Further Adventures At Bluebell

Further Adventures at Bluebell

The front half of the shed at Sheffield park was cleared out and turned into a bar for this event, so I didn’t get to see quite all of the engines. However, there were still a few in the back half, the main, sort of, museum bit of the shed.

Obviously Stepney and Captain Baxter were in there, as were the Wainwright C Class, the standard 4 75027, and a cute little LMS 0-6-0 that I didn’t photograph.

I always appreciate seeing a bit of steam pop up on the ol' feed.

A drawing of a steam powered machine at a fair. This was done in generally miserable weather, so I didn’t spend a while doing it. I stopped as fat, globulous drops of water began falling from the sky.

Inktober day twelve. I admit I’m late with posting my art: I apologise.

@be-gentle-with-littluns-2

@wispo-sky

Talyllyn Railway No. 1 "Talyllyn"

Fletcher Jennings, 1864

I didn't expect to see Talyllyn that day, so it was a very pleasant surprise that, as my family and I relaxed at Abergynolwyn, she suddenly arrived with a few of the bogie coaches in tow. And, as you can see, she is absolutely resplendent in a livery inspired by the old GER.

Monsieur Estrade lives in my walls

Who's Estrade? I'm glad you asked! He was an engineer in the late 19th century who came up with and successfully built a concept for an 0-6-0 with 8 foot high driving wheels. At the time it was built, it was very brave and controversial, but it had several advantages. For one thing, all of its weight was on the driving wheels, and this would have allowed it to pull heavier trains at the same pace as Cramptons and other singles which were popular in those days. Unfortunately, the boiler was, according to one report, too small to keep up with demand, a consequence of the boiler being sandwiched between the driving wheels.

Anyway, besides drawing existing locomotives and engines, I like to make speculative ones of my own. Keep in mind, everything I do is based on existing practice.

So, what have I drawn here? Well, it is, for all intent's and purposes, a copy of Mr. Estrade's high speed locomotive, but with a twist. This machine runs on 7 foot gauge track, which allows the boiler to be larger, thus fixing any steaming troubles the real engine had.

I have made a TON of 7 foot gauge locomotives over the past year, and I've been slowly building a universe for them to live in. It's a huge passion project of mine, so I'm excited to start sharing it with the public.

Fort Taylor, Key West

This was another place I visited while in Key West with my family. It was a magnificent old fort. Much of it was buried over the years thanks to various expansion projects, and several old cannons were used as rebar!

But, much of it has been dug out and sympathetically restored, revealing the beautiful brickwork and former gun ports. As you can see, they've got several of the old cannons and guns on display!

The fort was in use from the mid-19th century, right up until after WWII. Now that's some history for you!

I spent long periods of time sitting on the top deck beside the cylinders, just watching the valves work. Goodness, I love this engine.

Us guys who were running her like to think that the ghost of Edward Pollard, the old chief engineer, was very happy with what we were doing.