Getting there...

Spent a bit of time this weekend fiddling with my puffer. Port Appin probably had visits by puffers though I can find no records at the moment. However these flat bottomed commercial vessels delivered coal and local necessities along the west coast of Scotland and the islands until the early 60's.

Then I started to check out the list of puffer names to see if one took my fancy for the model. To my surprise I found one called Eilean Eisdeal (built as VIC72) belonging to the Easdale Shipping Company and it was the last one to run in commercial service. She was later named Vital Spark in celebration of the Neil Munro 'Para Handy' stories and rescued for preservation. Live and learn!

I've always had a soft spot for the tiny island of Easdale just south of Oban so this new model has to be based on the local ship. She probably moved slates down the Clyde to Glasgow as well as local bringing supplies back up to the area. I'm not sure of the livery she carried. The preserved version looks a bit 'choccy box' so I'm going to research a bit more. In service they were a bit scruffy, hard worked and unloved. They were pure workhorses so I've a lot of painting yet to make it look 'tired'.

I'm really enjoying this!