More Narrow Gauge – Slate Wagons

Most of the famous ‘Little Trains of North Wales’ were built for quarry work – particularly slate.
So, as a resident of North Wales I have become quite interested in them and have a preference for 3D printing this kind of rolling stock. I have finally got round to finishing and painting them – it’s has been a long time since I did any kind if model painting, Airfix as a teenager, so I have a lot to learn/relearn. Most of the items are in ‘OO9’ scale – which is effectively OO scale on 9mm track. But I have also printed and decorated a few items on O16 which is ‘O’ scale (7mm/ft) using OO/HO track.

A rake of OO9 slate wagons with simulated loads.

And are some accompanying passenger coaches. Not bad for a first attempt – need to do a better job of fitting the roofs in future.

And here are the few O16 wagons I have made. One of the joys of 3D printing is that you and up and downsize models.. Hence the resemblance to the OO9 ones:

More 3D Printing at Burton – and finally some scenery.

The 3D printer had finally been earning it’s keep and has been printing boats and other scenic items for Burton Phoenix.
….Then I just had to learn to paint them…



Full details can be found in ‘Work In Progress’ HERE

The geeky side of 3D Printing has been continuing for ‘N’ gauge. This is my first hand ‘crafted’ item from CAD to item.
… New ‘BackToBack’ gauges for ‘N’.

Finally finished the Burton Phoenix ‘scenic corner’

Almost 2 years after it was started the Burton Phoenix corner addon is ‘complete’.

All this is really thanks to the 3D printer. I have ‘printed’ the boats including oars etc, jetty and the tents.

After giving the canal boats an initial paint I discovered that you can get laser/inkjet printed water slide transfers. So here they are on the Narrow Boats ‘Chez Câmilla’ and ‘KingFisher’. These allow for far more detail than my current painting skills allow for.

I have also undertaken an improvement to the scenic look scenery. It has all all been ‘greened’ up – so everything looks green and pleasant… rather than a sun scorched desert

….. for a contrast you just have to see the previous post…. (Or Here… )

3D Boats at Burton Phoenix

Finally, after a number of months since it’s arrival, I have completed the original 3D Printer project for Burton Phoenix.

This ‘project’ came about because I could not find suitable Canal Boats and small rowing boats etc for the layout. This was not helped by the tightness of the bend on the river, plus no Model Railway shows to visit where I have tended to find these kind of things.. This was the final push I needed in getting me to try put 3D printing for model railways.

So I managed to find a number of suitable 3D models and printed my own. It has taken quite a while to get the best out of the 3D printer especially for the smaller items (oars and sawhorse stands etc).
Now I feel comfortable with what I could 3D print reliably and accurately, it is now time to tackle the whole process of finishing and painting the 3D prints….

The last time I did painting like this was with Airfix models and that was too many decades ago..

… I have a long way to go but am pleased with my first results.

So.. I have added a small boat jetty to the ‘River corner’ of Burton Phoenix – I will find some people to put into the boats to give it a bit of life. I am also going to try using printable water slide transfers on the Canal boats to make them look more realistic…

For some context the boats started out like this ….. all in shiny white PLA plastic….


Now to work out what to do this side of the river. .. My current thoughts are maybe a campsite?
.. And maybe make things a bit greener!!

Narrow Gauge at Burton

A good friend of mine has also moved up to North Wales, and their house sits on the path of an old Quarry mining railway.

So for a bit of fun I have been experimenting with printing 3D models Narrow Gauge rolling stock.

From the amazing resource ‘ThingIverse.com’ I have downloaded and printed wagon designs from a similar Quarry railway at Dinorwig, just down the road in Snowdonia. The smaller models (centre and top left) are in OO9 – ‘OO’ narrow gauge on 9mm track. The larger models are O-16.5 – ‘O’ narrow gauge on HO/OO track.

All this has been a lot of fun and has helped me get to grips with 3D printing and to learn how to get the best out it.
.. However it has been a distraction to the work on the Burton Crumpnold layouts, so expect ‘normality’ to reappear in future updates.

.. The first of these tasks is to get my painting skills up to speed and paint the boats I have already 3D printed – plus a few more so I can complete the ‘river’ scenery on Burton Phoenix.

3D Printing at Burton Crumpnold

The reason for the lack of updates for the last couple of months is that I have been learning the joys of 3D Printing.
I reasoned that a lot of the ‘scenic’ things I like to add to a layout I could make myself..
.. I went for the Ender3 V2 which only cost £230 ($310) with 2kg of plastic filament..
As is usual with 3D Printers the first prints were to help prove everything was set up OK, plus a few addon’s for the printer to help it run better.

So far I have been limiting myself to ‘OO’ gauge..
… Here are some of the first ‘Useful’ items I have made so far.

.. As yet unpainted – I have been looking for some boats to add to Burton Phoenix’s scenic corner for ages to it was great to start here.. One thing about 3D printing – it’s not fast – the canal boat tool over 4 hours to print. I have still some way to go to be confident about the print quality.. So it may be a while before I’m properly happy with the results.

I have also been able to ‘print’ an ‘OO’ gauge Ballast spreader, a couple of Back to Back gauges, and some ‘TrackSetta’ style Curve Templates – most of which were on the ‘shopping list’. These ‘simple’ and quite large prints have ‘fairly’ easy to do.
….So I am already starting to get a return on the 3D Printer.

And just because I could …. Some door plaques for me and the misses

Next thing is to relearn the art of painting….

Hornby Peckett – Our Birthday Present

January is birthday time for me and Camilla – so we decided to buy one the Hornby Centenary Peckett locomotives.
What made it extra special for us was the inclusion of the replica ‘Peckett & Sons of Bristol’ makers plate.
My wonderful misses Camilla, as well as being a railway enthusiast herself, is a West Country Lass.
…The Peckett does also look rather special in it’s limited edition packaging

Looking forward to giving it it’s first run..

Beatles Eurostar – First Run

It took nearly a month but the Beatles Yellow Submarine Eurostar has had it’s first live run.
.. As the train is quite long and Burton Phoenix, the current OO gauge layout is end to end, it was a case of using the ‘deploying the train set on lounge rug’ approach.


The Livery is quite excellent, and different on both sides as can be seen here:

2021 at Stowey Green

Now all the track is laid to the rolling stock’s satisfaction this is the current state of Stowey Green.

I have built a scenic ‘back board’ and have scenic art work to add to it.

Now it’s time to add the station access roadway in – and give the landscape a bit of colour.

More Stowey Green Track Issues

I noticed that some of my longer wheelbase locomotives were struggling at one end of the upper board..
Caused by the classic flexible track ‘dog leg’ effect where the curve is to tight..

So it was back out with my steamer to unballast the offending track..

As before I dealt with the problem by using a spare piece of peco set-track.
.. I also decided not to cut the track between the boards as it give a smother run for the locos.

I will probably ballast the track on the upper board (right side) but leave the left clear so I just unhook at the fishplates should I need to remove the upper board for any reason.