By Philip Hindley
I have a particular interest in the Penrhyn Railway because many years ago I had a return trip up the railway in one of the quarrymen’s coaches. In the late 1950’s to early 1960’s much of the school holidays were spent with a like minded school friend exploring the railways of North Wales, travelling on many of the BR lines closed by Beeching, visiting quarries still using narrow gauge railways or walking long abandoned quarry tramways. On a visit to Port Penrhyn we were told that a school party would be travelling up the railway to the quarry later that day and we could travel with them. The date was August 1958, long before I started making proper notes or taking photographs, and only recorded because at the quarry we were taken through the mills on Red Lion Level to see the production of slates and were each given a slate as a souvenir on which I scratched the date of the visit. I made more than a dozen more visits to the quarry, some official others rather less so, before the rail system finished completely in 1967. As a newcomer to 16mm live steam the Roundhouse CHARLES therefore seemed a good model to start with.
The prototype locomotive CHARLES probably last worked in 1955. According to the quarry records the boiler received a water test in February 1955 and was given an eight months certificate with the pressure reduced to 100 lb/sq.in. In January 1956 the records state that it was not intended to overhaul this loco as a new boiler would probably be required. It was decided instead to utilise parts as spares for LINDA and BLANCHE. According to J.I.C.Boyd in his 1985 Oakwood Press book on the Penrhyn, CHARLES worked a last ‘special’ in 1958 and its tempting to think that this was the train I rode. However it’s probably unlikely that they would use a loco with a condemned boiler on such a train (if at all). I don’t recall seeing CHARLES on the railway and I believe after withdrawal it was stored in the shed at Port Penrhyn.
Overall I am very pleased with the Roundhouse model although there were a few items I thought could be improved, particularly the chimney and the buffers. Living just 20 minutes drive from Penrhyn Castle gave convenient access to the loco for measurements and photos. The new chimney was constructed in three sections – the barrel, with its lower end threaded to suit the existing fixing nut; the cap, heat shrunk onto the top of the barrel, and the base.
The new chimney in place on the smokebox, with the original Roundhouse chimney on the right.
Replacing the buffers required new buffer beams and these were machined from 1.5mm thick brass plate. The Roundhouse buffer beams are rather wider than the prototype like the rest of the model, presumably to accommodate 45mm gauge, and also rather deeper. So the buffers and other details on the buffer beams were increased in scale to keep the proportions the same.
The buffer beams and buffers before painting.
The front buffer beam bolts have plain round heads while the rear buffer beam has a combination of hexagonal bolt heads, nuts and rivets. The buffer beams were fixed in place with 8BA cheesehead bolts with the heads reduced in size to match the other dummy fixings. The buffers are bolted to angle brackets fixed to the rear of the buffer beams.
The new front buffer beam fitted in place.
The sand bucket was fixed in position with a 10BA screw through the base and provided with a lid.
Replacement injector pipework and reverser rod.
The brass injector pipework was replaced with thick copper wire and the cranked reverser rod replaced with a more correct straight one. The nameplates on the prototype were fitted lower down the tank side when it received a new welded tank to replace the riveted one in 1942.
The model was expertly lined by Geoff Munday of Lightline, after which it received a coat of satin varnish. The chimney and smokebox were finished with Rust-oleum heat resistant paint.
Another view of the completed model.