Back to the Future with an Ivatt Mucky D

 

Now I don't know if I've mentioned it before but we are all getting rather excited about the Broadland Model Railway Club exhibition next month!!!

How exciting is that,, I hear you ask,, well we usually get together before a show to remind ourselves how it all works,, and what [if any] improvements do the operating staff need to be aware of.

As there have been very few improvements [actually Non] since we last entertained the great unwashed the formal part of the meeting took virtually no time at all

The bulk of the meeting was spent drinking tea,, chomping on Kit Kat's,, playing with the resident cat and entertaining each other with ridiculous tales of steam driven "daring do".

Neville saw fit to bring his own motive power in the form of a Bachmann Ivatt "Mucky Duck".

 Now this model is right up my street,, filthy,, ungainly,, not just weird but down right ugly,, lovely,, well done Neville and I can see why you bought one of those.

If you look upwards you will see that it created such a stir on a supposedly mid 1930's LNER engine shed that the owner had to take a photo of it!!

Now did you know that Mr Ivatt was not only connected to some of the most established railway designers this country has ever produced but he was also a scientologist and on his latest adventure he managed to drive 'Le Duc' as it is know in France back to the future and they terminated in South Yorkshire,,, how lucky was I being able to get my first cop of a Mucky D!!!

[ For the uninitiated that is trainspotter speak,, and highly significant believe you me!!]  

Don't forget Hoveton Village Hall near Norwich Norfolk ,,, somewhere I have the date but I'll remind you of that later,, now where did I put the invite with the date on it???

Remember This??? Salmon Pastures very own Jersey Lily

Yes,,, one of the most handsome engines of not only the Edwardian period,, but probably all time,,, in my opinion,, of course.

For the GCR men it will always be the class 8B,, for the LNER afficianado's it was the C4,, for lesser mortals like me it will always be a "Jersey Lily".

Mr J.G. Robinson once commented that a chimney and dome to a steam locomotive are as important as a hat to any "man about town" and I have to say he got this 100% correct.

As a rather obsessive GCR fan I just had to have a C4,, I bought mine as a McGowan kit from Millholme Models at Woodborough near Nottingham in 1976,, and the box says it was £3.75,, +  motor and wheels!!!

I was so happy to have a C4 kit that. it quickly reached "icon" status in my collection,, which means it sat in it's box on a shelf gathering dust from the date of purchase to about 1994.

In fairness I would regularly get it out of the box/tissue paper and look at all those white metal bits and admire my purchase,,, but one day,,, having read various articles on what a swine it was to put together I had this inner self thought!!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!!  that's £3.75p down the tubes!!!

NO no,,now calm down and just think about it,,, so,,, more time on the ToDo shelf.  

But one fine day grasping in the right hand not only all the white metal bits but also the hot soldering iron [ouch] and being full of enthusiasm,, bravado,,, and home made lager,,, I set about building my very own Jersey Lily. YooHoo.

I won't bore you with the full 9 yards of the build,,, it was 31 years ago,,, and I have been affected by the ageing process the same as everyone else,,, but a quick synopsis would have to be:

To carry the just purchased 4mm 00 gauge kit from the counter to the car I needed a sack barrow,, talk about heavy metal.

Instructions should have been an optional extra,,, as I never used them,,[no change there then] they made no sense whatsoever.

There was more flash than castings,, and when you'd got rid of the flash it still weighed a ton.

I spent more time trying to make it lighter than I did building it,,, and in the end I decided I had gone as far as I could,,, it ran,, just,, almost,, after a fashion,, but it was never up to impressing at an exhibition,, start,, splutter,, cough,, fizz,, repeat,,short,, repeat,,  more time on the shelf,, but at least I'd made a start,,,and then one fine day about 4 years ago I yet again decided that this,,,for the very last time,,, I was going to sort the Fizzing Thing out,, for once and for all.  [determined to say the least]

I got technical,, I wrote a list of what it would and would not do,, to try and identify where the problem was,, were there any common denominators,, recurring themes,, overlooked insights !!!

