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

Special Visitor Gala

   Following the success of the last Sodor railways guest engine gala day, the Skarloey Railway has sent over, not one, but two of it's engines to spend the day working the Thornham Light Railway. Skarloey has come back for a second visit and bought the railway's number two, Rheneas with him.

   The two engines spent the day pulling tourist trains full of enthusiastic guests and stopping for photos together.

Both engines enjoyed their day out and the enthusiasts have given rave reviews, so the management is already looking to book more guests for the future.

Number 6, Gladys

   While I was at University I got the itch to have a model railway in my room, but due to it being a temporary room it had to be something small and movable, so OO was out. With my limited knowledge at the time, this only left N-gauge, so I went out and bought some magazines and started looking at ideas of what I could do, then stumbled across a layout in the 'British Railway Modelling Annual 2009' which inspired me to a whole new level. The layout was called Tremeifion and was built by a man called Doug Scott in a scale called OO9 and I poured over the photos more times than I think was strictly healthy.

   This layout had everything, the sheer scale of the end result, the scenery, so much character and, most importantly, small engines, so I felt like I could do part of it on my window sills as a mountain railway.

   So skip forward a couple of years to a OO9 society show and on the trade stand I find the two engines from the photo above. Gladys was a bit scratched and dusty but in full working order and the back engine was just a body shell, but I knew I had to have them, as a little piece of the layout that started me doing this.

   Gladys now (above and below); She has had new couplings fitted so she can pull stock on the layout, but is otherwise untouched. The colour was close enough and her number was vacant at the time, I have even left the scratches intact as I don't want to lose any of her charm.

I just wish I knew what happened to Doug, hopefully he was just moving an old project on?

The controller's new car

     The controller of the Thornham Light Railway has just had his new car delivered to the railway and he is very pleased with it. He's just waiting for it to be transported down the line to his office at the Thornham end of the line, so he can take it for a drive.

Special visitors

      Work, and life, continue as normal on the Thornham bag light railway but this week has seen some special happen. The controller of the narrow gauge sent a letter to the thin controller on the Isle of Sodor to ask for some help attracting visitors to his line and he was surprised when a letter came back saying the Sodor railways would do better than that.

      On the main line from London came Thomas, the Sodor Number 1, with his two coaches, Annie and Clarabel, and with a low rider attached at the back, on which was the Skarloey railway's number 1, Skarloey himself.

      After a number of photo-calls (I am hoping to add more in the future) the pair left to run their respective tourist trains and to be seen around the railway.

        The event seems to have been a success for both railways and talks are in place for future events like this to run in the future.