smokebox was resprayed in matt black. Following this work, the locomotive was thorougly steam tested to check that its performance met the builder's specification and the owner's expectations, both of which it failed to do. This loco later returned to us for a rebuild, see Rhos Helyg Loco Works coal-fired 0-6-0TT BOWER GROVE.

This Sabre Steam Annette came here primarily for the replacement of the axle-driven water pump, which although axle-driven was failing to perform as any kind of pump. The pump was removed and replaced with a new one kindly supplied by DJB Engineering. While here it also had two new axles fitted, replacement of missing and damaged pipework and attention to the safety valve and clack valve, both of which were leaking. This was followed by a strip of the original paintwork and a repaint.

The second photo shows another Sabre Steam Annette that came here for fitting of a replacement pump and a repaint.

This meths-fired 0-4-0 came here for repairs to its mechanical parts. It was found to have a loose crank pin, a loose crank and two loose axle bearings, all of which were corrected. These faults combined caused the wheels to jam solid as the coupling rods struggled to do their job. It also received a burner service, including new wicks.

This Garratt came here for a number of mechanical repairs and attention to a multitude of leaks from the flexible steam pipes. Unfortunately, the extent of the repairs necessary proved to be so great that the owner decided to dispose of the loco instead. I was able to find a buyer for it and a successful sale soon followed.

This locomotive was dismantled and had the bodywork stripped back to bare metal. A dent in the saddle tank was repaired and two holes in the cab sides were filled in. The bodywork was then repainted using etch primer and Talyllyn bronze green top-coat, followed by lining in yellow with black edging. The paintwork was protected and given a satin finish by spraying with lacquer. The smokebox received coats of etch-primer and High Temperature matt black paint, the bufferbeams were painted red and the cab interior was painted cream. Real coal was fixed into the bunkers following reassembly.

Two years later another of these delightful locomotives came here for repairs and a repaint. The tank filler lid, spectacle rings and pump handle were missing from this loco, and I arranged manufacture and supply of replacements. The loco then had a complete strip and repaint in to Talyllyn bronze green lined in black and yellow, all with a gloss finish. The smokebox, cab roof and footplating was finished in satin black. Replacement of the missing works plates with new items from MDC completed the job.

Another one visited a few months later for repairs and a repaint. This one differed from the others by having a full cab back and a different type of meths burner, amongst other detail differences.

Since 2002 I have painted many coal-fired steam locomotives for Shawe Steam Services. Some of these locos are shown in this selection. Click here to see more.

The return of an old friend... This loco first landed on my bench back in 2004 for painting and assembly. Between then and now it has gone through a couple of ownership changes but unfortunately developed a very unusual boiler fault. The loco came to me and the boiler was removed and sent to Shawe Steam Services for repair. After these were completed the boiler was stripped of its remaining paint and repainted to match the original green - made easier by having the same tin of paint in stock that I had used all those years before! As part of the reassembly process the loco had a full check of its mechanical parts, including resetting of the Joy valve gear that had gone "lumpy" in reverse, new piston rings and a number of other replacement O-rings to cure leaks and to give the best possible performance. The radio control system was also upgraded from 40MHz to a Planet T5 2.4GHz system, and it was also relocated back on-board the locomotive (and as originally built), rather than being built in to a coal wagon.

Slater's Plastikard etched brass Festiniog Railway 2-ton slate waggon featuring soldered construction for extra strength and with correct pattern curly spoked or three-hole wheels running in brass bearings. Total weight is about 132 grams (unbraked) or 144 grams (braked). After completion they are painted with etch primer and then in a colour of the customer's choice, followed by "rusting".










The lower photograph shows a completed order for 12 Slater's etched-brass Festiniog Railway slate waggons. Variations include three shades of grey, three types of wheels, two types of axlebox and one with a handbrake. All of these models are based on full-size waggons preserved at the Festiniog Railway.

These waggons have soldered construction for extra strength. After completion they are painted with etch primer and then in a colour of the customer's choice, followed by weathering.

