Parcels train....

It has been a long time since my last post, but, we have moved into our new house and after a busy time unpacking - we have settled in.  Unfortunately, I think this house will be a stop gap, so we will probably move again in spring.  This is a bit of a pain, but until then I do have a winter of modelling to head through.

In the new house my thoughts have turned back to building a small layout, something just to run the models on and have a DCC sound locomotive idling in the background.  One of the principal traffic sources for the layout would be parcels stock from the 1970s.  Up until the 1980s Barnstaple still received a mixed freight up as the first train of the day, with some mk1 passenger stock and fruit Ds and/or 12t vans, with a newspaper wagon also attached.  So with my line to Ilfracombe having never closed down (if only in my modelling head!), a daily parcels train is plausible.  This will be used on Pottington Quay - when I eventually get this out of storage next year.

So I have been building a dedicated parcels train for shunting around my next layout.  I have yet to seek permission from the planning authorities, but I think it should be ok to build a 4ft by 2ft micro layout, with a small station and depot, and sidings for a parcel train to unload.  So far I have built 3 12t fish wagons (SPVs), 2 CCTs and I have a Dapol fruit D wagon unpainted.  On top of this I also have a CCT and a BY wagon to build.  This will be the first set of wagons to get attention, although I am spending more and more time building 0 gauge wagon kits too!  

Part finished CCT, with a faded blue delivery

Second CCT ready for the paintshop

12t fish vans to be finished as parcels SPV vans

Dapol unpainted fruit D

Hornby SPV

In very good news this weekend the air brush was fired up for the first time in a long time. A start has been made on the first 12t parcels wagon and one of thhe CCTs. The second CCT ws half finished with a faded blue delivery when I left Devon 18 months ago, so I am looking to finishing this one off.  All in all things are looking great and I am looking forward to posting regularly again over this winter and getting down to some modelling.