I was having a nice bubble on with the new carriage until a few weeks ago, but the fizz had since lost some of it's sparkle in a familiar fashion!
Sadly, the little engine completely disgraced herself during an autumn visit of some old friends, by utterly refusing to move when in forward gear. With nothing appearing to be obviously untoward, despite a thorough check of all the contacts and connections, the problem remained unresolved.
It has become a family tradition to gather at my brother-in-law's flat in Cambridge on Boxing Day afternoons. As he is the long term resident caretaker of a private school, he has (with the principal's blessing) access to all the facilities. The capacious assembly hall is an ideal, safe and warm place to let our collection of youngsters run riot! The portable railway has also become a pretty much obligatory feature as well!
Last year we took the bright yellow "speeder", so I considered that it was high time the Horwich engine put in another appearance. However, in the run-up to Christmas, and with my mind somewhat elsewhere anyway, I had completely forgotten that she was still
unserviceable!
As my physical health has not been so good either lately, I regretfully announced that the railway would not be attending... but come the great morning I thought; "Oh what the heck... it is only once a year!"
That was the point when I recalled the reversing issue.
There was only one thing for it - and that was to replace the entire switch unit and re-wire it with a spare... if I could just find it! In the end - and with help from my otherwise mildly frazzled wife, a donor engine, (one of the original "toys") was located and retrieved from the loft. Imagine my horror when having partially dismantled both machines I then discovered that the replacement switch was wired differently... and I was unable to find enough new connectors to hook it all up?
Mr. O's car was being loaded up on the driveway by the time a triumphant bit of supreme bodgery at last brought the recalcitrant little engine into perfect submission!
I am damned glad it did go, as much fun was had by all:
Including some of the grownups!
The gauge may be awkwardly odd at 5 and 3/4 inches, but on occasions such as this, the lightweight plastic track is proving to be both superbly resilient, and gentle on expensive flooring. The sealed and generally leak proof bearings on the stock also ensure with confidence that no other nasty marks are left afterwards as well.
Later in the evening, Mr. G., (Glenn, occasionally of this parish) ruefully noted that I hadn't brought one of the coal wagons along, so there was no suitable conveyance available for one of our two youngest additions to the clan.
I then had an idea:
The combined seat top and cushion on the "speeder" driving truck is detachable, so by taking it off and lodging it on the deck under the frames, the vehicle would resemble one of those cradle type swings for infants?!
Perfick!
Young Master T.P. was evidently more than content to ride up and down the line for the remainder of the evening.
It was way past his bedtime before the little chap was eventually persuaded to disembark and allow an exhausted, but gratified track gang to start lifting the rails!
I'm not terribly sure what an H.S.E. would think of the rather exuberant - or perhaps just plain lazy wagon loading going on there?!
Anyway, future Railway staff recruitment seems to be proceeding nicely... although more hats will be required... in addition to the ones I also forgot to pack earlier!
Happy New Year to all and everyone!
Pete.
My dad is very interested in trams, trolleybuses and buses as well as railways (he's written various books on Hull's trams, trolleybuses and buses 
