Saturday Film Club: A day with restored Sea Lion Steam Loco

A video of the best steam locomotive in the world ever? Of course I'm going to link to it from here!

Saturday Film Club - Happy Birthday Groudle Glen Railway!

A bumper set of videos to celebrate the GGR's birthday today. 

 

 

Groudle Glen Gala Day 2025

A couple of weeks ago, I enjoyed a holiday on the Isle of Man, taking in the enthusiast's week. This means I will be bombarding you with Manx-based photos this week. And it's my blog, so there's nothing you can do about it. 

We'll start with the Groudle. The line put on three special events while I was there, and I made it to two of them. The gala saw every working locomotive out and about on the line - and for a tiny little railway, there is quite a collection!

 First, we have the original locomotive on the lines, Sea Lion: 

The other original loco, is Polar Bear, currently living at the Amberley Chalk Pits museum. She has been over, but is currently in pieces. No worries, the Groudle people hung Polar Bear's chimney from the engine shed roof, and built Brown Bear underneath it. 

Brown Bear actually comes from North Bay Engineering. At the time she was under construction, another loco was also being built. The order for this was cancelled, and the GGR were offered a bargain. Since it's Bagnall-based, Otter, known as "the blue one", joined the fleet. 

When the original steam engines were wearing out, they were replaced with a couple of battery electric locos. These were not a success, one ending up at the bottom of a bank, and the other being rebuilt with pony trucks, and then a tender for the batteries. As it was, the owners of the line were forced to rebuild the steam locos instead. Only a single wheel and builders plate exists of the old BEVs, but this replica was built, and has proved to be very useful.   

More recently, Malty joined the fleet. A Baguley product, it's best known for appearing in the end credits of the TV show Hi-De-Hi. Well, the Groudle is a pleasure line, so why not have a pleasure locomotive? 

Finally, we have Dolphin. Along with her sister Walrus, she arrived from the Doddington Park railway. That line provided much of the equipment and materials used to restore the GGR in the 1980s. I remember both of these Hunslet machines in operation when I first visited in the 1990s. The good news is that Walrus is away for a rebuild, both machines being seen as a very important part of the line's story, as well as very useful in their own rights. 

For a fiver, we were taken out on the train to the headland, where efforts were made to line them up so we could take photos. Not easy, as the cliff edge isn't that far from the track, which is already inland of the original location by a few feet. 

After this, the locos ran a busy service, and there was the chance to enjoy each one for haulage. I've completed the set, I think, with both Maltby and Walrus hauled trains. 

You're probably wondering about the cake. Well, on the previous Wednesday, Chris, the guard for the evening, spotted me and suggested some marble cake from the Sealion Rocks cafe. Sadly, this wasn't available, so I settled for some round battenburg. On the Sunday though, it was, and I enjoyed it.

Which would have been fine, but he'd spotted me again and pointed me at the Victoria Sponge. So, after my second trip, I had to eat that too!

Now, I'm easily pleased with a trip to the Groudle, but the volunteers put on a good show. Hopefully, next time, we'll have Walrus and Annie back too!

Visit the Groudle Glen Railway website.  

Saltford Models "Polar Bear"

Warning: This post is going to make many of you very jealous. I amd slightly sorry about this, but only slightly.

Last week, I was shooting a layout for BRM. It's a narrow gauge model and the owner is a really interesting guy. We both come from the era of kit building, early MRJs and other stuff from the 1990s. He has (among other things) an Isle of Man project on the go, so we talked all things Manx. 

"You might like to see this." he said - and handed me a very tiny locomotive. 

Well, dear reader, it was a kit I had heard of, but never actually seen. Saltford Models 009 "Polar Bear" from the Groudle Glen Railway. Bearing in mind the tiny size of the prototypes, making this thing work was a masterful piece of work. 

As I say, I had heard of the kit, seen a photo in a GGR booklet, and sniffed around a couple of examples on eBay, always being comprehensivly out-bid. And now I was holding one in my hand. Of course, I took photos, with the loco balanced on a 50p piece to give you an idea of scale.