It looked fine,,, as it should it's a C4,,, but it would not run reliably.

About 90 minutes later I once again decided enough was enough!!! A life's too short moment!!!

I give in,, you win,, buggie off back to Gorton and take your lovely chimney and dome with you!!! .

AND SUDDENLY as if by magic it was suddenly under the control of a new driver an ungainly fellow called Douglas Bader Esq,, and yes it literally flew the complete length of my workbench,,, the smoothest journey it had ever had [honest]  but the halt was,,,mmm,,, shall we say abrupt!!!

Now the post mortem revealed some interesting issue's on the deceased:

The main one being the chassis was a banana,,, not a Jon Claude Junker of Luxembourg variant but a "normal banana" bent and straight off the  Tesco value shelf.

What To Do,, commit it to a quiet secluded departure for a few close friends or bite the bullet yet again and make a proper chassis for it,,, 

Ha Ha,,, to be concluded,,, and watch this space for further instalments!!!

You never know it may even make a cameo appearance at the Broadland Exhibition at Hoveton in May,,, BUSY BUSY BUSY,,, on the other hand it may not,,, heavens the suspense!!!

Would you believe it!!!

 In an attempt to keep various factions of the Pastures supporters group happy I offer a pictorial diary of the rebuild of the D21.[stop complaining,,, it only took 5 years,,, I'm in no rush] 

This is how it came,,, I thought it a bargain as it had a set of Romford wheels attached,,, WRONG,,, none of them were useable,, not round,, different spokes, and 2 bent.

 

After swimming in a bath of Nitromors for a few days it looked like this,,, I won't comment on what this evil potion doe's to glue and I know what it looks like but I won't mention that here as it may put you off your dinner. YUK

The "bargain" tag bit me on the posterior more than once,,, the loco was a D21 [roughly] but the tender bore no resemblance to anything of N.E.R. origin,, so one Isinglass drawing was purchased and we set about turning whatever it was into something that may just resemble something that sat behind a D21,,, I spent about twice as much time bashing the tender than I did the loco,,, and whoever had it first certainly knew how to bash whitemetal about.

It's a shame I have to paint it really,,,more of a comment on my painting skills than ability as a tin basher.

And there it is in all it's glory,,, needless to say it still isn't finished as I have the other side to line out but after getting this far I'm convinced my eye's are the wrong shape for lining!!

I hope the late Mr Worsdell is happy with the end result,,, but please don't mention to him that I have no intention of doing another one.

However since starting on the project I have become rather interested in loco's of the N.E.R. and have even bought a book on the same subject,, now that's serious,,, and we now have the following Geordie visitors to the pasture's,, D21 Q6, Q7, and a J26,,, I think some of the attraction is that Worsdell could successfully fit an O gauge boiler onto a 00 gauge chassis,,, in short my sort of engineer.

The Salmon Pasture's Delivery Elephant,,, Lizzie Ward

 

         

Anyone who has read the full diatribe related to our Delivery Elephant,,, will know how popular she is at exhibitions,,, if you don't know can I suggest the following reads which covers this situation nicely:

1, Salmon Pastures Blog of 25th Feb 2015.  Title:   Lizzie Ward a severe case of elephantitus

2, Salmon Pastures Blog of 22nd July 2014. Title:   T'hat's the way to do it.

Anyway doing further research at the Pastures library recently I discovered that TWW Wards not only seconded elephants from a circus to work in the steelworks but they also had a couple of camels,,, [ I know you just can't make it up],,, and to prove the point take a look at this.

Now my research also led me to discover that when the camels arrived Lizzie was less than impressed and had a mammoth hissy fit,,, in fact it is rumoured that she really did take the hump!! and the end result was she downed tools,,, refused to co-operate,, & pleaded insanity by pretending she was a bird!!

This leaves me with a heart felt question which needs to be answered as quickly as possible.

WHERE CAN I GET A 4MM SCALE CAMEL FROM???

PS:  By the way,,, Happy New Year to all our reader.

 

Normal Service has been restored,,, and what a week that was.

