Mogul

I started work on a project I have been thinking about for some time now. I was given a Con-Cor switcher some time ago with a view to using the chassis. It runs superbly so I had to try to think up a suitable body for it. In the end I decided to make a wooden bodied 2-4-2, cheating with the Bo-Bo chassis. The long side skirts will hide its real identity. The back story is the device was one of the original locomotives used on the farm but has lain derelict in a barn for many years and has been resurrected as a project for a couple of apprentices to get working again. Firstly fitting a new Gardener 4 cylinder diesel engine then repairing the wooden body. The lads in the workshop are known as Grunty Fen engineering. I am making the device up as I go along so am still not sure what it will look like when it is finished. Peter M

I did the Hemel Hempsted club show at Leverstock Green one day and thoroughly enjoyed it, the weather was good with a steady flow of visitors all day. There was a selection of different layouts in various scales so there was something for everyone to enjoy. I didn't take my camera but I took a few pictures of the layout on the Friday before the show while checking it all worked, before loading it in the car to take to the show. Peter M

One of the most enjoyable exhibitions I did was at Stow on the Wold which was a most pleasant experience. My wife helped me setting the layout up, but a gentleman with a layout next door ran Two Sisters while I had a walk round outside in the sun. It is a fabulous venue in a charming Cotswold town. The show was very well attended by a record crowd, who came in to view the models despite the glorious weather outside. All the exhibitors were treated to some fabulous cakes by the show’s organisers. Peter M

A few pictures taken at the Beds and Bucks narrow gauge club open day one Sunday. I always enjoy specialist shows like this they have a relaxed atmosphere and fewer but a more knowledgeable selection of visitors. Peter M

A few pictures taken a small exhibition in aid of church funds at Braunstone Leicester. The exhibition itself was inside the church and is an annual event that specialises in small layouts. Sadly the gentleman who both organised and exhibited passed away a few years ago. Peter M

Photo by Mick Thornton This is a Fordson Model N 1929-45 a precursor to Fordson Major, it used the same engine and transmission. They too had a power take off at the rear. They were originally painted bright orange but during the second world war standing outside the factory at Dagenham they were used by German bomber pilots to find London. So Fords painted them dark green, mine is blue an earlier colour and the same as the ones near where I lived. The smell of a tractor running on paraffin is like the smell of a steam engine never forgotten, one that would be good if you could put it in a bottle and have a sniff now and again. The model is a Scaledown kit and like the Major would be used to tow a trailing plough as it had no three point linkage to lift it when not ploughing. I remember these as a lad too as the local farm had two of them, the drivers usually stood up when driving them. Yes this model reminds me very much of my youth the smell of freshly cut grass and the paraffin smell of the tractor’s exhaust, lovely. Peter M

2013 was not a good year for electronic devices for me. Firstly my old computer died after some eight years use, then the screen packed up and then to cap it all my wife's compact camera cried enough also. It has taken many images over the last thirteen years so I suppose I shouldn't complain really. I have never owned a digital camera, I always borrowed the one belonging to my wife in the past. With that no longer working I have had to lash out on a device of my own. I bought a compact Canon camera that was on offer for just under £100 with which I am very pleased. These are a few images I have taken with the new camera while testing the layout and stock in readiness for the narrow gauge exhibition at Swanley. Peter M

I exhibited at a show at Reading a few years ago and it being a two day affair I was kindly assisted on the Saturday by a friend. On the Sunday when things quietened down in the late afternoon I had a wander round and found on the organising club’s stand a box of mixed figures all in different scales. I bought two 1/32 scale figures for 50 pence. They were un-painted and made of a hard white plastic. They both had thick bases and quite a lot of flash. After a lot of work with a scalpel and various files they have cleaned up very well. I painted both with acrylics and placed them on the layout, these pictures show the two figures. One is a farmer in a duffle coat and the other is an elderly mechanic in brown overalls with a petrol or paraffin can. I have since found out that they are both from the old Airfix 1/32 Track Officials and Spectators set. Peter M

A few pictures of the small Porter steam loco no 1, the farm only use her during the summer at harvest time when things get really busy. At this time the loco still looked rather American with the large headlight. Several remarks have been made over the years regarding to two figures on the footplate. I will leave any thoughts you may have to your imagination. Suffice to say they are both modified soldiers. Peter M

I stuck to this size Jim because it fitted in my car with all the stock and lights. Also it never took very long to set up and take down after a show, when you've been on your feet all day and you just want to get home and relax. Kind regards Peter M

At the same time the tractor based device was being built I was working on another rail truck. This has a Zvezda GAZ-AAA Russian 1/35 scale kit of a Ford based lorry as a basis. The real trucks were built under license in Russia during the second World War. Because the prototype is a small vehicle I used the three axle truck to give a little more length, the two axle version being very short, more like a tipper. I must admit I am a little disappointed with the way this has turned out. It has one saving grace however, it runs quite well and I’m happy to make allowances for decent running. The kit was inexpensive and turned out to be rather poor with regard to the fit and quality of many parts. Even the cardboard box it came in fell apart. The clear plastic windows being especially troublesome. But with a lot of fiddling and cutting I eventually managed to get it to fit a Con-Cor switcher chassis. It is a kerosene tanker for refuelling the tractors out in the fields. The tank is actually an HO scale Walthers Oil Terminal item I have modified to suit its new role. I added flat shelves to the body sides to hold the refuelling pipes and a couple of wooden boxes for tools. The hand rails are made from paper clips and the rubber refuelling pipes are resin cored solder. The exhaust pipe and silencer I have moved and now is fitted to the front of the vehicle to minimise the fire risk. Peter M

