by G H WoodThis page is to record the events on the line during the year. As far as running has been concerned, it has been a little quieter than the previous year, due in no small part to the appalling weather during the "summer".
However, the workshops have been busy, with new carriages and wagons emerging, the carriage fleet has been repainted into a new livery and, of course, a new locomotive was added to the roster.
So, here we go, month by month
January
The year starts with the construction of a pair of I.P.Engineering K vans
February
The Strict "No Blue Engines" rule is relaxed to allow NHN's Hibernia to navigate the line. Here it is pictured recreating one of the great railway journeys of the world
the Port Erin to Port St. Mary Shuttle!
March
It's always a pleasure to say "Thanks" to good pals. On completion of one IOM E Van, I enjoyed building it so much that a small production line was set up to build another two. NHN got one, John (Trackshack) Boyes the other. Here are the three together before they were split up. If these were the real vehicles, the photo could not have been taken after 1911
April
The paint shops were busy this month as the entire carriage fleet was re-liveried. This made a huge difference to the Accucraft "Pairs" coach, which remains the only ready to run item of rolling stock on the line
May
An article in Garden Rail inspired the purchase and construction of the Modeltown Steam wagon. The IOM Highway Board owned a couple of wagons similar to this
June
High spot of the year, the beautiful Accucraft steam r/c "Peveril", no chance of the junior hacksaw going anywhere near this, the few alterations made were very subtle
July
Visitors to the line were few and far between, again due to the weather, but the rain stopped long enough for Bradypus (Nick) to amaze me with his multi servo'd Leader, pictured below.
Almost the entire rolling stock budget was spent on this fabulous DJB Engineering kit of one of a pair of "Small F" half brakes. Instructions for construction were followed to the letter, probably a personal "first"
August
Sacrilege for a die hard railway man, I fancied a Road Services Bus, but didn't fancy paying out for one of those lovely Sunstar models just to repaint it. Could I scratchbuild a Leyland PD2?
September
Ever since the relocation of the line, the top of the garden path had been crossed by a bridge knocked up from a few bits of decking plank, something more in keeping was called for. A bridge very similar to this used to cross the Sulby river a couple of miles out from Ramsey on the old Northern line. The garden hose was turned on just prior to the photo being taken to help with the illusion
September also saw the completion of a slightly smaller bridge, the footbridge over the Ballaglashen Pass, again based on a North line structure, said to have been personally constructed by the then manager of the Manx Northern Railway himself, John Cameron
October
A bigger, younger sister to the DJB half brake, and at a fraction of the cost, and thanks to one of the members of our IOM15milgroup. The coach is laser cut wood, don't look too closely at the bogies, if you do you might find they are from a Bachmann North Pole Express carriage bought on ebay for a song
November
A brace of Fish Wagons emerged from the works, all of those bolt heads are B&Q's smallest panel pin heads, you have to be resourceful to live on the IOM at times
December