Highland Railway Type C brake van in action.

HR Type C goods brake van in action at CDOGG.

I think you'll agree that this photo of my HR Type C brake van in action, passing through the station, on the club layout in Carlisle is the business. It's a short train, in fact there's just an open wagon behind the engine which is HR Passenger Tank no.46. The guard can be glimpsed through the glazed rear window, he's on the other side of the van.

The ends of the van are painted red which makes for a lively colour scheme though there's no certainty that the ends were this colour when the vans came into service in 1898 as the practise of painting the ends red seems to have been phased out late in HR days.

There is little evidence of the exact colour of Highland Railway goods stock, indeed it may have varied over time and no doubt weathering changed the colour anyway. In this case, as I've modelled a van fresh from R. Y. Pickering's works, the paint is a rich red oxide with a glossy sheen. I used Precision 436 which is their Caledonian goods wagon oxide and made no changes to it.

The large H R letters flanking the ducket are HRMS Pressfix transfers; the rest of the lettering and numbers are from the water-slide sheet included with the Invertrain kit. These are carried on a varnish film, which leaves an edge, though a couple of layers of gloss over the transfer, later toned down with eggshell should disguise the edge. The transfer for the Pickering works plate is particularly effective, this is mounted on a rhomboid metal plate and trimmed with a file which nicely takes care of the varnish edge. Similarly the OIL transfer sits inside the horseshoe plate on the solebar which disguises its surround.

There are two good works photographs of the Type C van in existence which appear in Peter Tatlow's book, Highland Railway Carriages and Wagons. Apart from these the Type C van seems to have exercised a remarkable reticence towards the camera, though recently a rather grainy photo has surfaced in the HRSoc archive showing a Type C in LMS days bringing up the rear of a mineral train, headed by a Skye Bogie at Erbusaig Bay; the vans evidently saw much service on the Kyle line.

Type C van at Erbusaig Bay, approaching Kyle of Lochalsh. (HRSoc Archive)

Passenger Tank HR46 Complete

HR 46 Passenger Tank

Number 46 was built 2/1906 and entered service on the Highland Railway in unlined Drummond II green livery which it retained until taken into LMS service when the engine was painted red and numbered 15054. The model is built without the aid of a kit though it relies heavily on commercially available castings, mostly from Laurie Griffin Miniatures.

Cab doors open and close, a sneck locates over the stanchion to lock them in place. 

The bogie splashers are attached to the engine main frames which causes a clearance problem with the rear wheels on curves. I made the splashers as near scale as possible and after much fiddling and filing, a film of Araldite on the inside and some restriction of the throw of the bogie, the engine corners well now, though I don't think it will negotiate very tight curves.




Cab Interior with crew from Invertrain Models.

Most of the castings on display in the cab are from LGM, they are invaluable as making absolutely everything yourself is a very long way round. However nearly all the castings have been modified in some way or other to suit this particular engine.

The crew are from Invertrain's "Heroes of the Footplate" range and are chosen for their poses, which suit the small working space, they contrast with each other and don't crowd the cab. The driver's hands are over the cab beading and hold him steady when the engine is in motion. The fireman's feet are soldered to a small metal base, painted to match the wooden floor; double sided Sellotape holds him in place. Both figures can be removed from the cab without damaging any paintwork.


Transfers from Fox; number plates from Guilplates.

My next locomotive building project deviates for a change from the HR into the LNWR. Work is underway though not far advanced yet.
It's "Merrie Carlisle" a Precedent class engine which in LMS days ran in their very attractive red livery.
So watch this space...