OK, let's be honest. This is not of the quality of Bachmann's Quarry Hunslet. It is a fairly basic model, but then that's what you got. Brian Clarke produced one of the most interesting ranges of models in 4 and 16mm scale. I've built a couple of the later, and know a really top modelmaker who built a 4mm vertical boiler loco. Admitedly, he replaced a few bits, but that's partly because he wanted working valve gear - John was like that. 

Anyway, we are chatting, and it turns out he owns more than one kit. I couldn't resist saying "If you ever want to dispose of that, please give me first refusal." Then we went back to the shoot, and more chatting. I do a lot of chatting while taking pictures, it's a bit part of the job and a lot of fun. It helped the room was full of fascinating stuff - including several Centre Models kits and a covetable K's 0F shunter. 

When we finish, I can't resist mentioning the Polar Bear kit again, partly hoping he'd name a price, and that price wouldn't be too painful. He didn't. He handed the kit to me and said I might as well have it, since he'd never get around to building the model. 

Wow!

Now, to be fair, there are a lot of projects awaiting attention. And the "kit" is more a box of bits, many of which have been assembled in the past. This isn't going to be a shake the box job. There's a good chance not everything required is in here, but I have a loco body, chassis and motor. I'm sure the rest isn't beyond me. 

Interestingly, the box is supplied by "Brian's Kits and Bits" - Brian and his wife stayed at our house a few times back in the 1980s when they attended the Leamington Show. Another connection!

One thing we discussed is how some projects are simply meant to be yours. While throwing money around can do the job, if you are patient, and keep your eyes open, very often, the kit/model/car you desire will eventually find its way to you. It certainly did in this case!

Back to Groudle in 1996

 

It's no secret I'm a big fan of the Groudle Glen Railway, and I have a large collection of souvenirs of the line. The latest examples are eBay finds that didn't cost much, but are a bit of fun. 

The badge is the sort of printed plastic badge that were everywhere when I was a kid. I know I had loads of them with different logos printed on the front. This is new to me, and of course, as a bit of my youth, and GGR, it was three quid well spent. 

The lorry is a Lledo model sold through the Promotors brand. According to the certificate in the box it's number 238 of 523. Fortunately, I managed to beat off a slew of American millionaire collectors for this rare item, bagging it for a fiver. 

My initial thought was that it was so ugly as to be fun, but with the model in my hand, I really like it. The printing is really good and the design features both Sea Lion and Polar Bear - so what's not to like? 

More importantly, it reminds me that I visited the line for the centenary weekend in 1996. At the time, I was working for Lunn Poly travel agent on their systems helpdesk - a miserable place to work where my boss (yes, you Stella) hated me for no apparent reason from the day I arrived (that wasn't just my opinion, one of my collgues asked "Why does she treat you like s**t?") and I couldn't wait to leave. 

Anyway, I worked the early shift one Friday so I left at 4:30, heading straight to the station and then on to Birmingham International. A quick change to a 'plane and by 6:30 (I think) I was waiting for the bus outside Ronaldsway airport, breathing that clean, Manx air. 

This little lorry reminds me of that, and so is well worth it's asking price. 

Now, if I can find some photos, I'll post them here eventually.

Saturday Film Club: Groudle 125 - the people

It's always interesting seeing railways through the eyes of non-enthusiasts, and this five-minute film by Culture Manin is just that. Quite stylised, there's a lot of emphasis on the people behind the line rather than nerdy history or rivet-counting. It's a good watch though.

Saturday Film Club: Groudle Glen Railway at 125 years old

I wish I had been able to be there. That is all.

Saturday Film Club: Groudle Glen Railway Steam festival from the air

How I missed my trip to the Isle of Man this year. The best I can do is enjoy it via other people's video. 

Today, we get a look at this years stream festival. All the GGR chuffers are on parade and I'm pleased to see the locals supported the event as most of the trains look nicely full.  