The axle end cranks on this Steamcraft Linda had an annoying habit of moving on the axle when the loco suffered even the smallest of derailments. The result of this was that the valve timing would then be lost and the loco would not run. The problem was solved by drilling each crank and axle and inserting a roll pin, so locking the crank on the axle end.

Swanage Models produced a batch of 20 models of Hunslet locomotive LILLA as used on the Penrhyn Quarry Railway (PQR) and as now preserved at the Festiniog Railway in North Wales. I was asked to paint and line a number of bodies for these models in the PQR scheme, and the result is shown here. Lining is red and blue on a satin black base coat. (Photo by Roy Wood)

In 1997 the owner of the full-size LILLA decided that he wished to sell the locomotive, and the Lilla Locomotive Group was formed to purchase and maintain it in full working order for use on the Festiniog Railway. I was elected as the first Chairman of the group and remained in that role for ten years, so I got to know LILLA very well. The opportunity to create a super-detailed model of LILLA was too much to resist, and the result is shown in these pictures. The intention was to incorporate as many of the features that the full-size LILLA has or had in to the model with the intention of showing the locomotive as she appeared in the late 1990s/early 2000s before the vacuum brake pipework was added. The modifications included:
 - Repair patches on the saddle tank sides
 - Additional rivets on buffer beams and cab front
 - Lamp brackets on chimney and cab back sheet
 - Injector pipework and push rods for the water valves
 - Blower pipe
 - Reversing lever and drain cock lever reach rods
 - Whistle with "drip tray" and pipework
 - Regulator lubricator on dome
 - Displacement lubricator on tank front with pipework
 - Handbrake pedestal in cab with mechanism on side of frames
 - Glazing in windows
 - Front left buffer beam bent, just like The Real Thing!

Another one of these locos then came to me for detailing and radio control. At the owner's request I used a paler shade of blue for the Penrhyn Quarries lining scheme. It was some years ago that I had the opportunity to talk to one of the chaps who used to work in the Penrhyn Quarries locomotive workshops and I asked what shade of blue they used for the lining. His reply was "Anything we could get" and perhaps this combined with the exposure to North Wales weather explains the variations that we are now seeing on preserved PQR locos, from the darker shade formerly used on STANHOPE to the much paler shade used on MARCHLYN.

Another LILLA, but without the extra detailing.

Destined for a life in the USA, the owner of this Swift Sixteen tram arranged for both the body kit and the Roundhouse Bertie chassis to be sent here for painting and assembly.

On completion of the assembly some discussion took place with the owner as to how he would like his tram loco to be painted. A picture is always worth a thousand words and so he printed a photo from the Swift Sixteen web site showing a tram in primer and then painted it with water colours! The result is shown here, and this scheme was adopted after a few changes were agreed, principally increasing the amount of maroon used. (Picture by S Awtrey/Swift Sixteen)

The finished model is shown here.

BERTRAM is another Swift Sixteen tram body mounted on a Roundhouse Bertie chassis. The body was built by its owner (who made a very fine job of it) and it came here for painting in dark satin blue with white detailing.

Another Swift Sixteen tram loco constructed, painted and lined. This one was finished in Bronze Green with yellow lining. The owner chose not to have the roof condensers fitted so instead an easily removable roof section was provided to allow servicing of the Roundhouse Bertie power unit.

A pair of Swift Sixteen Owain bodies mounted on Accucraft chassis which were assembled, painted and lined here. They both needed some additional work to fit over the pre-existing radio control gear, and both gained the dummy whistle from their original Accucraft bodies.

This one is the unusual combination of a Swift Sixteen Owain body, usually seen on an 0-4-0 Accucraft chassis, but mounted on an 0-6-0 Roundhouse Lady Anne chassis instead. It also has a Lady Anne boiler but the smokebox is from a Roundhouse Billy which allows the boiler to be mounted higher and so not causing it to be lost between the side tanks. Many modifications had to be made to the body to make it fit this chassis, particularly around the radio control equipment, and a few to the chassis too. It also had modifications made to the coal bunkers in front of the cab.

