Saturday 27 March 2010

Tanking along


I have been working on some rolling stock recently in preparation for taking Dunbracken to Narrow Gauge South in early April. The main focus at the moment has been on some Innisfail tramway coaches.

I have also been refining the North British tank loco design to the point where I've now resolved all the issues that would present a problem with the design in real life and I'm ready to get it etched (well, once all the changes are accounted for on my etch sheet drawing I am).


I'm really pleased with the result and am looking forward to getting it done. This will be one of my main projects after Narrow Gauge South. I also have Easter weekend pencilled in for loft clearance with the assistance of my fiancée which means it might get done this time!

4 comments:

Anonymouse said...

I like the design very much and feel the 08 chassis is an excellent choice. Are you going to a commercial etcher? If so would it help, cost wise, to have multiple etches made? I might be interested in a set, depending on cost. Of course if you want exclusivity and I wouldn't blame you, this would not fly (steam).
Kevan Smethurst

Tom said...

Hi Kevan,

Thanks for the interest. I am going to use someone like Chempix or PPD for the etching rather than doing it myself, partly because of laziness and partly because I doubt i'll be able to obtain permission to etch stuff indoors. Spilling pink flux on the carpet has rather restricted my indoor chemical useage limits!

Sorry to say that I won't be producing it as a kit, the whole reason that I designed this loco was to create something unique to my layout to try and create an identity for the 'Isle of Skye Railway' and make stock associated with that image.

Hope that's ok.

Tom.

Anonymouse said...

Hi Tom,
perfectly understandable and I would feel similarly in your position. Just thought it might help to share the costs,
Kevan
PS did you ever visit the site of the NG railway on Skye that ran from a quarry to the SW of Broadford (Torrin?) up to Broadford? It parallels the B8083 for a while and is most visible (and is recorded at) a ruined church site on that road?

Tom said...

I have indeed, although I didn't get many photos. I'll be going back within the next 18 months and would like to walk the line and photograph it. I'll do a blog post on it as and when I've been.

I've got a magazine article on it, quite interesting.