Saltford Models Lewin plateway loco and waggon

An unexpected eBay win led to one of Brian Clarke's more unusual offerings landing on my doorstep. Its an unpowered model of a plateway loco complete with a matching waggon and a piece of black plasticard with cast whitemetal plateway track to display them on. Both loco and waggon came built and finished in grey primer;

The loco is based on 'Tiny', a Lewin loco which ran on the Middlebere Tramway, which carried clay near Corfe Castle, in Dorset. The Middlebere Tramway started out as a plateway but was converted to edge rail before steam power was introduced. Lewin were based in nearby Poole and made a few small industrial locos as well as portable boilers and other steam machinery.

The model however differs from Tiny in many respects, not least that Tiny never ran on plateway track, having been fitted with flanged wheels from new. Also the model has a haycock firebox, a different style of chimney, and a lift up smokebox door.

However, none of that matters to me. Like many of Brian's models the loco has a charm all of its own.

One possible reason for the haycock firebox could be to make room for a vertically mounted motor. The kit was supplied either powered or static, and the position and size of the firebox would I think be in keeping with a tiny Sagami motor driving the back axle (*see note below). That however is just conjecture on my part, without seeing a powered example I cannot be certain. Later on Saltford listed a 009 Lewin, using the same main body castings but with a cab and of course a different chassis. The cab hid a Mabuchi motor, driving the rear axle in typical Saltford fashion.

The waggon looks to be a generic plateway type, and like the loco is cast whitemetal, but with etched brass wheels.

Both chassis members are insulated from each other and mounted on a plasticard floor, so the waggon could be hauled by a powered loco.

The track is made up from cast whitemetal blocks. For a working model Brian also sold etched brass track. He also produced a small booklet called 'An Introduction to Plateway Modelling', a fascinating read.

All of this came in the original box as sent by Brian, complete with notes in his uniquely humourous style;

Many years ago I scratchbuilt a pair of waggons, based on a drawing in Brian's book, but like so many things they never got finished. Wheels were to be N scale whitemetal wooden cart wheels. Perhaps its time they came out of storage for painting and finishing. I do have a small bag of plateway rail sections as well.

Incidentely, Ambis make etched nickel silver plateway track (and fishbelly rail).

Information on 'Tiny' can be found in 'Stephen Lewin and the Poole Foundry', Russell Wear and Eric Lees, long out of print, and the more recent 'Fayle's Tramways' by Chris Legg published by the excellent Twelveheads Press.

Paul.

Addendum: Funny thing memory. I seemed to remember one of these being described in the Goods Arrival pages of 'Model Railways' magazine, and a quick look through my copies in the loft finds said description in the October 1983 issue. A single photo and a few words obviously made an impression on my young mind, although it was some years later that I built my first Saltford kit (a Simplex, still extant but rebuilt with a better motor and improved drive). The reviewer managed to build the waggon with its sides upside down...

*I've now found out that the motor was a larger can motor driving the front axle.

Grounded van bodies 16.

Another bike ride, another body spotted. Well, two bodies in fact, and pretty well disguised. In fact I missed them the first time I passed, but today I noted the tell tale roof profile and vent of one body, and then spotted the second when I got nearer.

These two form part of a small cluster of sheds on the edge of a field close to Blackwell in the Peak District, next to an old quarry now used as a landfill site (SK122712).

Note the corrugated iron, which is the reason that I didn't spot them the first time.
To get a look at the other side meant climbing over a gate;

Hinge detail;

And finally;

Once a Ford I reckon.

Paul.

Standing on a bridge.

Out on the bike this afternoon, on a route that took me over the Buxton to Tunstead line. The bridge in question is located south of Buxton, close to the A6, on a byway that climbs from the A6 to King Sterndale. I thought that this spot would be a good place to photograph trains, and today I stopped for a moment, and as luck would have it I heard an engine approach;

This turned out to be Freightliner liveried 66623 with a loaded stone train;

As it passed under I swapped sides;

A view that you don't normally see;

Note the buffer stop.

Paul.