The bad news is to do with my steam-powered locomotive. I took it to my friend’s house to have its boiler “hydraulic test”, which it failed spectacularly.  A hydraulic test is when you fill the boiler up with water, put it under pressure, and see if it leaks.  I had high hopes of this, after all it had run on compressed air.  My friend Warwick Allison clearly had high hopes also, but when we tried it, water leaked out all over the place – from the regulator fitting, from the front boiler plate, from the top of the backplate, possibly elsewhere.  “I think it’s a ‘boiler off’ job”, said Warwick’s son-in-law (Andrew, who is a boiler inspector).  When air leaks out, you cannot see it.  When water comes out, it is very obvious!

Clearly a fairly major setback, but I always knew this could be a major undertaking.

The good news is progress on a fourth G3 wagon.  This is a long flat truck, and model of the Midland Railway D336 single-plank wagon, the kit coming from Peter Korzilius.

As you can see, the basic construction is out of wood – “mahogany stripwood” (a little  ideologically unsound?) with a plywood floor.

Reproduction of the metal framework is in styrene, with little brass rivets to represent, well, rivets.

This is also a very satisfying wagon to make, and I like working in wood.

The other good news is that the man in Victoria who has offered to make the transfers for my coal wagon has finished them.  They were a bit difficult because of white lettering with green shading and a red cross design on a white shield, but the colourful nature of the wagon is its main attraction, so we will see if I can apply the transfers adequately once they have been posted to me.