Hello again!

It's been a while since i did one of these, and i really enjoyed being able to shed some light on what's happening behind the scenes of the ZZR with you all. So here it goes!

Welcome to Inside the works, a blog post that talks about the goings on around the railway and the team behind it.

 

Ahndang Old Slate Works & Lore..

So, a few weeks back i posted on social media we would be releasing the lore of the ZZR that week, and wouldn't you know it... we didn't, instead i continued work on the Land Rover Project (more on that later) and kinda side lined it, but good news, Eesoov took up the torch, and has been working hard on it, and hopefully soon you will be seeing a History tab on this website SOON™!

Of course, you maybe asking, what brought on this want to publish the ZZR Lore? i am glad you asked! We now have the final piece of the ZZR lore puzzle, the industry that it once served, ALL preserved narrow gauge railways had an industry that it once served, Ffestiniog had Slate, Talyllyn had Slate, Leighton Buzzard had Sand and Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway was built to link farming communities with the market town of Welshpool, just to name a few examples, and for a long time the ZZR never really stated what it used to do, nor any real sign of a industry along the line. I am happy to introduce you all to Ahndang Old Slate Works, a joint project between Eesoov and myself.

Eesoov moved in orignally wanting to have a small siding and station building beside her favourite station at Ahndang, the project evolved to what you see there now, while its still not finished, i wanted to share a couple of working progress pictures!

I won't delve in to the history here, as that would be spoilers for the lore/history page!

 

Guards Van Number 6 Progress

As i mentioned at the start of this year, i have 3 mega projects i wanna accomplish this year, this new guards van is one of them, and i gotta admit, i am super pleased how she is coming out, the goal of this rebuild is to be more accurate to her RL counterpart with some updates to her functionality, we are hoping to see her ready to run for the ZZR 9th Anny Gala (15th to 22nd of April 2024) but we will see, she is very much a big project, Thankfully the fine people at the Talyllyn was very kind to provide some internal pictures to aid us in our work, so a massive thank you to them.

you also maybe curious why this carriage has a name, this is in honour of the late Nimoui Chenier who sadly passed in 2022, her passing being a great loss to the SL Narrow Gauge community.

 

Personal Project!

And finally, i usually reveal a personal project i have been working on, i give to you my first ever delve in to road vehicles, a Land Rover Series 1, while it isn't totally accurate due to reasons i am about to mention, i couldn't be more pleased with it, reasoning behind its not totally accurate is i wanted it to drive really nicely, and in my personal opinion, NTBI scripting is the best in SL for driving, so after talking with Owen Lusch and making sure he was ok with me taking a Lusch Motors Scout and cutting off most of it and then turning it in to a whole another car (He was by the way, turns out is a fellow classic land rover lover!) i began in January, believing it would be a quick project taking only couple weeks and how wrong i was! I finished majoirty of the meshes at the start of this month, and currently it is on hold as we await a canvas roof and support structure to be made.

 

I will just add, i do not plan to sell this, while you may see some out and about, these are gifts to friends who are fellow Land Rover lovers.

 

Wrapping Up.

So this year be off to a good start, projects that i have wanted to do for the last few years are finally happening, and of course i have lightened my work load by having amazing support, my current plan for the 3 mega projects is to do one per season, Guards van spring, Firebox update in the Summer, and the new steam locomotive Illios done in the autumn. I don't know if i will be able to do it, but we can hope.

Hopefully you are all having a wonderful start to 2024, and the rest of the year treats you well.

Zen.