A… locomotive…

James commented on my last post that he'd like to see a locomotive. Well, surprisingly enough, locos are not my forte... model ones that is, as strange as it sounds for a railway modeller!

I've always enjoyed building the wagons and structures rather than the things that pull the trains.

A couple of years ago I had designs on building a micro clay works layout...needless to say it never really got off the ground. As part of those plans, I was detailing my old Bachmann Class 08.

As is usual for me, I decided to make life difficult and replace all of the handrails - just because I thought they looked too heavy out of the box.

I also decided to apply a heavily faded, rusted and weathered loco - based on some prototype photos online.

Once the transfers were applied, I decided to go one step further and replace the coupling rods. The visual difference this makes is stark - I have no idea why Bachmann represented the rods like they did.

And this is how this loco still looks, several years later. As the clay layout idea withered and died, so did my enthusiasm for the loco.

I do still have all the pieces needed to finish it properly, but that'll be another day very far in the future I think!