HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME -- 51 YEARS YOUNG

30th April 1969 - 2020

Another year passes and while I knew my 50th birthday last year would be bigger and more exciting I never expect my 51st birthday to be this different in so many ways. So having made simple plans for a week off, to hopefully go and enjoy some horse racing and visiting friends, sadly this year it'll be a quiet one at home. And I've made peace with that situation, now cancelled the week off that was booked and although now working at home, it means I shall make different plans to spend some time getting some of my models out for a test and run. In particular need to get Dads O Gauge items out as not been able to get to any open days recently and of course they too are all cancelled for the time being.

Aside from the cancelled horse racing to my regular 'local' meeting at Ascot will be missing other friends birthdays and it was their turn for 50th do's so I hope they stay safe and when this is all over perhaps we can do something together to celebrate. For my birthday I used to plan a nice "present" to myself, alas that seems unlikely this time around, but always on the look out for something to add to my N Gauge model collection. Though I was supposed to be away to Isle of Wight and also had plans for a trip to Swanage or up the York. All this can go back on hold for a while though. Instead I'll just have a quiet day, open a bottle of something nice later on and raise a glass to everyone, especially our hero's in the Health Services, and other front line staff that are keeping as many people alive as we can.

Happy Birthday Me!!
Support the NHS workers 

(like the lovely Holly here x)
Try and have a fun time mate. 

SECOND HAND N GAUGE MODELS #5 -- CLASS 52 WESTERN COURIER (D1062)

While we are on lock down have had a chance to give a fair few of my models a test run at home, sadly not got the room for a bigger layout and the O Gauge stuff will just have to wait till some of the local open days can restart but in this blog we'll talk about one of my favourite diesel classes from my childhood, the Westerns. Now you can keep your John Wayne, Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas' I mean the Class 52's that used to thunder across the Western Region of England hauling express passenger services to Bristol, Devon and Cornwall. Having picked up a couple of different Westerns (and I really want the sand coloured one now) I am pleased that they've both been out for a run around, very smooth immaculate looking locomotives just like the real thing. Some pictures of my model to follow;

Class 52 Background
Built : Crewe Works May 6th 1963, allocated to Old Oak Common (81A)
Livery, On entering service: Maroon with half-yellow warning panels, black-backed number and nameplates and black roof panels. Was allocated to Laira (84A) by the time it was withdrawn from service, originally preserved at the Torbay and Dartmouth Railway it's now preserved at Kidderminster home of the Severn Valley Railway.

The D1000 series locomotives were to be named after famous West of England place names; the portfolio shows D1000 bearing the working title "Cheddar Gorge". This trend was not followed in production, however, and the Westerns were named with general heraldic and regimental terms prefixed with the word "Western"

Class 52 in Preservation
Of the 74 locomotives built, 7 have survived to preservation. While 3 of these are at the Severn Valley Railway it's sad that only 1 is currently available for Main Line running. D1062 Western Courier attended the Rocket 150 celebrations at Rainhill in May 1980, the only privately owned diesel locomotive to do so. Would have been great to see these out in the summer on excursions and trips down to West Country.

D1010 Western Campaigner -- Withdrawn 28.02.77.
Owned by the Diesel & Electric Preservation Group, @West Somerset Railway

D1013 Western Ranger   --   Withdrawn 28.02.77.
Owned by the Western Locomotive Association, @Severn Valley Railway

D1015 Western Champion --  Withdrawn 13.12.76.
Owned by the Diesel Traction Group, @Severn Valley Railway.
It is the only Western Loco that is certified for mainline use.

D1023 Western Fusilier  --   Withdrawn 28.02.77.
The final Western to receive a general overhaul at Swindon works, in February 1973
Now part of the national collection, @National Railway Museum.

D1041 Western Prince -- Withdrawn 23.02.77.
Owned by Diesel Group of the East Lancashire Railway.

D1048 Western Lady -- Withdrawn 28.02.77.
Owned privately, Midland Diesel Group, @Midland Railway – Butterley.

D1062 Western Courier -- Withdrawn 22.08.74.
Owned by Western Locomotive Association, @Severn Valley Railway.

Graham Farish Class 52 [D1062] Western Courier

Although picked up on a popular online auction site it's in immaculate condition and a beautiful runner around my own test track. Liked it so much I went back and picked up a different Class 52 (Western Gauntlet) and on the look out for the sand livery worn by Western Enterprise but seems to be rare and expensive.

The Maroon livery does well to break up the regular Blues and Greens for my other BR Diesel's and as this model is preserved in real life on the Severn Valley Railway it allows for further variation in running stock as I can use my BR Mk1 coaches or GWR stock and simply call it an excursion (rule #1 always applies).

And here's the real thing again at Bridgenorth on the Severn Valley Railway, showing how good the detail is (in my humble opinion) to the real thing and how bad my camera work is with the small models.

DEPRESSING OUTLOOK FOR APRIL AND MAY AS ALL EVENTS CANCELLED

Update for the next few months, had planned to be out for open days and exhibitions which are all cancelled as expected until further notice. Gone are the Open Days for Hillingdon Railway Modellers which is a shame as Dad's models could really do with a run. Also had plans over Easter to visit the Isle of Wight including their Steam Railway at Haven Street so will have to try and rearrange that for later this year (assuming things improve a lot for everyone). 

Looking at the listings of Exhibitions and Open Days for April, May and June we already see that the vast majority of these have already been cancelled, not surprisingly, and therefore we will have a long wait before we will see a turnaround in fortunes. [Events calendar]. As well as a planned trip to the Isle of Wight was also looking forward to a trip to visit the Swanage Railway making use of the mainline rail connection via Wareham meaning I can get there using South Western Railway as I no longer drive. They have been testing this out over the past year using a refurbished heritage DMU so was hoping this service would run regularly during the spring and summer this year. Occasionally they have run direct trains into Norden or Corfe Castle but until services resume on the railway it's unclear if this will still be available.

Appears therefore that we have a lot of time on our hands at home instead, and so out come the various scales of models that I have, some inherited from my father, others I have acquired over a period of time. An opportunity to catalogue these as best I can and given I have a number of items boxed away for 'O / OO / N' this could take me a while. Hopefully can give each of the locomotives a quick test run too though no space to try out the O Gauge items at least making sure they are well packed away again will be a good way to spend Easter I guess. I do have a few out on display so will also be able to rotate these a little. Here are a couple of my favourite little O Gauge 0-4-0's that Dad made and detailed. 

HILLINGDON RAILWAY MODELLERS 2020 OPEN DAYS -- OFF TILL FURTHER NOTICE

http://www.hillingdonrailwaymodellers.co.uk/

Hello everyone, would have been promoting the next Open Day of this year at Hillingdon Railway Modellers. Sadly due to the current climate and circumstances surrounding the Coronavirus Outbreak these regular events scheduled for 4th April and 6th June have had to be postponed. Our apologies to anyone who was planning to attend. As further news develops we will of course update later in the year with information about future Open Days and other events. 

Click the image for video of test track

Location

Yiewsley Baptist Church

74 Colham Avenue

West Drayton  UB7 8HF

* the entrance is at the side of the church down a path and the doors at the end should be open, don't try and enter the main doors of the church. 

While it's disappointing for us enthusiasts, collectors and modelling experts there are much bigger issues at stake during these worrying times. So please keep following NHS advice, stay safe, be nice, don't panic and I'm sure we'll be back to some sort of normality in the near future. Take care, 'Back Stronger'.