Bron Effans

The Langley model of Prince was in need of serious completion and restoration. The locomotive was not quite complete and the tender had been started but was in need of some repair and repainting for it to fit in with my railway. I was disappointed to learn that some people viewed this particular white metal kit as being inferior. I must say that I have changed my opinion of this kit whilst I have been restoring it. It really is not my favourite kit to work with and on that account I agree with the detractors of this model. However, given some time and patience I have finished the construction of the model and have set about the restoration of the tender. At present the locomotive is sat on the layout in a basecoat of red. I have found that if I use a cheap acrylic basecoat, the railmatch red looks alot crisper and yields a better finish. I am going to finish the restoration of the tender in the next few days and apply the livery to the whole locomotive at once.  ...

I have been toying with the idea of purchasing a Rheanas model and converting it for some time, when I happened upon a GEM kit model of Dolgoch that had been built by someone else. There was nothing cosmetically wrong with the model and it would only need a little bit of TLC on the connecting rods, as the lower ones were missing.  I was very fortunate to get hold of this locomotive and have taken delivery. I must say that the finish of this model is something that I aspire to. I am going to need to give some thought to the mechanics of the locomotive as, it doesn't look fully right. I am not a rivet counter, but I want it to look as correct as possible. I may purchase a new chassis for this model and possibly alter it slightly in future but for now the phrase "If it ain't broke..." applies to this locomotive.

When the observation carriage was purchased there were several other items of rolling stock in the lot. There was a second carriage and two goods wagons. A large van and an open wagon, similar to the ones on the Lynton and Barnstaple railway. In a rare twist, I do not want to repaint them and feel that their appearance is perfect to represent some well worn goods vehicles. The problem is that they only have one bogie each. I am simply going to purchase some new bogies for them and reattach the brake pipes, so they can be included in mixed trains maybe.  I have begun the process of re-bogeying the goods van with some bogies from one of the budget model railway carriages. I will need to source some Dundas bogies for the open wagon, as I don't want to be drilling through the floor of the wagon too much.

Now that the station layout has been completed, I have been looking at ways to build a convincing narrow gauge station in a remote location. I had intended on building raised platforms for better access. In my head a height of 6mm would be adequate and it looked the part with all of my trains. However, the construction of the Funkey diesel has caused me a rather large headache in terms of the running gauge of the line. When running around or entering platform 2, the shorter of the 2 due to the points, it would foul the platform.  To remedy this, I intend to build lower platforms from 4mm ply that should alleviate the fouling issue. I am going to decorate this with a layer of textured plasticard to emulate paving stones. I just need to cut it to shape and get it added to the layout. I am hoping that this will solve the fouling issue.

The restoration of the observation carriage is coming on quite well. 12 hours in some paint stripper and the gentle application of sandpaper has yielded some of the original metal of the model. Thanks to the power of Social Media, I have been able to ascertain that the kit is possibly an old Green Arrow kit, which is rare apparently.  I have strengthened the sides of the guards compartment, repaired the damage to the Guard's compartment and will construct a new roof from styrene when I get back off my summer holiday. At present the carriage has been undercoated in the usual black undercoat and will be painted to match it's partner carriage.  Which brings me onto the fourth large carriage of the fleet. I purchased another Vale of Rheidol Carriage with the intention of emulating Carriage 24 from the Welsh Highland Railway. I was considering making it from scratch but I enjoy constructing the Vale of Rheidol carriages too much. I am not in the business of accurately re...

I’ve been delving into the world of buying second hand and found a few diamonds in the rough. I’ve managed to get hold of a part built George England locomotive. It’s in need of some love and completion. My plan is to strip it down to base parts and reconstruct from there. I will choose a suitable livery in time. This isn’t going to be a simple job as there are numerous issues but I am happy I can do it justice. Unfortunately some people have looked down on this little kit but I aim to do the best job possible. Secondly, I have acquired some other rolling stock including a van, a wagon and two carriages. The main selling point of this lot was the fact that one of the carriages is an observation/brake carriage that will fit in with my second rake of carriages. Again, it needs some love and tlc but a spell in the paint stripper should hopefully remedy the issues with the paint work. Unfortunately it is without a roof at the moment. I am going to have to scratch build one.... o...

I have several diesel locomotives in my collection but there has always been one that I have wanted to build above all else. That was my very own version of 'The Vale of Ffestiniog'. This rebuilt Funkey diesel has appealed to me since the day I set eyes on the Ffestiniog as it was a glorious looking machine and it has stood out in my memory of the railway. I wanted to build one from the Worsley works kit, but was put off by the serious lack of suitable chassis for it. I found mine that had been put on sale by a friend of mine, who I have shared advice and held many in depth discussions about the railway. I made him an offer and I waited by my front door. When it arrived I realised just how much of a scratch aid kit it was. There were literally only enough parts to produce a bodyshell. I was going to have to learn and employ some serious thinking outside the box to complete this model and do it justice.  Some of the handmade detail The kit was assembled and I used brass ...

I mentioned the other day that I had purchased two Vale of Rheidol Carriages and a Brake van to make a complete running set for the railway. They were very simple to construct and I have customised them slightly, so that they fit in with the running gauge and the look of my line.  I have built the carriages without the vent duckets on top of the rooves and given them a custom Cream and Green livery. I was intending to try and paint them in a West Highland style livery, but I thought that the Brunswick green gave it a very classy exterior.  I have also made sure that the carriages have a suitable level of detail, as they now form the main running set on the line. One carriage is near completion, the other needs the layers of cream adding and the seats putting in place. I have made them slightly different to each other in that their exteriors have a different finish. Carriage 1 as it will be known will have a cream interior and Carriage 2 will have a brown interior. I...