The Swift Sixteen gunpowder van is a beautifully moulded kit but I wanted to do something different with the running gear, including the fitting of metal wheels. The result is seen here. The moulded axle boxes were removed and these and the wheels supplied were replaced with parts from Slater's, as used on their Festiniog slate wagons. With the axle boxes mounted in-board of the frame to align with the wheels, these modifications give the van a quite different appearance.

These coal waggons were built from TD52040 Waist Side Coal Wagon Kits supplied by The Train Department (USA). The owner decided he did not like the steel chassis and small wheels provided so these were replaced by the larger wheels shown. There are 206 individual components in each one of these wagons, of which 114 are the tiny black nails holding the strapping in place. Painting and weathering will be done by their owner.

These slate waggons were built from TD5105 Welsh Steel Slate Wagon Kits supplied by The Train Department (USA). They are made of laser-cut steel with whitemetal castings and are held together by bolts and rivets. A couple of modifications made during assembly have increased the rigidity of the bodywork and improved their appearance. After assembly they were painted and received various degrees of rusting and weathering.

This is a John Turner Caledonia, unusually set for 32mm gauge track. Being a model of a 3 foot gauge Isle of Man prototype others that I have seen have all been for 45mm gauge track and, of course, are not regaugeable.

This one had been in storage for many years and the owner asked me to check it over and bring it back to life. Initial inspection showed the chassis to be seized solid and the 27MHz radio gear past its best. Careful inspection and lubrication soon had it running again, and it steamed very well under manual control. Replacement of the radio gear with 2.4GHz equipment followed, after much head scratching. These locos are controlled by two push/pull rods running between the frames from the cab. One controls the regulator under the smokebox, the other controls the valve gear attached to the frames. So not the usual "two levers" arrangement. I used three servos, giving independent control of the whistle for the first time. I'm no electrician but I even managed to get the lights working too!

The gas tank proved problematical in that it was tricky to fill (needing a long-lost special adaptor to do so) and there was no way of fully shutting it off completely. The tank was heavily modified, tested and certified by Shawe Steam Services under my instructions to address these issues and it now has a standard type of gas filler valve and a repositioned outlet to avoid liquid gas being sent to the burner.

Something a little different: This model body of the Welsh Highland Railway's Funkey diesel locomotive was built from a Worsley Works Scratch Aid Kit set of etched nickel-silver sheets. The parts were cut out from the etches, formed to shape and soldered together - using a lot of solder! The body will be transformed in to a working model by its owner. Click here to see some pictures of a completed model.

The bodywork from a Worsley Works Scratch Aid Kit representing one of the Walker Brothers 0-4-4-0 diesels used on the West Clare Railway in Ireland was assembled here. The completed body then took a trip down the Welsh coast to Friog Railway Services who built a superb chassis for it which incorporates radio control and sound. It then came back to RHLW for finishing. The first thing to do was to strengthen the buffer beams so that they were capable of taking a buffing load without deformation. Then came fitting of Swift Sixteen chopper couplings, glazing the windows with glass, and fabrication and fitting of handrails, horns, exhaust pipes, marker lights, radiator fillers, cab roof, vacuum brake pipes, end steps, cab steps, fuel tanks, fuel tank fillers and the driver's desk - phew! The bonnet-top headlights work and these (and the dummy horns) were kindly supplied by Essel Engineering, and I thank them for their assistance. Paintwork was a shade of green chosen by the owner to match that carried by the full-size locos, followed by a good dose of weathering. Walker Brothers (Wigan) Ltd. works plates for the bonnet ends were specially made by MDC and completed the job.

A history of the full-size locos can be found here.

