Wheeltapper 2009


Adrian Harford's Great Western 1331

This locomotive was my first effort at loco-building, my introduction to etched brass kits (and a few other things as well). The kit is by Pete Stamper (Agenoria) and represents an absorbed engine (alone in its class) which is built and painted to represent its period of service (roughly 1930 -1935) on the Weymouth Harbour Tramway (ref Gerry Beale book). I had to rebuild the chassis (starting with new frets from Agenoria) before I could get reasonable running characteristics out of it. The kit was advertised as suitable for beginners, but it wasn’t until I successfully completed the Connoisseur starter loco kit by Jim McGeown that I began to realise how some things should have been done – and some not done (using plunger pick-ups and attempting compensation). I also switched from using ZTC DCC decoders (lots of them) to a Digitrax decoder. The loco shows real signs of being fit for purpose and is a youtube star Click Here to View. Now I need to adorn it with coal, tools and some manpower. And find some way of fitting the Digitrax sound chip I bought at Risex!