Building a model railway part 3: Locos

I have been doing a few bits and pieces on my railway recently, including soldering (burned fingers - ow!), gluing plastic model kits (fumes - mmmm), and painting (only one accidental transference of paint to clothing -so far).

I have also been exercising my creativity regarding the layout, and stated thinking around a backstory for it. At the moment I'm calling it the South Cardiff Railway Heritage Centre (SCRHC). The idea is that it is based in a smaller industrial yard on the west side of the Taff along the old railway spur that ran parallel to Clive Street in Grangetown.

At present the SCRHC has two locos - one steam and one diesel.

The steam loco is an ex-LMS 0-4-0 'Pug' in ealy British Rail livery. In the SCRHC manifest, this engine is called 'Snoopy' even though the famous cartoon character was a beagle, not a pug.

The model itself is made by Hornby. It runs quite well, although as the current set up is rather heavy with points, the actual running isn't too smooth. It's a cute little loco, though. In fact, it's shorter than many of the wagons it shunts, as shown in the above picture.

The Diesel is a Class 8, which are ubiquitous on the railways even today. Sturdy shunters of this type are still in operation. This one is called 'Pitbull' by the SCRHC enthusiasts, partly to continue the dog theme, but mainly because it's a brute. It's in early BR Green, as found on the Western Region of the national rail network.

This model is made by Bachmann, and features an amazing 'creep' feature. The model can move very slowly, which is a challenge in model railways. At some point I will shoot some video so you can go 'Wow' too.

You may notice that behind Pitbull is a platform, which is a relatively new addition to the layout.

In this view, it's a bit clearer to see. The platform is a Knightwing kit. The shelter had to be built and painted. I have chosen a sub-GWR beige and olive colour scheme for the SCRHC, and have painted the platform fencing to match. The benches are Peco and were originally bright green. I have painted them olive so they look better, and match, of course.

As yet I haven't named the station. I'm thinking of calling it 'Grange Gardens' after the park in Grangetown, but it may yet be 'Ferry Road', 'Clive Street' or even something totally fictional. It doesn't matter at the moment, as it's deserted. There are no passenger services running on the SCRHC line yet. That will change when I buy / build a coach.

The two wagons in the picture are both vintage Mainline wagons made by Palitoy in the 1980s. I'm not sure where the Cambrian one came from - I think it was a gift from my dad when I built my first layout. The tank wagon was a recent purchase off eBay. (More pictures of wagons will be posted another time.)