Well, the railway per se isn’t finished - there still remains fettling and tidying and stations and borders and rolling stock, oh my - but the track is. The last yard fitted into the last gaps with nary a millimetre to spare, which you could see as a tribute to my Brunellian engineering but which is actually more luck than judgement. We screwed down the last plate, checked the line for debris, pushed the test wagon round once (probably the most back-breaking part) and then ran the green diesel round for a few circuits. And then we all went inside, because the wind was a bit chilly.

“Evie, guess what?!”
“What?!”
“We’ve finished the railway!”
“I want to go on the swing, Daddy!”
“sigh… OK, Evie.”

Amazing, it’s just past mid-February and spring is here already. (But then, winter was a month early.) Perfect weather for getting back into the garden with some track and a few bricks. Just for once, the DIY indoors can go hang.

As you can tell, it’s been fairly quiet round here for the past month. No construction, either of track or rolling stock. The two disconnected sections of line outside are doing a good impression of one abandoned in mid-construction; keeping that Welsh Highland theme alive/dead. It’s also covered in frost, which is the chief reason for the lack of activity - a strong desire to crouch under a duvet and conserve all heat and energy, apart from occasional forays in search of hot drinks and cholesterol. This is our first winter in Wales and f**k me, it’s a cold one.

This curve represents the sum total of progress in the past two weeks, all of which occurred in the last hour of daylight yesterday and despite several squalls of rain. The weekend before, of course, was ideal weather for tracklaying outside - mild and not too wet. Needless to say, I was inside fixing light fittings when I wasn’t out shopping. Even Saturday’s weather was better than yesterday, and indeed I was out in the garden - filling eight bags with fallen leaves.

Most evenings when I have to go outside briefly on some chore or errand, I find myself wandering to the end of the garden and undertaking a quick inspection of the permanent way. Clearing away the odd dead leaf or misplaced lump of soil, I stroll the short length of my line like a ganger with his assigned mileage and muse on the future opportunities for running trains.

I also have my anorak on, and a little hat that says “Engine Driver”! (Kidding, but it can only be a matter of time at the present rate.)

Working at home gave me the opportunity for a quick lunchtime run of the finished Rapier on the line. I guess this is R&R loco No. 1. Despite the growling, it’s a very smooth runner - possibly too smooth. Rather like the “electric mice” problem with indoor model railways, battery-driven locos lack the subtle variations in running that a steamer would demonstrate, where each small gradient and curve is reflected in the performance from the engine. But I’m not complaining at this stage; the mere fact that it’s running without problem is a testament to both model and line. I heartily congratulate the builder of both. Hem, hem.

(From Gwynedd Railways by Mike Hitches.)
Quite an old picture of the southern Moelwyn portal on the Festiniog. I like the wildness of this location, and the simplicity of the shot: track, tunnel mouth, walls, hills, figure, all captured straight on. The old tunnel is quite an evocative location, since it was in use only for the “historical” part of the FR’s life, and had to be abandoned after preservation due to a new pumped water scheme and lake at the other end. Even if it’s never used again, the remaining alignment and portal are unlikely ever to be removed.

Eureka, as the man said! It works!! Still the roof to go, and the couplings, but these are minor details, surely? The motor spins and the wheels turn, albeit very noisily and not entirely square to the body. But these are the little quirks that make up a narrow gauge loco.

Where are my navvies?! TRACK, DAMMIT! I must have a track to run on!! Faster! (whipcrack) Oh wait, that’s me.

“Hey Ade, what happened to that Rapier kit you got?” The body shell of the IP Engineering Rapier diesel is, as you can see, assembled. It’s taken about two weeks to get to this point, or roughly four hours of actual work. Now all I have to do is avoid wasting all this effort by making a hash of the chassis.