7mm I’ve fallen into another trap - NG7-14

Scale7JB

Scale7JB

Western Thunderer
So here we are again, another new thread for another new scale/set of standards.. What am I doing…?!

Well, not really alluded much on here to the love of things North Wales and Narrow gauge.

Today is the 70th anniversary of the first Ffestiniog train in preservation so seems like a good day to let it all out.

I also picked up a signed print of Cuneo’s Ffestiniog Workhorses from auction over the weekend, which is rightly taking a lot of my attention away from other things, like the tellybox.

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I’ve been lucky enough to get a couple of passes to go and play (graft) up at Boston Lodge for a couple of long weekends over the last year, with another long weekend in the Minfordd hostel coming up in a few weeks.

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Originally I only intended to pop up there every now and then for a bit of a jolly, but the more Ladies and double engines that I see going off shed down the Cob, the more my firing itch needs scratching. I lit my first double fire on the last trip in James Spooner (not sure how he felt about that) which was a start.

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I’ve managed to see some special goings on up there, not least three hunslets taking the slate gravity train up the hill on a crew training run. Every day is a gala up there compared to what I’m used to. Photos can be posted if anyone is interested…

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But to get to the punchline…. All this does kinda focus one’s eye on the new Bachman Hunslets that have recently been launched, and when Paul Martin at EDM models mentions that he will be doing a limited run of 14mm gauge conversions and you need to get in quick if you want one, it’s kinda hard to say no. So I have ordered a NG7-14 Britomart, possibly my favourite of the quarry Hunslets.

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So watch this space, I have ideas for a small something, especially whilst there isn’t enough space for the Rio Grande behemoths.

Will raise a glass of red to Alan Pegler and the early Ffestiniog preservationists this evening.

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Cheers.

JB.
 
mickoo

mickoo

Western Thunderer
That’s the ticket, always room for one more anorak in the closet ;)

I’ve a huge anorak for SAR and NGG16’s and I’ve stayed away for one very good reason, if I see one in real life then my world will take an unhealthy interest in them, rabbit hole? Nah, more like open cast mine :cool:
 
LarryG

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Britomart, one of my fav's too. I signed a release so I could film from the cab of one of these along the Llanberis Lake Railway back in the day.
 
James Spooner

James Spooner

Western Thunderer
mickoo said:
That’s the ticket, always room for one more anorak in the closet ;)

I’ve a huge anorak for SAR and NGG16’s and I’ve stayed away for one very good reason, if I see one in real life then my world will take an unhealthy interest in them, rabbit hole? Nah, more like open cast mine :cool:
Click to expand...
You should try taking one up the seven miles of one in forty through the Aberglaslyn Pass and up to Rhyd Ddu…

Nigel
 
Overseer

Overseer

Western Thunderer
mickoo said:
That’s the ticket, always room for one more anorak in the closet ;)

I’ve a huge anorak for SAR and NGG16’s and I’ve stayed away for one very good reason, if I see one in real life then my world will take an unhealthy interest in them, rabbit hole? Nah, more like open cast mine :cool:
Click to expand...
You might be disappointed. NGG16s are funny little things, especially compared with East African Railways 59 class, the big South African and Rhodesian Garratts, or the New South Wales 60 class. Even G42 on the 2'6" gauge Puffing Billy Railway makes the NGG16 look small, and now that 129 has been converted to 2"6" gauge you can see them together. The attached photograph has been borrowed from the Puffing Billy Railway website to give you an idea of the size. Saying that though, I have good memories of the Garratts on the Welsh Highland Railway slipping their way up the grades during heavy rain in 2011, second photo.

NGG16-G42-cross-the-trestle-bridge_Photo-credit-Matt-Oaten-scaled.jpg

NGG WHR 110906 FB.jpg
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
I remember peeled steel toecaps when I worked on the shipyard. The welders worked out that about five millisecons was all it took to weld them to the deck, if you were kneeling down with your toecaps visible. You didn’t know til you tried to get up.

the number of blokes praying for someone to release them would have made the Archbishop happy…
 
Overseer

Overseer

Western Thunderer
Your trap caused me to dig out and scan a few slides taken at a Festiniog Hunslet Gala in April or May 1993. I just stumbled across it as it was the weekend of a friend's wedding in North Wales. There was lots going on and trains all over the place, but relaxed and friendly atmosphere. The slides are not great but may be of interest.