PHAEDRA had seen some considerable use in the past and it came here for fitting of radio control, a rear cab extension, lamp brackets and chopper couplings, removal of the chimney cover and rear hose bracket, and a general service. The latter turned in to quite a task and involved adjustments to the valve timing, rearranging the front bogie pivot, freeing of the seized bogie axles, a boiler descale, unblocking of the water gauge and reminding the safety valve of its task. Modifications were also made to the cab and rear bunker to allow for easier removal and re-fitting. As part of the radio control installation the original manual regulator was replaced by a new custom-made item kindly provided by Shawe Steam Services.

To complete the job, the loco was repainted in satin black lined in the owner's standard blue and red scheme.

This Wrightscale Engineering Quarry Hunslet was brand new when it arrived here and received Penrhyn livery. Gorgeous...

Another very desirable model, this Tattoo came here for a service and some minor repairs.

This brand-new Tattoo came here for application of Penrhyn Quarries-style lining based on the full-size loco STANHOPE.

Probably the smallest commercially-available live steamer in 16mm/foot scale is Wrightscale's model of the Kerr, Stuart and Company's Wren 0-4-0ST, of which several full-size examples survive in preservation. Having been after one for many years, this model was an "impulse buy" purchase by the owner from an internet auction site. The auction listing was entirely accurate, and showed an assembled chassis and a box of loose components, all of which soon arrived here for assembly and painting. The paperwork included a boiler test certificate from 2000 and we can only guess what has happened to the model in the intervening years.

The chassis had been assembled but was extremely stiff during rotation of the wheels as a number of assembly errors had been made, the valve timing had not been set and the piston rings had succumbed to old age. Also, the original lost-wax coupling rods had been mis-drilled for their crankpins and replaced with some nasty home-made items, so the originals were repaired and re-fitted. With all these faults corrected the chassis was soon running nicely on compressed air. Running on steam proved to be a challenge though as almost as soon as the regulator was opened for the first time the soft solder on the live steam tee fitting between the valve chests melted and blew out! The joints were quickly re-made with silver solder but only after a lot of dismantling to remove the errant pipe and subsequent reassembly. No pressure gauge had been provided so a 1/2-inch gauge, syphon pipe and banjo bolt were fitted.

Final assembly of the platework included some modifications to allow easier future maintenance, in particular the front buffer beam (allowing access to the cylinders and pistons) and the whole cab structure (allowing access to the lubricator and gas burner) are removable rather than being a single soldered-together entity. The gas burner has also received some modifications to make the flame more stable and easier to light. Painting in gloss Victorian Maroon lined in cream with black edging, satin black for the boiler, cab roof, etc., and red for the rods and inside the frames completed the job. Nice!

This brand-new Wrightscale Wren came here for repainting from plain green in to blue with red and black lining.

It is often a privilege and a pleasure to work on some locos that come to me for attention.

And then there are the others. I had a phone call from a friend of mine telling me that he'd "bought a lovely new loco, built by a skilled model engineer" and asking whether I could get it running and paint it for him. I should have been alerted by the "get it running" request, but I missed it and agreed to take a look. A few days later the proverbial Box Of Bits arrived and I was presented with a chassis, a boiler, some other components and the bodywork. The latter had been stripped to bare brass ready for painting.

I could write pages about what followed. When preparing an invoice I list exactly what I have done as part of the job. The invoice for this loco was my first in over 20 years where the list ran on to a second page. Everything I did to correct one problem seemed to create another problem elsewhere.

Lovely loco? No, definitely not.

Skilled model engineer? Maybe, but whoever it was did so with no thought that future maintenance might be an issue. Why make a smokebox (now modified) that cannot be removed without taking the boiler off the frames? Why provide a gas tank so small (now replaced) that it was impossible to raise 40psi without having to re-fill the tank? Why fit a homemade burner (now replaced) that pumped out excessive amounts of Carbon Monoxide, enough to have my alarm blaring in under three minutes?

As I said, I could write chapter and verse about this one, and perhaps one day I will. For the moment I am just happy that it is all done and no longer on my bench.

