My little 009 layout will need some loco servicing facilities.

I could have gone for the classic narrow gauge water tower – a tank on top of a brick or stone base.

But I decided I wanted something a little different and I was inspired by the water crane that existed at Aberffrwd on the Vale of Rheidol Railway.

I made mine from plastic section, brass rod and some etched pipe flanges (available from Light Railway Stores).

I had to enlarge the holes in the pipe flanges to fit the size of tubes I was using, but otherwise the parts went together quite easily.

The dry assembly showed things were looking good. The left hand end of the brass rod looked too long so I cut a little off this side.

Then I made the ‘stop cock’, a drain and the wooden post. The hose is made from black heat-shrink tube (Thanks to ‘Beaver’ on the NGRM forum for suggesting this).

This was one of those simple builds that involved more ‘thinking time’ that ‘working time’ 🙂

Next stop the paint shop….