Eaugate Light Railway

The imminent delivery of Teddy led to a rather dark and extremely windy evening of emergency track laying on Monday night. Fortunately simplified by the short term use of Ride on Railways portable track connectors.

So when Chris Dixon of CMD Engineering  delivered the loco this morning there was at least some track to test it on.

Needless to say I'm very very pleased with it. It runs very smoothly and controllably. Although I went for the modern Loncin engine rather than the Suffolk Punch I think it still sounds rather nice. I must add the obligatory Scamp bicycle horn though to scatter any poodles on the line.

It was a bit of a challenge getting it into the engine shed at the end of the day, since the railhead is currently around 60 feet and 90 degrees away from the limit of shunt, but I managed it using the traditional approach  of  swapping track panels around.

16mm Show

There is no truth in the rumour that the only reason we moved to near Peterborough from Warwickshire is because the 16mm Association  moved their annual show from Warwickshire to...near Peterborough.

Well it might have crossed my mind during the decision process, but these days I find 16mm less fun than I used to. Why? Well probably a complex set of reasons. A conversation at today's show made me think that there are two main reasons. Oddly both are based on a very positive development, which is the increasing use of accurate 16mm scale. I've been a vocal, and sometimes unwelcome, advocate of that shift for many years, so I shouldn't complain. The main downside  is that scale models lack the same "heft". Linked to that is the feeling that a scale loco and stock deserve a scale railway, which is a challenge in the garden.

At the show there were a number of layouts that showed that the exhibitors had thought beyond the idea of an engine chasing its tail along a glorified test track. The small but perfectly formed Campell's Quarry being the prime example. Elsewhere the thinking wasn't always followed through.

I came close to losing my heart to the new 7/8ths scale Accucraft Decauville. I might still weaken.

Back at home Teddy has been undergoing some maintenance. Hopefully these shots show how easily the Scamp design can be broken down.

Teddy, bare

On the OO9 Cadeby front the big excitement has been the arrival of the Minitrains vehicles and the Narrow Planet O&K that will use the Minitrains loco chassis. I'm still trying to find the Egger track.

The downside is as I clarify the best use of the space for the track layout it looks like the model of the shed that housed the model railway can only be partially modelled. Iain would probably see that as a reason to model the interior....

First, Find the Railway!

 

The delayed house move, still not sorted, has given the ELR an unexpected reprieve. Unfortunately, the early mowing of the goat-droppping enhanced grass this year led to considerable damage to the hidden track. It is still several years since any trains ran, given Teddy was away for rebuild and Tug had electrical problems.

A request for a demo run of Teddy for someone with a Scamp under build has forced me to try and get something running for later this week, and also, the need to start demolishing it.

Having tried to ignore the issue, during No Mow May, this is typical of what I had to contend with at the weekend.

I would love to report line clear, but after many hours with bushcutter and mower I really can't.


And update, the house sale has just fallen through yet again...