Groudle is tricky for drone filming, you can's really get past Lime Kiln Halt thanks to the tree cover, but the footage does show the coastal and of the line to good advantage. 

Update: It seems the video is borked. Not sure why.

I bought a bit of Sea Lion!

Regular readers will know that I'm a big fan of the Groudle Glen Railway. My favourite steam locomotive in the world is Sea Lion, the lines first loco, still going strong over 100 years later.

Well, we say still going strong, but at the time of writing, she's undergoing a serious restoration after some boiler problems. While being worked on, it was found that her tanks, put on in 1986 during the first major restoration by BNFL apprentices, were too far gone. A new set has been fabricated, along with a new cab back and loads of other bits.

What to do with the old parts? Rather than keep them kicking around the shed, the Groudle decided to put them on eBay.

Where I saw them.

Now, this provoked a terrible dilemma. Thanks to a tax refund that I still don't understand but HMRC assure me is correct, I could comfortably afford to buy them. You couldn't flog me bits from Flying Scotsman, but Sea Lion, oh boy, I wanted these.

But what on earth would I do with them? I've got enough stuff in store. There was also the issue of picking them up. The auction specified collection and the GGR isn't easy to get to by road. I could have spent more money hiring a van (they are too large for a car apparently) and ferry fares than buying the metalwork! Just so I could own something, it didn't seem right.

The solution came via the very helpful Mike Buttell and the Isle of Man Heritage Volunteers - Steam Railway group. I met and interviewed Mike when over a couple of months ago so dropped him a line to see if there would be a chance of adding them to the displays in Port Erin steam museum.

It turns out there was. Not only that, the railway were happy to collect. All I had to do was win the auction - which I had taken the precaution of checking was genuine. A bit of late night nervous bidding and I won!

A couple of weeks ago, the cab back and tank (I'm assuming by the way that the other tank is staying on the GGR) were loaded onto a wagon and trundled to the road access point halfway along the line. From there, they were taken to the museum to be seen for the first time at the last "Night at the Museum" event.

In due course, they will form a proper display in time for next years season. Technically, they are on loan - if the museum decides they don't want them, I'll hire that van and take them away. Placing an exhibit on long-term loan to a museum has always been an ambition anyway, so that's another ticked off.

Thanks to Mike and museum guys for doing all the hard work. I'm looking forward to heading to Manx land next year to see what I bought and am so pleased to have been able to do my little bit to make this happen.

Holiday Pics: Steamplex

How about this for a model engineering project?

Take an old Simplex diesel, strip off the internal combustion bits and add some steam ones on top. Result: the world's first SteamPlex!

It's a fun little engine. Not desperately practical as far as I can tell being powerful but not as easy to use as a more conventional engine. Listening to it thrashing away at the head of a train, it happily coped with a heavy load with only a hint of help from electric Polar Bear.

As I understand it, the single cylinder steam engine runs at one speed and the gearing left over from the original diesel handles the speed control. Whatever, this is a very entertaining loco to watch. Brilliant fun.

16mm scale Groudle Glen Coach

Job done! A very enjoyable build of this 16mm scale, laser-cut wood kit.

It's not perfect of course, what kit is? Picky Phil would point out the the underframe truss detail should be set back from the steps. The bogies needed detail on the side. The non-door side of the body is missing a vertical spar at the guards end. The GGR half-lasered lettering is nice but unprototypical. And stupid people can fit the seats upside down.

That said, it is fun to do, easy to assemble, well designed and most importantly looks good. And I will definitely be ordering another (and a Sea Lion to pull them), which probably tells you all you need to know. A rake of these wending it's way through the garden would look fantastic.

Yatton Model Engineering

Magna Couplings

We all love a gadget at Christmas so how about these ?

Called Magna Couplings, they are rare-earth magnets on laser-cut swivels. Plenty strong enough to connect coaches, even 16mm scale ones, yet the connection can be broken by pulling the vehicles away from each other by hand.

