German Visitor

   One of the layouts I discovered online when I first got into 009 modelling was a layout by a forum name of Cliffton 009. His layout was really inspirational and the two engines he had in every photo were a Langley Prince and a blue Roco BR99, both of which have lived rent free in my head since. Sadly, his photos were stored on Photo Bucket and the links have since broken, so I can't find them online anymore, as I'd love to have a a nostalgic moment going through them, but what I have done instead, is buy my own Roco BR99.

   With the new purchase came both the chance to run it, but also to take photos around the layouts. . .

   I'm not sure visiting as far as Thornham Bay will be a regular occurrence as it is slightly oversized for the light track, but it is more than happy running on the main sections of the railway.

Thanks for redaing

Thornham Bay

   The Thornham Bay Light Railway was originally set up to transport fish from the seaside village of Thornham Bay to either the canals at King's Landing or the main line at Thornham, before it linked to other types of manufacturing later in it's history. At this point in the life of the railway, the fishing industry is in decline and the terminus sees more tourist traffic, than actual produce transportation, which has kept the end of the line open.

   

   On the modelling side, the Thornham Bay Light Railway is spread across two locations. The bulk of the layout is at my parent's, while I had always planned to build a small terminus at mine and it has taken a good few years of starting to build something before taking it apart to start again. The layout is unfinished (I still have a backscene to come for example) but it's at a point where I thought it would be good to start blogging about it now.

   The layout is a simple line with an extra siding at the end and a passing loop in the middle, with the track on a curve to get a useful train size into each part of the layout.

 

 

There is still a lot of work to do, but I'm pleased with where it stands at the sec. I aim to do another update soon as the layout continues to advance.

Rusty

   Another special visitor to the Thornham Bay Light Railway from the Skarloey Railway on the Isle of Sodor, this time it's Rusty the Diesel who has offered to help work the line.

Rusty particularly enjoyed working the docks at King's Landing.

Alice

  This is a tad out of sequence as the photos were taken a good few years ago but they are the best photos I have of any of my locos and as they resurfaced from my storage device I thought I would share them.

   The loco is 'Alice' a N-Drive Productions Lily - pretty sure one of the very first he produced. The photos are taken on 'That Dam Layout' by Chelmsford MRC.

Keeping the engines running

   One of the things that the Thornham Light Railway has been struggling with since it's recent increase in traffic is a steady supply of coal at all it's important stations, so the controller has bought himself a rake of wagons to better distribute the coal around the railway.
   The wagons in question are all ex- L&B railway stock with a mix of door styles (mix of RTR Peco wagons and Dundas model kits) which has been stored where ever the coal is needed. While modest compared to supply other railway's coal trains, this is more than adequate for the needs of the TLR.

Glyn Valley Coach Re-Paints

   One of the issues that I have always found with OO9 compared to OO is ease of use that OO has, for a lack of a better phrase. If you buy a OO engine and a pack of wagons, you can guarantee it will run nicely, couple and uncouple easily and will go round corners without issue, all of which kit-built OO9 couldn't always do.
   The rise of ready to run OO9 should then be the answer to this. The ability to get a reliable train going round your layout that can be supplemented with kit built stock and kit built extra locos is just too good an opportunity to miss out on, but I also don't want them to stand out on the layout.

   We have had a few goods vans, bogie coaches etc running on the layout and been really happy with them, so when I had the chance to pick up a rake of Glyn Valley coaches, I knew it had to be done, but they also had to be repainted to match the coaches we already had.

   While we have a 4 coach rake of Glyn Valley coaches in their factory green, I wanted a smaller rake in the railway's normal coach colours - blood and custard. I bought one of each coach type, plus a brake van as felt like an appropriate looking train as I wanted to test how how it would look.

   I've got to tidy up the transfers and add some seating classes and coach numbers but I am pleased with the outcome and would look to do more in the future.

Island of Sodor comes to Thornham

   I don't think it will any surprise if I say I am a fan of Thomas the Tank Engine. I have both the engines from the Skarloey railway that Bachmann have so far produced, and will be picking up Rusty when that is released and I have a project to get some rolling stock built and painted for the same railway. But recently I discovered that Bachmann not only did the narrow gauge engines in the US but also the main line and other non-railway related famous names, i.e. Bertie, Harold and Trevor.
   Bertie and Harold, especially, have stuck in my mind for their parts in the stories, so knowing I could get appropriately sized versions was amazing.

Bachmann Bertie next to the Hornby Thomas