Beginning

After several false starts I have begun to build a P4 layout (4mm/foot scale, 18.85mm gauge). Neston Parkgate is a possible history railway development. Neston Parkgate is on the south side of the Wirral, where the Birkenhead Joint Line (London & North Western Railway/Great Western Railway) meets the Liverpool and North Wales Line (Great Central Railway/Wrexham Mold & Connah’s Quay Railway/Wirral Railway). The layout is set during the period 1906-1908. In a fit of enthusiasm I entered the project into the Scalefour/DEMU challege. The chances of finishing it within scheduled time limits are of course minimal. The stock is kit or scratch built. This is one of the WMCQR wagons under construction. Mostly plasticard and brass. Suspension by Bill Bedford, wheels by Alan Gibson, strapping etc by Mainly Trains, couplings by Slaters. The wagon is a Buckley Traders’ wagon, built to carry tramway trucks loaded with bricks to ships on the Dee. The trucks travelled all the way to the customer, so this is a container wagon originating from the end of the 19th century.