 It has to be said there have been some MOMENTUS happenings over the last few days:

7 Planets could all be seen at the same time,,, 3 of them were in danger of colliding from where I was standing.

President Trump has proved what a lof of us have been thinking since around 2016.

UK Politicians and a lot of the European Hierarchy have actually been talking sense for a change.           Crikey,, who ever would have thought it!!!

Well if that is not MOMENTUS enough for you then can I advise that we have been invited to 2 more  exhibitions,,, YES really,,, Covid has a lot to answer for but the most contentious gripe/issue  for everyone on the Pastures is the destruction of the exhibition scene.   

NEEDLESS TO SAY WE CANNOT WAIT.

Wroxham Norfolk in May for the Broadland Model Railway Club show.

Reepham & Whitwell [Norfolk again] a 2 day show for the 200th Anniversary Gala bash for the start of steam railway reaching Reepham in 1825.

You've probably noticed that I haven't been posting for some time,,, there's no excuses,,, I haven't been doing a lot on the modelling front,,, apart from a few more locomotives,,,, I will offer updates on those when I can remember how  my digi camera works on close-ups,,,,, where's Hasselbad Davies when you need him??.

But the posts are about to start arriving again thick and fast and hopefully showing the progress we have to make before we tread the boards again in just 3 months time.

If you have never been or heard of Reepham then you don't know what your missing,,, they have a lovely live steam layout in a 12"to 1 foot scale,,, the station buildings are still in tact and have been beautifully restored and the Platform Cafe is wonderful,,, especially the coffee and walnut cake,, I know co's I've had some.

Reepham is one of those typically beautiful Norfolk places that most people have never heard of,,, but you have now,,, why not come and have a look,,,, in September for the 200th Steam Gala!!!

Just to wet the appetite,,, a picture showing how pleasant "Gorton-aura" can be.

Ups and Downs

 The UP's,,, the Zeppelin L1 Ugly Duckling is very nearly finished,,,

PROOF,,,, apart from painting the cab,, weathering and fixing the roof permanently,,, the 5 year old Blu-Tac is starting to smell.

DOWNS

Any avid Pastures readers will remember on 16th April 2016 we read about our pal Cecil Gee leaving the railway to become a flower arranger,,, well that didn't work either and Cecil is now back working on the railway as a movements operative second class,,, [storeman to you and me] and as you can see he still hasn't mastered the art of getting either "stuck in" or dirty!!!

Welcome Back Cec,,,, you have been missed,,,[no really]

Please come and see both at Sheringham High School on 2nd September 2023,,, open 10 to 4

GOOD NEWS....We are back on the exhibition circuit. September 2nd 2023.

Yes it's true,,, and I didn't think it would ever happen either.

Am very pleased to announce that we will be at the Midland and Great Northern show at Sheringham High School Norfolk NR26 8ND on Saturday 2nd September 2023.

Opening at 10.00am Closing at 4.00pm.

All we have to do now is vacuum 6 years of dust off the layout,,, run a crash course for the operators [literally] as we have all forgotten how it works,,, have a go at cleaning the track,,, usually a quick wipe with the emery pad is enough but I fear this time we might need the angle grinder!!!

You cannot believe how much we are looking forward to treading the boards once again,,,, the last time was Manchester 2016 & that is very nearly 7 years ago,,, I had much more hair and teeth back then.

Things to look forward to that you haven't seen before,,, crickey where do I start:

 Watch the tram operate under it's recently fitted overhead cables,, [ actually about 4 years ago!!! ]

See if you can spot any of the recently finished and painted LNER locomotives,,,, L1 Zeppelin,, D2,, Q7,, C4  and the D21,,, where will we put them all,,, I can see many of the LMS contingent getting the elbow for this one.

Meet the many fashionable housewives who have all recently moved into the terraced housing.

How will we cram it all in to just 6 hours!!!!

Please come along and join in the fun,,,, and it is all for a good cause,,,, when you have finished at the show you can take yourself off and jump on the real M&GN and ride all the way up to Holt,,, and if your very lucky all the way back!!!