FR May93 Britomart FB.jpg
FR May93 Dolbadarn FB.jpg
FR May93 Prince FB.jpg
FR May93 Sgt Murphy FB.jpg
FR May93 Velinheli FB.jpg
FR May93 Charles FB.jpg
FR May93 Palmerston FB.jpg

I can't believe I didn't take a better colour shot of Charles at Boston Lodge, Prince is in the way. I should have black and white negatives of more of the action filed away. Palmerston in steam was a highlight at the time. There are some more photos of Fairlies but you know what they look like.
 
magmouse

magmouse

Western Thunderer
Overseer said:
East African Railways 59 class
Click to expand...

Yours truly (with my Dad) on the footplate of a 59 class in 1976:

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More photos of East African Railways steam from ‘76 if you are interested on my website:

East African Railways Steam

Nick Hunt's photos of the East African Railways in Nairobi in the mid 1970s, including steam and diesel locomotives, rolling stock and general railway scenes.
www.magmouse.co.uk www.magmouse.co.uk

Nick.
 
Andrew Young

Andrew Young

Active Member
Welcome to the delights of both volunteering on the Welsh narrow gauge and also NG7 modelling. I discovered both in my teens (although Talyllyn rather than Ffestiniog in my case) and still enjoy doing both 30+ years on!

Have added two of the Bachmann Quarry Hunslets to my fleet and found them both to be exquisite little things. There are one or two compromises for the mass production and 16.5 gauge but providing you can look beyond those they’re superb and really do capture the essence of the prototypes. Just wish we’d had them thirty years ago when I started out in NG7!

Andrew
 
Osgood

Osgood

Western Thunderer
Slate gravity train:
At 07.45ish the take-up of coupling slack is interesting and demands some care - no doubt a fair bit of damage could be caused by a heavy hand on the regulator!
Having never seen the sight of a long unfitted std gauge freight being ‘lifted’ I guess the same applied?
One reads the odd tale of guards occasionally being roughed up when caught unawares!
Is the demo freight service on the GCR fitted or unfitted?
 
James Spooner

James Spooner

Western Thunderer
Osgood said:
Slate gravity train:
At 07.45ish the take-up of coupling slack is interesting and demands some care - no doubt a fair bit of damage could be caused by a heavy hand on the regulator!
Having never seen the sight of a long unfitted std gauge freight being ‘lifted’ I guess the same applied?
One reads the odd tale of guards occasionally being roughed up when caught unawares!
Is the demo freight service on the GCR fitted or unfitted?
Click to expand...
Yes, as with any loose coupled train, there is a fair amount of slack and the trick is to gently take it up one wagon at a time. What I find fascinating is when the train starts running under gravity. It isn’t an immediate thing. Brakes are taken off and, generally, one or two more free wheeling wagons will roll until they bump up against others, then stop, but, with Newton’s law applying, transmit force to another wagon. It builds up into a bit of crescendo until they all start rolling and quite quickly get into synch. Obviously a clattering and banging as the train is braked to slow for a PSR but it quickly regains its rhythm. A thing of beauty!

Nigel
 
Overseer

Overseer

Western Thunderer
magmouse said:
Yours truly (with my Dad) on the footplate of a 59 class in 1976:

View attachment 224346

More photos of East African Railways steam from ‘76 if you are interested on my website:

East African Railways Steam

Nick Hunt's photos of the East African Railways in Nairobi in the mid 1970s, including steam and diesel locomotives, rolling stock and general railway scenes.
www.magmouse.co.uk www.magmouse.co.uk

Nick.
Click to expand...
You were lucky. I first visited Kenya as a teenager with my father and brother in September 1979, not long after all the Garratts were taken out of service. There was some steam still in Nairobi, 31 class and a couple of 13 class 4-8-4 tanks. 5918 was at Mombasa shed looking tired but still had all the polished brasswork in the cab. Without wanting to drift JB's thread off the (not so) straight and narrow, this is 5918 at Mombasa shed -
5918 Mombasa Sept79 FB.jpg

Fortunately when I worked in Nairobi in 1988-9 there was a regular Sunday tourist special to Naivasha hauled by 5918 (or occasionally 5930). I spent a number of Sundays chasing it down the Rift Valley escarpment. For some reason the 59 class was always swapped with a diesel off a freight heading for Nairobi for the return trip. The 59 then pulled the freight up the gradients to Nairobi, it sounded great but too late in the day for photos. 5918 and 9318 at Naivasha just before they swapped trains -

5918 9318 Negative0252.jpg
 
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