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Whilst progress with my weathered mineral wagons is on-going I've also been busy trying my hand at weathering the WD 2-8-0 loco and a brakevan which will complete the train. The WD loco is a factory-weathered version which basically means it's received a quick spray of track colour along the chassis and lower body area before being distributed for sale. I want mine to be in keeping with the general condition of the wagons themselves; dirty, rusty and rather unkempt. So, I've started giving it washes of thinned enamel paint using a mixture of track colour and roof dirt and applied using a wide brush. I've lost count of the number of washes I've applied so far. I do have a small spray gun but it's not the weather for going outdoors and of course it's not something that can be used indoors - at least not in the living room in front of the fire. Anyway, this is what the loco looks like so far. Apologies for the photos but they've had to be taken indoors - starting with a couple of the loco itself Here's one showing the loco and brakevan.... .... followed by a couple of the brakevan, complete with rear lamps and instanter couplings And this last photo is just to show that I've added real coal to the tender, applied directly on top of the plastic coal load supplied and secured with PVA glue. There's more work to be done here but I've concentrated on trying to get rid of the plastic look and achieve something that looks more metallic - albeit of a rusted nature. There'll be lighter rust staining added to bring out some detail and there'll be coal overspill on the tender top once it's complete. It's future re-sale value has probably dropped significantly but I am much more satisfied with its appearance now and it is going to look the part at the head of the mineral rake for sure.

Spurred on by seeing the results of Roy's weathering attempts I have decided that I too would have a go at weathering my Bachmann mineral wagons. As you know, coal trains are my favourite type of train loads whether they be 5/7 plank wooden private owner wagons from pre-Nationalisation or the more modern HHA/HTA hoppers forming heavy block trains. However, there's nothing worse than seeing shiny new wagons behind your loco's but the prospect of weathering brand new wagons which perhaps cost you up to £20 each isn't something for the faint-hearted. But I've put it off long enough now and so following some of the advice in Roy's thread about weathered wagons, here's my own attempt at making Bachmann's 16t minerals look a little work stained and with the wagons available at the reasonable cost of £6-7 per wagon it's surely worth a try. As purchased the Bachmann 16 tonners are splendid little wagons that certainly capture the style of these long-lived wagons. Built by BR in their thousands there were still lots of them in daily use when I began my railway career in 1980 and indeed, it was a 16t mineral wagon that broke it's coupling and left me stranded in my brake van just outside Crofton one sunny Sunday whilst returning a ballast train to Healey Mills. Using enamel paints thinned slightly with white spirit I began by applying a light coat of track colour to the underframe using a soft bristled brush. I do have an airbrush available but decided that I would try my hand at using a brush to begin with. I did my best not to get too much paint onto the sides of the wagon but any overspill wouldn't really matter too much. This being my first ever attempt at weathering anything, I'm not too sure of the required consistency of the paint but at least the dilution prevents too much paint obliterating everything. Once the underframe was evenly covered, trying not to go overboard with it as more can always be added later, I turned my attention to the wagon sides. Again, a diluted mix of track colour was painted onto the sides of the wagon in an attempt to get paint into all the nooks and crannies and into all corners of the wagon where dirt would naturally accumulate. From the photograph it may appear that I've overdone it with the white spirit but the photo does make the paint mixture appear more transparent than it actually is. Once the applied paint had been left just a short time I began using a scrunched up piece of kitchen roll to dab away at the accumulated paint, gently working it towards the corners and recesses of the entire wagon. Far from being a chore, it's actually very therapeutic. All the while I kept remininding myself of the old adage that "less is more", forcing myself to keep on removing surplus paint in an attempt to get the effect that I desired. For areas such as the end door where there the mouldings leave less room to work with the kitchen roll I used cotton buds. The result was the photo below where my first attempt at a weathered wagon stands alongside an out-of-the-box Bachmann. I've not tackled the inside yet but I do have plans to add a real coal load similar to how Roy has added his. Obviously in a long rake of wagons you need a variety of weathered effects and this one is perhaps more weathered than it needs to be so some can be lighter and others can be more heavily weathered. I can perhaps also introduce a variety of colours as this one has been done with just a single 'track dirt' colour. Overall I think the effect is certainly an improvement on the shiny wagon it once was and I'm sure that by the time I have worked my way through the whole rake I should have gained a bit more experience. Bring 'em on! Finally, I have been considering adding 'instanter' couplings to the mineral wagon rake and removing the standard tension locks. I won't be doing any shunting and from what I have read elsewhere the 3-link instanter will be fine on my minimum 3ft radius curves so it's something I will be thinking about and longing to do.