I think this is really clever. Obviously if the plan is to shunt stock then it's less so but then how many people shunt on a garden railway?

I suspect this could be adapted for 4mm scale carriage use. The smallest of these magnets are about 2mm in diameter so the grab would be strong enough but not too strong. Under working corridor connections though, they would be a lot easier to deal with then hooks and loops.

Roof covering

Bigger scales demand more effort in the surface finishes. I could have just painted the Groudle coach roof but it would still look like painted wood, or at best paint on a smooth surface.

The real things are covered with something (not sure what to be honest) that has a bit of texture. I fancied that the best material to replicate this would be tissue paper - proper stuff not toilet. Partly 'cos this should work but mostly due to a roll being to hand for Christmas prezzie wrapping.

Recent experience trying to cover a model barge hatch cover lead me to eshew the traditional PVA in preference for a can of Photomount spray glue. If not spread very thinly and perfectly, PVA can make the tissue crinkle badly. To be honest, Pritt Stick glue would be better if there is no spray glue available.

A waft of sticky on the roof quickly followed by application of the tissue and lots of smoothing and it looked good. The paper was oversize but easily cut down to fit. Far simpler than trying to fit a perfectly cut bit of paper and it's not going to like being slid around to fit.

Final job, a coat of Humbrol 66 which you see during painting, hence the sheen. I promise you, it's dried nice and matt.

Cast bogie sides

The best laid plans etc. etc.

So, there I am with 4 cast bogies side for the Groudle coach. The look OK - not perfect but good enough for the job. The spring worked pretty well so I'll use that trick in the future.

What I hadn't checked was the clearance for the bogie swing behind the steps. There is 50% of S*d all. I could fit the overlays but it would be at the expense of building a coach only capable to travelling in a straight line.

Half an hour later, I had a coarse file full of resin, a workbench covered in the stuff and a pair of very, very thinly backed sideframes. These were better but I still ended up filing the face of the axleboxes as well, which pained me to do but it was the only option.

On the side which doesn't have steps, I just flattened the back of the castings and stuck them in place.

A quick coat of black paint, some leather coloured axlebox faces (No, I don't know why but that's the colour they look in the photo) and the job was done.

Oh, and to top it all, before I started I lost one of the castings just long enough to conclude that I better make another, mix and pour the resin then find the thing before the casting had set.

Groudle bogies

While I really like the wooden Groudle Glen coach kit, there is an obvious deficiency, the bogie sideframes are, well, basic.

If you are running the model in the garden, you might not care much about this. Paint them black and it's likely that no-one will notice the absence of detail or those Triang style open axleboxes. Me, I want a bit more down there.

Not to worry, all I have to do is find a photo, make a simple master and then cast a set in resin.

Except that I struggled to find a clear picture. The one above is the best I could do. It's so old the original is a 35mm film shot. When you have to pay for each photo, the temptation to snap away under rolling stock isn't strong enough obviously. Nowadays, I'm sure I'd have dozens to chose from. Mind you, a post on the Isle of Man forum didn't get me anywhere so maybe there is a gap in the market for a book of close-up pictures of bogies.

Maybe I could work under the pen-name "Fungus the Bogieman"

Anyway, I did the best I could with the limited information. This isn't a finescale model, I just wanted something better than I had. Result, a simple mock-up in plastic. The real spring is squashed in to the middle box and then pushed into place with a soldering iron to get it level with the face of the unit. Around it I poured superglue to avoid any undercuts.

Sealing and painting

As well as doing it's best to be the wrong shape (as mentioned yesterday), wood has another sneaky trick up its trunk.

Paint it without preperation and the surface turns as hairy as a 70's film stars chest. This is fine if you are building a miniature Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit, but a bit hopeless for anyone contemplating a coach from the Groudle Glen Railway.

So, step one in painting is to seal the wood. This simply involves giving it a coat of "Sanding sealer" - the name being a bit of a clue to its purpose. According to the tin, it's also a paint for the perfectionist which means I've got it under flase pretenses.

