Model of the Month

By David Pinniger This engine was for many years the flagship of the Archangel works. The first ones were built by Stuart Browne with two cylinders, slip eccentric gear and internal meths firing in 1972 and cost the Princely sum of £250 With various modifications, they were made for over 15 years with prices ranging [...]

By John Campbell I have recently had two Sabre Steam locomotives through my workshop one of which was the First Prize locomotive from the Stoneleigh 2011 Association Draw. As recently reported in SMT Sabre Steam ceased trading in June 2011. This has been a sad story for customers, suppliers and the proprietors. It has also [...]

By Pat Brewer "She runs like a Sewing Machine" I had a request from Derek Wiggins to put pen to paper as it were, regarding a loco that I acquired fairly recently, so in response to many requests (one actually) here it is. The loco in question is a Shay, this was built by a [...]

By Brian Dominic The MDLR’s 18A & B are a pair of IP Engineering Mandie railcars running back-to-back. As I had got a pair to play with, there were some modifications from what Mr IP Engineering lays down in his instructions. Body sides were swapped between the kits, so there was an entrance in each [...]

By Steve Herring This engine was built in 1987 as the prototype of a batch by Phil Flint of Pembrokeshire. He also built some based on the earlier engines from the pre-Southern Railways days. I believe the numbers built were quite small, possibly about 12 of “LEW”. I would be pleased to hear if anyone [...]

By Brian Wilson Prototypes Small locomotives often seem to possess more than their fair share of charm and character, and the 18" gauge Hunslets are certainly no exception. The first of these was "Jack", ordered by John Knowles (Wooden Box) Ltd for its Newfields Fireclay Mines Tramway in 1897, and delivered in October 1898 as Works [...]

By Alan Price "Sunbury" is my first attempt at building a steam loco. I came across this loco, one of three identical 0-4-2 side tank locomotives from Kerr Stuart, ordered by the Metropolitan Water Board in London in 1914 and delivered in 1916. I am no engineer and had no access to anything apart from [...]

By Chris Webster Whilst the word “Heisler” tends to conjure up pictures of North American logging railroads, locos of this type were also built in small numbers by Avonside and later Hunslet for service on the 2ft gauge sugar cane railways of Natal, South Africa. In total, 7 locomotives were delivered to various sugar estates, [...]

By Andy Cooper This is what I was aiming at. Taliesin: 1876 delivered from the Vulcan Foundry. Early problems were due to excessive rolling and various attempts were made to change the suspension of the rear bogie. The original inside framed trailing bogie was rebuilt with external frames. The locomotive was heavily used.  The bunker [...]

By Chris Dowlen Talyllyn Railway Locomotive No 1 – Talyllyn Model by Archangel, 1989 One of those archetypical narrow gauge railways has to be the Talyllyn Railway in Wales. Not only is it in typical narrow gauge country, but it carried typical narrow gauge cargo of slate for most of its working life. Of course, [...]