Gerald Grudgings
At Dolgellau model railway August bank holiday, sadly last hurrah for this superb 16.5 depiction of Dolgellau & Penmaenpool in the 1950s as room must be vacated. It is hoped to re-home it elsewhere.
Genesis 6 wheel coaches in LNWR livery were there to see, superb quality detail and finish, could not fault. Running – a disaster, even in 16.5! They would not hold the track for more than a very few feet at most. Closer examination. Although centre wheelset assembly has plenty of sideplay, there is No wiggle room at all otherwise; outer axles are in rigid w-irons integral with the main chassis. The wheel profile is near P4. As wheel faces are almost hard up to the inside of the axle boxes suspect that the axles may be non-standard length. From what I could see the only way to rectify is to cut out axleboxes and start over again using etched components, the really tight space makes it tricky though, for one I would not be willing to tackle it. The supplied arrangement may well be to scale but at an unrealistic cost to practicality.