Anyway, in the can is a mix of ceulllose dope and talculm powder. This makes for an interesting smell best experienced in a well-ventilated area. Once painted on bare wood, the dope seeps into the surface and the talc acts as a filler. Given a few minutes drying time, the surface hardens and can be sanded perfectly smooth. Used on blasa, the effect is quite amazing. A couple more coats and a glass-like finish can be obtained.

Since I'm modelling a wooden vehicle, a single coat followed by a light sand was sufficient.

The Groudle bogie coaches are maroon but not (as far as I know) a standard one. Despite this, I reckoned that they were about the same colour as a Hornby ex-GWR railcar in BR blood & custard livery. I know that Humbrols acrylic crimson is a perfect match for this and more importantly, I had half a pot handy. Thinned with car windscreen wash, I sprayed this over the coach body.

Around 3 coats later, I think the result is looking good. Crimson is a colour that needs a coat of varnish to come alive but that will have to wait until I've done the black bits and cream roof interior.

You can't have too many clamps

Most modelmakers own a few clamps. Those cheapo plastic ones sold in pound stores and every cheap tool stall at an exhibition are popular. More traditional types will prefer the Bulldog clip, preferably in a size that once gripped memos on a civil servants desk and painted black, trendier types opting for smaller colourful versions.

Me, I've got the lot and sometimes I need them all.

You see, when clamping bits of wood together you often have to fight the material. When I usually want it to form a curve, it wishes to stay a flat plank. Except when it wants to warp but that's usually the point I wish it to remain flat. Stupid stuff.

Anyway, the photo illustrates a typical situation. Bending the roof over the formers on the Groudle coach involved me working along clamping the two bits together. During the process, I grabbed clamps as I worked and at no point did I wish to run out.

Today's lesson therefore: when you see clamps, clips or anything else that grips two parts of a model together, buy them and keep them to hand near the workbench. If you don't, one day you'll be wishing you had.

GGR coach body assembly

The benefits of accurate laser-cutting are apparent when assembling the body. The seats slot into the door-free side (The GGR bogie coaches have doors on on side only), this is then slotted into the floor and finally the open side fits to this. All parts come together with no fiddling, trimming or any other fettling. A bit of PVA glue and all is well.

Except. I put the seats in upside down. Consistently upside down. That's why the end seats are higher than the rest. How I managed this, I don't know.

There's nothing I can do about it now. The glue has dried so dis-assembly would destroy the parts. I'll just have to live with it. How I deal with putting passengers in, I'm not sure at the moment. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

GGR Coach seats.

Most of the Groudle coach is seating. This is released from the fret with a sharp knife cutting through the nibs holding the parts in place. I had to go through both sides for a neat cut. A little tidying up with sandpaper finished the job.

One thing I do notice, is just how filthy the sandpaper gets working in the laser-singed edge of the woodwork. Great black lines appear on the grit almost instantly.

Assembly is simple enough - all the parts slot together and are fixed with a little PVA glue. Although the bits look pretty basic, I wouldn't fancy cutting the curved tops for the ends out manually.

GCR coach bogies

Construction of the Groudle coach kicks off with the bogies. These are simple enough components - just remove the parts from the sheet (I suppose "fret" is still appropriate even though it's laser cut) , insert the bearings and glue together with PVA.

The nylon bearings are friction fitted although I ran some superglue around them just to be on the safe side. Being a tight fit in the holes, they need a good firm shove. I used parallel jaw pliers as normal ones would tend to impart a wonky angle. A small vice would have worked just as well.

The wheels & axles must be trapped as part of construction which at least means they won't fall out!

One point - the wheel sets are uninsulated so you can't run them with 2-rail electric stock or there will be an almighty band when the power goes on. Steam and battery electric will be fine though.

Detail on the sideframes is minimal. I'll have to find a decent photo and make something up in plastic I think. Although they aren't that visible under the coach, I'll know. Needless to say, all my photos are unclear in this area.