Bargain!

Mrs. Woody and myself went out today for a bit of a drive and a sandwich. We stopped off at a barn which had been converted in a village to a large antiques type establishment. I am not particularly into antiques and to be honest I believe Mrs. W thinks I am enough of an antique for her without adding any more! However you never know what you might find. My instinct was right as in a corner was a small cabinet with some old model railway stuff. I spied five Triang Mk1 Western Region coaches dating back to some time in the 1960's complete with their boxes. They are not the most detailed of models and by todays standards they are said to be crude by most modellers. However for me, with trains running around a layout, I am not going to be sitting two inches from the track trying to see if the third rivet from the left of the toilet compartment window is moulded in the correct place. I leave that to people who possibly need to re-evaluate their life! Even as 'crude' models they would go great with my maroon Class 52 Western diesel which was very much a Western Region of British Rail locomotive of the same era as the coaches. 

£10 each was the price. A quick examination showed me they were in great condition and an offer of £45 was accepted. Bargain! However while I was negotiating that deal Mrs. W had found a small cat decorated musical box which she liked (I thought that she didn't like antiques - so much for knowing my wife!) which also came home with us after my wallet was further depleted. 

Back at WMD HQ the coaches were unboxed from those wonderfully evocative red Triang boxes which I recall the excitement of receiving at Christmas or a birthday. Strange how a box can bring back memories!

The coaches were put on the track and the Western Class 52 diesel coupled up. Just before setting off on an inaugural trip around the layout I suddenly recalled that whilst having my sort out and tidy up a few days ago I had come across an old Traing coach which someone had given me decades ago. I dug it out again and it was another matching Western Region coach! Added to the others I now have a rake of six coaches for £45. Even more of a bargain especially as new coaches are between £30 and £60 each. Anyway, on the track they run well and the whole train looks very much like the photos of the real Western Region back in the 60's. I am to use a pun, really 'chuffed' with the coaches!

The Foden Haulmaster kit has moved on although not as quickly as I would have liked. The kit has 13 wheels (one is the spare just in case you wondered about the odd number) and they all had distinct moulding lines around them. Whilst this is not the greatest detailed kit and there is no tread pattern to the tyres I could not leave such a prominent mould line in sight on thirteen wheels. To sort them out took about an hour of filing but to me that was worth the time spent as I hope the picture shows.

Adding the wheels to the chassis brings that alive. I have also started the cab but the fit of the parts is so bad that I am having to glue the parts in stages to try to pull them eventually into line. However there will be a need for some filler once the parts are all glued fully. Filler has also been needed in the tipper body and tailgate. One of the unusual things about this kit is that whilst a simple kit it does lack a drivers and passenger seat the absence of which seems a bit obvious with all those windows in the cab. I have remedied this with my crude but hopefully acceptable scratch built seats. I don't think anyone using them would find any comfort in my design so I will do the World a favour and steer clear of any real life furniture design or construction!