Hello again, it’s been a couple of months since I last gave an update. It has been a busy time, with the post-Christmas modelling season in full swing. There was the Trent Valley Modelling Day at the beginning of February, followed by Narrow Gauge North in early March, followed closely by Howden Model Railway show this coming weekend, 29th & 30th March.

The Howden show will be something a little different for us. It’s a friendly, local show at Howden Secondary School, featuring layouts in a range of scales and gauges. Having focussed almost exclusively on specialist narrow gauge shows in recent times, this will give us the rare opportunity to show the developments that have taken place with the O gauge range of Coach Builder scratch aid kits. It will be particularly fitting to have the Hull & Barnsley stock on display as the line followed what is now the boundary of the school field. I will also be demonstrating some of the construction and painting techniques that I use with my kits. I was hoping to be releasing some of the Port Wynnstay O gauge models at this show, but continuing frustrations sourcing chassis components means that only the resin body components are currently available. I was aware at the time of taking over Port Wynnstay (PWM) that two of the previous suppliers of ‘traditional’ O gauge chassis components had ceased trading but felt confident that ‘Plan B’ would seamlessly solve the problem. As it transpired, Plan B resulted in a considerable let down and much time wasted. Plan C was equally fruitless and I am currently waiting in the hope that plan D comes to something. I don’t want to go into too much detail but progressing the PWM O gauge kits really now boils down to two things: Firstly, the kits will need some form of re-design/ update as far as chassis and running gear is concerned. Secondly, relying on several suppliers to support a kit range appears to be unworkable, especially as there are fewer and fewer of the ‘old school’ producers still in business, and those that remain seem unable or unwilling to take on extra orders. It would seem therefore that the best way forward is to be as self-sufficient as possible, but that will take some time and effort. For my part, producing the resin castings is relatively straightforward and I currently have body parts available for the GNoS van, the North British 6-wheel 15ton van and the Caledonian 6-wheel van. I hope to have ‘body kits’ for the remaining PWM O gauge vehicles available over the summer as that seems now to be the best short-term compromise.

The news concerning the Port Wynnstay Narrow gauge range, I’m pleased to say, is much brighter. I have a modest stock of curly spoked wheels on 24.5mm axles now thanks to Paul Martin of EDM, which means that the iconic Ffestiniog gunpowder van is now available, together with the FR end door van and 4-ton open wagon. The FR sliding door van is underway as is the Welsh Highland coal wagon kit. I have a good selection of quarryman’s coaches available and the bug-boxes are once again in production. Hopefully this is now a useful collection of PWM narrow gauge kits and the plan is to have them available through the web shop as soon as time and stock permits. Speaking of the web shop, regular customers may have noticed that stock levels have been a bit low recently and I have to admit that selling via the web shop in addition to selling on eBay and at shows has been something of a challenge through the busy Winter months. If you have been waiting for a product or kit, can I thank you for your patience and understanding. If an item is out of stock, it really helps me if customers could click on the back in stock notification request (orange button on the item details page). By doing that, I can see where the priorities are and direct my efforts accordingly.

If you are in the Yorkshire area and able to get to Howden this weekend, please do drop by and say hello.