The Isle of Westland Railway

When arriving by ferry take advantage of our new high speed express train..................'The Islander' ...............to speed you to the resorts.           

 Details from your local station          Isle of Westland railway Company__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Roundhouse Argyle class

I rate this as about the best model to date from Roundhouse from the point of view of haulage.  Detail and a crew has been added. I did have a problem with the lack of swing on the rear coupling causing stock coupled behind to derail but have overcome this by remounting the coupling in a form that allows some sideways movement. This loco has covered more miles running than any other both on the line and elsewhere. Roundhouse have just announced an updated version of the model.

Roundhouse 'Jack' class running with added tender. This was its first outing on the line and the red cylinders have not been retained.............they are now black!

Bought 2nd hand a few months ago this apparently is one of a very small Garden Railway Specialists  'one -off' batch of 0-4-2 locos. It carries a builder's plate from GRS on the back of the tender showing a date of 1992.  The tender has been rebuilt , the loco detailed and weathered.

The cylinders are obviously Roundhouse but the rest looks like GRS manufacter. the tender is a plastic standard G scale possibly Bachman and originaly the loco was set to 45mm gauge. I have heavily rebuilt the tender body and altered the original 6 wheel set up, which was very difficult to place on the track,  to 4 wheeled ..................although looking at it you cannot tell that the centre axleboxes are unused.

A good looking loco to my eye, but adhesion and hauling power are limited by only having 4 driving wheels.

Acquired from the 2nd hand stall at a show I know little about this battery loco but is looks good and runs well.

Telephone - Westland  21204 and speak to our driver rehabilitation team

Isle of Westland Railway Company

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Built by Roger Hine who originally owned Friog models (now taken over by Essel engineering) this is a model of the loco based at the Bala Lake Railway. I get to drive the full sized one so the chance to acquire a second hand model could not be resisted! I have added cab detail and a driver ( which my wife says looks like me ). Radio control is by the Spectrum system and a Brian Jones Mac 5 unit which is fantastic and gives faultless control.

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This is an IP Engineering model with Spectrum receiver and Brian Jones radio control and sound units. The loco featured in the Railway Channel film of the line but painted ina adarker green livery. While not the strongset of haulers it is nevertheless a good loco for shorter trains although it's top speed is pretty low.

Newly arrived Accucraft 'Viking'. This has been regauged. Under the bonnet now is a 19 volt battery pack plus a Brian Jones 'Funkey' soundcard and speaker.

Between the frames is room for a Spectrum receiver plus Brian Jones Mac 5 controller. The lights are now operated via a switch inside the cab (the doors open).

 There are more pic's in the photo album.

As I am a Kentish Man born and bred, and as Wessex defeated the Vikings, then the name ' Saxon' seems appropriate. Nameplates for this have been ordered from Alan Briggs.

 On buying one of the first batch of Accucraft diesels the motor and plastic gearing looked rather fragile and the running was disappointing. The loco was put to one side but I talked the problem over with Roger Hine of Friog Railway Services and he has fitted a replacement chassis. ..............see...............http://www.friograil.co.uk/page6.html

 This has transformed the loco into about the best on the line. It is controlled by a Brian Jones Mac 5 and sound unit via a Spektrum receiver.   

 Viking/Saxon conversion

How easy to convert?.........................well...................
 
Dismantling is quite complicated to get the bonnet and cab off......................I can confirm details if you plan to attempt this.
 
There is a ruddy great block of metal under the bonnet for weight which has to come out. Space then exists to put the 19 volt battery pack (from Strikalite) plus sound card and speaker. The speaker is at the top front pointing down and towards those grills which let sound escape nicely. The batteries are on a 'shelf' at the rear fixed to the bonnet sides leaving room underneath for the sound card. The lighting circuit is left intact but wired via a switch.
 
Motor and lighting switches are fitted through the cab floor as the doors open and the lights now run direct off the battery and do not fade when the loco is not moving.
 
There is a lot of room between the frames at the front  for the Mac 5 controller, Spectrum receiver  and battery charging point.
 
I have yet to have running trials but the loco has a higher top speed on the kitchen floor than I can manage ! I hope that the haulage power will also be good but will report back later when I can test this.

A set of steps for the conversion are being prepared if interested,

 Loco's generally

Loco's have been repainted  where necessary and lined, numbered etc. All have been weathered seeking to produce a cohesive fleet and illustrating the fact that the company does not pay its staff to keep, what are working machines, immaculate and in museum exhibit condition.

To start weathering my first loco was a big leap of faith................they cost so much after all................but I intially kept it light and added more as I got more confident. Opinion from viewers seems mixed with some horrified at what I have done (you will have decreased the value !) while most say that it is good to see the models looking 'more realistic' in our scale. The smaller scale modellers seem to see this as a fairly 'normal' step in the attempt to portay the picture of a real railway. Weathering is an art rather than a science and I am still learning. I do enjoy the final effect and have to weather the loco's to match my stock otherwise the effect looks odd!

To make a change from the ubiquitous headlamp, I have decided my railway system  has adopted the Southern railway headcode boards as on the Isle of Wight to denote train routes. As on the Isle of Wight large numbers of tourists visit meaning that traffic becomes hectic for just a few short weeks of the year and the headcodes enable signalmen and others to identify trains more easily.

OK..............I admit that I just like my trains to look different......................:-)

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Check out the available 'cheap rate' ticket offers from your local  station and possibley save shillings on your  fare !               

 Isle of westland railway