How Wrightscale could save you 200 grand

You could change your life by spending £200,000. This sort of money is the entry fee for what we shall call the Extraordinary Adventures Club. A-list celebrities and the very wealthy are willing to spend time and money to belong to an organisation of this kind. They find that the commitment is worthwhile.They may suffer from panic attacks, drug and alcohol abuse or just a grinding lack of self-confidence. The adventures are challenging – a day of sprinting through the heather perhaps followed by a plunge into an ice-cold Scottish burn, or six weeks guiding a sledge pulled by huskies through the Arctic.

This grey lady could restore your inner calm. Wrightscale 16mm scale Wren. Photo MD Wright

Inner insecurities have driven the typical client to panic, alcohol or such-like. The guides provided by the Club encourage them to think of theseinsecurities as the ‘saboteurs.’ The client takes on some tremendous challenge.  The point of the challenge is take club members out of the rut, give them new perspectives, the opportunity to ‘open up’ after a physically gruelling day. This in itself makes 'the saboteur' less threatening. With the right guidance and techniques, it can be cut down to size. Some of these exercises can be quite  simple. If you are fabulously wealthy try to explain your troubles to someone who has nothing.

Often it works.  A celebrity who was used to an adoring public was told after a day of dog-sledding in the Arctic that she was the subject of a critical magazine article. Her only companion was a native American with few possessions and who never read the gossip columns. He was quite worried at her reaction to the news. Only the death of a close family member could, to his mind, produce such grief.

 At this point, the usual health warning; if you need proper medical advice, take it. So what if the doctor is always busy? She will be glad you asked. Your symptoms may be important, especially if a close family member is ill. Your doctor may already have assured you that there’s nothing seriously wrong. You yourself may understand that the usual gremlins are circling or you may be putting off an important decision. In this case, join the Wrightscale adventure club.

How do you become a Wrightscale adventurer?

Ready for your journey? Hop aboard the Wrightscale Wren. Photo MD Wright

The aim is to escape the rut – boredom, negative thoughts and cynicism. Then you can relearn focus. You could do this the expensive way by dislocating from your usual environment. In the real world, this involves travel, time and money. On the other hand, you could add the Focus project to ordinary life.

Try to make certain activities routine - physical challenge, the to-do list with attitude, a regular pause for gratitude and the courage to do less.

Make a habit of planning the day ie creating a to-do list with attitude. Either start the day or end the previous day by running through the important things to be achieved over the next twenty four hours.

If it is more convenient, run through your list the evening before Leave yourself plenty of time. Then switch off before sleep with a pleasurable activity and NO, do not look into a little blue screen until the early hours! Catching up with your emails or exploring the Instasphere do not count as late-night pleasurable activities!  While creating the list, you should briefly imagine that each item has been completed successfully. Try to visualise the success. For example, if you plan to be running a model, see that locomotive pulling away on the track. Hear the satisfying chuff. Smell the lubricant. The ‘internal saboteur’ hates it when you are grounded and specific.

 The physical challenge could be a cold shower, or just taking the stairs instead of the lift. It can be mastering a skill. This is where the Wrightscale Wren can help. It is supposedly one of the trickier 16mm locomotives to run. There are various reasons why it is considered rather delicate.

Here is 'Peter Pan' a 2' gauge Kerr Stuart Wren at Alston in 1992. Photo courtesy R. Bodenschats

It is a very small locomotive. The 16mm Wren is a convincing model of a well-loved prototype. Kerr Stuart produced the first two examples of the Wren design in 1905 - adapted from an existing design. Well did it deserve the name of Wren, one of the smallest British birds. At 3 ton 7 cwt /3.4 tonnes and with a wheelbase of 3’/45cm it was tiny and aimed at the ultra-narrow-gauge market.

In 1915, the ‘new’ type Wren was introduced. The ‘old’ type had Stephenson’s links, the ‘new’ ones Hackworth valve gear. (More about the specifics below). This, seemingly small, change brought a number of others. The reversing shaft had to be fitted above the driving wheels, boiler parts raised and cylinders installed at an angle. In fact typical duties were heading trains of skips to the rubbish dump!

Types old and new have been written in quotation marks because ‘old’ ones were produced as late as 1926, long after the ‘new’ had come into production. In fact, if you want a 2’ gauge prototype, you could still have one. Hunslet took over Kerr Stuart and Statfold Barn Engineering took over Hunslet. As of 2018, Statfold are still going strong.

The Wrightscale model is based on a specific prototype. Kerr Stuart no 3114 was a ‘new’ type supplied in 1918. Faithful to the original, the Wrightscale model has a scaled-down Hackworth Link as well as many other features. There are simpler and cheaper ways to build a model locomotive.

The Hackworth link, die and pin characterise the Kerr Stuart Wren as built after 1915. Simplified diagram courtesy MD Wright

Other manufacturers start with a freelance design of valve gear and everything else – whatever works in that scale. If the customer wants an electrically operated locomotive or a brick on wheels, that is fine. (A ‘freelance’ design’ to which a few cosmetic features have been added is not a faithful model.) A model, whose design priority is ease of operation, should indeed be easy to operate. We extend our good wishes to all those who simply want the experience of clocking up the miniature miles. By comparison, the Wrightscale Wren is a slow-paced little locomotive.

 And yet.

A Wrightscale model can give you a sense of proportion. A thousand miles by modern transport is not necessarily a thousand times better than a miles covered on foot. Stop and think why. Push back at the assumption that more is always better. Too many of us are under pressure to be productive. We end up with unreal expectations on ourselves. It is as though we have to be forever explaining to the inner saboteur ‘Look how MUCH I’ve done!’ Try to be yourself. If a mile matters to you more than a thousand, then go for the small one. Face down the inner demon. Be yourself. This is the lesson that an Extraordinary Adventure or a Wrightscale Adventure can teach.

The Hackworth link is at near vertical, the tipping point. Photo MD Wright

Running a Wrightscale Wren, for example, may well be slower than running an electric or ‘convenience’ model. Built into this little Wren are important aspects of running the real thing. Raising steam involves sight, hearing, touch and smell and also that sixth sense which comes with experience. A Wren seems to know if it is loved. Starting off is more than just pressing an ignition or pushing a lever. It takes patience and knowledge. There is genuine life in the slow initial movement of the Hackworth link.

At the heart of the motion is the valve gear. At the heart of the valve gear is the Hackworth link. This is in three parts – link, die-plate and pin. The link is the largest of the three. During construction, it must be filed just enough so that a bolt can slide up and down, neither wobbling nor binding. The die-plate also fits within the link, snugly but also able to move without binding. The Hackworth pin goes in the die-plate. When fitted, all must move smoothly whether the valve-gear is rotating forwards or back. There are other, no doubt far simpler, ways of linking power to wheels but Hackworth is truly prototypical. It explains why the locomotive looks the way it does and helps to explain the faults, failures and successes of the original Wren.  A model on an electric chassis will not do that for you.

Wrightscale 16mm Wren in green, the commonest prototype colour. Photo MD Wright

At this point, recognise that you have done less, but done well.

The Wrightscale adventurer is also able to be grateful. Admit first of all that there is a bit of control-freakery about us all. We want things done yesterday. Any obstacle is an insult. Yet even this can be turned into an adventure. Try to see an obstacle overcome as a good thing, problem solving as an adventure. Yes, this could make you more grateful. Give yourself time to enjoy the feeling.