I had another go at the “new” parcels van after breakfast this morning. It’s looking a bit dark in the photo below and needs a wash of light grey after the paint has dried.
Too much weathering? Bear in mind this is a run down narrow gauge railway that still uses steam engines, so maybe not. The second van in this photo shows that even diesel hauled parcels stock got pretty filthy.
The final appearance of the new parcels van is shown above, it’s not “museum quality” and doesn’t stand close examination but it looks OK on the layout.
In another life that was an Underground Ernie Bakerloo coach.
On the FCPyF it’s a parcels van. The solid silver-grey painted windows of the kiddies’ toy should pass for frosted glass when it’s weathered. I’ve made a start on the job, the paint will be allowed to dry overnight then I’ll have another look at it in the morning.
Cuarto to Grande with 42 and the “Welsh” set. Change at Grande for the San Fernandez Mail, hauled by number 7. Change again at San Fernandez to catch railcar 27 via the Arroyo Santa branch to Peru.
That’s a complete tour of the layout.
My original intention for the Arroyo Santa branch was to have it leaving the main line not far from San Fernandez but I think it will add some operational flexibility if the junction is further south.
This way some trains can terminate in the staging area without having to occupy the limited trackage in the northern terminus. Not all trains will do this though, some will run through to San Fernandez as per my original idea and others can reverse in the staging area (in theory at Perejil) and run south from there to Grande.
The branch train in this photo will follow the mail train south as far as Perejil.
I’ve been working on the new diesel today, then had a play with it!
The new loco is, as yet, un-numbered because I’ve misplaced the stickers but it posed for a new FCPyF page header anyway.
DDT No.67’s mechanism has been cleaned and oiled, it now runs smoothly.
The inspection car has also been stripped down, cleaned and reassembled. It had picked up some sand from the track on the branch and was running very roughly but this has now been cured.
The FCPyF’s staple freight traffic comes from the mines at Cuarto and Rio Paleta. Cuarto has a daily train but Rio has less output so the siding there is worked as required using a caboose hop from Grande to collect the loads then setting out empties from later trains.
Diesel 15 is seen in both films but smaller locos can be used because the gradients are in favour of loaded trains.
Meanwhile, in other news, there appears to have been a serious collision involving two of Thomas the Tank’s friends.
Dirty Diesel had been converted into a Gn15 loco but didn’t really look right. Percy was used occasionally with the Ferrocarril Internacional modules to amuse youngsters at shows. More work is needed to merge the diesel hood and steam engine cab but I reckon it might be worth doing because the mechanism is a smooth runner and it’s a waste leaving it in the scrap box.