The Fordson Major 27n powered rail truck is the latest device to have come out of the farm workshop. It looks just the sort of vehicle to find on a farm railway, sadly it was not. It is very loosely based on a device made by Muir Hill that provided the inspiration for to build something similar for my Two Sister‘s Farm. Muir Hill used a Fordson Standard for their macine. I was given a very damaged 1/32 scale white metal Fordson 27N and having a photo of the Muir Hill device decided it would be an excellent starting point. The model is powered by a WB35 Tenshodo bogie. This is held by one screw to a plasticard false chassis which in turn is held by two screws to the plasticard chassis that supports the white metal tractor body. The driver figure is a German tank crewman supposedly playing cards from Master Box, who incidentally make a lot of civilian figures in 1/35 scale. The finished model is much higher from the rail top than the Muir Hill example due to the space taken up by the Tenshodo bogie. Therefore it is assumed an accident damaged tractor had a chassis built for it in the farm workshop. It is used for light shunting in the yard due to its relatively low power and its three speed gearbox with its extra two ratios by a Darlington overdrive gear box giving 6 forward and 2 reverse gears. Tenshodo bogies are fine for powering things like this tractor but they do need plenty of weight and take some time to run in properly. Peter M

She made her debut at a specialist narrow gauge show at Barton le Clay Bedfordshire, this is Tilly, the latest addition to the farm’s growing fleet of unusual vehicles. It is an ex Second World War 10 HP light utility car with a pick up body. She is used for track maintenance purposes and not general haulage as she is a bit too small and light. The kit is made by Tamiya and is rather delicate with unusually many of the parts being a poor fit. I have left the bonnet off to show the details in the engine bay, as it seemed a pity to hide them. I made a false chassis to attach and locate the body to the power unit which is from an HO Bachmann HI-rail track maintenance van. The body has a solid block of plasticard at the back of the false chassis which was drilled and tapped. One long screw then holds the two together. It has little out rider wheels which also pick up current. I added extra weight in any place I could to help it track better. The first two photos are of the new track maintenance vehicle arriving back in the yard having spent the day adding sidings from the main line into the fields ready for the potato harvest. Peter M

A small scratch built diesel I’ve not mentioned before is the Ruston which is powered by a bogie from a Bachmann switcher. It is not an accurate model of the prototype but looks more or less right. I made the body from plasticard using photographs to get the proportions looking right. She is quite light so is used mainly for maintenance work or towing empty wagons out to the fields on the farm. The driver is rather fierce looking Chinese character made I think by Siku. Peter M

She always seems popular with the visitors, a selection of shots featuring the quad going about its business on several different occasions in Two Sister’s yard. Peter M

No Jim, I am an old git so I no longer do exhibitions. Although this year we are opening our garden so I will set the layout up in our conservatory for visitors to see or have a drive if they would like to. The dates the garden is open are July 1st and 2nd. Regards Peter M

A selection of pictures taken at different exhibitions over a period of years by Mick Thornton a specialist narrow gauge photographer. Peter M

A mechanic in faded brown overalls peers at the rear tyre of a Fordson E27N while chickens hunt round for scraps behind the horse drawn implement. Note the lack of a three point linkage on the tractor, it was trailed ploughs then I guess because the fields on the estate were long and narrow with wide headlands. That’s the bit where the tractor turns round to start the next run. ( I think the proper term is bout.) In the last picture the mechanic checks a more modern Fordson E1 A diesel.

A picture of the wood chopper leaning against the coaling stage taking a rest with what looks like a Labrador pup in his shirt. Peter M

A close up of the broken engine left at the engine shed for repair by the Simplex shunter. Peter M

In the first picture we see the Davenport diesel shunter leaving the flat wagon with a load of hay bales outside the barn. We then see her on another occasion arriving at the yard with a broken engine on a flat wagon for eventual repair in the workshop. Lastly we see her again leaving the yard with a high sided wagon and a person hitching a ride out to the fields. This was before the health and safety band wagon got going and we just used common sense in those days. Peter M

I had never been very happy with the appearance of either the Porter 0-4-2 locomotive or the wooden side tippers. They are all Bachmann ON30 scale models, the locomotive has been modified slightly to make it look more 1/32 scale and a bit more English but the wagons are OK as they are. I wanted them to have a rather neglected look about them but not too rusty or decrepit as they are all still used. With the side tippers I basically painted the wooden sections a variegated pale greys and then applied thin washes of black to represent unpainted wood. The iron work being picked out in various rust shades. With the locomotive it was washes of rust colours over the metalwork and the same treatment as the wagons with the woodwork. I am now more pleased with their appearance, I think they look a little more interesting than they originally did. The photographs were taken on my old American layout. Peter M

A selection of pictures taken by the official photographer at Spalding exhibition showing the view seen by the visitors. The layout was well received by the visitors, I showed one the book that gave me the idea originally and he found a picture of a relative. Peter M

A Massey Ferguson 35 a 3 cylinder diesel tractor outside the workshop. Another new tractor on trial on the estate in 1958. It is intended for yard work and light carting, certainly not for cultivating the heavy Lincolnshire clay soil. The model is a Universal Hobbies example and is mainly die cast metal with plastic accessories. The tractors are not glued in place but are moved around as the fancy takes me. This was bought as the colour is a contrast to the mainly blue painted Fordson fleet. I have over the years been surprised by the number of tractor enthusiasts that come to model railway exhibitions. Peter M