Well Worth The Wait

Recently my modelling hasn't really produced anything interesting to blog about, mostly because I've been thinking rather than doing. I have two problems to solve before I can really start on building the narrow gauge layout I've been talking about since the beginning of the year; the track plan and how it will be powered/operated. Both of these issues have received some serious thought recently and I'm almost at the point where I'll be ready to share. I did think you all deserved some form of blog post though and helpfully today’s post was very obliging.

You may remember that at the beginning of the year I talked about the two narrow gauge locomotives I wanted to build for the layout. One of those was the small diesel locomotive which I recently finished painting, the other was a Quarry Hunslet steam locomotive that I wanted to build from a kit by Brian Madge. I ordered the kit at the end of December, and it finally arrived today.

Brian was very apologetic about the delay (a problem with the white metal castings apparently), but looking at the parts it was well worth the wait. This kit is, of course, orders of magnitude more complex than the kit from Narrow Planet that I just finished, so I'm going to take it very slowly; getting the valve gear right so that it runs freely is the part that worries me most. I can't wait to get cracking on it though, and fortunately I'm on annual leave next week so hopefully there will be some visible progress for me to blog about.