Absolutely delightful: This is KATHLEEN, a gas-fired 0-4-0T that came here for repainting and lining and for some mechanical attention. According to an article in GardenRail magazine, the full-size loco was built in 1876 by Vulcan Foundry and supplied to the Alexandra Slate Quarry. Unfortunately, the builder of this model remains unknown and despite many enquiries as to who it might have been. Any information on this would be welcomed. This model is definitely on my "I would love to keep this one" list...

I converted a Roundhouse B-Class in to a representation of Tipong Colliery 789 a while ago. Unfortunately, it had been missing one thing: an authentic train to pull. Pictures of the operations at Tipong show most trains there were made up of 4-wheel coal tubs, and this was what the owner decided to recreate in miniature. His design could not follow the full-size wagons accurately due to there being no easy source of the tiny 5-spoke wheels they use, so instead he used what was available and scaled the models to look right, a representation rather than a truly scale model. They use laser-cut plywood floor and side frames, a steel body with wheels and axles from Binnie Engineering. The steel bodies were made by a local engineering company from steel channel, suitably cut so that the floor of the channel could be folded up to form the body's ends. He eventually managed to assemble a grand total of one wagon! With the project stalled the whole lot came to me for final assembly. With no less than 22 to build it was obvious that some kind of production line would be needed. The second photo shows the stages.
Top left: Chassis component parts, laser cut from ply. Axle bearings are a mixture of "proper" and "cheat", the latter being brass eyelets used for buckle holes and coming usually from a local haberdashery - an idea shamelessly stolen from Coopercraft who used identical "bearings" in their Festiniog slate wagon kits.
Top middle: Chassis glued together and clamped.
Top right: Raw body, made from steel channel cut to length then cut to form folded-up ends. Corner gaps filled with car body filler.
Bottom left: Chassis, now with wheels, attached to body.
Bottom middle: Detailing strips (plastic) glued and held in place.
Bottom right: Completed wagon. Couplings to be fitted and then painted and weathered, as shown in the third photo.
The last photo shows 789 on its full-length train.

GLEN was built by the owner's grandfather in 2004. It did not do much running but was rediscovered in a damp cupboard where it had been for 16 years, after thinking it had been sold years ago. I was asked to get it running again and re-jig the radio control so everything was onboard the loco, rather than having the batteries and receiver carried in a wagon. Most of it looks to be home-made but the chassis is based on Roundhouse components (cylinders, wheels, axles, etc.) except for the rods, which have bushed ends. An initial steaming showed that all was not well mechanically, with a myriad of steam leaks and the valve setting not right so preventing smooth operation. I managed to shoe-horn the radio gear in to it. With no cab back there were not many places to hide it! With that corrected it ran well until the plastic (!) linkage on the reverser servo failed. Rebuilt using metal components, all was then well.

Snow plough built by the Rhos Helyg Locomotive Works, and weighing 1.6Kg so capable of actually ploughing snow, as shown in the second picture.

I made about ten of these concrete mixer wagons. They were based on a Binnie Engineering plastic tipper wagon chassis and used a die-cast model mixer. They were finished in red oxide (chassis) and yellow (mixer) suitably rusted and caked in sand.

I built this member of my home fleet in 1990 using mild steel for the frame and brass sheet for the bodywork. It is powered by a sealed lead-acid 12V battery driving a Como Drills motor with a worm drive to the rear axle. The wheels and axles came from Roundhouse Engineering.

The two black buttons either side of the dummy horn provide On/Off and Forward/Reverse control, and speed is governed by turning the exhaust pipe. Control is provided by an I T Electronics (Ian Titford) speed controller which gives acceleration and deceleration effects. The latter often catches out unfamiliar operators as pressing the Off button while the loco is in motion causes it to run several feet before gently coasting to a stand, or colliding with anything in the way. The speed can be controlled right down to an almost imperceptible crawl.

It weighs 2.8 Kg / 6.2 lbs and is more than capable of dragging dead steam locomotives.

