Clueless about clothing

Having finished painting the first of my set of the Victorian inhabitants of the Ganllwyd district I couldn't resist posing this homage to the Railway Children.

Sorting out these figures has revealed the shallow depth of my knowledge with regard to the fashions of the times. The BBC series Snowdonia 1890 has been an absolute boon when it comes to filling in the blanks in my expertise (ha!). It's been most refreshing having to start from a low baseline of competance, the research being a very satisfying part of the model making process.

An educated guess

There's very little documentary evidence about the Ganllwyd Tramway, a Google search of the internet will only bring you back here. Much therefore remains as guesswork. For the moment I'm stock building, and though I've an idea what locos the line had, and built models as close as it's possible to get, given the absence of photos of the Fowler and one dishevelled image of the lines No. 1, the other stock remains a mystery. I have a possible lead to follow with regard to the mineral wagons, but the coaching stock is still an unknown factor. I took a guess at something like the early Corris four wheelers being appropriate, but I've become increasingly disenchanted with my model, it looks too modern. Its place will be taken by the rather lovely Meridian Models Talyllyn 'Lancaster' carriage. As the Ganllwyd tram shared the 2'3" gauge I don't think that poaching items from the Talyllyn or other similarly specified lines stretches credibility too much.

Stocking up

Well after some time in the doldrums the Ganllwyd Tram is gathering some momentum. I've no doubt that it's mainly due to a possible début at this years Corris Model Railway Show (August bank holiday weekend), though I've also seen a rather natty photo of the Meridian Models 'Lancaster' coach in a fetching livery which I don't half fancy. Another prod in the right direction came from the acquisition of a Stenning kit of the Corris brake van. It's the van that's been the focus of this afternoons work. I decided that I wanted to model the van with the door open, so the first job was to cut out the door from the side with my piercing saw and tidy up the hole left.

 

Though the kit comes with a spare side, I chose to make a new door from scratch; one cut from the spare side would require a great deal of thinning down. I used a combination of scribed 20thou and microstrip for the new door.

Fitting the door to the side gave a pleasing impression of how the final van might look. I backed the portion of the door that overlapped its opening with a section of 40thou plasticard.

Not many more minutes work has brought me to the stage you see here, with the basic body complete. I have ideas for the interior, but that's for another day.