Having been invited to join the Heyside group and also to use, any time I like, another very large O gauge lay out, in December of last year I had a major rethink on my planned loco purchase over the next two years.
I was going to need some larger/tender type loco's to pull long trains that could also be used on Shelby Wood Sidings in camo appearances to take on water.
Having set my heart on a Castle and in particular Hartlebury Castle, I went about persuading my joint share holder (bank account) Mrs PT that a single chimney looked best.
Thanks in a part to members of this forum, who voted and expressed their opinions on my 'Which Do You Prefer' thread, I will be collecting a single chimney Hartlebury Castle from the Bristol O Gauge Show tomorrow.
However there is a further twist to the story.
While deciding which chimney type to have, I spend a lot of time on Masterpiece Models website. This proved to be a fatal mistake and death blow to my 82xx 2-6-2T savings fund because a very nice lined black Grange caught my eye!
In fairness to me, I did resist for a week or so but in the end I cracked, so on Thursday I telephoned John Borkowski to ask him to bring 6819 Highnam Grange to Bristol for me and I transferred the required funds.
So all I have to do now is lots of over time, eat less take away food and get some more figure painting commissions to fund the purchase of my all time favourite loco type, an 82xx. John assures me that I have a couple of years in which do it.
My only problem is, I quite fancy a BR 9F 2-10-0. May be a second job in called for...…..
John
