Barle Valley 7/8ths" Scale - Part 1. A Harvey Watkins Hunslet

The Barle valley Light Railway is a superb 7/8th" scale railway created over the past 28 years by Chris Tilley. In this video we see the Harvey Watkins "Oolitic" Hunslet which he tells me is his imaginary view of what a conventional Hunslet saddle tank for 18" gauge might have looked like. It ran incredibly smoothly and barely noticed the heavy tippers which Chris built from "Outline" kits (and are no longer available). He also built the barrel wagon on an Outline chassis - and almost everything else you will see! Chris tells me that the line is based on an actual proposed 2' gauge line from Dulverton to Withypool on Exmoor with a branch to iron and copper mines in the area.The route was surveyed in 1877 but never built. You may hear some strange 'noises-off' courtesy of the local recycling truck collecting bottles! Oh yes - most of the figures are Rob Bennett's Busybodies and the loco is fitted with a Summerlands Chuffer.