After 23 years of service I felt that the time had come for an overhaul and repaint, and the result is seen here. It has had some rewiring and a thorough clean of the mechanical parts, although nothing actually needed replacing. The bodywork was stripped back to bare metal and repainted from the plain green that it carried previously to the BR diesel shunter-inspired scheme shown. The black and yellow stripes are painted, not transfers.

The bodywork for this model was scratchbuilt by its owner and came here for painting. It represents a Fowler 0-6-0 diesel used on the Gondal State Railway in India.

The second photo shows the loco after reassembly by the owner. (Photo by Paul Humphries)

The body from this battery diesel loco was sent here for painting and lining.

This fine model depicts one of the original Vale of Rheidol Railway locomotives as supplied by Davies & Metcalfe in 1902.

The builder asked me to paint and line the cab/side tank assemblies, cylinder covers and cab front and back. These parts were delivered to me and the surfaces were prepared for etch priming and painting in Stroudley's "Improved Engine Green", otherwise known as Yellow Ochre. Lining was applied in red and white with dark green edging. Vale of Rheidol Railway transfers were then applied, and the exterior paintwork was completed with a coat of gloss lacquer. The inside surfaces and tops of the tanks were sprayed in satin black, and the cab interior was painted in cream and black.

The name and works plates were produced by MDC Plates specially for this locomotive and they feature a wealth of detail.

After reassembly, this model went on to win the Jack Wheldon Memorial Trophy at the 2012 National Garden Railway Show, and the Rhos Helyg Locomotive Works is proud to have played a part in this project. (Photo by Keith Skillicorn)

This loco appears to be a homemade copy of a Roundhouse Pooter, but the only Roundhouse components used are the cylinders. It came here in non-working condition caused by very worn valve gear. This was corrected and the loco was returned to working order.

These two locomotives were built by their owner using some Roundhouse components and came here for painting. Both were delivered in bare metal.and received some bodywork finishing work before being painted.

ST GEORGE is a gas-fired 0-6-0ST that was painted in gloss and satin black with lining in blue and red.

GLAURUNG is a coal-fired 0-4-0ST that was painted in gloss green and satin black with yellow lining and black edging.

This ⅞ths-scale 45mm gauge (i.e. 2-foot gauge on 45mm track) model of LILLA is coal-fired and came for a number of modifications to improve its appearance and ease of use, including:
 - Sliding doors in rear cab sheet changed from dummies to opening doors
 - Water pump bypass valve relocated from under saddle tank to cab floor
 - Steam whistle relocated from cab front to under cab floor
 - Dummy whistle added to cab front
 - Dummy lubricator and pipework added to front of saddle tank
 - Dummy blower pipe run from cab to smokebox side
 - Dummy draincock operating reach rod added
 - Scale name and number plates provided by MDC Plates
 - Glazing added to cab windows
 - Handbrake "bulge" added to cab back sheet

All of this was followed by stripping and repainting in to Penrhyn Quarry Railways livery.

This model of Jack visited for resetting of its valve gear after its running characteristics had lost their original smoothness. As part of this process, roll pins were inserted through the return cranks and rear pins to lock them in place. When it arrived the loco had plain black boiler bands, so these were lined in white as per the real locomotive on which this model is based.

I was asked by a customer in Australia to paint and line the bodywork he had made for a Quarry Hunslet. He was building a model of the National Slate Museum's loco UNA and so the parts were painted in dark maroon with cream lining and black detailing. The loco is now complete and looks stunning. I am so pleased to have played a small part in its creation. (Photos 2 and 3 by John Bell)

The bodywork for this rather unusual locomotive came here for application of primer, paint and stripes. The painted parts were then returned to the owner for final assembly. This model won the Roundhouse Trophy at the 2019 National Garden Railway Show. (Picture by Paul Humphries)

A deviation from the normal 16mm/foot scale work was the painting of this 5-inch gauge Polly Engineering "Caroline" locomotive in a style based on that carried by the Tallylyn Railway's DOUGLAS. (Photos by Kes Jones)