Back on track.

Well, it has been a long time since the last post to this blog, 14 months to be exact. That’s not to say I haven’t forgotten about it. I’ll never forget about the potato railways of my home county. But as John Lennon once wrote. Life is what happens when you’re making other plans, and so it was with me.
In the intervening time, I’ve built, and been operating a successful 00 scale layout exploiting my East Lincolnshire Light Railway concept, a couple of times locally here in Minnesota. An On30 layout using the Bachmann trains I have has been less successful, and currently lies in pieces.
A couple of weeks ago I was exhibiting said 00 scale layout at the Worlds Greatest Hobby show when it came to St. Paul, MN. During an idle moment at the show I was looking at the Bachmann display and immediately became enamored of the Baldwin Trench loco they were displaying. I showed it to my wife who asked if I wanted it for my birthday (which is less than a week away as I write this). I was then ordered to go away, and she later returned bearing a carrier bag with the Bachmann logo on it.
The bag may yet turn out to contain a Thomas range "Henrietta" to run behind my Toby the tram engine. It could even be a Rheneas or Skarloey. But I think it’s more than likely to be the Class 10 tank engine in black as shown above.
So how does this American narrow gauge locomotive fit into my plans for a potato farm railway model? Allow me to explain.
Much of the track, locomotives and rolling stock for the agricultural railways of Lincolnshire came from the War Department Light Railways at the cessation of hostilities of World War 1. There were several Baldwin class 10 locomotives that found their way on to three railway systems in the UK. The Snailbeach District Railways, The Ashover Light Railway and the Penrhyn Quarry Railway in North Wales. The Penrhyn locomotives were 2-6-2T's as depicted in this model. The other lines inn the UK had the 4-6-0T WDLR variant.
I have to admit that when I saw the model, my mind was filled with ideas of a Snailbeach District Railway model. But once the dust had settled, I came back to the idea of using it on the Potato Farm Railway project.
There were next to no steam locomotives working on the Lincolnshire agricultural lines. There was, of course, the delightful LIFU rail tractor mentioned in a previous post. There was also one other. A Fowler 0-6-0T built for the Nocton Estates Light Railway. But it had a short life there as at 11 tons in weight it would very easily spread the rails on the soft ground and it ended up being sold to the Burnhope Reservoir construction railway. Looking at the photos you could even make a case for there being a passing resemblance between the two.

The locomotive built by Fowler for the Nocton Estates Light Railway.

Still, a steam locomotive running on a potato railway is a good enough starting point for me.
Next we come to the subject of track gauge. This is a sticking point of mine. The Bachmann model is American O scale. On30. A model of a 2'6" gauge prototype. The Potato Railways were two foot gauge. Now, I'm not an exact scale purist when it comes to track, (perhaps I'd like to be), but as long as the track gauge is near to what it should be that's fine by me. The two foot six model locomotive compared to the two foot gauge prototype is not good enough for me. It's a 25% inaccuracy. So we need to go back to the drawing board.
The "drawing board" in this case being Locomotion papers number 163. The Lincolnshire Potato Railways by Stewart E Squires. The Potato Railway bible. In it there is discussion of the mysterious "Bishopthorpe wagon". This is the wagon that will save the day for me.
Bishopthorpe Farm, near Tetney had almost three miles of horse worked rail system. It was thought to be 2' gauge. But. Found at the farm among a pile of scrap, was a wagon that was two foot six inch gauge! Was the line here really two foot six inch gauge, or had the wagon been purchased cheaply to be regauged? We will never know. But if we assume there were 2' 6" gauge agricultural railways in Lincolnshire it opens up a whole new avenue for the model.
This leaves me faced with an unusual modelling situation. I have a Locomotive suitable for a Lincolnshire potato farm railway, some V skips that could easily be converted to flat wagons suitable for a potato farm railway. Yet all these items for a model of an English agricultural railway are in American O scale. Unusual I'm sure you'll agree. But it makes sense. I can go into my local hobby shop and get all manner of items in US O scale. But not English O scale.
So there you have it, It's going to be a model of an English agricultural railway in American O scale.
Now, if I can't get my employers emergency work from home coronavirus plans to work I may be faced with some free time...