Autumn Colour
2008 Q4 Quarterly Report
By Mark Thatcher
I can’t believe its over three months ago since Flo and I had our launch party for the Dovecote Light Railway, on one of the few sunny days we have had this year. And how much has happened in the last three months?
Well quite a lot! Natural settlement of the line has not been as much of a problem as I had in initially thought and save for a curve to the East of Dovecote station which needs a little in-fill, not much else is there to report. The dreaded Tramways loop is another matter with a huge amount of earth slip and soil erosion which has exposed much of the brick under-course on the Tramways loop and desperately needs attending to, together with a really good weeding of that part of the line where, if anything, our planting out has been a little bit too successful.
"alarming list to port"
To the East, Eastway station has developed an alarming list to port and much of Flo’s fine cement work has regrettably become unglued. Elsewhere the planting of “mind you own business” has been a great success and is already beginning to provide the line with a blanket of cover in many places. I shall definitely plant some more early on next season. So really it’s just a case of finding the odd hour here and there to infill where required and then the process of “wintering up” starts.
"major real estate jobs"
This will involve pulling in some of the more fragile items, like people, benches and some of the more precious buildings. The signals have already been removed. The only major real estate jobs involve a re-paint of Dovecote Junction’s signal box roof and a refit of the windows that have bowed with the weather. The other building, which also has a roof problem, is Eastway’s waiting room. Ironically both these buildings are Lineside Delights kits. I noticed when constructing these, the resin they are made from was very shiny and I thought I had degreased them sufficiently, but in these two cases, obviously not. Hopefully now they have been exposed to the weather for a few months, nature will have done this for me. But certainly despite the voracious digging of the rabbits, and the equally voracious chasing of them by our Jack Russell, not much else has troubled the line.
New Coaching Stock
It’s been a good quarter for new additions too. I am particularly pleased with my rebuild of the signal box at Eastway. You can read a review of how I did that here. Also the new coaching stock - ready to run Accucraft IOM carriages have been a real hit too. My personal favourite are the new IP Engineering Vale of Rheidol coaches, of which I built three of in a marathon weekend build. You can take a closer look at those by clicking here.
"my winter build project"
I wish I could say the same about IP’s railbus kit, which has been very problematic. I am on the home straight finally I think and will be able to complete the third part of my build report for this, as and when time allows. I also have acquired a working windmill kit from British Outline Buildings, as my winter build project, hopefully, this will be ready to set in place by spring – but as I am so far behind with my reviews for Garden Rail Magazine, I am not making any promises.
"thanks must go to..."
On the motive power front, thanks must go to both Peter Spoerer and Ron Pointer for finally sorting the errant radio controlled Hunslet, which, until I can afford the Roundhouse RC battery powered diesel loco, is the only RC battery loco I have in service, and no doubt will come in handy for those really crisp winter’s days when you can’t be fagged to light up a live steamer.
"Katie"
I am also thrilled, only this week that we have a new loco to the stable – a Roundhouse Katie, won on ebay. My thanks go to David Johnson, who threw in loads of goodies like a bag of chopper couplings and two pairs of automatic cylinder drain cocks from DJB Engineering. Despite Katie being four years old, she is in mint condition and very lightly used. She also has the benefit of having up-rated cranks, available from Milton Locomotive Works - www.rhhfranks.co.uk who make some lovely scale cranks which are a definite improvement over the Roundhouse ones.
Another major bonus is Katie has been hand lined by Geoff Munday of Lightline - www.lightline16mm.co.uk/linestyles.html in the style of a Hunslet livery. Geoff is really the best in the business and whilst I have always admired his work, I have never got round to sending one of my locos off to him, so this is a real bonus.
"a very pleasant sight to see"
I steamed Katie for the first time yesterday and she happily pulled all 11 of our rake of Welshpool & Llanfair wagons at walking pace with consumate ease. It was a very pleasant sight to see in the fading afternoon light. This time of year, the steams hangs around much more on a damp still day than on a sunny afternoon, which is magic to see. I am sure Katie will get used on our boxing day steam up, particularly as she was fitted with chopper couplings which suit the Accucraft IOM and W&L rolling stock we have and the couplings are far less likely to uncouple themselves rather than the hook and chain couplings I have on my other stock. The last thing you want on a cold winter’s day is to be knee-deep in snow (what’s that?) to recouple an errant wagon!
"tinged with sadness"
The last three months is however tinged with sadness too. I was fortunate enough at the end of last year to build a number of wagons with great brass detail and review them in Garden Rail - from Talisman Castings. I heard recently, that Peter Coulter, who created these miniture masterpieces sadly passed away after a being very ill this year. I very much hope his wife, Glynis, is able to carry on his legacy, which is what his last wishes were.
"looking forward to Christmas"
On a happier note, Flo and I are both looking forward to Christmas and the annual family Boxing Day steam up with mulled wine and all that, so I need to close the autumn chapter of the Dovecote Light Railway and probably turn to modelling matters indoors, in particular finishing that Railbus which the management has promised will be in service in around 10 days time at the beginning of November. Wish me luck!
